Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Yup, and she's the most famous alum of my dad's alma mater, Bedford High School in Bedford, OH. (Though she graduated 20 years after he did, LOL.)

[Paul Raven]

Variety mentions Jan Sterling joining the cast in January 1970 as Mildred. Most reference books have the date as 69. Maybe it was late 69?

Does anyone recall her in this role? She was fabulous in her 50's movies and I'd love to know how she came across in this role.

I didn't know that for many years she was involved with Sam Wanamaker (Berrenger's)

[danfling]

I remember her in the role of Mildred Foss. She became the housekeeper who was in cahoots with Ray Fulmer's character.

I think that the character died. I forget how, but a fall down a flight of stairs comes to my mind. I also remember that Mildred held a gun toward Dr. Sara McIntyre.

[amybrickwallace]

According to Soap Central:

Sara McIntyre (Millette Alexander) was treating Lee Gantry (Ray Fulmer), a malaria patient whose deceased wife, Alice Rawlings, had grown up with Meta. Alice's wealthy family had a rambling farm near Springfield where Meta had visited as a child. After a sojourn in England, Lee was now living at Rawlings Farm. Since her "niece" had turned out to be a money-grubbing phony, Sara was more fearful of relationships than ever. Joe Werner (Ed Zimmermann) found that he had feelings for her and proposed, inviting her to join him on a yearlong sabbatical in England. But Sara was unwilling to commit and offered the excuse that she was hesitant to abandon her practice in Springfield. Joe went to England alone. Paul Fletcher (Bernard Grant) was also interested in Sara, but he was still recovering from his tragic marriages to Robin and Anne, and he decided not to pursue her. This paved the way for Lee Gantry.

A charming and erudite man, Lee made Sara laugh and brought out her long-dormant spontaneity. But there was nothing impulsive about the way he lifted Sara's wallet--or the way he killed his first wife, Alice. Lee's former housekeeper, Mildred Foss (Jan Sterling), knew how Alice Rawlings Gantry had met her untimely end, and she blackmailed Lee into rehiring her. It wasn't long before Sara's friends were shocked to hear that she'd married the enigmatic Lee. In England, a suspicious Joe investigated his rival and discovered that Lee had fired Mildred Foss when he lived there. Back in Springfield, a sequence of events straight out of the classic film Gaslight ensued. in an effort to drive Sara crazy, Lee and Mildred made strange noises in the attic and doctored Sara's appointment book. One night, when Sara was alone during a thunderstorm, she heard one of those noises in the attic. Frightened, she took a gun and went upstairs, where she spotted a shadowy figure and took a shot at it. The figure fell, and when Sara moved in closer, she saw the lifeless body of Mildred Foss! Fortunately for Sara, the D.A.'s office ruled the death an accident and dismissed all charges.

But Lee Gantry was still determined to ice his wealthy wife, and he plotted to make Sara's death look like a suicide. Joe returned to Springfield, and working with Mike, he poked holes in many of Lee's stories. Joe told a disbelieving Sara that "Lee Gantry married you for your money." While searching for evidence against her Bluebeard husband, Sara remembered Meta telling her of the games she'd played with Alice at the farm when they were children. Meta recalled seeing a loose brick in the chimney, and Sara went up into the attic to check it out. Behind the brick, she found Alice Rawlings' diary! At that moment, Lee arrived and tried to murder Sara. Luckily Joe showed up in the nick of time and saved the life of the woman he'd grown to love. Joe and Lee got into a violent fight that ended when Lee fell out of the attic window to his death. Joe and Sara married shortly after.

[DRW50]

I'd forgotten they wrote Roger as this abusive or this angry with Holly by this point. I mostly remember JFP as having Roger with more of a soft underbelly toward Holly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSGd1DyJIDI&list=UUMzfXBdkJBnz14rGTDBnVDw

This scene reminds me of why I liked Jeff Philips as Hart (the only Hart I ever had any real interest in, although Marshal Hilliard was OK too - I wasn't watching when Stabb was on there). He was so wooden on AW, and wooden on a lot of GL too, but he had his moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VSyc53fo0c&list=UUMzfXBdkJBnz14rGTDBnVDw&index=22

[amybrickwallace]

To be fair to Jeff Phillips (and before him, Brian Krause), I honestly don't think the AW regime's heart was really into the character of Matt unless the one playing him was Matt Crane. Once they brought him back at the end of 1998, he brought an energy and sense of camaraderie that hadn't been there since he'd left the year before. It was like he had never been gone.

[zanereed]

Here's the final scene of this storyline, for those interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5XGkhLgi_A

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks for posting that scene. For being on a budget, everyone on the show sure made the best of it.

[zanereed]

Agreed. I've always been curious if the whole episode exists, or just that particular scene.

[amybrickwallace]

I would love to see the whole episode if it still exists. I'm still amazed that they were able to do so much with not so much money.

[Mitch]

LOL..Macgregor was dull.

I agree with you that MOL should have been recast post Abby (though he is looking pretty hot in the break up scenes in the kitchen..) I thought I was the only one on earth who thought that. MOL became more then schlubby, he always looked like he was slob, and he really began to rely on just mugging for the camera and making Rick a fool all the time. I think a recast from someone who was sexy in a non threatneing way, like James Denton on DHW..but with more of a sense of humor. Rick needed to be recast if he was going to be the only male Bauer, and then Bauer left in town. He needed to be the nice, sexy, fun guy next door, not the weird uncle that he was in the last few years.

I heard that Conboy wanted to recast him but MADD wouldnt let him. Anyone have any info?

[Mitch]

Again, I thought I was the only one who thought that MKA looked too old to play India (who was saw have her 21st birthday) in the 80s. Funny that later on she looked fine as she didnt change much, so it worked when she was older.

The Four Musketeers were really thrown off not only with the recast but with Pam Long leaving and the whole change in tone of the show. Close friendships and realtionships were thrown out for action adventure and tyring to be like Dallas lite. Rick and Phillip did have a scene where, beleive it or not, they talked about whore houses..(this is when Roxie had a very stupid split personaltiy of Rosie and gone to live in a whore house...yea, that was what GL became. at that time...) Anyway, Rick is trying to pump info from Phillip on how a whore house works (which is implied that he visits high class prostitutes) and Phillip lears about Rick going to one. It was creepy and weird.

[amybrickwallace]

Was Jeff Ryder still writing the show then or did he leave when Pam Long did (the first time she left, I mean)?

[DRW50]

I think he stayed on to the middle or late 1986.

[DRW50]

September 19, 1998 Soap Opera Magazine