OOPS! Another engagement almost interrupted her wedding plans!

It was the best-kept secret in years. Even backstage at All My Children, few people knew that Julia Barr, who plays Brooke Cudahy, was shopping for a wedding gown at Saks Fifth Avenue department store and already had airline tickets booked for a romantic honeymoon on the Caribbean isle of St. Barts.

May 17^th was the date Julia planned to marry a New Jersey oral surgeon named Richard Hirschlag. But since the couple wanted to keep publicity to a minimum, they confided their blissful plans to only a handful of friends.

Without thinking, though, Julia had previously agreed to do a soap opera festival on May 17^th. When she checked her calendar and realized the gigantic goof she quickly phoned to beg off from doing the festival. Naturally, she couldn't avoid mentioning her wedding plans.

Were very much in love, Julia admitted, throwing caution to the wind. Then she elaborated on all the details of the beautiful courtship. The romance began a while back when Julia enrolled in a musical comedy workshop and Richard's best friend was one of her classmates. Pretty soon, the class started cutting into time that Richard and his friend used to spend together; and finally his friend told him, Hey, man, you'd better sign up for the class, too.

The course didn't make Richard want to give up medicine for show business, but it did change his life in a more surprising way. When he started rehearsing musical comedy numbers with a beautiful actress named Julia Barr, one scene led to another and love.

As they became closer, Richard introduced Julia to his world, too. I'm very proud of what Richard does, Julia says now. Hes a surgeon at Cumberland Hospital in New York and sometimes when he has night duty I drop by and keep him company. I'll be right at his side, watching him treat emergency cases--people who come in with absolutely broken-up faces and when Richard and the other doctors take over, it's like seeing a miracle happen.

Julia often heads for New Jersey to visit her new in-laws, who are giving her a crash course in Jewish-style cooking. Im learning to make some of Richard's favorite foods, she says, and I'm learning about the Jewish religion, too. I have no intention of converting, but I think it's kind of wonderful that we can share our holidays with both our families.

Julia and Richard are sure their different faiths will enrich their life together. We love each other so much and that's no secret, Julia says. We know that were being smiled on from above.