Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Are there any other daytime actresses in that time period that you think could have convincingly played Jill? Any ideas?

[danfling]

Although I am not all that familiar with the work of Marcia Kavanaugh (and she created the role of the reporter on this show), I think that she could have handled the role of Jill.

 

Also, I think that Lara Parker is a good enough actress to have played this role successfully.

 

Does anyone know which actresses auditioned for this role?

[danfling]

Jillian had grown up in Manhatten.    I think that actresses who grew up in New York (as had Nancy Altman) would have had an advantage.  Of course, ethnic looking actresses or actresses with Brooklyn or Bronx accents would not be the type of actresses who would normally be considered.

 

Barbara Rodell comes to mind.   Other New York natives are Alberta Grant (whose acting ability, I feel, would have been good enough), Kelly Wood (whose work I have not seen in many years, and  whose talent I cannot really remember), and Leigh Lassen (who was actually related to royality).

 

Ms. Parker was a Southern actress, and another possible Southerner would have been Sherry Mathis.

 

Susan Sullivan certainly has the talent for the role.   Maybe even Katheryn Leigh Scott.

 

Ms. Altman was a beauty, and I envision a beautiful actress in this role.  Ms. Rodell may not have been pretty enough.  Susan Harney (Alice #2 on Another World) had beautiful looks, and she also possesses a lot of talent.

 

If you think that some of these actress would have been too old or possibly too young, please comment.

[danfling]

I have been thinking of actress who could convincingly have played Gillian. I have come to the conclusion that all of the actresses listed above have pros and cons. The one actress who I think only had one con (which I will mention in a moment) is Laurie Heinemann (As the World Turns, Another World). The only con that I know of is that she may have been under contract to Another World at the time of Ryan's Hope's premiere.

Also, Jane Elliott could have played Gillian, but I think that age would have proven a problem.

[amybrickwallace]

Per the AW Homepage, Laurie first aired as Sharlene in September 1975.

[safe]

Shortly before the cancellation was announced in the fall of 1988 -- newspaper column reported that they asked Nancy Addison Altman to return  to Ryan's Hope and she declined. It then went on to say that they were considering recasting the role.

Edited April 29, 2018 by safe

[amybrickwallace]

Wow, I can't even imagine a recast Jill. I'm still glad she came back for the show's final episodes.

[safe]

Maybe they could have just had Jill presumed dead in some kind of accident in Australia -- no body found. Bess or Maggie could have been watching Mary and why she wouldn't  have been with Jill at the time of the accident. If Nancy ever did agree to return-- just say she had a recurrence of her amnesia caused by the accident.

[Khan]

If they had recast Jillian, they would have ended up killing her off, because I doubt very few who watched RH would have accepted anyone other than Nancy Addison in that part.  Next to Helen Gallagher, Bernie Barrow and maybe Michael Levin, she was the heart and soul of RH.

[amybrickwallace]

Maybe they would have accepted someone like Sherry Mathis as a Jill-like character. Nancy WAS Jill. I too doubt that the audience would have accepted anyone else in the role.

[safe]

Wonder why they changed their minds about how to write Jill out 

Newspaper/December 1987

Bye, Nance. Dec. 9 will mark Nancy Addison Altman's last day as Jillian Coleridge Ryan on "Ryan's Hope," one of the few actors who has been with the show since it premiered back in 1975. A strong and reliable actress, she garnered two Emmy nominations during her years as Jill. She and her husband, former "20/20" producer Daniel Goldfarb, are moving to California, where Altman will be making rounds of film auditions and Goldfarb will be pursuing a new career as a screenwriter. Meanwhile, back at "RH," there were reports that the writers were going to send Jill off with a flourish by getting her involved in a political scandal or putting the character in a coma just in case Nancy decides to return in the future. Now, they've decided to simply send Jill off to Australia to visit her mother. Soap Bits - Even though John Sanderford is angry that his "Ryan's Hope" character, Frank Ryan, has been relegated to the back burner, he just signed a new 18-month contract...


____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Considering that Nancy felt bored her last year and a half the show --perhaps it was just a little too soon when they asked her to return having just left 8 or 9 months earlier.

Edited April 30, 2018 by safe

[amybrickwallace]

I wonder why they didn't write Frank out at the same time. It didn't really make sense for them to have a long-distance marriage.

[safe]

 

 

I hope they had Frank make visits to see Jill & Mary in Australia throughout his year in Riverside without them

[amybrickwallace]

Let's hope so!!

[DRW50]

Bernie Barrow has a big role in this episode.

 

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