amybrickwallace

I know - boo hiss to them.

I know what you mean. I hate seeing Carolee being verbally tortured day in and day out by the one person who is supposed to love her more than anyone else. The sooner the truth about Mona is revealed to Sonny Boy, the better!!

My maternal grandmother's first name was Nancy. We were so close, and even though she's been gone since 1995 - sometimes it feels like just yesterday. Plus, Helen Wagner was born the same year as both of my paternal grandparents. You hit it right on the head - those shows were about family, multigenerational family. That is something that none of the remaining soaps really have (with the possible exception of DAYS - there are still Hortons and Bradys in Salem, with characters like Maggie, Doug and Julie serving as the parental figures). Again, thank goodness for DVDs and YouTube that people can still get their fix of the glory days of soaps.

In today's reruns, we saw the debut of Dr. Winston Croft. The performer who originated the role was Philip Sterling, who is one of those character actors whose face you see everywhere in classic TV reruns. He was in six episodes of Barney Miller alone - and that show was notorious for using the same guest actors over and over again (in a good way).

That is so sweet. My maternal grandfather passed on before I was born, and while I had a good relationship with my paternal grandfather (who passed away when I was 23) - he had the strongest bond with my brother. Plus, Don Hastings just played the role to perfection. I imagine he/Bob served as a surrogate father/grandfather figure for many ATWT fans.

^ That's great. Sharon Gabet is one of the most charismatic performers I've ever seen on daytime OR primetime. Even when the material wasn't that great, she always made it work. She always had that twinkle in her eye, and it was obvious that she was having the time of her life playing Raven.

Same here - not to mention Liz Hubbard, Larry Bryggman, Kathleen Widdoes...

He was. GG returned to the role of Dr. Mark Dante on GH in 1982 and stayed for about a year. I like to think that had he been available, he would have reprised Dr. Nick Bellini one last time as TD was ending. So did I, even though the story they were in was a dog.

I don't think Nancy Donohue (Nancy) or Marta Heflin (Shana) had any other daytime roles after TD.

Yes, to both ATWT and EDGE - both shows debuted 4/2/1956.

What year was this? 1980?

Nice! Who do you think were the best writers GL had?

A Martinez's gig on DAYS as Eduardo Hernandez is coming to an end...more details on Spoiler Island.

Thank you. Sharon Gabet said in a podcast interview a couple of years ago that the storyline where Brittany was deaf was some of the best acting she had ever done, but that they kept making the character more and more of a victim that she gradually came to dislike the character herself. On top of everything else, she was pregnant with her second child, dealing with a toddler and the commute to AW's Brooklyn studios was too draining. Her husband appealed on her behalf and she got released from her AW contract a few weeks early.

Those of you who were watching back then - what did you think of Sharon Gabet as Brittany?

Marta Heflin was indeed excellent, and they should have kept her on. To my knowledge, TD was her only soap role. Marta was the niece of Oscar-winning actor Van Heflin and AMC actress Frances Heflin (her father was their brother, Martin Heflin). She was in two other Robert Altman films before Jimmy Dean (like Cher and Sandy Dennis, she originated her movie role in the Broadway play) - A Wedding (which also featured Virginia Vestoff) and A Perfect Couple. Other major films she appeared in were A Star is Born and Scorsese's King of Comedy. Like you said, it seems that her big love was the stage. She frequently appeared on and off-Broadway, as well as being a cabaret singer in NYC. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Marta_Heflin__Film_and_Broadway_Actress__Dies_at_68-225353771.html

Danielle von Zerneck (Lou Swenson) in 2015 with her sister:

There was a character called Wendy Porter on TSS sometime in the 1960s who was played first by a pre-ATWT Rita McLaughlin, and she was replaced by Julie Mannix because the show wanted the character to be racier. Julie Mannix not only starred on a soap, but had a daughter who would one day star in a soap - Danielle von Zerneck (GH; also well known as Donna Ludwig in La Bamba). Julie Mannix von Zerneck co-wrote a book called Secret Storms with the daughter she and her husband Frank had been forced to give up for adoption prior to their marriage. Here's info on the book and a couple of book trailers: http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/julie-mannix-von-zerneck-and-kathy-hatfield.html

Not only did he ruin the Bellini marriage, but he eviscerated both characters individually (this was when Virginia Vestoff was on). I think they had divorced fairly recently when he took the TD gig in late 1969. They had stepped down from Love is a Many Splendored Thing in 1968, when Jane Avery refused to continue to work with him. Apparently theirs was NOT an amicable split. Per imdb, TD was Ira Avery's swan song to TV. He passed on in 1992.

Ira Avery's stint on the show was an unmitigated disaster. The only good things under his watch were the introduction of Greta (as played by Eileen Kearney) and the story she plays out, and also introducing Richard Niles as Rico Bellini (Nick's nephew) in 1970. His story would eventually tie in with Greta's, with Julie Forrest (Ginger Gerlach) being the common denominator. By that point, Stanley Silverman had come in as co-HW - so who knows who had the better story ideas by then.

Joan Fontaine got an Emmy nomination for that part. It really would have been interesting if they had kept an actress of her caliber around longer.

Cleveland's own Ernie Anderson...God rest him. He had one of the most distinctive voices as a TV announcer ever had. Before moving West, he was known here as "Ghoulardi" and hosted one of those creature feature shows every week. Speaking of Linda Evans/Krystle...sad: http://people.com/celebrity/dynasty-star-linda-evans-talks-disturbing-2014-dui-arrest/

I just had a through the mail autograph success with Sharon DeBord, who played Nurse Sharon for many years beginning in the 60s until the early 70s. She also wrote me a lovely letter. The screen caps I sent her to autograph were of her guest spot on Bewitched. Hopefully I can get them posted up here one of these days.

I just had a through the mail autograph success with David Elliott (Billy). Hopefully I can get these responses posted soon.

I know - I was thinking the same thing (and he was addicted to sleeping pills, just like Mike). His pill addiction finally came to a head in late 1978, and he had to go to a rehab center in Kansas to finally kick the habit. This is what led Karen to go to NYC to cut a solo album with one of the hottest producers in music at the time, Phil Ramone. Of course, that's another story for another board...