Ma Partridge Stops by Melrose Place

C'mon, Melrose Place, get happy — Shirley Jones turns up at prime time's most scandalous address in a September guest spot as the socialite mom of Megan the prostitute, played by Kelly Rutherford.

"It was a wonderful part for me," Jones says. "I loved the whole idea. The mother is very wealthy and not really facing the fact of what has happened to her daughter."

The actress, whose Melrose Place debut marks her first series-TV appearance since a stint as Jere Burns' mom on the sitcom Something So Right, has kept a brisk schedule of concert appearances around the country and recently wrapped Gideon's Webb, due in theaters next January. "It's a wonderful cast," she says, "with Charlton Heston, Shelley Winters, Mike Connors, Carroll O'Connor and Christopher Lambert. It was a real labor of love for all of us."

Any possibility of a return to Melrose Place? "I don't know whether it will go any further or not," she says. "When the mother leaves, she says she'll be back. And I'd certainly love it." — John Walsh