I don't know if she was ever very popular. I liked her best with the first Nicole from the little I've seen of her. I think she fit what Nicole probably should have been, flighty, vulnerable party girl.

From the November 8, 1994 Digest.

LOL, can anybody say Misery? I guess it was bound to happen, given that Felicia is a romance novelist/runs Brava/presents Breakfast with Felicia which apparently has "an audience of millions." Felicia = Oprah!

I have been watching THE best episode of AW that I have ever seen -- 5/25/1992. Lorna goes to see her sick grandmother to confirm her parentage. I just have no words to describe how much Alicia Coppola impresses me. Whether she's covering her grandmother with kisses or sparring with Carl, this character was Fierce with a capital F.

And then we have Jake & Paulina... finally. I am in love with this couple. This episode invested so much in their confrontation and eventual admiting that they loved each other. I honestly believe that the day the soaps decided to pare down/eradicate proper love scenes was the day the death knell sounded on Daytime's fate. Those scenes are not just swooningly swoonsome, sensual, romantic and tender, they established this couple's identity as a twosome. That love scene will always be referred to as that moment when they knew they couldn't live without each other, etc.

Paul Michael Valley spent the decade after leaving AW auditioning for just about every soap role that came down the pike, on both coasts. I'm mystified as to why he never got cast. Maybe it was the "personal demons" quartermainfan alluded to. It's a pity, I thought he was great as Ryan, a classic soap hero.

That storyline with Felicia in the attic was dreadful ... and interminable.

I'm so glad you're enjoying Jake & Paulina, Cat. They are one of my all-time favorite soap couples. It pissed me off that they were thrown over in favor of Jake & Vicky, and Paulina was saddled with dull nice-guy Joe.

Their chemistry really leaps off the screen, teplin. I know I sound silly talking about it, but after being starved of any pairing with even an iota of chemistry on soaps currently, I can't believe how much Tom Eplin and Judi Evans have together (although the rumor mill suggests that they hated each other. Not if the fact Eplin keeps slipping her tongue is any indication! Sorry to be crude, but it's obvious he was doing that to tease Evans). I had forgotten that this kind of chemistry is what soaps used to actively cultivate.

I don't plan on checking out Jake & Vicky the Redux. Perhaps if Anne Heche had still been playing Vicky, I could imagine the chemistry between her and Tom Eplin... but after seeing J&P, what a pity TIIC caved into backstage agendas.

I know Linda really enjoyed the story, although some of that was due to her frustration over Felicia being on the backburner for a lot of 1994.

What did you think of Felicia and Marshall? I know it was killed because of fears. Did they have any chemistry?

An acquaintance of mine was one of the Marshalls but he didn't get to do much. We've never had the chance to sit down and really dish AW but honestly I don't think he'd have much to share. I really like the idea of Felicia and Marshall, Linda and Randy Brooks looked great together. I remember someone saying that Linda looked like she barely kissed back when they smooched but I really don't want to think too much about the wherefores and whys of that. Would have to see it for myself.

There were so many thankless Marshalls. I think they only kept the character around as long as they did for tokenism, which was a shame. The same was true for his daughter Dana. I think after Brooks, someone played him for a while, and then Dean Irby, very briefly.

What did you think of Felicia and Marshall? I know it was killed because of fears. Did they have any chemistry?

Personally, I don't think they did. Felicia/Marshall was a bold idea, but it needed an actor who was as dynamic as Linda Dano to make it work. Randy Brooks, IMO, just came across too "weak" of an actor, presence-wise, to make genuine sparks between the two of them.

From the July 1976 Afternoon TV Stars. The next page also has items by them. Lorelei Publishing Co, Inc

Edited November 22, 201015 yr by CarlD2

AW didn't really follow up on Rachel as an artist-another example of the show's inconsistencies.

I agree Philece would have made a better Nicole.. Just for fun,who do posters think cxould have been cast as Donna in 87? Maybe Sofia Landon?

Sofia would have been very good. Based on her work on Ryan's Hope as the bitchy soap opera actress, I think Ellen Barber could have been too.

The show seemed to have Rachel go back and forth with her art -- it stopped for years then came back around 1993 or 1994. Then suddenly showed up again a few more times in 98 (she was in her studio when she killed Nikos; then she did a bust of Jordan Stark). Sometimes I wonder if Victoria asked them to let her do it again.

I have some interviews with the Randolph kids I will type up. I still don't understand why they only had Michael stay around for a relatively short around of time as an adult.

sports and into very close family ties. The center of his being comes from having a happy-go-lucky, easy, very Taurus, level, straightforward personality. When things fall apart, he'll fight to get them back to normal. He's very stubborn that way and so am I.

"I enjoy playing the part, and I find it easy to do because the character is centered on his family. He's the cohesive force trying to keep the family together."

Lionel said he does not know where the show will lead him, but he would like to stay on for another year or so. "I'm just starting to relax and deal with mistakes I make while the tape is running," he explained. "In the beginning it was just saying my lines and getting off. I now have a little more spontaneity to make the character seem a little more real."

"Gladys has encouraged me and has been a big help when times get tough. She helps me learn the lines and gives me the motivation I need. But she's only visited the set once. I don't like anyone coming to the studio to watch me work. It puts a lot of pressure on me."

"The script writers are also beginning to write lines to fit my personality. Even phrases I normally use are incorporated in the script."

Lionel's wife has not only helped him through the rough spots of his television role, but has seen him through rougher times, like the first few months of their marriage. Universal cancelled his contract in April. No new roles were materializing.

"I wasn't working, and my wife and I had to live on food stamps and unemployment compensation. We were really poor. I didn't save enough money during the two years at Universal because I was only being paid the minimum union scale as a contract player. Big money is one of the major sacrifices an actor must make for the security of a studio contract which pays you even when you're not working.

"It took a lot of courage for Gladys to marry me at that poorest point in my life. But we married for love. After I left Panama, we were separated for six years, except for occasional visits. Our separation made me realize that I loved her more. We talked about getting married while still in high school back in Panama, but we weren't really sure if it was the right thing to do."

Each left the Canal Zone at about the same time. Gladys went to Texas to be with her father, a United States Air Force officer who was transferred there. Lionel went off to New York City to enroll in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he spent the next four years.

On graduation in 1973, he was offered the contract from Universal. As a contract player, he said he was able to gain much practical experience, mostly in prime time television bit parts.

One of his bigger moments, however, was playing opposite Charlton Heston and George Kennedy as a national guardsman in a two minute segment of "Earthquake."

His first professional role was on television: five lines as a police officer in the television movie "A Case of Rape." Another TV movie, "Heat Wave," was next. Later Lionel appeared on episodes of such shows as "Kojak," "Heck Ramsey," "Chase," "Griff," and was a regular on the short-lived "Sons and Daughters" on CBS.

As a bit player, Lionel was unknown. As Michael Randolph, viewers are beginning to recognize him on the street.

Toward the end of our interview, Lionel, who was dressed in Michael's blue windbreaker jacket, started receiving stares from several women who had just entered the restaurant for lunch. Minutes later, one of the women walked up to our table, asked if he were Michael Randolph and started talking to him about his family problems.

"It feels good when I'm recognized; it's an ego trip," Lionel explained as he sat back in his chair. "But while recognition feels good, it's also hard at times. There are certain occasions when I don't want them to come up, like when my wife and I are having a serious discussion. I can't be rude to them because the public sees Michael Randolph as nice. But it's hard to be nice all the time!"

At that moment he glanced at his watch and at the bulky guitar leaning against the wall. He had brought it to the city to give a lesson to a friend who was patiently waiting a few blocks away.

Exciting work on a network serial, public recognition, a second career in music, a tranquil estate in the country where a loving and understanding wife awaits...

It's an extraordinary measure of success for an actor in his early twenties. He's living in the best of all possible worlds, a world he has made for himself. - Herbert B. Fishberg