All My Children, "The Thinking Man's Soap Opera"

[DRW50]

By Geri Jefferson

The return visit to the All My Children set was an experience that I will long remember. For a while I felt like I was in the midst of a wonderful, star studded, Hollywood extravaganza.

As our photographer, Leslie Murray, and I wandered through the halls of the AMC offices on West 67th Street in Manhattan, familiar faces seemed to be coming at us with incredible speeds.

From One Life to Live we saw George Reinholdt (Anthony Harris Lord); Jennifer Harmon (Cathy Craig) who looks great even in rollers; Jameson Parker (Brad Vernon); and Al Freeman Jr. (Ed Hall).

All My Children fans would have had a veritable ocular feast seeing all the great actors and actresses. There were (just to name a few): Ruth Warrick (Phoebe Tyler), John Danelle (Dr. Frank Grant), Darren Kelly (Dan Kennicott), Ray MacDonnell (Dr. Joe Martin), and the list goes on....

Producer Bud Kloss and Associate Producer Felicia Behr were so warm and friendly that I was soon feeling right at home.

Chris Gampel (Anatole Karras)

While S.O.D. photographer Leslie went onto the studio floor to take the exciting photographs pictured here, I was tucked away in C.M. Gampel's (Dr. Anatatole Karras) private dressing room having a wonderful conversation. Many of you may remember Mr. Gampel from his days on Love of Life where he was the prison warden. In past years he's appeared on Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, and Secret Storm. He's also been seen in Death Wish, the Adams Chronicles and Death Takes a Holiday. In fact, he's been in twenty-two Broadway plays and countless number of television and film productions. His busy schedule includes teaching young hopefuls at a school sponsored by the American Federation of Theatre and Radio Artists.

Mr. Gampel is very excited and pleased about his role as Dr. Cristina Karras' father. Although he is not sure as to where the character is going - he is confident it will be a challenge and a pleasure.

After talking to Cris Gampel, I wandered into the control room and while I was talking to Felicia Behr, John Danelle (Dr. Frank Grant) happened by.

John Danelle (Dr. Frank Grant)

On a break from the dress rehearsal, John was more than pleased to talk to me. His dressing room was - to say the least - decorated rather informally. The many women who pepper his wall are a sure sign that John finds women more than a little bit attractive!

The first question asked ("Do you enjoy your work as Frank Grant?") elicited a prompt response: "I like it. It pays my bills." For four years, Dr. Frank Grant has paid the bills for John Danelle.

On his character John says he likes Frank, but wonders at some of the things he does. In the storyline Frank is in Pine Valley and his wife is in Chicago - they see each other when they can. Frank refuses to leave Pine Valley, and his wife refuses to sacrifice her career and return to Pine Valley. For John personally, the whole idea is rather amusing. "To me," he says "That would never have happened. The marriage would have been over. If I said that to my wife, or if she said that to me, [it is] goodbye. It's been nice knowing you. Forget it." John Danelle definitely does not believe in long distance marriages.

In his spare time, John runs a karate school, trains his dogs, and of course, enjoys his wife's company.

Frances Heflin (Mona Kane)

As he was walking back to the studio we ran into Frances Heflin (Mona Kane). She had a beautiful sweater with her that she was crocheting for one of her children (she has three). She's been with All My Children since the beginning. After the Martin and Tyler families were introduced into the storyline, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and her mother Mona were brought to Pine Valley.

Mona agreed that the character she portrays has gone through a metamorphosis. "I used to be just a housewife, sort of kvetching about and worrying about my children." Now her character is showing a strength that Frances feels was always imbedded.

Frances embarked on her acting career as a child, doing a lot of plays. Then, over a period of years, she married, had her children, lived in Europe and then California.

Frances Heflin seems to have the same sensitivity and forthrightness that she portrays so well in her character. We had to cut our conversation short as she had to rush back to the set.

As Frances was rushing onto the set via the control room, Judith Barcroft (Anne Tyler Martin) was rushing out of the control room! I buttonholed her in the corridor for a quick talk.

Judith Barcroft (Anne Tyler Martin)

Judith, mother of two (a three year old and a five year old), sympathizes a great deal with the character she portrays. Judith's character, the mother of a retarded child, has overcompensated for her child's deformity and never leaves her side. Judith agrees that Annie is acting a little crazy but feels that tactic is "better than the kind of mother who runs off and deserts a baby like that."

Before coming to All My Children, Judith portrayed Leonore for four years on Another World. She's been with All My Children for six years. She's done four Broadway plays and is planning to do a showcase with Jacqueline Brookes of Another World at the Cafe La Mama in March.

Judith prefers theatre, "but television has taught me an awful lot. The media is extremely difficult. You have to make your choices right away, you have to decide, you know, right now." In what seemed to be a perfect punctuation for Judith's description of frantic T.V. life, was the call to rehearsal that reached out ears. As I watched her scurrying back to the set, I found myself admiring her a great deal.

The slightly unreasonable completely confused Mrs. Martin of All My Children had become the charming and effervescent, good-head-on-her-shoulders Judith Barcroft in a matter of seconds And in just as many seconds she would return to her role as Anne. She is a versatile talent who is destined, I'm sure, to do many, many more great things.

Robin Strasser (Dr. Christina Karras)

As I turned my head, in the hopes of ferreting out yet another star, I was caught completely off guard, and stopped dead in my tracks! There before me stood the beautiful Robin Strasser (Dr. Christina Karras) and her very handsome, very talented husband, Lawrence Luckinbill. "This must be my lucky day," I thought to myself, for just as I was recovering from the pleasant shock of seeing such a well known Mr. and Mrs. - Ruth Warrick (Phoebe Tyler) came breezing by.

After a quick chat with Lawrence and Robin, I convinced Ruth to spend some time with me.

Ruth Warrick (Phoebe Tyler)

Ruth (who is really a blonde, although she looks like a brunette on television) and I sat in the busy ABC reception area, and the first thing I noticed (aside from her pleasing way of making one feel comfortable) was a gold covered peanut hanging around her neck!

As you may or may not know, Ruth Warrick is great friends with our new President Jimmy Carter, and his family.

Initially Ruth traveled to Plains, Georgia to interview Jimmy's mother, Miss Lillian for her upcoming book - Phoebe Tyler, Phoebe Tyler (to be published in the Fall by Viking Press. A companion book, authored by Kate Wenner will also be published by Viking Press in the Fall. Kate's book is filled with pictures and information about All My Children as well as some of the other daytime serials. Be sure to check your local bookstore. Both books are sure to become a valued addition to your Soap Opera library.)

Ruth's visit soon turned into the likes of a family reunion. Although there is no blood relation between Ruth and the Carters, their mutual southern upbringing brought them close together. (Miss Lillian's fondness for AMC was also a help.) They went to church together, they dined together, they experienced a lovely friendship together, and Ruth will never forget the heartwarming experience. "What I found, " Ruth said, "is that now I'm a close friend of the family, and nothing has ever been more exciting."

Ruth campaigned extensively for President Carter during the pre-primary election days, covering almost every inch of New York. In fact, she was still campaigning at 2 AM on the election morning! Ruth has proven herself to be quite a pioneer in the area of campaigning. Let's face it - how many soap opera stars have hit the presidential campaign trail so vigorously?

Speaking of pioneers, Ruth was the first "good" villain to hit the soap opera circuit. In the role created for her by Erna Phillips, Ruth portrayed Aunt Edith Hughes on As the World Turns. That was twenty-one years ago, and although Ruth certainly does not portray a "good guy" today, she is as loved and respected as any good guy could ever hope to be.

I asked Ruth about her leisure time. Well, of course, a woman like Ruth simply doesn't have much leisure time. During those little snatches of peace and quiet that she does manage to get, she can be found buried admist piles of reading matter. There is a summer home in West Hampton that she goes to every chance she gets (which isn't very often). Ruth loves the ocean and says, "it just renews and restores me."

As one might have guessed from Ruth's avid campaigning days, she is very interested in political realities. She spends a great deal of time talking to young people and always advises them against becoming disillusioned with politics. To Ruth, "If you say you don't care about politics, you don't care about life, because your life is governed by politics. Everything that happens in your life has to be governed through political action of some kind or other."

As we drew to the end of our conversation, I couldn't help but marvel at the versatility of the speaker. She's warm and open, and well versed in any subject broached. Perhaps the most exciting thing about Ruth is the love she has and openly gives to all those within her sphere. She is truly one of the great ladies of daytime television.

[SFK]

What a fun read! Carl, do you have one of those headset set-ups where you read into the mic and your computer transcribes your words?

As I was saying to you the other day, it seemed like such a charming time to be an actor on a soap.

LOL at Dr. Frank and his T&A pics on the walls of his dressing room.

Looks like Robin and Larry didn't have much interesting to say, or Geri was just too distracted by RW. BTW Geri, her hair looks brown on TV because it's a wig.

"Children" plural, Fra? Have you ever seen the movie Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean? One of FH's daughters, Marta Heflin is in it.

[SFK]

The Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman-esque title of RW's book got changed to The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler.

[DRW50]

No, I typed all that out by hand. I should try that though, I tried once and it didn't work too well, in understanding what I said. The underlining was from the article. There was a lot of underlining (not so much with some correct spellings of names...).

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if anyone would, as this might have already been put on here or elsewhere (I didn't see it). I just know there are some old school AMC fans here who might like some of the past.

The interview with Dr. Frank was my favorite part, perhaps because I know nothing about him whereas I know a little about Fra and Ruth. I love his answer to what was probably supposed to be a serious question. "It pays the bills."

He was on the show until what, the late 70s? Or early 80s? Was he around when Jesse started?

[DRW50]

I was hoping there were two books out there. I wonder if the other book, the one by her friend, was published.

I also wonder if they didn't interview Robin Strasser because she told them, "Get me the hell off this show!"

[SFK]

LOL! That could be true. Well, I learned something here... though I've heard Robin mention Christina's odd dreams, her "ghosts", and her relationship with her father, I did not know that her father had actually been a character on the show. Interesting. And as ignorant as it may sound, I always a little thinking of Jewish Robin playing a character named Christina just as I thinking of an Italian like Linda Dano playing a character named Gretel (and having a maiden name like Wildermuth). Similarly, I was tickled by FH's "kvetching", something she probably picked up from hubby Sol Kaplan.

Hmm, maybe there was another book by RW, not sure.

God bless you for typing this all out, I at least hope that typing comes very easy to you. I really like the format of this interview, just bouncing from person to person without trying too hard to link it all together with some extraneous narrative.

[DRW50]

The typing is OK. Thanks. I'm just happy if someone reads or responds or if it's something which fills in a blank. I don't know that much about Christina either so I didn't know who her father was.

Occasionally I wonder what would have happened if Judith Barcroft had stayed with AMC. I guess she would have gone the way of a lot of the vets and left sometime in the 80s but she was such a fascinating actress, and I think her acting style would have probably been a good fit for the version of AMC which hit it big starting in 1982 or 1983.

[SFK]

I've never seen her more than the odd clip from AMC and AW, but I tend to think that she would have been almost "too big" for AMC and her departure made room for characters like, say, '80s Brooke English. I take it that she was somewhat of a name in daytime at that point and she probably would have been Renee'd on a show with Erica Kane. Who knows... It's a shame that I haven't even seen her in a scene with her mother and father, Phoebe and Charles. In her TV archive interview, RW says it drove her nuts how she always struggled with her lines while Judith could be off in a corner reading a novel before her scenes.

[DRW50]

Do you have Soapnet? Her run on RH is starting up in a month or two I think.

I do see the point about being "too big." They may also have exhausted stories for her. I just tend to look at her style of acting and wonder if she might have flourished in the era of PERSONALITY, whereas the 70s seemed more naturalistic. Then again she was very popular in the 70s so what do I know.

What is Renee'd? You mean like on OLTL?

I wonder if Ann ever had any scenes with Brooke.

[Steve]

Loved this, thank you for posting!

As for Frank, Jesse went to live with Frank & Nancy when he first came on the show. Frank died of a heart attack a year or two after Jesse arrived and he's the person Jesse & Angie named their son after.

[DRW50]

Here's a bit more from the issue.

[Khan]

From the article:

Either that, or....

Nah.

It's interesting that you post that tidbit about Peter White and Francesca James' off-screen relationship. Recently, I was at a local Barnes & Noble, thumbing through Lawrence J. Quirk's book, "Paul Newman: A Life." (Ah, Paul Newman. Lousy salad dressing, but a helluvan actor.) Now, I cannot vouch for the book's veracity, but according to Quirk, (rumors persist that) Newman had many homosexual affairs throughout his life, including one with another actor "who was in the film version of The Boys in the Band" and "later became a soap star." How does Quirk know about this affair? Apparently, he interviewed the other actor, and according to him, "I wouldn't say someone is gay unless I slept with him."

Now, any guesses as to who the actor-in-question might have been?

[All My Shadows]

Love little glimpses into bygone eras of soap history like this. Thanks for sharing this.

It could only be Peter White or Keith Prentice (who went on to Dark Shadows). Several of the other guys did soaps (Robert La Toureneaux was on The Doctors, Luckinbill and Greene were on Where the Heart Is), but their soap careers were pre-TBITB.

Keith Prentice would be obvious because he was gay, but would the author consider him a "soap star?" White did several soaps before and after TBITB, so who knows?

[DeeeDee]

[EricMontreal22]

Wait--so Jesse's daughter's claim he was the best chief EVER isn't true?? (If someone didn't have such a hate on when I bring it up--the book says he left in 83)