FlyRightOrchestraGuy

@Chris 2 I know that the proposed Fantasy Island spinoff in question was supposed to be aimed at youngsters. However, was the spinoff series in question supposed to air on Saturday mornings? During the 1975-76 television season, Kimberly Beck co-starred on Westwind, a live-action TV series filmed in Hawaii that aired Saturday mornings. It's my understanding that Beck did a lot of her own scuba diving for Westwind. It's also my understanding that Westwind did all right in the ratings but was canceled after 13 episodes due to high production costs. @SoapDope78 Which types of roles do you think Kimberly Beck fit?

@SoapDope78 Have you seen the 1976 movie Massacre at Central High? Kimberly Beck's in that one. I hope to properly watch that flick myself someday. Can you imagine Beck as an angry, troubled young woman who is questioned by the cops about a serious crime of some kind? I personally find it disappointing that Beck never made a guest appearance on a Quinn Martin TV series such as Barnaby Jones or The Streets of San Francisco? Even though Beck was a Universal Studios contract player during the 1970s, she curiously never appeared on Kojak, The Rockford Files, Baretta, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, McCloud, Columbo, Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, or Quincy, M.E. Even though her famous singer-stepfather Tommy Leonetti appeared in one episode of the original Hawaii Five-O TV series, Beck herself never appeared in any episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O TV series. It's possible for a gal to be a good actress without being star material. Do you think that was the case for Kimberly Beck? Did she qualify as a character actress in your book?

Kimberly Beck of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter fame has never appeared on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, has she? For a time, she was related to both Kim Richards and Kyle Richards by marriage. In fact, the 1979 Fantasy Island episode "Cornelius and Alphonse/The Choice" had both Kimberly Beck and Kyle Richards. Beck appeared in a 1987 episode of L.A. Law, which starred Lisa Rinna's husband Harry Hamlin. (For the record, the L.A. Law episode in question is known as "December Bride.") Eileen Davidson's current husband is Vincent Van Patten, son of the late Dick Van Patten. Beck played Nancy Bradford in the pilot for Dick Van Patten's TV dramedy series Eight Is Enough.

Do you think the writing for Santa Barbara was generally much better? What is your favorite daytime soap opera of all time, SoapDope78?

Has Darnell Williams expressed any interest in appearing in even just one episode of Beyond the Gates? How about Debbi Morgan? How about Victoria Rowell? Given that Beyond the Gates is set in the Washington, DC, area, wouldn't be something if a Captiol alum such as Catherine Hickland, Nicholas Walker, or Debrah Farentino were to make a guest appearance on BTG?

Actually, Kimberly Beck was granted a release from her Eight Is Enough contract so she play a significant role on the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man Book II. (Both Eight Is Enough and Rich Man, Poor Man Book II were ABC shows.) Keep in mind that initial attempts to sell the Eight Is Enough pilot were unsuccessful after it was completed in the spring of 1976. In any case, Beck was not rehired when the pilot finally went to series. I do wonder if Beck was offered roles on other daytime soap operas after she left Capitol. Imagine her in a scene with, say, Judith McConnell on Santa Barbara. By the way, it's "Dianne," not "Diane." Yes, Catherine Hickland did audition for the role of Julie Clegg early on, but she was unsuccessful at the time.

Can you possibly give a specific example, SoapDope? @Chris 2 How about you, Chris 2? Can you possibly give an example of Kimberly Beck being a limited actress during the 1970s or 1980s?

@DRW50 @j swift In any case, Kimberly Beck never had a long-term role on a daytime soap opera or, for that matter, any other television series ever again. She did have a recurring role as Claire Prentice on Dynasty during the 1986-87 television season, but it only lasted four episodes.

@Vee Let me know if you find out anything, Vee. I would like to know if Kimberly Beck ever felt that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was a double-edged sword and/or an albatross around her neck. After all, it's my understanding that a lot of critics bashed and trashed the Friday the 13th feature film franchise during the 1980s, not just Siskel and Ebert. In any case, thank you. @DRW50 If Kimberly Beck had somehow remained with Capitol all the way to the bitter end, do you think her career would really have been that much better? Capitol was a mess during its final months on the air, was it not? I wish that Ms. Beck had left Capitol on considerably better terms than she apparently did. As far as daytime-soap supercouples are concerned, it seems to me that Santa Barbara's Cruz and Eden are much better remembered today than Capitol's Trey and Sloane.

DRW50, what did you think of Kimberly Beck as Julie Clegg? Do you consider it safe to say that Beck and David Mason Daniels were forced down viewers' throats as Julie and Tyler? If Beck was indeed fired from Capitol, why wasn't Daniels fired at the same time that she was? Dane Witherspoon, God rest his soul, was fired from Santa Barbara after just three months. At least Kimberly Beck lasted a year and a half on Capitol.

I have some conflicting information regarding Kimberly Beck's 1983 departure from Capitol. Both this Lynda Hirsch article and this Jon-Michael Reed article appear to indicate that she was fired from the show. In answering someone's question in late 1983, however, Pat Hilton basically said that Beck departed from Capitol so she could "pursue other acting interests." There's no doubt that Beck's slasher movie Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was released less than year after she left the soap opera. According to this page on IMDb, The Final Chapter began filming on October 3, 1983, less than a month after the articles by Hirsch and Reed were released. I do know that Capitol and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter had the same casting directors (Fern Champion and Pamela Basker). I would like to know if Beck was cast in The Final Chapter before or after she was notified of her departure from Capitol. Did Champion cast Beck in The Final Chapter out of sympathy with her? Consider the iconic status of the Friday the 13th franchise and the fact that a lot of Friday the 13th fans think very highly of The Final Chapter (Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn't), I wonder if Beck herself has cleared the air regarding her '83 departure from Capitol in the decades since The Final Chapter was released to movie theaters in April of 1984. (Catherine Hickland, who replaced Beck as Julie Clegg on Capitol, was unable to do so in a 2020 interview with Alan Locher.) Perhaps Beck's departure from Capitol was more amicable than the articles by Hirsch and Reed would lead people to believe. Yes, I am aware that David Mason Daniels, who played Julie's significant other Tyler McCandless on Capitol, was himself let go in early 1985.

No offense, DRW50, but it's my understanding that this article is actually from the June 7, 1983, edition of Soap Opera Digest.