The Siobhan scene with the police training still makes me laugh and is what I associate this recast with.

@DRW50 Thanks for the promos!

On 1/2/2026 at 8:38 AM, Chris 2 said:

Daniel Hugh Kelly is a leading man types which is what was needed for Frank Ryan. Andrew Robinson isn’t, and I knew as soon as he showed up that he wouldn’t work as Frank.

Yes, Andrew Robinson said they wanted a different kind of leading man.

When looking at old SN notes, posters had found transcripts of Star Trek conventions where Andrew talked about RH. It's where many of us heard about the Christmas day firing story for the first time. How when Labine and Mayer were courting Andrew for the role, they told him that the audience rooted for Frank. He liked the idea of playing a sympathetic character for a change. He said the feedback he received from that audience was positive.

Daniel Hugh Kelly's issue when he began was that he was so young. He was 25 years old-- and looked he looked 25 years old! Also noted after the first rewind was that Daniel's Frank wasn't as much of the big brother Frank that Michael Hawkins and Andrew Robinson were -- they both spent more time in sibling mode.

More age notes

Kimberly's arrival led to making Rae younger -- much younger. Rae being 17 when Kimberly was born

Kim was using birthdates to get into Rae's safe

Frank 5-28- 1946
Rae 10-12-1944
Kim 1-22-1962

Rae would have only been 19 months older than Frank. During their earlier involvement, Rae was told Frank that there was gossip about them -- gossip she said about Frank and an older woman. Soapnet posters called Rae a cougar. It was already noted that Jill was a little older than Frank but Rae's birthdate also meant that Jill was likely older than Rae, too. During Kim's snooping for birthdates, Jill said she was a Leo baby giving Jill a July/August 1944 birthday (that earlier it had been said Jill was 6 years older than Faith).

I don't recall how old Kimberly was when she turned up on Rae's door. She said she had turned 17 in the summer of 1979. She was then a quickly given an slightly earlier birthday to make her 18 in January 1980 to make it not seem as bad for a relationship with Seneca.

In 1977, Marguerite Beaulac said Seneca was 15 in 1952 so that made Seneca's birth year 1937 -- and 25 years older than Kimberly.

Edited Thursday at 06:53 PM2 days by safe

Frank's birthday is really interesting. The date, not the year. I remember the scene where Kim asked Jill about their birthdays and she mentioned Frank was a Gemini.

Frank was obviously modeled after John F. Kennedy. Frank was supposed to be killed off very early in the show. I think Labine and Mayer might have even said that in interviews, I'm not sure. He was going to be the tragic lost son who was cut down before he could reach his full potential.

It might be a total coincidence, but Kennedy was a Gemini and his birth date was May 29. (If it was exactly the same date, I would be convinced it wasn't a coincidence).

(Jill was totally a Leo 😂).

I always read that Andrew Robinson was not well received because viewers identified him as a villain due to appearances in movies like Dirty Harry and Charley Varrick.

Yes, Frank was not supposed to survive that fall down the stairs. But ABC intervened and the show was stuck with an actor originally intended for a few flashback scenes.

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

I always read that Andrew Robinson was not well received because viewers identified him as a villain due to appearances in movies like Dirty Harry and Charley Varrick.

He was my favorite Frank. And I saw DIrty Harry when it first came out. It's sad that some people get typecast.

I loved Andrew Robinson as Frank. He had amazing chemistry with the Ryans and his Frank was a nice guy.
DHK was the hunky Frank, whom I also liked a lot. He also had great chemistry with everybody.
GP was the hottest Frank for me and the last one was ok, but everytime I saw him I felt that I was watching the last days of an 80s primetime soap. He had that look.

On 1/22/2026 at 2:00 PM, DeeVee said:

Frank was obviously modeled after John F. Kennedy. Frank was supposed to be killed off very early in the show. I think Labine and Mayer might have even said that in interviews, I'm not sure. He was going to be the tragic lost son who was cut down before he could reach his full potential.

Yes I heard that, too.

Three of the Frank's -- Michael Hawkins, Andrew Robinson, and Daniel Hugh Kelly ---- each played John F Kennedy at some point on their careers. 
Andrew also played Bobby Kennedy  (in the same play where Michael was JFK)

On 1/22/2026 at 3:55 PM, Paul Raven said:

I always read that Andrew Robinson was not well received because viewers identified him as a villain due to appearances in movies like Dirty Harry and Charley Varrick.

<sup>It may be that Dirty Harry was just the excuse given. It sounded like being fired was a surprise to Andrew -- since he said the viewer response to him was good.  Michael Hawkins (Frank#1) said he knew whenever the show was thinking of getting rid of him -- he'd see Frank actors in the hallway. A poster on the SN forum, who knew Sarah Felder (Siobhan #1) later in life, told us that was also how Sarah learned she was going to to be replaced -- Siobhan actresses around the studio (although they didn't bring a recast on until months after Sarah was let go). Mary Carney (Mary #2) said she saw Kate Mulgrew (Mary #1) when she was auditioning ( Kate chose to leave). Andrew didn't see it coming -- so maybe they weren't holding auditions since Daniel Hugh Kelly was found when he auditioned for General Hospital.

The role of Tom Desmond was created for Thomas MacGreevy after he had auditioned for Frank -- I always thought that might have  been to replace Michael Hawkins but it could have been Andrew-- although that would have been very early in his run.</sup>

^{I liked Andrew. He seemed like the son of working class family, a great storyteller, and came across a very solid fellow.}

Edited 59 minutes ago59 min by safe

34 minutes ago, safe said:

Three of the Frank's -- Michael Hawkins, Andrew Robinson, and Daniel Hugh Kelly ---- each played John F Kennedy at some point on their careers. 
Andrew also played Bobby Kennedy  (in the same play where Michael was JFK)

What an interesting factoid!

Michael I think did quite well in theater. Not everyone is suited to soap work.

7 minutes ago, safe said:

The role of Tom Desmond was created for Thomas MacGreevy after he had auditioned for Frank -- I always thought that might have  been to replace Michael Hawkins but it could have been Andrew-- although that would have been very early in his run.

I did not know this. I know that some people did not like him, but I did.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for an Irish brogue.

I think perhaps the problem with him for the audience is first he was in the way of Mary and Jack getting back together, then he functioned the same way with Faith and Pat.

48 minutes ago, safe said:

^{I liked Andrew. He seemed like the son of working class family, a great storyteller, and came across a very solid fellow.}

For me, it's a toss-up between Robinson and Daniel Hugh Kelly. Both actors' personalities meshed very well with that role, as well as with the other personalities on the show.