PSNS: Dana Sparks Interview

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http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Soaps/QA...C-4E68B9C3DBBD}

Grace Is Back and She's Mad as Hell on Passions

by Daniel R. Coleridge

Dana Sparks courtesy Michael HelmsDana Sparks, Passions

Passions aficionados really miss Dana Sparks. The former Falcon Crest star was an original cast member of the NBC sudser as Grace Standish Bennett. Just to recap: Grace was a saintly housewife with a bad case of amnesia, mysterious supernatural powers and Satanic enemies who sucked her house into hell! Last seen in 2005, Grace left Harmony to start a new life in Florence, Italy, because she was deceived by her rival, "Poison Ivy" Winthrop (Kim Johnston Ulrich). This week, Grace is finally clued in to the truth when she gets an informative telephone call. That leads her to pick up the phone and let her own fingers do the walking... all over the liars who have wronged her.

TVGuide.com: You're finally returning to Passions for a six-episode stint starting Thursday, Nov. 2. Had you given up on them ever bring Grace back?

Dana Sparks: Kind of, yeah! Just when I thought I had put Passions behind me, someone would ask me when Grace was coming back. I'd think, "Ugh! Stop reminding me." So when I got the call from Jackie Briskey, the Passions casting director, I said, "Great! Sure I'll come back."

TVGuide.com: Might you possibly stay longer than just six shows?

Sparks: Well, I have a feeling. In the scripts I've read, Grace keeps saying that she's coming home. But they don't show me leaving [Europe] or taking a cab or a plane yet. So I figure they will have to shoot some of that sometime. Either that, or they'll go, "Sam, Grace's plane didn't make it." [Laughs] Who knows!

TVGuide.com: So where has Grace been all this time?

Sparks: I think I've been with David Hastings in our flat in Florence. I guess he's doing his photography and I'm eating pasta, touring museums and learning Italian.

TVGuide.com: Let's preview what's happening with your character.

Sparks: The big story break is that Ivy's scheme comes to light. It's revealed that Grace is not really married to David Hastings. In her heart, I think Grace always knew he wasn't the guy. Ivy completely took advantage of Grace's amnesia and just made up this long-lost husband and son from Grace's past. So now I still have this whole backstory that we don't know! That's exciting. Maybe there's another man I was married to that we don't know about. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: Do you ever actually come back to Harmony?

Sparks: The funny thing about returning is that Grace is just calling Harmony from Europe. I spend a lot of time screaming on the phone. I haven't set foot in town yet, in the scripts I've read. It depends on where [Passions head writer] Mr. Jim Reilly's creativity leads. I do have a fantasy sequence with Kay where I'm threatening that I'll bring Charity back to town to take Miguel away from her. That foreshadows Charity returning.

TVGuide.com: It's a relief that Ivy's scam will be exposed at last. I kind of feel bad for Ivy....

Sparks: [Cracking up] Please put it down that I laughed uproariously!

TVGuide.com: Well, I was going to say that Ivy has already paid a price for her homewrecking. Her stolen life with Sam has turned out to be pretty miserable.

Sparks: But she got what she wanted! Ivy wanted Grace's life and she got it. She wears an apron, cooks Thanksgiving dinner and takes care of the kids. The grass is always greener, isn't it? She got Sam, but it's really not all sex on the sand dunes anymore.

TVGuide.com: So has Grace changed at all since she's been gone?

Sparks: I've cut my hair and colored it red a little more. I also went to Italy, like Grace did! My wardrobe's got a little more flair and so does Grace's. You know, she really did fall for Ivy's lies, hook, line and sinker. Now she's coming back as a stronger person. I hope she won't fall for tricks quite so easily anymore.

TVGuide.com: Soap operas are so much fun, aren't they?

Sparks: Oh yeah, they're great. Lately I've been watching Fashion House. It cracks me up!

TVGuide.com: Fashion House is so darn silly, it makes the kooky plots on Passions look like Oscar-worthy material.

Sparks: The key is you TiVo it, so you can hit fast forward and watch it in five minutes. The show is mostly shots of building rooftops and recaps of stuff we've already seen anyway. It's a fun, trashy piece of candy. They've got good-lookin' people on that show.

TVGuide.com: Grace and Ivy need to catfight like Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild do on FH.

Sparks: I think we need a catfight! Tell those Passions fans to write their cards and letters. I need to throw some things. But they throw really badly on Fashion House. Somebody will throw a vase way over a person's head and they just barely duck. It's really funny. Those women really do throw like girls.