5 minutes ago, Melroser said:

Didn't he get burned in a way by his last contract with P&G? I always thought this is why he quit daytime after. If I remember correctly (and I may not), there was something to the effect he signed a new contract with AW roughly a year before the show went off the air. He had it in his contract that he got paid for 3 years (whether the show was canceled or not.) But he found out when the show got canceled, P&G worded the contract that he was under contract for them and not AW specifically. That's when they told him that "Jake" was being moved to Oakdale and he had to remain with the show until his contract with P&G was up otherwise he would be in breach of his contract. I don't believe he ever wanted to be on ATWT and was dragged there. He left as soon as that contract was up even though "Jake" and "Molly" had a decent following. 

If that's the case, I could see him not wanting to sign another contract with daytime after that. 

Yes, essentially, that is what happened. However, I never knew it if he didn't want to be at ATWT. And, in fact, there were things that made it seem that he was happy there. He & Lesli Kay worked so well together. And, AW had been such a stressful set while ATWT at least then had this reputation of being such a happy set. It's possible that you are entirely correct but if so, it was a well-kept secret, at the time. And, I don't think his leaving necessarily meant anything was wrong. It was just time. He'd played Jake McKinnon long enough.

It's really funny. I never knew any daytime actors had "Pay or Play" contracts. And, now, I've found out that both RKK and Tom Epln had them.

On 11/22/2023 at 10:32 PM, j swift said:

Reading the NYT article about the As The World Turns episode that was being performed live during the Kennedy assassination...

I have a copy of that ATWT episode. I also have about a dozen episodes of GL so early that the announcer says, "The Guiding Light, created by Irna Phillips". 

I always thought Eplin was let go from ATWT for bad behavior. That's what it seemed like at the time. The finality of his exit; being killed off in an abrupt, rather silly way; killing him off after going through all the trouble to bring him on to ATWT; the lack of press about it, after his playing the character for 17 years; and then his disappearance from the industry -- all this seemed to imply that stuff went down BTS. Was this impression all wrong? Did he really just walk away by choice?

Edited January 17Jan 17 by Jdee43

2 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

I always thought Eplin was let go from ATWT for bad behavior. That's what it seemed like at the time. The finality of his exit; being killed off in an abrupt, rather silly way; killing him off after going through all the trouble to bring him on to ATWT; the lack of press about it, after his playing the character for 17 years; and then his disappearance from the industry -- all this seemed to imply that stuff went down BTS. Was this impression all wrong? Did he really just walk away by choice?

At the time that Tom finished at ATWT I lived  in Brooklyn & my partner was the Digest editor for Guiding Light & the editor for ATWT was her close friend & colleague & a close personal friend of mine. I cannot imagine any way that this could have happened & us not know about it.

On 1/10/2025 at 10:54 AM, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Where are you guys seeing that that's Tom Eplin in the news story? I'm not doubting it and it does look like an older version of him but I didn't see his name anywhere. 

 

On 1/10/2025 at 3:16 PM, Maxim said:

Is there a video of this screenshot... I google his name but nothing comes up?

NBC video
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/studio-city-home-fire/3599235/

Here's a screenshot of the NBC video, from Alan Locher's facebook

And then in the comments to that facebook post, someone confirmed that the property records show that that the address is connected to a company that is connected to Tom Eplin, which Alan Locher acknowledged in reply to that comment.
(Link to comment)

Edited January 17Jan 17 by janea4old

And, also it was Shawn Reeves who originally gave the video link to me & he knew that Tom lived there in the area being shown. Shawn was Costume Designer at AW & has known Tom since back then.

 

I'm sorry they lost their home...terrible However, I am so shallow that I have to say...he did not age well...enjoy your youth while you have it...and I know he enjoyed his.

26 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I'm sorry they lost their home...terrible However, I am so shallow that I have to say...he did not age well...enjoy your youth while you have it...and I know he enjoyed his.

Well, I am here to tell you that you better watch yourself, EFulton will take you to task & you better believe it!

We are so awful, aren't we? To our beautiful people. NOT allowing them to change.

Do you recall that DIGEST cover with him & Ellen & the only prop is a ladder.

Edited January 17Jan 17 by Contessa Donatella
more

My heart goes out to anyone who lost a home.

MY recollection is that there was some bad blood/displeasure surrounding Tom Eplin's departure from ATWT. I have no idea what that entailed though. Once Jake raped Marley, I had no interest in the character, and he should have been written off the show. I don't think Eplin was important enough to the show to romanticise another rapist. At the time of his switch to ATWT, I imagine a lot of ATWT fans were extremely confused that his character suddenly showed up on their show and hogged up air time. Jake's death on ATWT was a decade too late in my book.

1 hour ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Well, I am here to tell you that you better watch yourself, EFulton will take you to task & you better believe it!

We are so awful, aren't we? To our beautiful people. NOT allowing them to change.

I dont know who Efulton is...hey beutiful people had their beauty which is more then the rest of us can say. I always thought he was hottest when he filled out a bit, but people were calling him fat back then.  It is good to know the hotties of today that people drool over and wish that they could be with end up like the rest of us tomorrow..so kids. always marry for personality!!!!

 

19 minutes ago, chrisml said:

I imagine a lot of ATWT fans were extremely confused that his character suddenly showed up on their show and hogged up air time. Jake's death on ATWT was a decade too late in my book.

I never knew he was rapist on AW..but he fit in well on ATWT,  but I agree he took over and I could care less about the AW people guest appearances.

12 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I dont know who Efulton is.

He is a fan who frequents this topic. I did not realize you are new here. Welcome!

12 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

..they beutiful people had their beauty which is more then the rest of us can say. I always thought he was hottest when he filled out a bit, but people were calling him fat back then.  It is good to know the hotties of today that people drool over and wish that they could be with end up like the rest of us tomorrow..so kids. always marry for personality!!!!

You know, or maybe you don't, but anyway, at a certain period, he really built up his muscle content - and it looked VERY good on him. However, as people age & it's harder for them to keep up with those kinds of workouts, that muscle mass can turn to fat.

12 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

I never knew he was rapist on AW..but he fit in well on ATWT,  but I agree he took over and I could care less about the AW people guest appearances.

That, his raping Marley, is in itself a huge controversy. NBC insisted that HW Donna Swajeski rewrite it so Jake raped Marley. It was her strongly held opinion that Never Under Any Circumstances would Jake rape Marley. (I am one of many fans who agree with her.) She & the network fought over this. Finally she lost the battle & had to do the rewrite. But, she decided then & there that when her contract came up she was quitting - and when it rolled around, she did quit. So, they lost a writer they liked.

On ATWT I really liked him with Molly!

28 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

He is a fan who frequents this topic. I did not realize you are new here. Welcome!

HA..I am not new..I just never really pay attention to who is who.

13 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

HA..I am not new..I just never really pay attention to who is who.

It's not like it's a rule or anything. But, how is it if you're not new that you didn't know about Jake raping Marley?

And, to @chrismlI would ask you, when you wrote Jake off, which is totally fair to do with a rapist, did you know about the controversy where it is suggested that it was totally OOC to write that Jake did so?

2 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Well, I am here to tell you that you better watch yourself, EFulton will take you to task & you better believe it!

We are so awful, aren't we? To our beautiful people. NOT allowing them to change.

Do you recall that DIGEST cover with him & Ellen & the only prop is a ladder.

Donna it is not my job to police inappropriate and thoughtless comments on here.  However, the more I see of them the less time I want to spend reading these threads.

1 hour ago, Efulton said:

Donna it is not my job to police inappropriate and thoughtless comments on here.  However, the more I see of them the less time I want to spend reading these threads.

I was more or less fooling around rather than being very serious. But, certainly did not mean to put you on the spot. 

You do make a good point, though. I don't think any of us are volunteering to see or read nastiness or ugliness.