Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[KateW]

Terry Lester. He left ATWT in spring of 1994, so I wonder if P&G maybe considered him as a potential Alan.

Were any daytime veterans considered for Alan when the part was recast in 1994? I'm surprised a daytime newcomer was cast in such a pivotal role.

Edited May 31, 2015 by KateW

[heffer]

Lester would have been a wonderful choice. He would have fit in nicely with the character that Alan was originally conceived as.

[Soaplovers]

Its funny that in the mid 90s and thereafter that the show considered Reva the main draw when she wasn't even the main reason several people I knew in college and post college started watching the show.

The character that caught their attention was Blake. In fact, my one college roommate started watching with me in late 2001/early 2002 right when the toru grainger story was starting. Her favorite story was that...and I remember her being crushed during the summer that she had to go study abroad and when she returned in the fall..the story was wrapped up with no long lasting effects. So I explained it to her..about the final showdown.between Blake.and Tory and she thanked me and thought the ending sounded fascinating.

With that said, the Blake they all saw was Liz K's version. She took the comical undertones that Sherry S infused and ran with it...the writers took advantage of that and made Blake almost a caricature.. when Liz k was capable of playing Blake the way sherry S played her.

E. Dennehy's Blake was almost tragic, sherrys Blake had the tragic element but was more sardonic...Liz's Blake was more comical but could be sarcastic/sardonic as well.

Thoughts on the three primary Blake's?

[TimWil]

I should think Lester would have been too young for Alan, though.

[KateW]

Terry Lester wasn't that much younger than Ron Raines. IMDb has Ron Raines's birthdate as December 2, 1949 and Terry Lester's as April 13, 1950.

[TimWil]

To me he always had a boyish look, though. Ron Raines didn't.

[amybrickwallace]

Maybe not, but did we ever see RR clean-shaven? For some reason, the celebrity that Terry Lester most resembled (at least to me) was John Tesh.

[DRW50]

I think he was clean-shaven in the Amish story.

I always felt like there was more of an idea of the show being all about Reva than there was a reality, with some exceptions like the clone story. Maybe this changed after I quit watching for good (2003 or 2004), but during times like 1996, I felt like Wendy Moniz was in my face 5 days a week. Later on this became the mob, San Cristobel, etc.

[GMac]

Blake was one of my favorite characters. I preferred SS in the role, as I think the writers and the actor both understood the character and wrote to SS's strengths. And she had great chemistry with MG and JvD.

LK's take on the character I grew to like. But the edge/grayness of the character faded away with her, again the writing contributed to that.

There were a lot of interesting female leads on this show. I think calling it the "Reva Show" had legs in the press, so they went with it.

[amybrickwallace]

Didn't they take LK off contract at one point?

[DramatistDreamer]

I thought Sherry Stringfield was superb in the role of Blake and I was sorry to see her leave but considering she landed on ER, the decision was a sound one. I wonder why we don't see her in anything these days?

[cassadine1991]

I think it was in 2003 when she was put on recurring

[amybrickwallace]

That sounds about right. I wanted to say 2004, but I knew it was around that time. Had JvD already moved on to OLTL by then? Thanks.

[cassadine1991]

VerDorn went to OLTL in October 2005.

A lot of actors were either axed or were dropped to recurring between 2003-2005

Edited June 2, 2015 by cassadine1991

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you. For some reason, I thought he went to OLTL in 2003, but I think Clint Ritchie was still making the occasional guest spot then.