Cher, The One And Only

In the 16 years since Cher won her Best Actress Oscar for "Moonstruck" she has only made four feature films, including her latest, the Farrelly Brothers comedy "Stuck On You."

In the second of a two-part interview, Cher tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith why she can't find love and why she doesn't act more often.

On the latter she says, "I don't get offered." All together Cher says she does not remember how many films she has been in. But notes she never thought she would do a lot.

"I never thought, 'oh, I'll be a working actress.' I started too late," she says. "I didn't get my first acting job until I was 36. Which was "Come Back to the Five and Dime." And then from that I got "Silkwood." And then it was two years between "Silkwood" and "Mask." My movies I think are pretty good. There are just not a lot of them."

Asked if she loves to act, she says she does and wishes her phone would ring more often with job offers she likes.

She says, "I've been offered movies, but they're not movies I would consider doing."

As for "Stuck On You," she says, "It's really weird. This came out of the blue. And something else, a thing called 'In the Pink' that is being written by the guy who wrote 'Full Monty.' And they just asked me if I wanted to do that. So you know, what belongs to you comes to you."

Off the screen, Cher has been on a farewell tour that was supposed to last two months and has lasted two years. Is it finally done?

"It depends on if I'm strong enough to do the rest of it next year," she says with laughter. "We planned to do 56 concerts. Having no idea how the response would be. You don't know what's going to happen. So we just put this thing together, and thought, well, maybe people will like it. Well I mean you don't know. It's like when I did 'Moonstruck' it was like, 'Well this is a funny little movie. Do you want to do it?' 'Oh, yeah. It might be fun to be in.'"

With so many things to say about her life and career, Smith picked a quote for her to expand on.

Apprehensive, Cher said, "Oh God! They always come back to haunt me. OK. What did I say?"

But Smith assured her, "No this is a good one: 'Everyone aspires to be in love. It's just difficult when you're me.'"

Laughing, Cher answered, "Poor me. It is difficult because nobody wants to be 'Mr. Cher.' It takes someone with a very strong identity and also I go away a lot. I always come back. I'm very faithful. But my job keeps me on the road."

Going over 40 years of her career, Smith pointed out what was significant to him about Cher is that she does not reject failure.

Cher explained, "I think it's highly underrated because you're going to do it. You're going to have it, you know? And if you're going to have it, then make a success out of it. Learn something. Get stronger. Keep going. It's like when you're happy and everything's going great, you don't sit down and go, 'Why is this happening?' When you're failing, you sit down and take some sort of inventory. And you usually find out certain things about yourself."

Asked if there will ever be another Cher, she answered with a series of questions, "Will there ever be another Judy Garland? Will there ever be another Madonna? Will there ever be another Orson Wells? If you can make an indelible mark, then you are that one thing. I was inspired by so many people. There will be people who are inspired. And then they will be their own identity that has nothing to do with anyone else."

Britney Spears has said she's used Cher as a role model. So does the young pop star have what it takes to be like Cher?

Cher says, "I think she has whatever it is to be herself. But the truth is, when I was her age, I was so rough. I was so raggedy-ass. I was so untalented. Sonny was the only one who saw it. It was like, kind of this diamond, rough, in dirt, in rocks, had a little mud on it. And he was just like doing this, doing this (motions as polishing). You know? And I just kept going. And then I got better."

In that case, Smith noted, Britney is a little ahead of Cher at her age. Cher graciously granted, "She's way ahead of me."

The amazing Cher could also add another Grammy to her shelf. Her song "Love One Another" has been nominated for best dance recording.