The Doctors

[amybrickwallace]

 

Ira Avery's stint on the show was an unmitigated disaster. The only good things under his watch were the introduction of Greta (as played by Eileen Kearney) and the story she plays out, and also introducing Richard Niles as Rico Bellini (Nick's nephew) in 1970. His story would eventually tie in with Greta's, with Julie Forrest (Ginger Gerlach) being the common denominator. By that point, Stanley Silverman had come in as co-HW - so who knows who had the better story ideas by then.

[cassadine1991]

I thought the Averys were revered soap writers.

[~bl~]

This was Ira Avery alone, after he and his wife were no longer writing together. (I don't know exactly when they divorced, but perhaps that was part of the issue especially due to how Avery handled the end of Nick and Althea's marriage.) 

[amybrickwallace]

 

Not only did he ruin the Bellini marriage, but he eviscerated both characters individually (this was when Virginia Vestoff was on). I think they had divorced fairly recently when he took the TD gig in late 1969. They had stepped down from Love is a Many Splendored Thing in 1968, when Jane Avery refused to continue to work with him. Apparently theirs was NOT an amicable split. Per imdb, TD was Ira Avery's swan song to TV. He passed on in 1992.

Edited March 31, 2017 by amybrickwallace

[DRW50]

 

James Shannon had various bit roles on DS.

 

His acting as Paul is...hilarious, but when he briefly took off his shades after being nicked by a car he looked hot as hell. Really hot. I'm surprised he didn't get bigger work. But his look is a bit closer to men who hit it big in more recent years than in that era. 

 

Marta Heflin does such an excellent job as Shana, making a plot device character oddly sympathetic. I had never seen her work before, other than her thankless role in Come Back to the 5 and Dime. I guess she was more of a theater actress. 

[amybrickwallace]

Marta Heflin was indeed excellent, and they should have kept her on. To my knowledge, TD was her only soap role. Marta was the niece of Oscar-winning actor Van Heflin and AMC actress Frances Heflin (her father was their brother, Martin Heflin).

 

She was in two other Robert Altman films before Jimmy Dean (like Cher and Sandy Dennis, she originated her movie role in the Broadway play) - A Wedding (which also featured Virginia Vestoff) and A Perfect Couple. Other major films she appeared in were A Star is Born and Scorsese's King of Comedy.

 

Like you said, it seems that her big love was the stage. She frequently appeared on and off-Broadway, as well as being a cabaret singer in NYC.

 

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Marta_Heflin__Film_and_Broadway_Actress__Dies_at_68-225353771.html

[~bl~]

Happy Birthday to "The Doctors", it premiered today in 1963. 

 

I liked Marta Heflin even if Nancy wasn't the best character. She brought humanity to the role.

[amybrickwallace]

 

I don't think Nancy Donohue (Nancy) or Marta Heflin (Shana) had any other daytime roles after TD.

[~bl~]

argh last night, I didn't splice that correctly. I liked them both.

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[Vee]

WEHT the Nick character? After all that he just split.

Edited April 3, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

 

@saynotoursoap wrote about this in detail 4-5 years ago I think, but he basically left in 1974 or 1975 and returned for two guest stints. I think the last was in 1975 or 1976, not too long before his role on GH. It's a shame he couldn't be back at the end, although he may have been back on GH at that point anyway. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

He was. GG returned to the role of Dr. Mark Dante on GH in 1982 and stayed for about a year. I like to think that had he been available, he would have reprised Dr. Nick Bellini one last time as TD was ending.

 

So did I, even though the story they were in was a dog.

[amybrickwallace]

In today's reruns, we saw the debut of Dr. Winston Croft. The performer who originated the role was Philip Sterling, who is one of those character actors whose face you see everywhere in classic TV reruns. He was in six episodes of Barney Miller alone - and that show was notorious for using the same guest actors over and over again (in a good way).

[SoapDope]

I saw his debut too. Mona makes me sick the way she was running Carolee down to him and Steve. Steve is a brain dead moron who is treating Carolee like crap. I laughed when she put him in his place at the hospital about his cocktails with Mona and her having to cookout with Billy alone. Ann seems nice at this point, but I know she will take a turn for the worse. 

[amybrickwallace]

I know what you mean. I hate seeing Carolee being verbally tortured day in and day out by the one person who is supposed to love her more than anyone else. The sooner the truth about Mona is revealed to Sonny Boy, the better!!