The Doctors

[DRW50]

That issue also has an interview with Laura White, the first MJ "Match" Carroll. It has several big photos, although I don't have access to a scanner right now. I will try to type up the interview later. Was she fired for Kathy Glass or did she want to leave?

[Paul Raven]

i think that Lauren White left at the end of her contract. Carla Dragoni was cast as MJ but when Kathy Glass left OLTL (was she fired?) TD snapped her up and Dragoni was dumped.

[All My Shadows]

Wow, that male menopause story should have been given the green light. I'm surprised Agnes never tried to do that. It's a very real issue.

[MichaelGL]

^It's not like the story would have affected Matt's "masculinity" as Execs assumed, I mean it's been said here multiple times that the men on The Doctors had more balls than most of the men on daytime, so what's a simple story about male menopause going to hurt?

[DRW50]

Lauren White - "Analysis Made Me Less Fearful"

Lauren White is only 23 - hardly more than a "baby" - but she is unexpectedly bright for her years. She is outgoing with others, a positive thinker, and eager to be successful in the extroverted art of acting.

But the attractive actress who plays M.J. Match on The Doctors wasn't always this way. Not very long ago she was shy and filled with problems about herself and her relations with others.

"When I grew up, in the sixties, it was a very disillusioning time. All my friends talked about Sartre. Despair permeated everyone. There was a general feeling of loss of innocence. In the high school I went to in Great Neck, Long Island - where I grew up - people were tripping on acid and were speed freaks. This disparity of living inside the school, where all this was going on, and outside of school in a family with completely different values was just incredible. There was the whole Viet Nam thing. I protested in marches like everyone else. I felt the same discomfort with living - it's something that a lot of older people just don't understand. When I graduated high school a friend of mine and I took back packs and went to France, England, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Luxemburg.

"I had intense emotional problems, just like a lot of the others. I was fearful, shy. I'm sure that's one of the reasons I decided to become an actress - because acting helped me bring me out of myself. The funny thing is that I was afraid of acting too, and I still am! I have a fear of exposing myself. Isn't it funny that one of the things I fear the most is the thing I make a living at?"

"My emotional problems went all the way back to childhood, and specifically what caused them I'd rather not say. But obviously they had to do with my family to a certain extent. I was brought up in a sophisticated environment. My mother casts commercials for an advertising agency and my father is a television executive.

"I decided, while I was going to New York University, to undergo therapy (some people call it analysis). I underwent it for two and a half years, and it was the single most constructive thing I've ever done for myself in my life. I talked with my therapist about my relationship with my friends, my shyness, my fears - about the behavioral problems which I knew I had. I was really a very different person in those days. Those two and a half years changed me in so many ways. It's helped me be a better actress, for one, because I feel less emotional risk when I'm working on scenes. I feel more fully integrated. I relate to people better. My friendships are healthier and less destructive."

Lauren has had tremendous good luck in her career. She was hardly out of N.Y.U. when she was cast as Maria McGhee on How to Survive a Marriage, a number of months before the show was canceled. She and her co-star on Marriage, Armand Assante, were liked so much that they were both asked to join The Doctors. (Armand came on as Mike Powers.) "In my wildest imagination I never thought my first few jobs would be in the soap operas. I always thought I'd break in as a comic or as a singer - where my interests were. Suddenly I became a dramatic actress on television. The world of the soaps is really so fascinating. I knew absolutely nothing about them before I got my job on How to Survive a Marriage. Now I can see how incredibly popular they are. And they represent a different sort of reality. The people I work with, for example, are extremely different in their personas on The Doctors from their real-life personalities."

Lauren has made some close friends on The Doctors. Her closest are Anna Stuart, Julia Duffy, Leslie Ray, and Geraldine Court. She sees them all socially, apart from work. Recently she, Geraldine Court and Anna Stuart did two Shakespearean plays on off-Broadway. One of them, a shortened version of As You Like It, was directed by Geraldine, who, according to Lauren, is quite a talented director.

Lauren also has good friends from Great Neck and is in constant telephone contact with her parents, who have moved to Los Angeles, where her father is now a vice president in charge of production at Columbia Pictures.

Her mother is Italian and her father is Jewish. "Actually, I had a religiously ecumenical upbringing. I wasn't reared in any one faith. I used to go to church with my aunt and temple with my grandmother. There was never any formal religious training."

The very mention of marriage makes Lauren say: "But I'm only twenty-three!" She won't consider it for a long time. Right now she dates - but is more interested in developing relationships with people in general.

What is her week normally like? She often visits friends' houses in the country on weekends. She's on The Doctors one or two days out of every week, unless her story is heavy - and it usually isn't. She spends a great deal of time taking acting lessons and voice lessons. She will go up for plays. Because of her commitment on The Doctors, she can't leave the city for any length of time. She has an apartment in Greenwich Village.

Some viewers who haven't followed The Doctors may not know that Lauren's character is called M.J. Match, instead of Mary Jane Match, because Mary Jane doesn't want to be known as "Miss Match." M.J. is Penny's roommate and general factotum to other characters, like Althea. "I've been sort of a peripheral character since the beginning, although I think I may have a big storyline coming up...Oh, I am definitely the victimized type on the soaps. On How to Survive a Marriage my husband, Johnny McGhee, just suddenly became impotent with me, and his Irish mother was always suspicious. On The Doctors, I am serious about Dino Narizzano, who plays Dr. Kevin McIntyre, but he doesn't care about me - not the way I like Kevin, anyway.

Lauren has a great sense of humor on the set. After one scene in which she had to explain to a doctor she came in to check on a patient, without being called for, "because one human being just cares about another...you just care," she said to Norman Hall, the director: "When we tape that you should have a halo around my head and soft organ music as my face fades nobly out." Everyone laughed.

Lauren did not study acting at N.Y.U. She studied it at the Herbert Berghof Studios with Uta Hagen and with Steven Strimpell, whose teaching influenced Lauren greatly. "The technique he taught was a very clear, pragmatic, humanistic one. My craft definitely improved after studying with him."

Lauren is quite a mature human being for one so young. Undoubtedly, it is her positive attitude, along with her talent, that gained her such success on the soaps so early in her career.

[Paul Raven]

Thanx Carl.Loving these old articles.

Dino Narizzano had been very popular on SFT as Len Whiting.I wonder if TD poached him to bolster their ratings? Whatever the case Dino/Kevin didn't make much of an impression and he ended up back on Search.

The previous article talking about the shows problems rang true in that the show had heavily relied on Steve/Carolee,Althea/Nick and Matt/Maggie.Mike/Toni had been popular but I think Armand Assante was not suited to the Mike Powers character and popular Gil Gerard left.Once these couples were together there was nothing as strong to fill the void so the writers were faced with splitting them up to create story,which viewers probably resented.

TPTB have to be really clever about having the next couples ready to take over and keep viewers interested.

[DRW50]

I'm glad that people are enjoying them. You're one of the posters who has such great knowledge of this show's past, and other shows, and I always appreciate people reading these and filling in some gaps. Like I really didn't know any of that about Dino Narizzano. It sounds like The Doctors did have a tough time finding bankable names after the mid-70s, at least those who would stay around.

So Gil Gerard wasn't around too long I guess. A year? Two?

Didn't you say that the show never really found the right actor for Mike Powers?

[Paul Raven]

Gil Gerard was on from 74-76

Re Mike- after Peter Burnell-68/74,each Mike only lasted a few years.Michael Landrum-74/75,Armand Assante-75/77,John Shearin-77-79,James Storm-79/81, Ashby Adams-81/82 and finally Stephen Burleigh in 82.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I think Kathy Glass was fired. I heard that she wasn't particularly well-liked by her Doctors or OLTL castmates. Supposedly she was an uberbitch and very tough to work with.

[Paul Raven]

In the article posted above,LaGuardia talks about popular leading men like Gil Gerard and Anthony Cannon leaving.All i have been able to find on Anthony cannon is that he played Dr Tom Barrett. Can anyone supply details of the character and his storylines?

[Paul Raven]

Continuing LaGuardia's book The 70's

1970

After a bitter misundersatanding with Steve, the pregnant Carolee married psychotic Dr Dan Allison (Richard Higgs). Jealous, and deserate to keep Steve and Carolee apart, Dan- who knew he was dying of heart disease-took his own life and made his suicide look as though Steve had murdered him. steve was tried and found guilty, but just before sentence was to be passed, Carolee and Dan;s son Billy (Bobby Hennessy) found Dan's old diary, which proved Steve innocent.

English actor Patrick Horgan played John Morrison, the unscrupulous psychiatrist who married Althea right after her divorce from Nick. To keep his new wife and Nick apart, he manipulated neurotic nurse Kathy Ryker (Holly Peters, Carol Pfanderr,Nancy Barrett) through psychiatry into faking a pregnancy so that Nick would marry her. Eventually his schemes fell apart: Kathy killed herself in an attempt to kidnap Steve and Carolee's new baby, and John Morrison was murdered.

1972

Steve and Carolee were married on March 9th. There was happiness but also hidden anguish as Maggie was tormented by the idea that she was losing her mind (in reality she had a brain tumor). Mike Powers and Toni Ferra (Anna Stuart) the new lab technician had fallen in love.

Toni's long lost mother Barbara Ferra (Nancy Franklin) suddenly showed up at Hope Memorial, Some of her past was seamy, but she redeemed herself by preventing Dr Vito McCray (Paul Henry Itkin) fro breaking up her daughter's engagement to Mike. Toni and Mike were wed and Barbara left town.

Celebrating their 9th anniversary were Sally Gracie (Martha),David O'Brien (Steve), Katherine Squire (Emma,Carolee's mother),Lydia Bruce(Maggie) Allen Potter(producer), Jim Pritchett (Matt), Liz Hubbard (Althea), Paul Henry Itkin (Vito), Palmer Deane (Hank),Bobby Hennessy (Billy), and Jennifer Houlton (Greta).

Steve and Carolee were happy with new daughter Stephanie, until Steve's interfering mother Mona (Meg Mundy) came from Boston and tried to cause trouble for them. Possessive and willful,she tried to convince Steve that Carolee wasn't good enough for him, but failed.

The Doctors had several storylines involving black characters. Hank Iverson (Palmer Deane) had a romance with nurse Lauri James (Marie Thomas) Lauri had been a singer,but because of fear,gave it up to become a nurse.

Althea's daughter Penny, who had been out of the story at boarding school,became an important character now played by Julia Duffy. Penny desperately tried to get Nick and Althea back together. In 1974 she was accused of murdering John Morrison, but was proven innocent.

Geraldine Court came on as Ann Larimer, who was going to marry Nick until she contracted a rare (and fictitious) tropical disease, Obonda Fever, which left her unable to have sexual relations. Both Geraldine Court and Gerald Gordon left in 1974 but returned in 1976.

1974

Gil Gerard and Mary Denham played Dr Alan Stewart and his wife Margo. After Margo died and Mike Powers, who was hooked on drugs,ran off to a desert island and was reported killed, Alan and Toni Ferra Powers (now pregnant) fell in love and were married.But then Mike (now Armand Assante) turned up alive and Toni was torn between the two. Toni called her baby Paul. Alan left town.

1975

Leslie Ray was emotionally disturbed art student Stacy Wells, who had won the affections of singer Andy Anderson (Lloyd Bremseth) Penny was attracted to Andy and resented the relationship.Andy was written out by the end of the year.

Lauren White played nurse MJ Match, Penny's roommate, best friend and confidante, After a brief relationship with Dr Alan Stewart, MJ became interested in Dr Kevin McIntyre but he was less serious about the relationship than she.

When Matt went through male menopause and showed signs of irritability, Maggie became worried. Matt eventually accepted the course of nature and their troubles subsided.

[DRW50]

Thanks for posting this. It helps fill in some blanks as to the stories Hank had (it was fairly rare at the time for a black character to take a central role in a show), and also for the male menopause story with Matt.

Sally Gracie -- she was Ina Hopkins on OLTL later on. Did she leave The Doctors or did they fire her?

Obonda Fever

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The Elizabeth Levin & David Cherrill era of The Doctors intrigues me. Was it well-received? I know ratings probably weren't impressive around this time, but I mean creatively.

I saw an episode from that era on YouTube and I was entertained, despite it being a rather ordinary episode.

[MichaelGL]

Linda Grover's tenure also intrigues me in regards to how it was accepted by viewers, because from the many synopsis Frenchfan has posted, it seemed as if she included some class warfare in her writing with Nola trying to fit into the wealthy world of the Aldrich family.

As for Levin and Cherrill, for two writers are basically unknown today, their material does seem fairly good.

[Paul Raven]

You may already know this ,but Elizabeth Levin was the wife of Michael Levin (jack on RH) and David Cherill acted under the name C David Colson.He played Tom Hughes during the 70's.