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I recalled an earlier article that already had her in her 30's. Back then, it wasn't unusual for actors to present themselves as younger to be open for younger roles. This certainly wasn't anything scandalous like Kelli Maroney saying she was only 13 when she was hired to play Kim. The 1980's more glamourous makeup made women look older than they were, too.
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TV Guide July 5, 1986 Maggie Shelby and Roger Coleridge of ABC's Ryan's Hope: the couple everyone loves to hate (played by Ron Hale and Cali Timmins) are getting married next week. And they won't be slinking off to a justice of the peace to do it, either. Theirs will be a civilized affair, with all the soap trimmings—including the possibility that it won't come off at all, if Max Dubujak (Daniiel Pilon) has any say in the matter. On the subject of weddings... What was the reason given for Frank and Jill renewing their vows in 1985? Soap Opera Digest only said it was in a church but I couldn't find other details. Also, a few months later, when Frank was trying to convince amnesiac Jill that she his wife, the inscription he had her read from his wedding ring was the wrong wedding date ---the wrong year. She read 8-16-82 when it should have read 8-16-83. That was their symbolic hospital bedside ceremony--- the legal wedding off-camera in January 1984.
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Nancy Addison would have been older than late 20's in 1980 ---more like 34. Disclosing her lack of fan mail from men, and her reason that men were scared of Jill, was a revelation. I didn't think the show had any seductive sirens, at least not in the those early years (1975-1980). Connivers and men chasers -yes! Jill was usually raising her voice about not wanting to be controlled by a man, so it was interesting hearing Nancy say Jill controlled the men in her life. The lawyer role was supposed to be older. Jill was born in 1944 --- how much older was Jill originally going to be...
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I couldn't remember if this had been posted already --- if so, here it is again... TV GUIDE AUGUST 9. 1980 In 'Ryan's Hope’-and in real life — Nancy Addison tends to come on strong By John Mariani When Nancy Addison took the role of lawyer Jill Coleridge Beaulac on ABCs daytime serial Ryan's Hope, she anticipated the usual number of maladies for her character, and she has not been disappointed. Jill has bravely weathered the death of a young son, a messy divorce, the horror of drug addiction, and other heartbreaks that would turn most normal women into emotional porridge. That Nancy and her character have survived five years on such a sea of troubles is proof of both women‘s strong-headedness. Which, in its own ironic way, has led to a quirky problem Nancy Addison had not anticipated. "I get very little mail from men," says the beautiful brown-haired, green-eyed ac-tress, "while the seductive sirens, the conniving, man-chasing female characters on the show get letters from male viewers. I think men see Jill as too strong for them, too determined. Usually my character is pretty much in control of her men, even when she’s in trouble, and men are afraid of Jill.” When a woman is as attractive as Nancy Addison, a man may very well be apprehensive about approaching her. “Even in high school, boys didn’t ask me out much because I was so shy, and they took that to mean I was snobby," she says, shaking her head. Much of her own strength of character came from her mother, who worked as a designer of furs with her businessman father. Born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, Nancy grew up without ever watching soap operas on television. *’Now that I work so hard during the day," she says, 'I still don’t get to see them. The only time I see myself is if I get hold of a tape machine." After pursuing a liberal arts education at Fisher Junior College in Boston and New York University, Nancy performed on the stage in dinner-theater, stock and off-Broadway productions, and studied with both Stella Adler and Sandy Meisner before taking on the role of Kit Vestid in the soap opera The Guiding Light for two years. After that, she joined Ryan's Hope, where she was nominated for an Emmy in 1976. But then, instead of identifying with soap-opera heroines, Nancy felt a stronger attraction to Vivien Leigh as Scarlett 0’Hara in "Gone with the Wind," a film she has seen 15 times at last count. "I love Scarlett," says Nancy, "because she’s tough too, a con artist, and knows what she wants. But I really admire Vivien Leigh the actress, who was a little crazy and went through a lot. The great thing about that movie is that Scarlett and Rhett Butler are mirror images of each other. They’re both headstrong and complex. with all kinds of shadings. "It’s very sexy when he carries her up those stairs and she’s kicking. On Ryan's Hope, my character has been pretty much in control of her men, even when she’s in trouble. In my own life I'll push a man to see how he’ll react, because I want a man who is stronger than I am — or as strong." Nancy, who admits to being in her late 20s, was once married to an actor("A Southern actor at that," she laughs), but after a divorce, she became involved in the early-70s women's movement. "I was heavily into feminism then," she says, "and I guess I was a little radical in my feelings toward men — which must have put them off. But I've mellowed and now I try to see both sides of the issue. I don't just want women to change and grow; I want women and men to grow together and to nurture each other, which is not easy. You have to break down the barriers first." One of the barriers Nancy herself broke down effectively was on one of those nights when she found herself alone at a disco in New York. "I told myself, if I feel I want to go out alone, that's my business," she explains, "and when I got there, everybody was with somebody else. Except one guy sit-ting alone. He looked strong, serious, proud and intriguing. So I just went up to him and asked him to dance. We've been together now for three years." When Nancy auditioned for Ryan's Hope after a stint on The Guiding Light, she was originally up for the role of Jill's sister, the doctor. "But I gave such a strong, determined reading, "she says. "that they offered me the role of the lawyer, which was originally meant for an older woman. My character has changed over the years, of course, and in the future I want her to be much more vulnerable and not so hard-nosed.” The mellowing of Nancy’s personality has guided her perception of her character. “This is the best part of my life right now!" she exclaims. 'I've got a wonderful acting job. I just bought a country house in Pennsylvania that Tm fixing up, I have a terrific relationship with a man, although right now I don’t think I want to get married or have children. and 1’ve even started up my own business." Last year, friends she’d met in her feminist workshop produced some ornamental hair decorations that included several unique, bejeweled hair pins .With an investment of $20 in materials, Nancy and the three other women began producing them for sale around New York. "We tried to get them into Bloomingdale‘s for months," says Nancy, “and we were persistent. When they finally agreed to see us, they flipped and we had enough orders for three months. We didn’t even know how to write an invoice, and I was up till 6 some mornings, sewing sequins on to these ornaments. Now we’ve got booths in Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Henri Bendel’s, and I’m not staying up till 6 any more. But, I still promote the product — called Kirk’s Folly — by appearing in the store and greeting customers.” Sometimes men will wander over to the booth to find out exactly what it is that the beautiful brunette who is vaguely familiar-looking is wearing and selling. “One day this man carne over, and I was bending over. When I stood up with the ornament in my hair, he burst out laughing. Well, I went overo him and said right in his face. ‘Listen, don‘t you dare insult me or my work. You are a man of utter insensitivity, and I just can’t stand that.’ The man backed away like I was this crazy lady, but I just smiled because I stood my ground. It made me feel terrific for the rest of the day."
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I was surprised that Mary being part of the family the show was named after wouldn't have made Mary her choice when Tracy was picking between the two roles. Since Tracy was interested, but too classy for early Delia, perhaps she would have been interested in being a Delia recast (Crystal Palace Delia). Nancy Addison had originally auditioned for Faith (said about Faith being a doctor-- that not many women were getting into med school [at that time] and she liked that). Danfling was the one who said they had considered Jada Rowland and he said she was (another) inspiration for Faith. On the SN board we were told Nancy Barrett was also envisioned in the role (and then was briefly Faith). Kathryn Breech turned down the role after Faith Catlin was let go (Kathryn didn't want to be a recast and chose the One Life to Live role instead)
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Ryan's Hope From Author Tom Lisanti's Instagram PAGING DR. FAITH COLERIDGE MIGHT HAVE BEEN I interviewed actress Tracy Brooks Swope who played Chris Wylie on Another World in 1982 for my upcoming book, Another World: The Drama Behind Daytime’s Only 90-Minute Soap. She talked about her time as Liz Hathaway on Where the Heart Is prior and how that almost led to a role on Ryan’s Hope. For the last year or so, the head writers were Claire Labine and Paul Mayer who really liked me. When they created and began casting Ryan’s Hope, they invited me to sit down with them and casting director Shirley Rich. They offered me my choice of two roles. I had to decide between Faith Coleridge and Mary Ryan. I would have loved to have played Delia, but they thought I was too classy for it. I chose Faith because she was a doctor. I know they also cast from Where the Heart Is Diana van der Vlis [as Dr. Nell Beulac] and then the great Louise Shaffer, who I loved, came onto the show [as Rae Woodward]. [Bernie Barrow who played Johnny Ryan was also on Where the Heart Is.] But I began to get offers to do prime time shows in California, so I didn’t do it. That was a mistake and I should have done the soap.” The roles of Faith and Mary were constantly being recast and when asked if the creators ever reached out to her again, Tracy replied, “No, they did not. I think they were unhappy with me for walking away from the show."
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A long time for an update since I posted that originally over 10 years ago. Someone sent me this from author Tom Lisanti's Instagram and he posted the following several months ago--- PAGING DR. FAITH COLERIDGE MIGHT HAVE BEEN I interviewed actress Tracy Brooks Swope who played Chris Wylie on Another World in 1982 for my upcoming book, Another World: The Drama Behind Daytime’s Only 90-Minute Soap. She talked about her time as Liz Hathaway on Where the Heart Is prior and how that almost led to a role on Ryan’s Hope. For the last year or so, the head writers were Claire Labine and Paul Mayer who really liked me. When they created and began casting Ryan’s Hope, they invited me to sit down with them and casting director Shirley Rich. They offered me my choice of two roles. I had to decide between Faith Coleridge and Mary Ryan. I would have loved to have played Delia, but they thought I was too classy for it. I chose Faith because she was a doctor. I know they also cast from Where the Heart Is Diana van der Vlis [as Dr. Nell Beulac] and then the great Louise Shaffer, who I loved, came onto the show [as Rae Woodward]. [Bernie Barrow who played Johnny Ryan was also on Where the Heart Is.] But I began to get offers to do prime time shows in California, so I didn’t do it. That was a mistake and I should have done the soap.” The roles of Faith and Mary were constantly being recast and when asked if the creators ever reached out to her again, Tracy replied, “No, they did not. I think they were unhappy with me for walking away from the show.”
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Thank you so much, Carl! I appreciate these little gems you find. People wondered what happened to him after RH. Some people thought Kate Mulgrew might have known since the soap magazines played up a close friendship between the two -- but I think TotallyKate webmaster would have told us at the SN forum if Kate had known anything.
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It may be that Dirty Harry was just the excuse given. It sounded like being fired was a surprise to Andrew -- since he said the viewer response to him was good. Michael Hawkins (Frank#1) said he knew whenever the show was thinking of getting rid of him -- he'd see Frank actors in the hallway. A poster on the SN forum, who knew Sarah Felder (Siobhan #1) later in life, told us that was also how Sarah learned she was going to to be replaced -- Siobhan actresses around the studio (although they didn't bring a recast on until months after Sarah was let go). Mary Carney (Mary #2) said she saw Kate Mulgrew (Mary #1) when she was auditioning ( Kate chose to leave). Andrew didn't see it coming -- so maybe they weren't holding auditions there and Daniel Hugh Kelly was found when he auditioned for General Hospital. The role of Tom Desmond was created for Thomas MacGreevy after he had auditioned for Frank -- I always thought that might have been to replace Michael Hawkins but it could have been Andrew-- although that would have been very early in his (Andrew's ) run. I liked Andrew. He seemed like the son of working class family, a great storyteller, and came across a very solid fellow.
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More age notes Kimberly's arrival led to making Rae younger -- much younger. Rae being 17 when Kimberly was born Kim was using birthdates to get into Rae's safe Frank 5-28- 1946 Rae 10-12-1944 Kim 1-22-1962 Rae would have only been 19 months older than Frank. During their earlier involvement, Rae was told Frank that there was gossip about them -- gossip she said about Frank and an older woman. Soapnet posters called Rae a cougar. It was already noted that Jill was a little older than Frank but Rae's birthdate also meant that Jill was likely older than Rae, too. During Kim's snooping for birthdates, Jill said she was a Leo baby giving Jill a July/August 1944 birthday (that earlier it had been said Jill was 6 years older than Faith). I don't recall how old Kimberly was when she turned up on Rae's door. She said she had turned 17 in the summer of 1979. She was then a quickly given an slightly earlier birthday to make her 18 in January 1980 to make it not seem as bad for a relationship with Seneca. In 1977, Marguerite Beaulac said Seneca was 15 in 1952 so that made Seneca's birth year 1937 -- and 25 years older than Kimberly.
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Yes, Andrew Robinson said they wanted a different kind of leading man. When looking at old SN notes, posters had found transcripts of Star Trek conventions where Andrew talked about RH. It's where many of us heard about the Christmas day firing story for the first time. How when Labine and Mayer were courting Andrew for the role, they told him that the audience rooted for Frank. He liked the idea of playing a sympathetic character for a change. He said the feedback he received from that audience was positive. Daniel Hugh Kelly's issue when he began was that he was so young. He was 25 years old-- and looked he looked 25 years old! Also noted after the first rewind was that Daniel's Frank wasn't as much of the big brother Frank that Michael Hawkins and Andrew Robinson were -- they both spent more time in sibling mode.
