For all the talk on Guiding Light threads about how many Santa Barbara people wound up on GL

No one talks about how many Santa Barbara people would up on All My Children

John Callahan, Eva La Rue, Marj Dusay, Vincent Irrizary, Marcy Walker, Sydney Penny, Robin Mattson, Roscoe Born - I'm probably forgetting more people but that is just off the top of my head. 

Edited October 11Oct 11 by TheyStartedOnSoaps

This is about Missy Reeves remembering her time at Santa Barbara,
(on the occasion of 40 years since she first taped at DAYS).


https://x.com/RemindMag/status/1976401054670438583

Melissa Reeves is celebrating 40 years since she joined the cast of #DaysOfOurLives. https://t.co/3F6OjcBbLT

— ReMind (@RemindMag) October 9, 2025

 

published October 9, 2025: 
Melissa Reeves - brief interview about her time at Santa Barbara. (interviewed by Stephanie Sloane)
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/36005/days-of-our-lives-melissa-reeves-santa-barbara/


(that article includes this clip)
https://www.facebook.com/santabarbara8493/videos/1360776278111660

 

 

Edited October 11Oct 11 by janea4old

By my calculation, Robin Mattson was 32 when she was on Donahue

She had already appeared on GL, GH, and RH.  Santa Barbara being her fourth iconic soap role.  It is remarkable how young she was, and yet she is styled like a middle-aged woman of the period.  For comparison, in 1988 she was two years younger than Sofia Mattsson who just left GH as Sasha. (randomly search for GH actresses in their early 30s, and she's the least reactive).

Obviously, that is fashion.  Yet, I’m sure my memory of Gina’s age on Santa Barbara was shaped less by canon and more by how she was styled. The wardrobe, the hair, the way she moved through a room.  It all of it suggested a woman older than her supposed years. By 1988 she’d already weathered multiple marriages, betrayals, schemes, and reinventions. 

It’s a sharp contrast to how younger characters are often styled today: polished but passive, dramatic but rarely decisive.

 

1 minute ago, j swift said:

By my calculation, Robin Mattson was 32 when she was on Donahue

She had already appeared on GL, GH, and RH.  Santa Barbara being her fourth iconic soap role.  It is remarkable how young she was, and yet she is styled like a middle-aged woman of the period.  For comparison, in 1988 she was two years younger than Sofia Mattsson who just left GH as Sasha. (randomly search for GH actresses in their early 30s, and she's the least reactive).

Obviously, that is fashion.  Yet, I’m sure my memory of Gina’s age on Santa Barbara was shaped less by canon and more by how she was styled. The wardrobe, the hair, the way she moved through a room.  It all of it suggested a woman older than her supposed years. By 1988 she’d already weathered multiple marriages, betrayals, schemes, and reinventions. 

It’s a sharp contrast to how younger characters are often styled today: polished but passive, dramatic but rarely decisive.

 

Great observation. Today I see 50-60 year old characters dressed like mid 20s. Sometimes given mid-20s storylines too LOL. It's so different. And I don't actually mind it when of course... it's not overdone. I am 30, but would like to LOOK 30 for at least 30 more years. Hahaha.  

Problem is that they're styled younger and act younger/immature vs how people acted like the 80s/90s.

Some of the styling was a lot better in the 80s and 90s.

51 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Problem is that they're styled younger and act younger/immature vs how people acted like the 80s/90s.

Some of the styling was a lot better in the 80s and 90s.

There's a strange culture in place now where older women are styled younger while many younger women, at least those with money, seem to carve up their faces to try to look older. 

I know someone who is in her 70s but tries to style her hair the same way she did 50 years ago, part of how she tries to act much younger, behavior that has led to multiple falls and surgeries...I don't think someone should have to act a certain age, but it does make you worry.

Of course there are many men who make the same mistakes, or worse.

The mid/late '80s had the issues where a lot of women seemed to have to dress older or more conservatively to try to "prove" something. On SB I think Marcy Walker also had some unflattering styling for similar reasons. 

Edited October 13Oct 13 by DRW50

6 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

There's a strange culture in place now where older women are styled younger while many younger women, at least those with money, seem to carve up their faces to try to look older. 

I know someone who is in her 70s but tries to style her hair the same way she did 50 years ago and tries act much younger, leading to multiple falls and surgeries...I don't think someone should have to act a certain age, but it does make you worry.

Of course there are many men who make the same mistakes, or worse.

The mid/late '80s had the issues where a lot of women seemed to have to dress older or more conservatively to try to "prove" something. On SB I think Marcy Walker also had some unflattering styling for similar reasons. 

At times, it can be quite disturbing. In the context of soap operas... the absence of really grown-up... mature... stories... really depresses me sometimes. Take Bold, for instance... they want us to believe that Brooke... who’s nearing 70 in a few years... is still fixated on one thing... winning a man. That’s it. Here’s a grandmother whose only trick is to put her lingerie and seduce Ridge. It’s almost grotesque at times, and it’s not because of KKL’s looks (in fact, she appears decades younger) but because of the tiresome, repetitive nature of it all. When you hit your mid-60s and still behave like a 20-something desperate fool... showing no signs of maturity or growth... it’s just pitiful. I have no issue with women and men looking attractive and being styled in a youthful way, but I crave mature storylines too. Something deeper than just 'will you marry me.'

However, there are some people like that... that keep making the same mistakes until their last day. And it's a pathology that soap operas embrace a lot.

But, look at it the other way.

If RM was on Donahue with Vincent Irizarry, in her early 30s.  She would soon be playing a story where Gina pretends to be blind in order not to lose Dr. Scott Clark to a younger woman. 

So, poor Robin is like 32, playing the older, scorned, desperate lover...

Then she was typecast as that for the next 30 years.

Edited October 13Oct 13 by j swift

It's not uncommon to look back at the 70's and 80's and think how much older people looked then.

It was the fashions and standards of the time.

Now we have someone like Michelle Stafford who at 60 looks nothing like say, Frances Reid at that age.

10 minutes ago, Maxim said:

At times, it can be quite disturbing. In the context of soap operas... the absence of really grown-up... mature... stories... really depresses me sometimes. Take Bold, for instance... they want us to believe that Brooke... who’s nearing 70 in a few years... is still fixated on one thing... winning a man. That’s it. Here’s a grandmother whose only trick is to put her lingerie and seduce Ridge. It’s almost grotesque at times, and it’s not because of KKL’s looks (in fact, she appears decades younger) but because of the tiresome, repetitive nature of it all. When you hit your mid-60s and still behave like a 20-something desperate fool... showing no signs of maturity or growth... it’s just pitiful. I have no issue with women and men looking attractive and being styled in a youthful way, but I crave mature storylines too. Something deeper than just 'will you marry me.'

However, there are some people like that... that keep making the same mistakes until their last day. And it's a pathology that soap operas embrace a lot.

When you don't tell stories about how people change with age, you're missing out on the full soap experience. EastEnders has a character, Kathy, who, probably because she looks young for being in her 70s, is often given stories that involve affairs, or, at one point, battering her daughter-in-law, with no real consequence or meaning. And various references to her passing for 49, being a GILF, and so on. But that's something that has bugged me about soaps for 20+ years now.

I do wonder how SB would have used Sophia if the show had continued. 

Well, Sophia was easily taken in by con man, Ken, before the show wrapped. She was a loving mom to her kids and stepson, Mason, and wife to CC, but Sophia also had a streak of needing attention/excitement/validation, which is how I think Ken got to her, since she and CC were estranged. (Maybe it was also part of her being a former actress, the need to be seen.) 

So it would have been interesting to see how Sophia approached her truly "golden era", especially dealing with CC's death (since Jed Allan obviously passed away a few years ago and Judith McConnell is still with us!). 

8 minutes ago, Wendy said:

Well, Sophia was easily taken in by con man, Ken, before the show wrapped. She was a loving mom to her kids and stepson, Mason, and wife to CC, but Sophia also had a streak of needing attention/excitement/validation, which is how I think Ken got to her, since she and CC were estranged. (Maybe it was also part of her being a former actress, the need to be seen.) 

So it would have been interesting to see how Sophia approached her truly "golden era", especially dealing with CC's death (since Jed Allan obviously passed away a few years ago and Judith McConnell is still with us!). 

There did always seem to be a bit of Norma Desmond with Sophia. 

Didn't she already have a relationship with a younger man who tried to kill her (TJ or whoever with the awful mullet), or am I mixing stories up? 

I do think seeing how she'd move forward after she and CC reconciled for the 50th time could have been interesting. (I imagine ten more breakups, but something else, please)

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Didn't she already have a relationship with a younger man who tried to kill her (TJ or whoever with the awful mullet), or am I mixing stories up? 

Yes, Sophia was involved with younger TJ, played by the late Chip Mayer. And so was Kelly, around the same time. Whole thing seemed sort of sleazy, to me. Once Carrington Garland was cast as Kelly, the whole thing with TJ seemed to be swept under a rug. Best place for it.

3 minutes ago, Wendy said:

Yes, Sophia was involved with younger TJ, played by the late Chip Mayer. And so was Kelly, around the same time. Whole thing seemed sort of sleazy, to me. Once Carrington Garland was cast as Kelly, the whole thing with TJ seemed to be swept under a rug. Best place for it.

Thanks. I guess that's the good and the bad of burning through stories so quickly.

I can't see Carrington or Robin going near him. (nothing against Mayer himself - the character just seems like a sleaze)

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I can't see Carrington or Robin going near him. (nothing against Mayer himself - the character just seems like a sleaze)

The ironic thing is, Chip Mayer was married to one of the Kelly Capwell actresses in real life - Eileen Davidson (in the 1980s, her first husband), who obviously was the final Kelly, and she was already divorced from Mayer before taking over that role.