HOLLYWOOD star Stefanie Powers went head-to-head with British actor Don Warrington in Redbourn recently.

But the American actress still had time for a heart-to-heart with locals – of the two and four-legged variety.

Stefanie, who has shared the screen with the likes of legends John Wayne, Lana Turner and David Niven, was in the village last Thursday, June 28, to film Celebrity Antiques Road Trip for the BBC.

In it she teams up with auctioneer and antiques expert Charles Hanson to scour the history-heaving rooms of Bushwood Antiques, Gaddesden Lane, to find the perfect object to trounce opponents Margie Cooper and Don.

Stefanie is also famous for her role as Jennifer Hart in 1980s television series Hart to Hart with Robert Wagner.

More recently, British viewers saw her in last year’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! where she was the first to be eliminated but won admirers with her no-nonsense attitude.

With the scene set in a rural part of Redbourn for the BBC show, Stefanie arrived in pure Hollywood style, sweeping into the yards of the Georgian stableyard in a 1950s Morgan.

A renowned animal lover, the first question polo-playing Stefanie asked the film crew and waiting manager director Tony Bush was, “where are the horses?”

According to her website Stefanie leads a double life where, when not in front of a camera or on stage, she is involved in the preservation of animals including the jaguar.

Once she had patted the horses, the energetic star raced back to the film crew.

But before the two teams had time to enter showrooms boasting thousands of items from the Regency, Victorian and Edwardian periods, eagle-eyed Stefanie next spotted Rufus, a Lakeland Terrier.

Five minutes of cooing and patting later, both teams finally started selecting and haggling over the perfect piece.

Don and Margie quickly found a walnut Victorian writing slope for sale at �140.

Giving sales manager Julie Collins his scary “Don stare” helped the duo scoop the item for just �115.

Margie told Julie: “The last thing I want to do is to beat you into the ground… but I do really!”

Meanwhile, elsewhere Stefanie was not missing a trick. In between looking at various objects she informed Charles his shoelace was untied and a visiting work experience student that she was in the way of the shot.

She quizzed Tony on the precise location of the home of late film director Stanley Kubrick, who lived in Childwickbury.

Out of earshot Charles said Stefanie drives the Morgan, “like there is no tomorrow”.

“She is so feisty, so youthful. She is great. We are hoping to find a pot of gold here.”

There were, however, two members of the antique business who did not give a hoot about the presence of a woman with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Moggies “Tabby” and “Brick” slept soundly in cardboard boxes on the shelf of a bench in the work room, oblivious to the lights, cameras, action.

The show will help raise funds for BBC’s Children in Need appeal.