The Bard returns to the Lowell Davies Festival Theater at the Old Globe this month with Brendon Fox’s updated version the comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Set in post World War I Italy, the play remains true to the original script, with just an update in costuming. Taking a lead in the play are a pair of gay and lesbian favorites. Billy Campbell, who got his start in acting playing gay on “Dynasty” in the early ’80s, plays Benedick and Dana Delany, who won two Emmys for her portrayal of Colleen McMurphy on the hit series “China Beach,” is Beatrice.

Just like their onstage counterparts, Campbell and Delany share great chemistry. When the Gay and Lesbian Times sat down to talk to them about the play, their banter about the questions was just as interesting as their responses.

In addition to playing Luke Fuller on “Dynasty,” Campbell is also known for his roles in the movie The Rocketeer, the hit TV series “Once and Again” and in all three of the “Tales from the City” miniseries, where he played Dr. Jon Fielding, the on again off again partner of Michael Tolliver — with whom he shared one of the first male same sex kisses on television. Campbell said that he’s gotten used to meeting gay fans.

“I meet a fair amount. If I am hanging out in a gay bar a lot of people come up,” he said. “I was hanging out in Flicks the other night with some of our gang from the show and a lot of people were like ‘Dr. Jon!’”

“I heard that you wanted to auction yourself off for a date,” Delany chimed in.

“I did not, that was Newman’s idea,” Campbell clarified, referring to Michael Newman, who plays Verges in the play.

Based on the reaction Campbell was getting from his fans that night, he could have made some good money.

“When we were first here we went to Café W and the waiter who waited on us was this nice guy,” Campbell said. “Then when I was at Flicks with some of our group and he just came up and was like ‘uh huh, I see’ and asked what I was doing in a gay bar, and I was like, ‘I have gay friends, what can I say.’ I am convinced that he still thinks I’m gay.”

Delany, who hasn’t played gay, is known for playing strong women. Her role in the Vietnam war/medical drama “China Beach” made her a star and earned her a large lesbian following.

“Yeah, especially with the military thing,” Delany said, aware of the draw of her character on “China Beach.” “It’s interesting because I have a weird fan base… older men, like men in their 70s, and younger men in their teens and then this group of women in the middle. I think it’s between “China Beach” and Exit to Eden… that’s where I got the 18-year-old boys.”

In Exit to Eden Delany played a dominatrix opposite Rosie O’Donnel, long before O’Donnel became the queen of daytime talk and came out.

“No she wasn’t [out], I mean we all knew it, but she wasn’t out,” Delany said. “It was such a departure for both of us. We were both sort of rolling our eyeballs as we were doing it. I think she still goes on the record as saying it’s the worst movie ever made.”

Delany also got to try out a same sex kiss in Exit to Eden.

“I had a kiss with the girl who played my assistant and they cut it out,” she said. “I loved it. I enjoyed every minute of it. They are both very pleasant.”

About all the labels put on sexuality she added, “I just find the older I get, we are all so quick to label. I think that the younger generation, the Gen X people, are much more fluid about their sexuality than my generation. We all needed to be clear; you’re either this or that. I find that people younger than me are ‘maybe I will try this, maybe I will try that’ and as long as you’re being honest with yourself that’s all that matters.”

Campbell’s first big screen role was as the dashing Rocketeer in 1991, but more recently he’s been seen on the big screen opposite another gay favorite, Jennifer Lopez, in the movie Enough. In the film he played an abusive husband that drives J-Lo to take matters into her own hands when the system lets her down.

“Is she a gay favorite?” Campbell asked.

“She’s a diva,” Delany chimed in.

“Ah, a diva,” Campbell continued. “I always enjoy making a movie, that’s for sure and she was quite nice to me. I like to be friendly, but she’s a little unapproachable. But then you wouldn’t want her not to be, being the diva that she is.”

In the movie’s finale Campbell’s character takes a beating at the hands of Lopez, something his friends and strangers often remind him of.

“People I don’t even know give me a hard time about that,” Campbell said with a laugh. “Like, guys with their hats on backwards who are like, ‘Dude, you got your ass whipped by a girl’ and I’m like, ‘you know it was a movie.’”

“It would be hard to kick Jennifer Lopez’s butt,” Delany said in his defense. “There’s a whole lot of ground to cover.”

“That would be a lot of kicking,” Campbell added.

Both agree that they are happy to be in San Diego performing.

“This has got to be one of the best theater jobs in the whole country,” said Campbell, who has performed at The Old Globe before. “It’s beautiful. You’re outdoors all the time and you’re in the middle of Balboa Park.”

Delany added, “I love the park, I haven’t been to all the museums, and I still want to see them.”

Coming to San Diego has also brought Delany into contact with an old friend.

“I got a message on my web page the other night from this guy who I went to Junior High with. He left me a message that he had moved to San Diego with and he was going to come see the play,” she said. “I cracked up because my memory of him was that I read the dirty parts of The Godfather to him over the phone when we were in Junior High — Sonny, at the wedding… against the door.”

“Ah yes, page 28,” Campbell added.

For self-described “neophyte” Delany, it is her first time doing Shakespeare and she is enjoying the opportunity to experiment with something new as well as learn from the MFA students who are in the play with her.

“People seem to be saying it’s very accessible,” Delany said about the response that she has gotten from the audience. “They really get it and they understand it and it tells a clear story. It may be seeing us in clothes that they recognize or a setting that they recognize that makes people more comfortable.”

Campbell, who admits that growing up he only enjoyed reading “bad science fiction and fantasy,” has also found a love for Shakespeare.

“It’s so rich and exciting,” Campbell said. “It’s like a puzzle. You really have to pay attention to process all the images because some of the words, you don’t hear them every day and you have to pay attention to make the images happen one after another. It’s really highly zen-like because you have to relax your mind and pay attention at the same time.”

In the play, Campbell and Delany play Benedick and Beatrice, verbal sparring partners who are resisting the fact that they are falling in love with one another.

“I love them,” Campbell said about their roles. “There is nothing not to like. It’s a funny play and they are naturally funny.”

“You’re naturally funny,” Delany pointed out.

“You’re funny too,” he responded.

“I’m different funny,” she countered.

“They are both funny in that they don’t practice what they feel,” Campbell explained. “They’re fooling themselves. I’m playing mine a bit like a goofball, but it fits.”

Delany added, “It’s very much male-female division. It’s kind of like men being the overgrown kid that doesn’t want to grow up and the women having to be the sensible one. In a sense she’s being driven crazy by this man and she’s mad that she has to be the sensible one.”

Billy Campbell and Dana Delany truly are Benedick and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, running through Oct. 12 at The Old Globe in Balboa Park. For tickets or information, call (619) 234-5623.