Actors Who've Spoken Out

[Paul Raven]

The reaction to Victoria Rowell's comments got me thinking of other actor's who've talked honestly about their dissastisfaction.

It might have been after they'd left,although some have spoken up while still on the show.

Did you think the comments were warranted?

In general,should actors keep mum and just do their job?

When Terry Lester quit Y&R as Jack,he complained that the focus was now on Cricket and the fact that she was the bosses' daughter meant there was favoritism involved.

I think he was off base with this one.Jack was still a major character,and continues to be 20 years after Lester left.Whatever your feelings about Cricket/Lauralee Bell, the character was in no way competition for Jack's place in the story.

Of course,George Reinholt was outspoken after he was dismissed from AW.But did he ever speak up while still on the show?

Did Jacquie Courtney ever talk honestly about her dismissal?

[SFK]

Erika Slezak rather famously spoke out about her dissatisfaction with Dena Higley.

Robin Strasser has (and still does every now and then) discussed her difficulties and subsequent blacklisting by JFP.

This'll be my second time mentioning her today, but of course there's Ellen Holly whose book came out years after her firing from OLTL.

[SFK]

And no, I don't think actors should just sit and take abuse. I do think they should intelligently navigate situations that aren't so ideal. Especially the younger actors. If you're really young, you're just going to look like a snot, if you are late 20s/early 40s and your role has some cache, you complain and you look like a hot sh*t diva, you're in your 50s and beyond, you're either your show's Lucci and people take notice of what you're saying or you run the risk of being put out to pasture. It seems rather lose-lose, and I know it sounds like a cop out of an answer, but I really believe that each situation would have to be dealt with uniquely. Do you want to keep your job and not ruffle feathers so you can get the hell out of Dodge and retire to the country? Then keep yer yap shut. But if you just can't stand to grin and bear it and you feel that your present situation threatens your artistic integrity and your mental/physical/emotional health, well then say something or quit.

[SFK]

BTW, I think any exec who spouts racial/sexual epithets or calls actors fat and ugly or other such awful things should be called out and embarrassed publicly.

[soapluva]

I've never liked an ass kisser, IMO if an actor is unhappy about about their character of anything that bothers them I think they should speak up and be heard. The truth hurts but it needs to be heard at times, sometimes what the actors say is said out of anger and maybe in appropiate but I think they have every right to express that feeling and not suppress that feeling out of fear of being fired or disliked.

[miajere]

Trevor St. John used to say something in every interview- he wasn't a very quiet guy- but he got into abit of trouble. And now, when he does interviews he just like ,"it's never gone change...life goes on....I'm getting paid well and my family have dental."

But that guy will phone it in when he ain't feeling the material...and used to do those tight lip kisses with Blair...or those cheshire cat smiles whenever he seemed to get the script and think,"Todd Manning acts like an a-hole again today."

I love that guy...he's funny without even trying.

[boldfan01]

I don't know if Lester really was off base. If you compared his screen time in the 1988-89 period that he made the comment to years prior, there was a lot less Jack. It wasn't until Lester's final episodes that his screen time beefed up again so Jack could be written out for a while. Meanwhile, at the same time, Cricket was on almost every day. They brought on her mom, her long-lost dad and a half brother, and she got put on the front burner with her mom's battle with AIDS and subsequent death, and then with the rape story. Sometimes Cricket was even thrown into scenes she had little or no connection to. I remember when Paul faked his death to find out who framed him for George Rawlins' murder, Cricket showed up at the funeral and told Mary Williams how upset she was, even though Cricket back then barely knew Paul.

When Y&R finally recast Jack several months after Lester left with Peter Bergman, the character went back to the front burner. Some wondered if Bill Bell was trying to disprove Lester's statement by doing that, although it's just as possible that he wanted to give Bergman a chance to shine in the new role.

[Sinny]

I think more of them should speak up. I know I am verbal about any BS at my job.. so why shouldn't they be... I think they have been forced to be silent too long. I also agree boldfan that TL was on the mark about his comments of nepotism towards LLB. She was so obviously favored and she really wasn't all that. I am glad to see it is Jack still on the show and not Christine.

[marceline]

Michael Easton said at his last event that actors can give suggestions but the bottom line is you do what they want you to do or you walk. And that guy is the king of "go along to get along."

It think it also matters what somebody is speaking out about. I have no problem with actors talking about their vision for the role they play even when I disagree with it. TSJ was outspoken about the character of Todd. Unfortunately, he got his ass handed to him because of it. And like miajere said its pretty obvious when he's not into what he doing. The guy spends so much time staring at the floor its like watching an episode of A&E's Intervention. Before him, RH was very vocal about Todd, just not to the press. In the end his solution was to leave...and leave...and leave.

Things get dicier when actors start taking management to task. An actor needs to be in a special situation in order to do that right. You need to have the clout that comes with time in the trenches and a proven ability to deliver. There's only a few people in the industry who have that kind of cache which is why ES's taking Higley to task was so notable. It also helped that she rarely complains about anything. Nobody else could've gotten away with it. She was - as they say in The Matrix - the ONE.

VR is an unusual case. On one side the complaints about the Emmy process and talking about how she didn't suck up by bringing in cookies come off badly. Most jobs involve a degree of game playing and politicking. If you choose to reject that, fine. But others are going to work it.

But when she starts talking about writing and directing those are bigger issues and about career development. And when it comes to the subject of diversity in soaps, there are only a handful of actors with the experience to talk about it and like it or not VR's at the top of that list.

[sungrey]

The only two times I ever heard Erika bitch were DH's writing and when Dan Gauthier got fired from his role as Kevin. I agree, it just gives what Erika says much more weight because she hardly says anything to the press except maybe for an occasional SOD interview every few years or if she's excited about a brand new storyline.

[Ann_SS]

In the real world, when an employee complains about their job and co-workers to a company's clients and the company finds out, it is considered a terminable offense. This is essentially what soap actors are doing when they give negative interviews about their storylines, co-workers. and employers. Yet many high profile soap actors have fan bases that make them valuable to their employers so while they may get scolded, they are not fired.

Terry Lester was right about how Bill Bell pimped out his talented less daughter. I stopped watching Y&R in chunks during the years that she was on the show almost every day.

[Sylph]

I found her OK and I loved her. I think this Lauralee hate has more to do with nepotism than with her shortcomings as an actress.

[kalbir]

I also feel Y&R declined a bit from 1986, when Lauralee Bell joined the cast full time, to 1989, even though they reached #1 during that period. When Cricket first came on the show she had no ties to any of the major characters, but yet she was involved in most of the storylines. Later on though Cricket's mother married John Abbott so that tied her to the show's core family.

Other than the Nikki/Victor/Ashley triangle, Victor and Nikki's breakup, and Victor taking over Jabot, I didn't enjoy alot of the late 1980s storylines. Some of the stinkers to me were Brad in a cage, George Rawlins, Kay/Marge.

The late 1980s also saw the departure of popular stars Brenda Dickson, Eileen Davidson, and the late Terry Lester. It's been said on the boards over the years how vocal Brenda and Terry were about the nepotism on Y&R. I also suspect it had something to do with Eileen leaving, although that's never been confirmed.

[R Sinclair]

The thing that pisses me off about the peanut gallery chiming in about how unprofessional Vicky Rowell was during her INTERVIEW was the fact that it was, indeed, an INTERVIEW! She was asked questions and she gave her opinions and honest answers. She didn't go on her official fan page and shriek and shrew about her "executive director" and her salary/airtime woes. She was asked, "what do you think about this?" and "what do you think about that?" and she told exactly what she thought.

Kim Zimmer irritates me because all she does in complain about Guiding Light. If it's so bad, get the hell out! Why continue to stay at a place where you apparently feel creatively stiffled and mistreated? Oh, that's right... because that's the only place that will let you act out publicly like a spoiled bitch and get away with it. Let's be real... there isn't a market for middle aged, homely actresses in Hollywood these days. You can be in your 40s, but you'd have to look like Nicolette Sheridan or Teri Hatcher.

Erika Slezak, I think, can get away with it, because I don't think it's ever about her or her ego, as much as it is about the quality of the work and the workplace environment. Going to bat for Dan Gauthier was awesome. It's something you don't see often in any genre, let alone daytime. Actors are too busy worrying about staying employed than to speak up and stand up for something they think is jacked up. So that just helped me to believe Slezak is a woman who speaks honestly, rather than speaks selfishly.

Who else speaks up...

Thorsten Kaye speaks out, but he does it so tongue in cheek that you wind up chuckling. While he doesn't necessarily "phone it in" when he's playing something he doesn't believe in, he definitely makes fun of it in the way he plays it onscreen. That's what I think, anyway, because there have been times during the McTavish era where I swear Zach was saying a LOT of what the viewers were saying as well.

[AMCHistory]

I've learned from the interviews I have done with various soap stars of past a lot of the behind the scenes rumblings, and a lot of the actors have asked to leave things off the record for various reasons, namely because their stories may involve other cast members. With many of the conversations I have had, there seems to be a code between the actors. Whether they got along with each other or not, rarely would anyone say anything bad about other people on the set.

The closest I think I got to a real criticism in print was the tension between Darlena Tejeiro (ex-Anita) and Brian Gaskill (ex-Bobby) at AMC. But both actors had a lot more positive things to say about each other.

Michael Brainard talked openly about his temeltous relationship with Felicia Behr. Many of his criticisms had to do with his lack of airtime. He noted preferential treatment to certain stars. Even then, his criticisms were much more diplomatic than Victoria Rowell's recent tirades.

Michael Tylo was open about the various runs he did at all the soaps. His view on location shoots correlates as a criticism to GL's current production model. Tylo was also very unhappy about the change of regime at GL in his last run as Quint in 1997. He was clear that they wanted Quint gone, and basically forgot about him. Quint went to the bathroom and never came back. I was told in various emails from people who had read the story that it seemed like sometimes what he didn't say about situations meant more than what he could ever say.

I think my interview with Marcus Patrick was the closest thing to an actor really criticizing a show. Patrick did not enjoy his run with DAYS or AMC. He had his own ideas about what he wanted out of his roles and as an actor, and was not realizing so potentials with either show runs. I have to admit I am surprised he would even give daytime another chance at DAYS after his run at AMC.