'Bernadette' star promotes film's sequel as it debuts in U.S.

Published: 2006-01-31

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Soap opera fans may know Sydney Penny from her current role as Julia on the ABC soap opera "All My Children," her two-year stint on the CBS soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" that ended last year, or a couple of other daytime dramas. But a small -- and, in the hopes of promoters, growing -- group of film fans think of her most fondly from a pair of movies that never got a theatrical release in the United States. Penny, now 34, played St. Bernadette in the French-language film "Bernadette" released in 1988 -- half a lifetime ago for her. That film was finally issued stateside last year, but only on a direct-to-video basis. She also starred as the saint a year later in a sequel, known in English as "The Passion of Bernadette." Like "Bernadette," it is not being released in theaters, but Ignatius Press, which is distributing both films, has lined up church screenings beginning in February for "The Passion of Bernadette." And Penny, when on breaks from the "All My Children" taping schedule, is helping promote the movie.

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