FlyRightOrchestraGuy

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.