Love of Life Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

They do make a striking couple. I wish more were out there.

I guess you've seen this. It's a fun little clip and seems very different for that time.

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Edited September 8, 2011 by CarlD2

[ZoeTate]

Thanks Carl - love that clip. Something about Toni (maybe her voice?) reminds me of Sharon Tate. Considering how Y&R was heralded as starting the youth movement in soaps, I think both LOL with Tess, Bill, Sally, Jamie and Kate were prominent in the late 60's and LIAMST with Mia, iris, Mark, Laura etc. were great early 20's characters in soaps.

[DRW50]

This has a few photos I hadn't seen before. October 1976 TV Mirror salutes LOL on 25 years.

[DRW50]

[DRW50]

If anyone wants any more specific dates - the October 1967 TV Picture Life mentions Bob Shaw (Robert J. Shaw) becoming headwriter. So that's a month or two before the publication date I guess.

[Paul Raven]

Love this photo of Tess and Bill.

[DRW50]

She looks very exotic there.

[Paul Raven]

Marie Masters and Eileen Letchworth played mother and daughter Sharon and Hester.

Edited October 1, 2011 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

That's a great photo. Marie - so beautiful!

[Paul Raven]

Ben,Betsy and Mia

Edited October 4, 2011 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

Betsy looks very mousy.

I still wonder if Chandler would have been best in another role, maybe a long lost son of Rick's or something.

[FrenchFan]

Who were Sharon and Hester Ferris ? Didn't know Marie Masters and Eileen Letchworth were on SFT.

[DRW50]

June 1975 TV Radio Mirror

[DRW50]

hearts. It is with a bit of sadness for us all that Sally has left the show, but because she's got an anxious husband living in California, she had no choice. When Sally married Ron Harper (ex-Bill Prescott - Where The Heart Is) it was assumed that since he was to star in Planet of the Apes, she would then be joining him in Hollywood. But her contract had not yet expired and producers kept hoping that Ron would return to New York if the show was not a success. Well, Planet of the Apes was cancelled but Ron still did not want to return to New York.

Talking with Sally days before she headed out to her new life, she said, "I feel that the time is right for me to be out in California. In a sense, I will have to start all over again out there because no one knows me, but it won't be so bad. At least I have Ron, and we have a home, and I've got some friends."

Discussing her experiences on the soap opera, Sally said, "It's all been positive. I've grown so much on that show...and they've allowed me to discover my own acting talents. Prior to joining the soap opera I had been a musical comedy performer and I wasn't quite sure of my acting range, but doing Love of Life changed all that for me. I never really considered myself an actress before; now iI do. In some ways it's as if I've been at school.

"The show has changed somewhat since my first days. So many people have come and gone. The atmosphere has become much looser and we're all very friendly...though we don't socialize all that much after hours. Larry Auerbach, our director, has remained the constant force on our show.

"Keith Charles, Jane Hoffman and I were known as "The Three Musketeers" because we were the show's rebels, always clowning around and having a good time.

"I don't think it should be too difficult to do nighttime TV. I used to watch when Ron was doing Planet of the Apes and they had so much more time to do their work. On a soap opera there is always so much pressure to get the job done, whereas, with prime time, they seem to waste so much time."

Thinking back on it, Sally remembers her first day before the cameras on Love of Life. "I was really nervous," she explained, "but I didn't show it. Jonathan Moore said he had never seen anyone as calm. Of course, the next day I broke out in a herpes sore from all of the tension which has left a scar on me till this day."

Sally had come to Love of Live having just come back from a two week vacation in Europe. She had been starring for several years in the off-Broadway hit, Dames at Sea, and when that show closed she set off for the Continent. She wasn't back two weeks when the producers called her in on Love of Life, "so I really don't know what it's like not to be working. This will be a whole new experience for me - quite an adjustment.

"I remember when I was out in California, Ron would leave at six in the morning and I would be left in the apartment not knowing what to do with myself.

"Ron has gotten himself very involved with a trucking company and seems to be investing a lot of his time in that business. He hasn't by any means given up acting, it's just that he sort of has this business on the side."

Foremost on Sally's mind before leaving was getting her teeth in order (after all she is going to Hollywood), and selling her car. She said she really wasn't feeling anything except that a chapter of her life was indeed over and she looked forward to seeing what the new chapter would be like. If anything, she was more numb than emotional.

Of course, by her leaving, she has also led the way for Keith Charles and Jane Hoffman, her co-stars, to be written off the show. There was a farewell party for the three of them on one of their last days on the show. Jane was given a lovely necklace as a gift; Keith was given a a golf club, and Sally was given a box which jokingly contained the ashes of Dan Phillips. The party was capped with champagne and cake.

For Sally, several years of her life are over, but producers, knowing her talents and popularity, have left her character's role open, and she may reappear at any time. Perhaps, she will return, or perhaps, she'll stay in Hollywood. Whatever the outcome, one thing is for sure: three thousand miles away, in Hollywood, at 11:30 in the morning, the former daytime actress can just flick on a switch and be transported back to another time and another place. And so can we all.

Good luck Sally. We'll miss you very much.

M.J. BEVANS

[Paul Raven]

She got that short lived DOOL gig in 77,but not much else. Did she and Ron divorce?