Just as she's trying to prove to the world that she is more than just

a pretty face, Elizabeth Hurley is picked from a list of the world's

most beautiful women to become the face of Estee Lauder -- which will

bring her fame and fortune, and should do no harm to her acting career

either, as

Allan Laing explains

USING two pieces of black sticky-backed plastic, the cardboard bit

from a toilet roll, and 24 over-sized safety pins, the presenters of

Blue Peter could probably make an Elizabeth Hurley. The one that was

made earlier has now been launched as the face to sell a million powder

puff compacts for Estee Lauder, the international cosmetics giant.

Miss Hurley, of whom it has been said ''Is there no start to this

woman's talents?'' is determined to prove that she is not just a pretty

face. It will not be easy for the poor girl. Mind you, it is

scandalously unfair to describe her as no more than a ''pretty face''.

Any fool knows that she is also the proud possessor of a stunning figure

which (it is worth noting in this age of silicon implants) is all her

own work. In fact, she is drop-dead gorgeous.

Her great claim to fame, for the moment at least, is that she is the

girlfriend of Four Weddings and a Funeral star, Hugh ''Cary'' Grant. But

it should be remembered that she is an actress in her own right, the

highlight of her distinguished cinematic career to date being the

portrayal of a flight attendant (the dolly with a trolley) in the

thriller Passenger 57, a film which curiously missed out on the Oscar

nominations.

In most people's minds, however, she is best remembered for her

remarkable performance during last year's London premiere of Four

Weddings where she turned up wearing what could only be described as

almost a black silk Versace dress. Unfortunately, in all the

Hurley-burly, Mr Versace had forgotten to sew the seams together.

Other highlights of her career include turning on the Christmas lights

in London's Bond Street last year and being smacked about by a gang of

female muggers as she made her way home one night.

Of Elizabeth Hurley a hot-blooded man's dreams are made. She is, to

employ the West of Scotland venacular, a strapping lassie. Recently the

discerning readers of Penthouse magazine voted her the woman they would

most like to see in the altogether (though this particular accolade must

be seen in perspective; Anthea Turner was a runner-up). Still, it is

perhaps ironic that, in her teenage punk phase, during which she sported

a rather fetching silver ring in her nose, Ms Hurley performed in a

dance troupe called Vile Bodies.

She was born in Basingstoke some 29 years ago, the daughter of an Army

major father and a piano teacher mother. She went to a local

comprehensive from which she was expelled in her sixth year. She was, by

all accounts, a kenspeckle figure among shoppers in Basingstoke High

Street of a Saturday afternoon with her blonde-dyed hair, leather mini

skirt, and studded dog collar. It was around this time that she started

stepping out with a punk chap called Septic.

In her early 20s, having discarded both her punk image and poor old

Septic, she went to drama school in London and emerged an actress. To be

serious, she did make a genuinely stunning television debut as the

eponymous heroine in Christabel, Dennis Potter's film about an

Englishwoman's experiences in Nazi Germany. Her performance was

critically acclaimed.

The problem was that she peaked too soon. Since then she has made the

occasional appearance in television dramas and a handful of obscure

small-scale independent feature films (The Orchid House, Beyond Bedlam,

Skipper, and Aria). In a determined bid to expand her professional

horizons, she settled in Hollywood for two years, where -- to be honest

-- she hardly set the heather on fire.

It has been suggested that her failure in America was not unconnected

with the fact that, despite spending money on voice coaching, she failed

to master the Yankie accent. Her acting talents were certainly not

stretched to the limit in Passenger 57.

Today (and probably tomorrow and maybe even the next day) she shares a

London home with the slightly-more-famous Mr Grant. Together they make

the perfect showbiz couple, a pret-a-porter Liz Taylor and Richard

Burton, the plain man's Branagh and Thompson. Mr Grant clearly has faith

in his partner's abilities, having appointed her ''head of development''

at his own Simian Films company. He was, by the way, obliging enough to

turn up at Estee Lauder's Manhattan press launch for Ms Hurley

yesterday. She was the one in the tight-fitting yellow two-piece; he was

the one who looked like a badly-packed parachute.

Now, with her new make-up contract, Ms Hurley will be famous for being

even more famous. It will not only make her rich it will also keep her

supplied in lipstick for the foreseeable future. Wisely, she has chosen

to accentuate the positive in pursuance of her career's development. She

is a beautiful woman, possessed of that English rose poshness and

sophistication which the American market will adore. She claims, by the

way, that she eats like a pig, takes no exercise, and shuns beauty

treatments.

According to the cosmetics company, whose products have previously

been associated with the, shall we say, ''more mature'' woman, the

search to find a replacement for their previous face (supermodel Paulina

Porizkova) took them two years. Fifteen of the most beautiful women in

the world were seriously considered. Ms Hurley won through thanks to her

''warm and charismatic beauty''