The Untouchables of Daytime

[Pest Spray]

On DAYS, there are two I feel are unrecastable. Marlena and Alice. There are others that I don't ever, EVER, want to see recast.

Some actors just leave a mark on their roles that are so significant that they are irreplacable.

[Southofnowhere]

Bianca is 1 of AMC's most recast characters. Something like 6 or 7 actresses have played Bianca. She could be recast without missing a beat.

[Keith]

That's the thing about soaps. Recasts, most of the time, kill a role. Other times they save it. But usually, its not a very good thing for daytime dramas. They thrive on recognizability and, without that, they have little else to go on--especially nowadays.

[EricMontreal22]

Yes but never as an adult. i think that's the thing...

It's funny I watched OLTL from 1991 on, but don't remember the Dorian from that era AT ALL. Does anyone knwo if she's on youtube?

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Since February 1988, Bianca Montgomery has been portrayed by Eden Riegel, Lacey Chabert, Nathalie Paulding, Gina Gallagher, Caroline Wilde, and Jessica Leigh Falborn.

Elaine Princi portrayed Dr. Dorian Cramer Lord from 1989-1993. Strasser returned in 1993.

[CouchTomato]

• Erika Slezak as Viki Lord Davidson. After more than 36 years as Viki, she owns it because she has defined it. Without her, OLTL has been lost.

• Susan Flannery as Stephanie Forrester. Nobody could ever truly be the force to be reckoned with that is "Highness" as Sally called her.

• Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke of the perfect single tear.

• Michael Zaslow as Roger Thorpe & Darlene Conley as Sally Spectra. God bless them. No recasts.

• Anthony Herrera as James Stenbeck

• Liz Hubbard as Lucinda Walsh

• Susan Lucci as Erica Kane

• David Canary as Adam/Stuart Chandler

• Maeve Kincaid as Vanessa Chamberlain Reardon

• Justin Deas as Buzz Cooper

[DaytimeFan]

Susan Lucci as Erica Kane: the most famous soap character in the world. Nobody else would be believable.

Jeanne Cooper as Katherine Chancellor: the grand dame of soaps.

Suzanne Rogers as Maggie Horton: although a largely peripheral character...she's strangely un recast able.

Linda Dano as Felicia Gallant: can you imagine how THAT would have turned out!

Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington Colby: not daytime...but close enough and totally untouchable.

I think what makes many actors 'un recast able' in our eyes is that the lines between where the actor finishes and the character begins are highly blurred. All 5 of the actresses I listed, in my view, ARE their characters. Jeanne Cooper is as much Katherine Chancellor as Katherine Chancellor is Jeanne Cooper. The same thing with Collins, Lucci, Rogers and Dano.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Her absence was not the reason why OLTL was lost.

Flannery is without a doubt The Queen of B&B. I think that currently makes her the most powerful thespian in daytime.

It is hard to determine which character is the most well-known. Is it Erica Kane? Luke Spencer? Laura Webber? Remember that the only daytime show to become a cultural phenomenon was GH. ATWT, AW, Y&R and AMC came close to breaking into mainstream.

[Phoenix11]

My list would look exactly like this, except that I would add Kim Zimmer (Reva, GL).

My first thought when reading this topic was Michael Zaslow. He WAS Roger Thorpe.

[Shawn]

Stephanie Forrester

Marlena Evans Black

Reva Shayne

Luke Spencer

Bo Buchanan

Viki Lord

Dorian Lord

Carly Snyder

Lily Snyder

I'll post more as I think about it.

[TC]

I would tend to say Lucci. People who never watched soaps were aware of her long wait for the Emmy.

[Greg's GL]

ICAM, Phoenix. And when MADD and Paul Rauch decided to re-cast Roger after MZ got sick, they crossed a line for a lot of fans. There's no way that anyone else could play that part. And they SHOULD have written his illness into the story and gave Roger a proper memorial.

[Khan]

>> And they SHOULD have written his illness into the story and gave Roger a proper memorial.

ICAM. It would have been the performance of Michael Zaslow's life.

[RuAsRuAnAu]

With non-heterosexual males? Yes. AMC never became a cultural phenomenon. That is why it is hard to determine just who is the most well-known daytime character of all time. The networks should commission a survey I remember watching Francis & Geary on Good Morning America in 1981 and they discussed how their mainstream success changed their lives.