Guiding Light Discussion Thread

[Mitch]

Simon is a really good actor, and agreed, he is just soooo DOUR which as was pointed out a change from Mart's Ed who was sunny, and had the Charita Bauer earthy thing about him. He looks way more like he would be MOL'd dad, and it is sad about MOL...who also had that happy big brother ready to help thing, but later on he always tried to be a "dramatic," actor and failed and relied on goofball material. It didnt help that the writers could not see that a nice uncomplicated cute guy could be viable in a soap world.

[KMan101]

Peter Simon was the only Ed I knew when I started watching, but having since seen Mart in the role, holy cow what a big difference. Hulswit was fantastic

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 and totally believable as Charita Bauer's/Bert's on-screen son. Simon can be too dour. He can also give great performances but you can also see on-screen when he's dead in the eyes and checked out ...

[DramatistDreamer]

Was Simon's interpretation of Ed Bauer dour before Maureen was killed off? It seems as though writers cast Simon to be the "heavy", as if this is what they expected from a patriarch on a soap.  The irony is that, in the long run, Ed didn't become anything close to a patriarch, mainly a man who would engage in emotional self-flagellation and wring his hands about what could have been in his life, in regards to his failed relationships.

 

Was Michael O'Leary being cast because of a resemblance to Mart Hulswit? Without even looking at pictures, I'm seeing a resemblance in my mind's eye.

[zanereed]

 

I do - thank you for posting this, @DRW50 - there's no Mike, but it still has a majority of my favorites in it.

 

@Mitch - good question. I can't remember either why Brandon initially left his stock to Amanda. @vetsoapfan - do you remember at all? 

 

And I will wholeheartedly agree with all of you - in my opinion, the best Ed Bauer was Hulswit. He had warmth that Peter Simon never had, yet still had the temper that Robert Gentry had before him. Plus, Hulswit looked like Michael O'Leary's father 

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.

Edited January 14, 2020 by zanereed

[victoria foxton]

Has anyone noticed that the  93-94 episodes everything is dark and brown. 

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[amybrickwallace]

 

Did any of you see his work on SFT? None of his time on that show seems to have popped up online. I don't know what his character was like on SFT, but maybe falling in love with and marrying his TV wife in real life (they're still married today!) added something to his work there.

Edited January 14, 2020 by amybrickwallace

[Mitch]

I think Simon has his own money and didn't need the soap work..so he was less tolerant then other actors of..well, probably everything. I wonder if he is the vet in Tina Sloan's book who got out of his contract early cause of the way they were pushing all vets aside.  I know he really, really fought the "Michelle slap" and I agree with him. I do have to say, some of his demands were a bit off...(I actually think Nola and Ed could have worked if written correctly, but still think Nadine would have been good with Ed, give him a zip and he could bring her down to earth. )

 

I never understood when Simon left in 96 they didn't recast Mike? He could have had a wife who could be a new Bauer matriarch...(but I still wanted to see him with Alex..though Dusay in a love scene would scare the HELL out of me...)

 

I just don't understand Marland's feeling that Simon was sexier then MH as that was not the case..(I think Marland had a thing against..."bigger" guys who wernt muscle boys.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I know he was briefly on ATWT and Courtney Simon was a recurring character on the show but I don't know whether their characters ever intersected. Courtney Simon was also on the writing staff but I don't remember how early she started or whether Peter was already on GL by then.

[DRW50]

 

Courtney left SFT around 1980 I think (didn't they recast her with Nicolette Goulet around that time?), although she made some brief returns. I think she began appearing oncamera at ATWT in the late '80s. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I definitely remember her in Margo's miscarriage storyline which was in '86. According to IMDB she was on the writing staff in '84.

I always get Dr. Michaels and Dr. Samuels mixed up.  Apparently IMDB claims that she played both roles?  This is probably the reason why I got confused.  I do remember another actress playing Dr. Michaels at some point though. 

[Paul Raven]

Courtney left Search in  late 78, when the Corringtons became headwriters. Peter had already vacated the role of Scott (maybe a year before?) and Peter Ratray played the role until the Phillips left Henderson.

[DRW50]

 

I think there was another Dr. Michaels sometime in the '90s. I remember being pleased to see Simon again. I think she also appeared on AMC as a therapist somewhere in this time period. 

[slick jones]

@DRW50, @DramatistDreamer, @Paul Raven

From what @Brolden and I have compared notes, 

Dr. Lynn Michaels   Oakdale's favorite psychiatrist

                                Kaiulani Lee       (temporary)  1989-1990

                                Barbara March    1988   (temporary)

                               Beth McDonald      1997

                               Courtney Simon   1985-05  on and off

 

Dr. Audrey Samuels       Donna Mitchell   1986       OB/GYN

                                       Maureen Anderman    1986

                                       Maggie Burke    1986-1996

                                      Elaine Bromka     1996-2003?   occ.

 

This is what we've estimated for both characters on ATWT.

Edited January 16, 2020 by slick jones

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'd forgotten Elaine Bromka played Dr. Samuels. Such a talented actress.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks for that timeline @slick jones. I definitely remember Maggie Burke as Dr. Samuels.  I think there were an abundance of false positives and switched tests during that time period, lol.