The Doctors Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Sadly I don't have that issue at the moment. If I ever do and someone else hasn't posted the article, I will.

[DRW50]

I can finally post my Afternoon TV Marta Heflin interview.

If you haven't seen Come Back To The 5 And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Marta has a small role in it, playing the trope of the quiet shy woman who eventually finds her voice because she realizes she has everything she needs to be happy. It's not much of a part on paper, but Marta does a great job with it.

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks for sharing that article...and yes, if you ever do come across Liz's return interview from that 1981 SOD, that would be wonderful. If you have any Liz interviews/articles from her ATWT era, would you please post them on that board? Thanks.

Dan, Pam Toll married her first husband in December 1967 and was still wed to him at this point (June 1969), so my first guess would be the show temped for her due to illness. But we have no way of knowing until Pam appears again how long Maureen Mooney temped for her.

[DRW50]

Yes, I will, although I may put them in the ATWT thread, if that's OK with you.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes - that's where they belong, and I figured that's where you would put them. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

I'm surprised that Jim Pritchett and Lydia Bruce never landed long-term roles on other soaps after TD, but it seems that they preferred the stage. Gerald Gordon, after leaving GH for the second time in 1983, didn't grace daytime again until the summer of 1994 when he had that short-term role as Adam Chandler's lawyer on AMC. It seems that Liz was the only one who wanted to continue long-term on soaps, and it's too bad that out of 9 nominations she never won at least once for Lucinda to go with her Emmy as Althea.

What do you all think about where David O'Brien's career might have gone had he not passed away in 1989? Do you think he would have gained another daytime role or maybe just primarily stuck with the stage like Jim Pritchett did?

[DRW50]

I think if he'd had a soap role long-term it may have shown up in the '80s...as he did that AW run for several months.

[slick jones]

He played several roles on RH and Loving in the 80s as well. All quick hit parts, but he was popping up quite a bit.

[amybrickwallace]

Yup. I thought that with his popularity throughout his 15-year run on the show that he'd be a hot commodity once TD ceased production at the end of 1982. His gig on AW didn't come until 1987, I believe. I guess I'm just surprised that none of the other soaps - either in LA or especially NYC - snapped him up right away.

[slick jones]

I think that has more to do, sadly, with being an older leading man. Most of the shows on the air had people in his age group . I was glad when he landed AW, til he went serial killer, that is. I can't forgive Maisie and Quinn. Nancy was one of my favorites, too, and he kept attacking her! Oddly, I didn't care when he attacked Crystal Gayle!...JK LOL

[DRW50]

I think most of the older cast lost their jobs at a time when soaps had a mandate for younger and hotter, and while they were all attractive people (in many cases moreso than a lot of the young flesh on display on soaps in that era), they were still out of luck. Liz Hubbard was fortunate to be the exception to the rule (even moreso since the main guy who wrote for her in her best ATWT years helped run her off of The Doctors).

[amybrickwallace]

I always thought that it was so ironic about the whole Hubbard/Marland thing. What an incredible actress she is to have made two completely different characters and completely own them. I REALLY want to see her other Emmy-winning project - the First Ladies Diaries special where she played Mrs. Edith Wilson (and Gerald Gordon's Emmy-winning turn in the Rachel Jackson installment of FLD, as President Andrew Jackson - David O'Brien was in that one, too!!).

Edited June 25, 2015 by amybrickwallace

[slick jones]

Yeah, between LH and HBS getting prominent roles, and Jane Badler and Nancy Stafford going to Hollywood(among other...like John Pankow) Lean LeClerc hopped around to several soaps, Robert Telfer (Luke). The final cast was full of talent...

[Paul Raven]

I agree that James and Lydia were probably in the wrong age group and perhaps too strongly identified with their roles. Liz lucked out as by 1984 soaps were still casting those 'Alexis' older powerful women roles.

Looking at the many vets that were dropped at that time,very few landed substantial soap roles afterwards,perhaps through choice but more likely lack of interest from other soaps.

Think Ron Tomme,Audrey Peters,Barbara Rodell,Conard Fowkes,Kelly Wood,Millette Alexander,Billie Lou Watt,Millee Taggart . etc

[DRW50]

This is from a TV Yearbook, presumably for the cast of early 1969 (minus a few faces). It's a good example of how unflattering head shots can sometimes be. It also reflects what is written in a few TV magazines of that time - that Karen really was off and they weren't sure whether she'd be written back in.

[danfling]

Lydia Bruce should have been considered (and she may have been - for all I know) for the Ruth Brent Martin, R. N. recast when Mary Fickett first vacated the role.