I thought John and Sharlene were great when John still had so many demons. After that it wasn't the same.

As for Stacey/Michael, I will never understand who came up with the idea of a romance based on a man's child being stolen. And just the annoying Kale Browne mannerisms.

Edited September 27, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I hope that Kale Browne gets down on his knees daily and thanks the good lord that Anna Stuart swept his professional life. It is because of her wonderful interpretation of Donna Love that Michael Hudson was such a fixture on AW, on and off, for 20 odd years.

And I know he was her first love and and she was all flighty and spoiled etc., but he was such a judgmental, trifling, pompous ass. He really jerked her around -- especially when she started moving on and falling for other men!

I actually didn't mind Michael in his first few years, at least in the episodes I've seen. It wasn't until somewhere around 89 or 90 that I grew to hate him. The whole story with Donna being villainized for being left by Michael just disgusted me, especially when Stacey made her give Mikey up. I am not done with those episodes from May 1991 yet but I saw that Donna was trying to have Stacey disbarred, which was written as being petty, but I think Donna has a good point.

JFP gave Browne a boost in the short run but in the long run I think she wrecked his soap career because the stuff she gave him as Michael and later as Sam Rappaport was so unpleasant.

Exactly! I never understood why people always shat on Donna just because the Great Michael Hudson deigned not to be with her.

As for Kale, is/was he JFP's personal chewtoy or just an ordinary FOJ like John Bolger and Robin Christopher? Speaking of RC, was she any good as Lorna? I have to say, I love the long, lithe Sofia Coppola.

Edited September 27, 201015 yr by Cat

Donna was just a punching bag, which even Anna Stuart apparently complained about, not the punching bag but the non-existent writing for her during Swajeski's tenure. Swajeski sometimes wasn't subtle about her favorites.

I have not seen very much of Robin as Lorna. By the time I started watching regularly she was gone. I just started with Coppola and she's very charismatic and unique but I have to admit it takes a bit of time to get used to her voice, as it can sometimes be very husky and affected and then at other times she starts speaking with a British accent.

I find Dean so annoying...Jenna isn't as bad but I preferred Alla on AMC (probably one of the few who did).

I love Olivia. I wish the show had done more with her. She is so beautiful and also so unique. She's a victim and a bitch and a daddy's girl all rolled into one, and she plays pathos so beautifully, like when she confided in Matthew that Sam had dumped her. It's a shame that she and a lot of other interesting women left and they brought back worthless characters like Josie.

I like Frankie but the only time I ever really like her instead of just sort of liking her is when she's with Ryan.

A WATN from the 9/15/98 SOD. Primedia Inc.

ALICE BARRETT (ex-Frankie)

When she was last seen on ANOTHER WORLD, Alice Barrett was playing out her character, Frankie's death. And it wasn't just the routine killing off of a no-longer-useful name on the show; instead, it was the violent removal of an adored character: the tough, tender Frankie Frame, who Barrett had portrayed for almost eight years.

Frankie was bludgeoned in 1996. By daytime standards, it was a particularly vicious demise. The character, wife to the also-beloved Cass Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer), was a first-time mother, and her final lines had her begging her murderer to spare her because of her child. It was heart-wrenching.

Barrett, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children, still seems baffled by the way the show wrote her out. "I was aware that the fans were incensed by [the murder], which I was too, I have to admit," she says. "When you consider that mothers are the core audience of soaps, to go out and kill a character who is a mother, who they can relate to, in such a brutal fashion, I felt was insensitive. I know it wasn't supposed to be real, but Frankie was a very real character to many people. It hit too many people where they live."

That attests to the strength of the actresses's believability. But since her departure from AW, Barrett's kept a low profile, searching on both coasts for the next part to make her own. The past two years have seen her jetting out to Los Angeles for pilot season and being a guest on THE PROFILER. Soaps aren't out of the picture: She audition for PORT CHARLES before it started airing, but the role she'd hoped for (Ellen) went to Debbi Morgan. Barrett remains good-humored about it, joking, "It seems to me that if you're looking for Debbi Morgan, you're not looking for me."

The most prominent - or perhaps oddest - role she's had recently isnt' even something that aired: Barrett worked as a stand-in for Julia Roberts on MURPHY BROWN. "Julia was the guest star, but she wasn't going to hang around and rehearse for a week. So they needed somebody whom the cast could work out their timing and the jokes with," says Barrett. "They specifically requested me for the job, which I found interesting. When Julia arrived on the set, she came up to me and said, 'You were Frankie, weren't you?' and threw her arms around me. She told me how devastated she was when they killed Frankie off. That was a bit of a thrill!"

But after a few years of going back and forth between coasts, Barrett says she's about ready to relocate with her family to L.A. on a permanent basis. "We didn't do anything earlier because my daughter was in elementary school, and I didn't want her to go to a new school for just fifth grade," she explains. "We haven't made any final decisions yet, but we're leaning heavily toward moving. On the other hand, if something comes along on a soap..."

What kind of role does she hope to find? "I'd fit well into a good, family drama," says Barrett. "it's not like I'm super-gorgeous, I'm not a model, but I'm not threatening. People can relate to me. And that's my real strength."

BEVERLY PENBERTHY (ex-Pat)

If you haven't seen much of Beverly Penberthy, who played Pat for nearly 15 years on AW until she left in 1982 (with a brief recurrence in 1989), there's good reason for it - she's been spending quite a bit of her time behind the camera, and reorganizing her personal life in the process.

It all started with the five years she and her production company, Saratoga Films, spent producing a film with a slightly suspect title: Blood-Sucking Pharaohs In Pittsburgh." "It was a spoof on detective stories and horror films," she explains, but admits they went overboard with the blood-and-guts scenes. "There was one [curse] word in the film, there was no sex, but the blood bothered people," says Penberthy. Red rivers of dyed corn syrup running through the streets also garnered the film an NC-17 rating, which sent the crew back to the studio to recut. In the end, says Penberthy, "It sucked five years out my life and my marriage."

Her subsequent divorce knocked her out of the loop for a few more years. "I kind of just fell apart," she says. "But life goes on, even if it took a long time."

Recently, Penberthy made a decision to return to one of her first loves: the stage. "It's therapeutic," she explains. "I've been anxious to get back into the theater." Once she made the decision, there was no shortage of roles, particularly in New York City, where she's based. Penberthy has recently starred in Jean Cocteau's one-woman play, The Human Voice, and had a role in Moliere's The Love Doctor. And while the plays ran this past May, Penberthy had another nice surprise when she was visited by an AW alum.

"Susan Sullivan (ex-Lenore, AW, ex-Maggie, FALCON CREST, now Kitty on DHARMA AND GREG) came by, and she was very sweet. She says that people still ask about ANOTHER WORLD, even though she's been on things that are more visible, and I have that, too. But for soap opera fans, you're more than somebody who plays a part; you become part of their family."

Would Penberthy go back to soaps? Possibly, if the commuting wasn't so difficult - which rules out a return to AW, which tapes in Brooklyn. Still, she says she has fond memories of her years on that show, starting back in 1967. "We started out live," says Penberthy." You kind of had to flub your way through taping. And when I was just beginning to get bored, the producers called us together and said, 'We're taking the show to an hour, and your salaries will be pretty much doubled.' That came at a pretty good time - my kids were looking at colleges!"

For now, she's keeping busy with her stage projects and producing jobs - though none featuring streams of blood. And Penberthy's keeping her acting options open. "I'm in New York; something will come along," she smiles. "There are always options out there."

ALICIA COPPOLA (ex-Lorna)

"I was having a seaweed wrap the other day," says Alicia Coppola, "and this woman was looking at me and saying, 'Lorna?' I had to laugh. People feel comfortable coming up to soap actors because we're in their living rooms every day. We're like their couch."

It's been some time since Coppola's been anyone's couch: She left the role of Felicia Gallant's daughter, Lorna, on AW in 1994 after almost three years. But that doesn't mean she's been sitting around waiting for parts to swing her way - Coppola has had recurring roles on shows like NYPD BLUE, CHICAGO HOPE and THE PROFILER, as well as doing two television movies: THE IRVINE FERTILITY SCANDAL, with Marlyou Henner and Linda Lavin, and THE PERFECT GETAWAY, with Antonio Sabato Jr. "He was as lovely as everybody says he is," she remembers. "We filmed the first two weeks in Utah, and it was just beautiful."

But what she's really desiring right now is a good, lighthearted role - and she's about to get it in another recurring part on TRINITY, a new drama from the executive producer and creator of ER. "I'm really very funny," she insists. "I have a wry sense of humor. And on this show, you'll get to see the lighter side of me. TRINITY is a very intense show dealing with difficult situations, but then there's me, finding something funny, somewhere."

Would she ever go back to her soap roots? "Never say never," she laughs. "I had a wonderful time [at AW]. How could I not? I was working with Linda Dano [Felicia], Charles Keating [ex-Carl], Anna Holbrook [ex-Sharlene] - I had a really great group of teachers. I used to bleed Linda dry with questions. I still see her, she's still 'Mama,' and she'll still be my sounding board. That's very important for me."

But her dreams are still firmly fixed in prime-time television's realm, particularly some of the crime dramas she's been involved in before. "I love the grittiness of shows like LAW & ORDER," she says. "I just like TV because, well, that's my job! The more TV I watch, the more I want to see, and the more I can see where I fit in. And I really like being able to fit in."

Edited November 22, 201015 yr by CarlD2

AW at the end of May, 1991. This episode has a lot of good scenes with Marley standing up for herself against Jake, who was very creepy and delusional at this time. I'm actually surprised they managed to redeem him. She also has a quick scene with Iris where she says she isn't inviting Iris to the engagement party because of her awful behavior at a party earlier that year, but then after they talk, Marley changes her mind. There are also a few flashbacks of Marley standing up to Jake. They serve as a good example of Ellen Wheeler managing, in her last year or so as Marley, to create a Marley who was close to finally being a character in her own right and not just Vicky's wan sister, and also managing to show the flip side to Vicky (Vicky being a strong woman with a lot of weaknesses, Marley being somewhat weak but sometimes very strong). I think that Ellen Wheeler was the best Marley but feel that Anne's is underrated.

There are also some sweet Paulina/Grant scenes, even if they are hackneyed. Cali seems such a perfect fit as Paulina it's going to be tough for me to accept Judi as this version. I mostly remember Judi's as the later Paulina who was a very different character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1csxxOx5zE&feature=channel

From the October 14, 1997 SOD. Primedia Inc

Edited November 22, 201015 yr by CarlD2

Lisa Peluso's fake Southern accent always ticked me the hell off...

Lisa Peluso's fake Southern accent always ticked me the hell off...

Ha, I think somebody, Marlena de la Croix maybe, once said that Lisa's Lila accent was one of the only authentic New Orleans accents she'd heard from an actor.

I was looking through an SOD from when Cass returned to Bay City in mid-1987, and they said look for him to cross paths with Amanda.

Was the show planning to pair them up? I don't remember them ever going there. I wonder if they planned to have Cass as Rex Allingham try to seduce Amanda for the Cory money or something, but then gave that story to Nicole instead.

Some fantastic performances from Anne Heche throughout this episode (and a "Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" sex scene with Kathleen/Cass).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_y3QWvK7g4&feature=channel

I remember the above SOD issue/article. Shortly after this, Linda Dano found that white marabou piece she's talking about, or had it remade, as it was worked into a story where John Aprea's second character, Alex Nikos, bought Felicia a snazzy outfit for a night out on the town. I have that ep on tape. They get into a big argument because he's telling her what to do and she's all, "Just because you buy me this outfit...!" I think this was around the time her face went through the skylight.

He was always giving her nice gifts, I think he was the one who bought her that Pomeranian, Paris.