A major British star since his smoldering turn as Mr. Darcy in TV's "Pride
and Prejudice," Colin Firth was elevated to icon when novelist Helen Fielding had her hapless heroine interview him in "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." On April 13, he turns up as Renee Zellweger's contrary love object Mark Darcy, no less in the movie
"Bridget Jones's Diary"(above). In the U.S., Miramax alone seems to have realized that the versatile Firth, 40, is hotter than all the "Britpack" dudes combined. Here are some of his most rentable entries.

Title: "A Month in the Country" (1987)

Role: Tom Birkin, Great War survivor restoring a country church mural.
Highlight: Waking up on a tomb and wondering if he's still alive when he
sets eyes on radiant Natasha Richardson.
Well?: Firth was at his best as a reticent, feeling man who has looked into
the abyss and remained human.
Title: "Valmont" (1989)

Role: Valmont, 18th-century French seducer.
Highlight: Vicious, sexually charged verbal sparring with Annette Bening's
Marquise de Merteuil.
Well? Potent indication of Firth's potential as a big-screen lover.

Title: "Pride and Prejudice" (1995, miniseries)
Role: Mr. Darcy, snotty aristocrat with a true heart.
Highlight: According to Bridget Jones and female Firth-watchers worldwide,
it's when he emerges from a lake in dripping britches and minus his shirt.
Well? Made him a British sex symbol. ***My mother named her new dog
Darcy.***

Title: "The English Patient" (1996)
Role: Geoffrey Clifton, stuffy Saharan explorer whose wife cuckolds him.
Highlight: His kamikaze aircraft dive at Almasy (Ralph Fiennes).
Well? Coming after "P&P," the stolid, boorish character revealed Firth's
admirable lack of vanity.

Title: "Shakespeare in Love" (1998)
Role: Lord Wessex, dastardly rival to playwright Will (Joseph Fiennes) for
hand of Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow).
Highlight: Whenever he snarls.
Well? Showed Firth's comic aplomb. He played the Bard himself in
"Black-adder Back and Forth" (1999).

© Copyright of NY Daily News 2001