Doug Watson was indeed heartbreaking and fantastic in that courtroom scene (and I believe it is still up on YT). Was WGE in any other soaps besides AW and Y&R?

Here is the clip- not the best quality of video - but still a great scene

http://youtu.be/p44AUqFacBU

Favorite part of that scene: Ada. No matter how many disagreements she had had with Rachel over the years, she was always the first one there to protect and support her daughter whenever she was in trouble.

Thanks for posting that clip. The visual quality isn't great, but the sound is just fine - and that's what really matters. The way he just cries, "RACHEL!!!" gets me every time.

amybrickwallace was this the Virginia Dwyer article you wanted? I think I found it.

Thanks so much for the Dwyer article.That is the first time I've read her side of the story and it seems a fair one. I've read how Lemay wanted to have Mary turn against Steve and it's interesting to see her take on it.

After 20 years on soaps she seemed to vanish from the scene.I wonder it it was her choice not to do TV again or P&G weren't interested-especially as the youth movement took hold and a lot of veteran actors couldn't land substantial roles.

Thank you so much for sharing that article, Carl. Yes, it was very interesting to read her side of the story - and it was sad that she never showed up on-screen again. It appears that she quit show business altogether when she got fired from AW.

I hadn't realized how much she'd grown to hate the role, to the point of having a breakdown. It was very "honest" in that way soap magazines mostly stopped being by the early 80's. It's also another reminder of how Lemay's cynicism toward family units that weren't like his upbringing cast something of a pall over AW's underpinning, doing real damage to the show long-term.

She made a commercial that played for years after her being written off Another World.

Starting on March 30th, Retro TV will begin airing reruns of Police Surgeon, also known as Dr. Simon Locke (1971-1974). Sam Groom, AW's Dr. Russ Matthews from 1966-1971, played the lead role.

Here's more info about it from RTV's website:

http://www.myretrotv.com/news/retro-tv-adds-police-surgeon

It's interesting the changes that the character of Mary Matthews went through based on the writers. It does sound like the actress was more in tune with playing Mary as written by Agnes Nixon. It's difficult being an actor and having a new writer come in and alter a way a character is written/acting without any context. It sounds like she wasn't opposed to the character being a buffer between Steven and Alice being together.. consider the way he kept leading Rachel on as well as her daughter.. but she was opposed to how the character went about keeping them apart.. sounds like Lemay wanted to write Mary more like Liz.. when the original concept was the contrast between Liz and Mary.

I do wonder how different the show would have been if they hadn't killed Mary Matthews off.. would the focus have remained on the Matthews family past the early 80s?

What was the general reaction to the pairing of Sally/Catlin? Were fans in uproar when Sally was killed? How did people feel about interloper, Brittany?

Mary Page Keller and Thomas Ian Griffith were extremely popular as Sally/Catlin. Her replacement, Taylor Miller, while visually more similar looking to some of the previous actresses who played Sally (Jennifer Runyon, Stacey Green) just didn't work out. With that in mind and the fact that the rest of the Matthews family was pretty much a memory at that point, the decision was made to kill off the character. Brittany was not a popular character. The audience hated her. They scooped up Sharon Gabet after Edge was cancelled but they didn't really know what to do with her. The character wasn't an effective spoiler for Sally/Catlin. Gabet has said that they changed the character so much, nothing worked, so they eventually cut their losses and let her go.

Didn't Brittany start off with a hearing impediment?

Yes. I think Sharon said that was one of the better parts of the story for her. I can't remember.

NBA I love your avatar.