Contessa Donatella

Jill killed her. Her crime was being over 50.

I'm talking about the husband she got after Mark. Are we confused yet? YES! You don't seem to know it but you are referring to her first husband, not Matt. Now, are we together?

Thanks very much for this intel. I did not know.

Look at this, TikTok persona. Isn't he a dead ringer for Josh Swickard. I did a double-take.

I believe that BE & Matt, the father of her two boys, were together when she left GL. Ricky Paull def left first. The only reason that they used Gus's heart was because he decided not to stay. BE was promised that she & Ricky Paull would be romantically paired at AMC. Chuck Pratt not only pulled a fast one, but he lied. Of course, he said appalling things to Lucci & well, everyone in the cast. BE had always wanted to be an architect. When she went to access her money for college, it wasn't there. (typical child actor sob story) Sometime around this time she & Matt parted ways. The boys stayed with her. I think after the debacle at AMC she went to be trained as a paramedic. Personally I thought Rob Bogue did an excellent job, during a difficult time. It may be an unpopular concept but I agree that without Harley there was a hole in the canvas. Not as big as Mo, but, still ... What age difference are you speaking of?

KZ book, Part 2 Kim's mother enrolled her in dance classes and early on she got bitten by the acting bug. She met her future husband, AC Weary in a production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. She fell for him right off. That was during their college years in a summer theatre program. KZ left college without a degree and went on to pursue acting as a student in a conservatory theater. She just did one year there. From San Francisco she moved to Chicago and got an agent, union cards and jobs. The famous GL Casting Director Betty Rea gave her what was her first role on daytime. It was a small short-lived bit. Kim talked about her time as Nola on THE DOCTORS which was where she frequently cried on cue. The soap loved that ability of hers. She would roller skate to work. The then new Alec Baldwin came onto the show. She refers to David O'Brien [AW's Sin Stalker] as “one of the funniest men.” Zimmer reports asking Elizabeth Hubbard [Althea Davis] how she maintained focus on the scene even when she had no dialogue. “Oh, darling, I just try to figure out who FARTED,” was the reply. The movie BODY HEAT gave her a chance to meet the Nola Dancy before her, Kathleen Turner. KZ & AC and their new baby Rachel, moved from New York to Los Angeles where AC found acting work. Then OLTL called with a three-year contract for her to play Contessa Echo DiSavoy. That led to a physical separation between her & AC—New York to Los Angeles. That didn't work out well after only one month. So AC moved back to New York, too, and became a Mr. Mom to Rachel. However, after a thirteen-week cycle, or three months in other words, she was let go because the show was done with the character. She explained how any actor can be let go after each thirteen-week cycle no matter how long the contract was for. KZ book, Part 3 Next it was Betty Rea again, Casting Director at GL, who let Kim's agent know she had a new part with a contract that she wanted KZ to come audition for. That part, of course, was Reva Shayne. EP Gail Kobe and HW Pam Long were other aspects to the audition. [Pam Long is known to fandom to have been a huge contributor to the character of Reva.] As of Nov. 1983 Zimmer had beaten out ten other actresses for the part. Kim says that this was the ultimate collaboration between writer and actress. [Reva, Kim, Pam Long] To Zimmer no other part she had ever played was as complex and challenging as Reva. Just some of the storylines included: time travel; playing a clone; having ESP; marrying all of the men in one family; and hiding in a truck full of refugees crossing the U.S. Border. KZ relates the rumor that Chris Bernau [Alan #1] died in 1989 of some exotic malady he contracted on one of his many travels. Tina Sloan [Lillian] and Kim were both Aquarians. Me, too. KZ book, Part 4 Kim's sons are Max and Jake. Kim doesnt and never did like being called a diva. KZ said that soap contracts were called “golden handcuffs” because you were well paid and had quality work but you couldn't moonlight in other projects. Big party scenes, weddings, funerals, etc. were sixteen to twenty-four hours of work that tape day. [Once when we lived in Brooklyn we ran into Paul Anthony Stewart about 6 p.m. at the subway. He was on the way back to the studio for the rest of just such a tape day. He had the cutest little dog with him.] Zimmer noticed that Beverlee McKinsey was going off her lines in scenes with just Kim; no one else. She inquired if she was doing something to cause it. Bev said that it was Kim's blue eyes; she would get lost in her eyes and her dialogue would just vanish out of her head. Kim told about leaving the show when Reva drove off the unfinished Florida bridge. Her whole family moved to Valencia, CA so her husband could pursue a great teaching job – acting, directing, and stage combat. She got a gig on SANTA BARBARA near the end of that great show and it gave her the opportunity to first work for Paul Rauch, who she adored. KZ also did some guest shots in prime-time. Personally I remember two of them. She was on these favorite shows of mine – BABYLON 5 as a reporter, and DESIGNING WOMEN as an abused wife, stellar performances, both of them. Zimmer described all three of the GL studios. Kim claims one thing as her own fault – gaining 40 lbs. near the end of the show. This book is 303 pages long. It is chock full of well-written, interesting facts, data, truths, opinions and perspectives. Coverage includes: Amish Rebecca; Princess Katherine of San Cristobel; Annie in the airplane, clone Reva; breast cancer; Kyle Sampson; suicide attempt; multiple romances with many different men; her early connection to the Lewises; miscarriage; why she first came to Springfield; slapping Alan; Cross Creek marriage 1989, Always, pregnant after menopause; GL directors and love scenes; Jonathan; WNBA Liberty game with mother-daughter shootout; Celebrity Thongs; Rosie O'Donnell Show; Oprah show; Daytime Emmies (4 wins, 10 nods); “Slut of Springfield; stolen Emmy award. KZ threw two people under the bus, as people sometimes say. First was the show's Costumer. Well, I've known him online since the days he did costumes at AW and he simply would not leave an actress out in the cold by not shopping appropriately for their clothes. The man does his job and does it well! Next was the big dump on GL's last EP Ellen Wheeler. I could've understood if Zimmer blamed John Conboy (EP before Wheeler) and his chosen HW Ellen Weston. Very unpopular with fans, they were dubbed “ConWest”. His overspending created the deficit budget problem and their storylines were nightmares. And, they couldn't even manage good interviews! They began in 2000. There's the cause of the ultimate demise of the show. Look no further! And while you're at it think about what Wheeler inherited. Kim said she hadn't had an EP who was a woman since very early in her career. Could be that was Gail Kobe from when Reva was created & a few years after the start of an admitted Golden Era. She also said she'd never had one who was younger than she was. And, lastly, she said she thought a male EP would have been able to “keep her in line” better. Zimmer related many of the new things that were done on the show including the tags that showed different actors talking about how they found the light; A Day in the Life Of shows; building houses in cities & towns which had been hard-hit. In Biloxi, MS (pronounced like Biluxi with a soft u sound instead of sounding like an o) the show worked with an agency there & built 4 houses with P&G furnishing them & other show sponsors pitching in. KZ credits EW with a lot of good new ideas but she didn't like anything that scared her into thinking the show was on the way out or was too divergent from the traditions of GL. However, in Biloxi Kim got along wonderfully with Ellen & admired her for making things happen. It sounds like there were no tears there. P&G and Ellen introduced a new production model with permanent sets; handheld cameras (complete with a shaky cam effect until they learned how to do the new things well); and GL offices doubling as sets themselves. Personally I loved the new production model but fans were split. Other shows became interested in visiting the set and learning details of what the show was actually doing. Kim didn't care for the new production model, the smaller permanent sets, and the whole shooting in Peapack, NJ, experience. KZ had a particularly nasty encounter with a fan finding her in a bank restroom changing clothes & she was naked when the fan came in! That was before Peapack had its own show house where they could do hair, makeup, costumes, and have some GL offices, to boot. Kim had a bit of contention with the show while everything else new was going on: she was told she would have to take a pay cut at the one year point in a three year contract. She refused saying that she would be glad to consider it when her contract came up for renewal. As a fan, we heard that having already moved some actors off contract and into heavy recurring status (which is how the show lost Jerry verDorn and Maureen Garrett until the end when she came back and some others), the show was basically asking all the veterans to take this pay cut mid-contract. We knew that the show's long-term actors were well paid and had been so for years and most of us thought they should be willing to take the cut. If anyone besides Kim refused we never heard about it, while KZ's contract showdown was even in the soap press. To her credit Zimmer did eventually conclude that Wheeler was just doing what she was hired to do and what she was told to do. Kim was having a terrible time with a long, several passage through menopause. And, she was so constantly so angy about what she saw as the deterioration of the show. She was using alcohol to self-medicate. And, she had that DUI, first and only offense, with a pretty tough court sentencing of punishment that probably also helped her reach a new point about driving after drinking. She devotes a chapter to it and she is open and candid. KZ's anger put me back in touch all over again with my own anger. But, I focus on different things. I am a huge fan of Ellen Wheeler's , have been so for many years. And I'm one of those fans who believe she gave us years of GL that we wouldn't have had if she an my friend and co-HW Jill Lorie Hurst hadn't done such wonders with GL at the end. Another thing I fault is P&G and Televest. The last years of GL and ATWT were the worst ever not to have someone in place as Executive in Charge of Production for P&G. Ellen Wheeler and Chris Goutman had to face all the slings and arrows from CBS alone. MADD was the last pperson to hold that position and she needed to be replace not to have the position eliminated! I hope that this blog makes it clear that I am a big fan of Kim Zimmer, too! Kim's mother died while this was going on, too. Like she really needed real-life grief! She & her mother were very close. It reminded me of how close I was to my own mother & how often we talked both about real life and about the soaps we shared. KZ told about the “So Long, Springfield” Tour that the actors did after the show was over. Kim related the story of the last Daytime Emmy ceremony, that travesty where the GL tribute was cut short. She mentions the nights when she won four of the ten times she was nominated. The book ends with pictures – plenty of them & good ones. I have the kindle edition of the memoir. Sometimes the book pictures don't get rendered so well in that e-book format, but not so with these. They are great, big enough, colorful and with lots of interesting people. That's a good word for this book – interesting! I can highly recommend it to soap fans, to Kim fans, and to GL fans. I hope you get the book. I have read it twice now.

This is my own fan review of KZ's book, Part 1 I'm Just Sayin'! Three Deaths, Seven Husbands, and a Clone! My Life as a Daytime Diva by Kim Zimmer with Laura Morton. NAL New American Library. Penguin Books Ltd. © 2011. “My character is Reva-Shayne-Lewis-Lewis-Spaulding-Lewis-Winslow-Cooper-Lewis-Lewis-O'Neill.” Personally I think the ending of the show left us to believe that Reva & Josh would marry again, so another Lewis would be added on the end. First off KZ tells about driving drunk while in Los Angeles for pilot season and getting arrested for DUI and finding herself sitting in a cold, stark drunk tank cell for ten hours. Zimmer turns her attention to the rainy April 1st when they got the news that GL had been canceled. It was 2009 and April Fools' Day but no one jumped up & yelled, April Fool! According to her, this happened to be the last day TPTB could either cancel or order more episodes. Her completely brilliant suggestion was that they should have done it the day before! KZ noted that changes to the show began around 2000 but that Ellen Wheeler became EP in 2004. She related a rumor that LIFETIME wanted GL—which it did not. Zimmer talks about growing up in a wholesome, healthy family in Michigan. She mentions using Mercurochrome in baby oil as a suntan lotion. That's a distinct memory for me, too

I would not be regretful, not at all. There are many acting jobs where romance is not an issue. She should look into that!

I am in my 70s & I'd put my attire up against hers any day. You know us Boomers we're not gonna get old, much less dress old.

About Deidre, I thought all along that most of the time she was not hugging back. With most people she allowed them to hug her. I still contend that this is an acting choice, she is holding herself ramrod straight as if she's afraid she's about to burst into a million pieces & like Humpty Dumpty never be put together again. It's to show her in tight control. IMO, anyway.

What a find!!!

Soapsuds, don't skip. You know me & you know I wouldn't say it if you wouldn't regret it. I know that sounds crazy this being DAYS & all, but this one time, not crazy. Trust me, and if you hate it, you can always yell at me all you want. DAYS to me this past 2 weeks has been as gold as we know soaps used to be!!! If you do not agree, that's okay too.

Exactly why I stated in these terms: At the level of the show, blah blah blah, because I do not think that P&G would have gone in for that kind of thing. Neither when I think about it, at that time anyway, would NBC have likely done so. But, at the show level, people just being people, I think yes they would have for a beloved colleague.

She is a practicing Orthodox Jew, keeps kosher but none of that impacts her on the show. But what does is that she goes by a "code of modesty". These are practiced by people in different denominations or belief systems. There are many differences. At GH it is my impression that they were led by her & it sorta got made as they went along.

No idea if you're onto something, but I am sure that they could have done something like that. Not having insurance was a death sentence. I am sure that at the level of the show itself, they were more than willing to show that kind of compassion. Good catch!

Apparently I am alone in my 1st reaction: hit person to kill Natalia.

I was reading fast & read You're a nut. ???! Double-take & back-up. Whew LOL

That porch where Victor stepped over an unconscious Carly Manning? They don't think fans remember things about certain sets. Fans do.

Well not for nothing I predict they blow up ChaLynn & of course the end of Drillow ... so, step 2, Willow with Chase, NotBritt with Drew, BLQ bitter & alone where no one cares what she wears, DarkMichael is looking good with Sasha, I predict they both change their last names, then if they get together they go hyphenated: Quartermain-Scorpio? Does it work? If not what if Michael, in Bobbie's name & memory, took Spencer? He just cannot stay Corinthos, it's not him. If absolutely necessary he could take Sasha's new name, they'd be Michael & Sasha Scorpio. Now, does that work?

So funny! LOL! You had me going on.

That does not sound right. How could you possibly change clothes while eating an ice cream & it not be planned? Random? I don't think so. At a minimum the camera operators would have to be informed where to shoot. Or possibly of greater importance, where not to shoot? Edit to add: LOL, feeling like comedy this a.m.?

Thanks, too many cliff scenes!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DJxpFaAp_UY/ Roman vs. Stefano, Cliff top, Beach Below This is one of the most important scenes on DAYS in the 80s. After this nothing was ever the same. DAYS 11-23-84 I have the longer version including quicksand on my usual video hosting site.

Chris did fine work at AW. Jason, a member of the Frame family, he was smarmy but you couldn't look away. For her birthday Felicia had this huge bash, complete with Derek playing the strong man, a room of mirrors, Anna Stuart back as Donna, the whole town was there. When Jason was murdered, almost everyone was a suspect. It was really good soap.