Ryan's Hope Discussion Thread

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Megan McCracken (Nancy #2/1978) is a fitness instructor in Florida.

Megan McCracken's Super Seniors

[Bright Eyes]

She's scary.

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She's trying to act up a little too much. She does have some presence, and she was OK on RH, but I don't know whether she was ever recognized everywhere she went.

I guess her soap experience helps explain why the opening of her video looks like the opening of AW circa 1985

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Why Michael Hawkins Got The Shaft!

Daily TV Serials - January 1977

He's no longer Frank Ryan on Ryan's Hope. But the painful tale he tells is one that illuminates the hazardous road that soap opera perfomers often tread - even though in his case, there may be light at the end of his journey.

By James M. Elrod

Every once in a great while, an interviewer is blessed with the opportunity to talk with someone who not only has strong feelings, but also the intelligence and courage to express them in an articulate manner.

The following interview with Michael Hawkins, who created the role of Frank Ryan on Ryan's Hope, took place some time ago -- before Andy Robinson inherited the part. Nevetheless, some of the subjects we talked about may explain the problems Michael faced and also exposed the agony and the ecstasy of an actor who poured his heart and soul into his work.

The conversation begins with a little background information.

"My father was a doctor -- very much inspired by Albert Schweitzer. He decided that he wanted to do very much the same sort of thing -- going to countries and treating people who couldn't afford medical care. He went to the east, to Afghanistan, which is where I was born," Michael related.

"Later, we went to Burma and China and then came back here when I was fourteen. My father died soon after, having fulfilled what he wanted to do."

Since Michael had never been to America before the age of fourteen, what sort of impression did he have of the Untied States?

"The sense I had was like a Walt Disney impression of what the United States was.

I expected it to be a fairyland of some kind, and was shocked to find it had grass,trees, buildings, and people just like everywhere else. It gave me the inpresssion that all the world is alike in many ways -- that there is nothing new under the sun."

"But, there is still this purity about my feelings toward the United States that I don't think many people have. There is this feeling of having a crystal that is very precious. I didn't grow up in the generation that threw rocks. But, I consider myself totally apolitical." Michael paused for emphasis then continued, "This is just a wonderful place to live and beats anything else the rest of the world has to offer."

How did Michael come to think of acting and the theater as a career?

"It was just the only place I felt at home. Performing was the only tme I felt alive to the fullest. I went to Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, spent four years there, graduated, had a couple of season of stock, and then went to Stratford, Connecticut (for the Shakespeare company there). I came to New York, studied with Stanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, and then went to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where as a matter fo fact, I met Michael Levin (now Jack Fenelli on Ryan's Hope). Then I got back to New York, where I did some off Broadway, including Macbeth with James Earl Jones. It was the Mobil touring production that Joe Papp did. We took it to all the boroughs of New York."

"And then I got the soap thing."

Something in Michael's' tone of voice told me that the real interview was just about to begin.

"Soap opera was a completey new thing for me. Doing a show a day -- when you've been used to rehearsing a month for a show you do in the evenings -- it is quite a change. It's taken me six years and as many shows to really get a handle on what I am doing. Some people pick up soap acting just like that," he said, snapping his finger for emphasis, "but not me. I've been on six of them, and I've been ignominiously fired from many. Practically all of them!"

"I was fired from Love Is a Many Spendored Thing, the last one I did before Ryan's Hope. It fell apart about 3 months after I left. But I took over from David Birney, which right away is a tough situation. David was a very good, popular star, who was identified with the part. And it's always tough to repalce someone like that. Then, up until the last week I was on the show (and I was on it for a year and a half) the directors were still calling me David."

"They just kept thinking and hoping it was David that was playing it and not me. So, pyschologically, it wasnt right. It wasn't home. I was still learning."

"There is so much pressure on the soaps, so much depends on you. It's on a smaller scale than nightime, and it's a step toward nighttime, a step an actor is wise to take, I think. It gives you a chance to learn about working with the camera, hitting you mark, and all that."

Mchael grinned, "I did one film called Truckin' Man, It was shown around last winter. And it's the kind of a film that you talk back to. It's so corny and so bad and so thrid rate that you start sayiing things like, 'Oh, so you're not going to say that, are you?"

"The film is really not ever worth mentioning except that, at the time, I wanted to do a film and to see what I looked like on the screen. And I looked good, but I was two years away from doing what I'm doing now on Ryan's Hope. Now, I'm doing work, which for the first time, I'm extemely proud of."

By the this time, I felt Michael was someone not afraid to talk about his probelms with Ryan's Hope.

"My fortunes on that show have been incredible," he admitted. "The character waa originally concieved to be killed after ten weeks -- to die from being pushed down the stairs by his wife. But the scenes that I did -- the flashback scenes of what I was like before I was pushed -- were so good and they ( the creators and producers) were so excited that they completely changed their concept and kept the character alive. Killing the character -- the hero -- was to be a publicity move to gain attention to the new show. They practically had the funeral for Frank and then brought him back to life."

"In the meantime, I happened to be in Sherlock Holmes on Broadway. Dennis Cooney (Jay Stallings on As the World Turns) was playing Dr. Watson, and I was understudying him. Then, when ATWT became an hour-long show, Dennis had to leave Sherlock Homles about three months before it ended. I had already done this how about thirty or forty times, because Dennis would be too tired after doing World Turns. Doing a soap opera and Broadway play at the same time is murder! Even Dennis Cooney was having problems and Dennis was, at that point, I think, far more on top of his soap opera acting than I was. Again, I had been at it for six years, but I didn't quite have it. I couldn't get the key to it."

"Anyway, since they changed the entire concept of the show to accommadate the fact that Frank Ryan was going to live, they got behind in their writing. I need at least five good days with the script to feel comfortable with it, and I was getting my script about a day in advanced with three or four scenes in them. All of sudden, Frank began to talk his head off. So, the pressure of doing Dr. Watson at night, and coming in and doing the show the next day wore at me until Wap! There was no way I could learn those scripts and do both."

"I started reading the whole show -- three or four times a week -- off the prompter. It was lousy, and they fired me when the thirteen week cycle came up. They went on a nation-wide search for a replacement for me. After turning up nothing in New York, they went out to Hollywood and came back with six guys on tape."

"In the meantime, I had quit Sherlock Holmes. And they finally heard about my needing the scripts in advanced. This was last November (of 1975). Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I had the next weeks scripts, I came back Monday and it was dynamite. And I continued to do good work. Then the day before Christmas, they called my agent and said, 'We hear from the directors that Micahel has been doing marvelous work." The reports about me were so sterling, that my agent told them they should pay me more! And they did!"

"And so, I began doing the show without a contract and making about seventy-five dollars more per show than I had been earing originially, when I had the contract."

"This went on for about six months.They kind of backed off on Frank a bit, and I could relax some. And then, all of a sudden, they decided to bank everything they had on making the show a hit, and they laid it all on Frank Ryan. He would be the central charaacter and would be on five days a week."

"So I said,'Pay me more again. If you're going to bank the whole show on me, pay me for it.' And they did, but I still don't have a contract."

"Then, to cover themselves, they started auditioning more Frank Ryans right under my nose. Every day, there would be three or four guys who were the mirror images of me, up there reading a script with 'Frank Ryan' on it."

"But now I am at the top of my form. You know when I told you that I was searching for a key -- for something that worked and was right? Well, I've finally found it." Michael said quietly, "I finally found it. And just in time," he laughed.

Looking back on it now, it's no laughing matter that it obviously wasn't enough time.

"Prompted by the appearance of Michael's seven year old son, Christian, the conversation briefly turned to his family. Michael's been married for eight years to Mary Jo Slater, but they are currently separated. Christain is an only child, and if Michael has his way, will remain so.

"I had younger brothers myself. When I was about five, I was rather shocked that my parents would think of having more after I was there. I certainly thought I was enough. I was 'put out' by this-- and I think I have been ever since. This feeling is a fascinating thing, though. There is also the feeling that it's bascially the same situation with these guys auditioning for a part. What are they doing wanting to be in the same family!"

Back to the subject of not working under contract, Michael said, "That piece of paper means exactly nothing They could fire you at any time. I've been fired before from a show that owed me thousands of dollars. They got out of it, because they claimed I was a 'menace' to the show. I don't want a contract. They pay me to go in and do a job. Everybody knows that when your moment comes, you go -- either way."

Prophetic, it turned out, but didn't this lack of confidence in Michael make him angry?

"Well, healthily angry. You see, I know I can do it, but they don't know I can do it. I have total confidence that I can make the show a hit and can make Frank Ryan very important, but they're still not sure. To be fair, I have taken my time getting my act together. And my act has includes many people, including my psychiatrist, who is a very important part of my life. He is the most exciting man I have ever met. He has helped me tremendously to clarify my ideas and to get myself together."

Of course, if I hadn't fallen completely a part two years ago, and hit rock bottom, I would have never been able to gather the people around me that I needed in order to reconstruture and to go in another whole direction."

Does it bother Michael to talk about that period of his life?

"No, I don't have any qualms about talking about it. You can call it whatever you like -- a nervous breakdown, or hopitalization, or whatever. Let's face it, I had a marvelous couple of months in New York University Hospital," Michael stated with an ironic half-smile, " sitting around and thinking about the way things were. I was fortunate to have a good psychiatrist."

"But now you saw people like Gary Moore and Dick Van D-yke coming out about alcoholism. Joshua Logan has let it be known that he uses lithium to control manic-depressive cycles. These things exists. And when you deal with this sort of emotional environment and with the pressure that an actor deals with, there are all sorts of ways to screw up. And I've done 'em all. It's all a matter of going back to the drawing board and starting over again. So, you've failed. I've failed many times more, but I'm not ashamed of any of them. Each failure has given me new insights into how to succeed."

"The whole point is when I succeed, I want people to know that, in the process, I have failed before, too."

I sat there a minute absolutely astounded at Michael's calm courage and honesty about a part of his life that many people never deal with.

Weeks later, I was to be reminded of that courage when I heard that a new Frank Ryan had been cast, and that Michael was 'out'. I approached the call to Micahel with trepidation because I knew how important the role of Frank Ryan was to him -- as you, the reader, must know from the proceeding statements.

Michael's voice was light-hearted. He said he still only had the warmest feelings toward everyione involved with Ryan's Hope and emphasized that it was his decision to leave.

He had talked with the producers months earlier about his desire to finish up his assignment, sometime in November. So, things worked out because that was when Andy Robinson took over.

Michael did stress however that he had become disenchanted with the character of Frank since I had interviewed him. Frank had suddenly lost most everything he valued in the world. In Michael's view, Frank was becoming depressingly close to being a loser and there wasn't much temptation for him to continue playing Frank.

Coincidentally, the new Frank, Andy Robinson, is an old friend. Andy played Bobby Kennedy to Michael's JFK years ago in the Broadway play MacBird. In fact, before Michael had married Mary Jo, Andy had been one of her suitors. But she chose Michael, even though there seems to be some difficutlies in the marriage now that may not be resolved.

As for the future, Michael is working on a nightclub act that hopefully will showcase his singing and comedic talents. He also wants to return to classical stage acting, and expects to journey soon to Hollywood for a film and nighttime TV career.

Michael has left a impressive memory on every viewer of Ryan's Hope. He's not afraid of facing the future, and in spite, of all the downs and pitfalls, Michael has always come through and risen above them. In his own words, "Every failure has given me new insight into how to succeed."

And he will!

[DRW50]

Thanks for typing that out. It's more insight into what was going on at that time. Honestly they should have recast Frank as soon as they decided to keep Frank around, but then, I guess it didn't hurt ratings or anything, so perhaps I'm wrong. I just think he killed a lot of what the Frank/Jill/Delia story was supposed to be.

[Paul Raven]

Just caught up with that interview. Always interesting to read that behind the scenes stuff. For whatever reason Michael Hawkins comes across as a little flakey. I remember some years later SOD reported he was now using the name Michael Gainsborough and was attempting to relaunch his career.

He is now 75 years old and Wikipedia says he became a composer.

I wonder what his relationship is like with his son.

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From the May 1981 Rona Barrett's Daytimers (Laufer Publishing Company).

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Ilene Kristen interview from August 3, 1982 Digest (Network Publishing Corporation).

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Edited December 15, 2010 by CarlD2

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May 1976 TV Dawn to Dusk (Ideal Publishing Corp)

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Thanks for posting this, I'm sure it took a lot of work.

I can see where DS was a tough slog but it's tough to imagine RH being better, but then I guess it depends on her perspective. Did she know she was only there for the short term?

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No, I'm just copying them after they are put up at the Soapnet forum.

From what others have said - no, she didn't know. I don't think the show knew, either.

She was announced in the magazines and newspapers as the NuFaith. Nancy said her depature was 'mutual', but apparently it was the shows decision.

Do you know if she ever became a psychiatrist?