50 minutes ago, chrisml said:

And I had no knowledge of any of Stacey's previous history so I find it fascinating to learn. The character didn't work for me the second time because they never seemed to know what to do with her, and her character's personality was not consistent. That's why I don't understand wanting to bring back characters from the past when we've seen what Swajeski does with them. We saw what she did with Russ (and I'm going off how others have reported the changes in his character). And from youtube comments, she rewrote Gwen's character as well.

I'm not entirely sure why they brought Stacey back. Cass needed law partners, but why not bring in someone new? I wonder if there were other plans for Stacey. Clearly the Derek pairing failed, which seems to be on the actor, but I didn't think it was that great anyway. I thought she came across horribly in taking Mikey from Donna, and then bedding Michael - clearly viewers were meant to be on their side but I loathed them. And I like Hilary Edson.

I haven't seen much of Russ but he doesn't seem that different to me than how he was in the glimpses of David Bailey available from 1980.

Dorothy Lyman also said they made the character strange. I think they were trying to make her "kooky" like Opal. I think they may have also given her some of what they had planned with Willis as the actor declined a return.

Speaking of Stacey, I remember SPW or SOD around 1995 or so claiming Stacey would return.

Edited August 7Aug 7 by DRW50

9 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I'm not entirely sure why they brought Stacey back. Cass needed law partners, but why not bring in someone new? I wonder if there were other plans for Stacey. Clearly the Derek pairing failed, which seems to be on the actor, but I didn't think it was that great anyway. I thought she came across horribly in taking Mikey from Donna, and then bedding Michael - clearly viewers were meant to be on their side but I loathed them. And I like Hilary Edson.

I haven't seen much of Russ but he doesn't seem that different to me than how he was in the glimpses of David Bailey available from 1980.

Dorothy Lyman also said they made the character strange. I think they were trying to make her "kooky" like Opal. I think they may have also given her some of what they had planned with Willis as the actor declined a return.

The problem for Edson is that she was saddled with two poorly conceived characters: Stacey and Eve. Stacey at least had a storyline (the Derek of it all) of her own for a small while even if it went absolutely nowhere. The whole Mikey storyline was just a mess for Stacey's character, and a miscalculation on the writers' part since the viewers sided with Donna. It ruined any possible chance the character had to continue on. I remember people loathed her after that storyline.

I don't know what they were trying to do with Gwen. I don't know the backstory of Gwen and Willis so I was baffled. Based on the yt comments, Swajeski and company rewrote Gwen's backstory to fit this new version but as my firsthand knowledge extends to 1986, I can't say what's accurate or not.

1 minute ago, chrisml said:

The problem for Edson is that she was saddled with two poorly conceived characters: Stacey and Eve. Stacey at least had a storyline (the Derek of it all) of her own for a small while even if it went absolutely nowhere. The whole Mikey storyline was just a mess for Stacey's character, and a miscalculation on the writers' part since the viewers sided with Donna. It ruined any possible chance the character had to continue on. I remember people loathed her after that storyline.

I don't know what they were trying to do with Gwen. I don't know the backstory of Gwen and Willis so I was baffled. Based on the yt comments, Swajeski and company rewrote Gwen's backstory to fit this new version but as my firsthand knowledge extends to 1986, I can't say what's accurate or not.

AWHP mentions that Gwen had mentioned bouts of mental instability in her first run. So I guess it wasn't entirely off, but none of this fit the very serious woman available to watch in the scraps of 1979 and 1980. They did say she had had a breakdown and at the end she was remorseful to Rachel, but the whole thing was just plain bad, a huge waste of Dorothy. Dorothy was on soaps 4-5 times in the late '80s through the '00s and yet she was wasted every time.

I remember Anna Stuart saying Donna Swajeski did not like Donna, and she went to TPTB to complain about the writing. You could see it in that story. Michael was meant to be the innocent party (even though he'd dumped Donna it was just for his stupid secret agent assignment), while Donna had slept with Jake and gave away their son to keep the secret. But Anna Stuart played the anguish and self-loathing so well, and Michael was just such a sanctimonious ass. He also had zero chemistry with Stacey. 

The rumour was that Gwen’s scenes were originally written for Willis.  When Leon Russom did not return they gave the scenes to Dorothy Lyman.  The scenes made sense for Willis but less sense for Gwen. Although I blame most of it on Dorothy’s performance. She plays it a bit too over the top for the Gwen I remember.  Regardless it gave important backstory on Evan.

At least Sharlene and a few other characters made mention that Gwen had changed and they weren't sure why she was so different.   I think she was out of sorts because Willis had left her and she put the blame toward  Rachel and the Cory's.

I think Dorothy had just finished playing Naomi Harper on Mama's Family so I think she hadn't quite shaken that character's aura when trying to tackle Gwen in 1989.  She was much more subtle when she was briefly at Generations and Bold & the Beautiful.

I had no idea Swajeski had turned into a fantasy writer/antique book instagrammer. 

Thank you everyone for filling me in on Stacey and Gwen/Willis. It helps a lot because I was getting so annoyed with Gwen and Dorothy Lyman (someone I normally like).  I would have been happier if Janice Lynde, Jacqueline Courteney, Carmen Duncan, Constance Ford, and Victoria Wyndham had just been the whole episode. Evan's story could have waited until later.  I have no idea why the Iris/Rachel feud did not continue until the end of the show. Duncan and Wyndham were magic together. 

Anna Stuart had some good material in 1990 despite Swajeski not liking the character. I really have no idea why the writers thought Stacey/Michael was going to work. 

6 hours ago, Efulton said:

The rumour was that Gwen’s scenes were originally written for Willis.  When Leon Russom did not return they gave the scenes to Dorothy Lyman.  The scenes made sense for Willis but less sense for Gwen. Although I blame most of it on Dorothy’s performance. She plays it a bit too over the top for the Gwen I remember.  Regardless it gave important backstory on Evan.

I've also heard Gwen's scenes were originally written for Willis. And the lines themselves certainly didn't fit the Gwen we had known in the 1970s. Gwen was an architect from a wealthy family in NYC.  She was good natured and confident.  There had been mention of some past emotional issues, but we saw very little of that during Gwen's first run on AW.  Too bad Leon Russom did not want to reprise the role of Willis.  Even though he declined the invitation to appear on the 25th anniversary episodes, he did attend the anniversary party in NYC.

Interestingly, Susan Sullivan made the same choices -- she had been invited to appear as Lenore during the anniversary week, but declined.  But did travel to NYC to attend the 25th party.  I wonder if TPTB even considered asking Judith Barcroft to return as Lenore (after Sullivan declined).  Although most of Lenore's scenes would have likely been with Nick Coster (with whom Barcroft had never worked), Barcroft and Sullivan had very similar acting styles, and I'm confident Barcroft would have had chemistry with Coster.  Barcroft did attend the anniversary party.  Lenore had been such an important character in the late-1960s until leaving the show in 1975, it's sad that her name was not even mentioned during all the returns.  

I'm wondering if there is any chance of finding the list of former AW actors who attended the 25th anniversary party. Years ago, there was one grainy group photo from the event floating around online.  I thought I saved a copy of it, but can't find it in my files.  I understand it was a very well attended party.  I've been told even Virginia Dwyer was there.  It's difficult to believe only one photo exists from the party, and even that seems to have disappeared from the online ethos. 

2 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Interestingly, Susan Sullivan made the same choices -- she had been invited to appear as Lenore during the anniversary week, but declined.  But did travel to NYC to attend the 25th party.  I wonder if TPTB even considered asking Judith Barcroft to return as Lenore (after Sullivan declined).  Although most of Lenore's scenes would have likely been with Nick Coster (with whom Barcroft had never worked), Barcroft and Sullivan had very similar acting styles, and I'm confident Barcroft would have had chemistry with Coster.  Barcroft did attend the anniversary party.  Lenore had been such an important character in the late-1960s until leaving the show in 1975, it's sad that her name was not even mentioned during all the returns.  

It really does seem like a missed opportunity. I felt bad for Judith when she mentioned playing a bit part on AW about a year earlier and how demoralizing the experience was.

The wall-to-wall promotion of Freakier Friday lately put into my head the shocking idea that both Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Moss have portrayed Lindsay Lohan's mother onscreen. 

I wonder whether they made Amanda a redhead in this era mainly because they wanted Lindsay as Alli.

Lindsay was very good as Alli and I liked Laura but the storylines for Amanda in this period felt a bit too immature. Maybe if Amanda had not already been through her more adult phase when she was married to Grant it would not have felt like backsliding. 

 

Which role on Another World was recast the most times??   

I'm assuming it was probably Jamie Frame or Marianne Randolph. But more likely Jamie.  

Other opinions??

 

Edited August 10Aug 10 by Tisy-Lish

44 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Which role on Another World was recast the most times??   

I'm assuming it was probably Jamie Frame or Marianne Randolph. But more likely Jamie.  

Other opinions??

 

According to the Another World Homepage the winner is Jamie Frame with Marianne and Michael Randolph close behind.

 

Jamie Frame - 11

First Appearance: November 26, 1969

Last Appearance: December 28, 1993

Portrayers: 

Unknown*, November 26, 1969 - December 24, 1969.

Seth Holzlein, January 30, 1970 - October 15, 1971.

Aiden McNulty, October 18, 1971 - March 5, 1973.

Brad Bedford, March 19, 1973 - April 20, 1973.

Tyler Mead, May 4, 1973 - August 2, 1973.

Robert Doran, August 16, 1973 - June 6, 1978.

Tim Holcomb, July 24, 1978 - March 9, 1979.

Richard Bekins, April 25, 1979 - June 6, 1983.

Stephen Yates, August 3, 1983 - July 29, 1985.

Laurence Lau, September 26, 1986 - February 2, 1990.

Russell Todd, March 5, 1990 - February 26, 1993; December 23 - 28, 1993.

 

Marianne Randolph - 9

First Appearance: September 4, 1970

Last Appearance: February 11, 1982

Portrayers: 

Jeanne Beirne, September 4, 1970 - February 18, 1971.

Lora McDonald, March 11, 1971 - July 26, 1971.

Tracey Brown, August 31, 1971 - January 7, 1972.

Loriann Ruger, April 10, 1972 - June 13, 1973.

Jill Turnbull, October 3, 1973 - May 15, 1974.

Tiberia Mitri, September 20, 1974 - September 30, 1974.

Ariana Muenker, January 21, 1975 - June 17, 1977.

Adrienne Wallace, December 19, 1977 - June 28, 1979.

Beth Collins, October 24, 1980 - February 11, 1982.

 

Michael Randolph - 9

First Appearance:September 4, 1970

Last Appearance:September 25, 1979

Portrayers: 

Dennis Sullivan, September 4, 1970 - February 18, 1971.

John J. Sullivan, March 11, 1971 - July 26, 1971.

Christopher Corwin, August 31, 1971 - January 3, 1972.

Tim Nissen, January 6 and 7, 1972.

Tom Ruger, April 17, 1972 - June 13, 1973.

Tom Sabota, Jr., October 3, 1973 - May 15, 1974.

Glen Zachar, September 20, 1974 - September 30, 1974.

Christopher J. Brown, January 28, 1975 - June 6, 1975.

Lionel Johnston, September 8, 1975 - September 25, 1979

Strictly speaking that list is correct, but if you exclude child actors and focus on older actors who actually had story...

Jamie 5

Marianne 3

Michael 2

Alice 5

Rachel 3

Russ 3

Vicky 4

Nicole 3

Amanda 3

Sam 3

Matt 3

Sally 5

Peter 3

Jim 4

Susan 4

Vince 3

Julia 3

4 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Strictly speaking that list is correct, but if you exclude child actors and focus on older actors who actually had story...

Jamie 5

Marianne 3

Michael 2

Alice 5

Rachel 3

Russ 3

Vicky 4

Nicole 3

Amanda 3

Sam 3

Matt 3

Sally 5

Peter 3

Jim 4

Susan 4

Vince 3

Julia 3

Marley was also 3. Liz was 3 (not counting 1 day Sarah Cunningham). Adult-ish Maggie was 3.

Matthew should go to 4 if we count Daniel Dale who was a bit more than a typical child.  

5 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Strictly speaking that list is correct, but if you exclude child actors and focus on older actors who actually had story...

Jamie 5

Marianne 3

Michael 2

Alice 5

Rachel 3

Russ 3

Vicky 4

Nicole 3

Amanda 3

Sam 3

Matt 3

Sally 5

Peter 3

Jim 4

Susan 4

Vince 3

Julia 3

But that was not the question I was answering.

On 8/7/2025 at 2:34 PM, Efulton said:

The rumour was that Gwen’s scenes were originally written for Willis.  When Leon Russom did not return they gave the scenes to Dorothy Lyman.  The scenes made sense for Willis but less sense for Gwen. Although I blame most of it on Dorothy’s performance. She plays it a bit too over the top for the Gwen I remember.  Regardless it gave important backstory on Evan.

But it made sense because Gwen was the only Frame to return from the past (even though only Frame by marriage).  They needed a story on the feud between the Frames and the Corys and revealing Janice Frame was Evan's mother.  Also, it could be possible that after many years of Willis & Gwen going broke in Australia, that Gwen got angry and Willis filled her head with stories so she would hate Rachel.  This sh*t really does happen in real life.. Haha!!