Seeing this latest trend in best/worst threads, I thought to start my own.

Who are some of your favourite daytime divas, those bigger-than-life, magnetic, super stylish femmes fatales of daytime? It can be anyone from a long-forgotten guest star in the '70s to the main female protagonist on the show. Villainess, fairy godmother, the characters ethics and morality are not the point.

And not to forget: is there a particularly soapy name of a female character you like? Like e.g. Dominique Deveraux (not daytime, but hey), Angelique DuVal, Helena Cassadine, those French/Italian/German/Greek sounding names, that sort of thing.

P. S. If a mod could change the b in the title to a capital, I'd be grateful.

Edited October 19, 200916 yr by Sylph

I loved this creation of Nolan's (BTW, apparently, he is battling cancer ), this vestal virgin-type of diva clothing! That orange lipstick, those golden eye shadows, so difficult to pull out - magnificent!

Really? Poor guy, I sure hope he pulls through. Nolan Miller singlehandedly redefined fashion in the mid-1980s. People were still wearing those power suits right through the 90s (I remember the wardrobe he gave LAD in Sunset Beach). He was incredibly influenced by the 1940s, the Rita Hayworths, Joan Crawfords and Lauren Bacalls and you could see that throughout Dynasty and The Colbys.

I love that shot of Diahann Carroll. The draping, the brooch. A diva like her could still wear that today and pull it off, but only the divas would have the confidence to wear it. The material looks very luxe, too. Miller famously had no budget limits at Dynasty. Spelling told him to just make it and send him the bill later.

Really? Poor guy, I sure hope he pulls through.

I hope so too. Do you perhaps know whether he still has his own boutique somewhere in Beverly Hills?

Nolan Miller singlehandedly redefined fashion in the mid-1980s. People were still wearing those power suits right through the 90s (I remember the wardrobe he gave LAD in Sunset Beach). He was incredibly influenced by the 1940s, the Rita Hayworths, Joan Crawfords and Lauren Bacalls and you could see that throughout Dynasty and The Colbys.

I don't see Greta Garbo there. It certainly gave a complete new turn to that whole wave of Hollywood glamour intially created by Edith Head, Adrian and Hubert de Givenchy.

I love that shot of Diahann Carroll. The draping, the brooch. A diva like her could still wear that today and pull it off, but only the divas would have the confidence to wear it. The material looks very luxe, too. Miller famously had no budget limits at Dynasty. Spelling told him to just make it and send him the bill later.

You are free to use the shot. While you're mentioning that no-limit things, do you perhaps know of any interviews with him about his work on Dynasty?

I hope so too. Do you perhaps know whether he still has his own boutique somewhere in Beverly Hills?

You are free to use the shot. While you're mentioning that no-limit things, do you perhaps know of any interviews with him about his work on Dynasty?

Nope, I don't know whether the boutique is still around. I wondered whether it had already closed when Spelling hired him out of retirement for Sunset Beach in 1997.

And off the top of my head, I don't know of any interviews. You should do a search of TV Guide's archives -- they may have interviewed him in the mid-80s. I know they did an awesome interview with Stephanie Beacham after her first few months on the Colbys.

Nice to see so many like minds, that picture of Diahann in the beige turban is one of my favorites. She has such a perfect face. Here's video of her performing in that number she's wearing on the cover of her autobio (a great read, read it in high school): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0KSj1Ku99I

Yeah, after watching Nolan Miller's TV Archive interview on YouTube, I Google'd him and read some comments about him being ill with lung cancer. This was on a QVC/HSN (?) board, where he sells his own line of jewelry. But this was like two years ago, and I haven't heard much about it since. I hope he's doing better. Apparently, he's one of the many people who developed lung cancer and never smoked.

He's said that Diahann and Stephanie wanted wardrobes like Joan's (the peplum suits, et cetera), but TPTB were insistent (especially with Sable) that their characters didn't look like Alexis clones. Honestly, I think Dominique got the best wardrobe, but perhaps that's a matter of personal taste. Alexis' was the most OTT, but I liked Dom's palette (which Nolan and Diahann originally wanted to be all black and white but that proved too difficult to film, throwing off the color balance of the camera).

That scene with Dominique in the taupe cowl is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2Q3TAsSMg. She's also got a huge sable muff on her arm.

Sylph, here's a link to Nolan's Archive of Television interview (several parts), as well as another interview he did for a TV magazine news show: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22Nolan+Miller%22&search_type=&aq=f

That scene with Dominique in the taupe cowl is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2Q3TAsSMg. She's also got a huge sable muff on her arm.

Sylph, here's a link to Nolan's Archive of Television interview (several parts), as well as another interview he did for a TV magazine news show: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22Nolan+Miller%22&search_type=&aq=f

OMG! 10 30-minute parts! Thanks so much, but I'll have to find some time to go through all these! Do you remember in which particular section he talks about Dynasty? Costume design is of particular interest to you?

Here's Enter Dominique, with another fab creation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-h1CrkuIQ

"Incidentally, Dominique Devereaux is an awesome name for a magnetic businesswoman! A first and last name beginning with the same letter is always a good place to start, as is something French-sounding." -Cat

That sounds like a line straight from Chapter 1 of the "How to Be a Fierce Diva" handbook.

My favorite part of that Alexis fashion tribute video comes at the 2:36 mark when she does that little hesitation dip before rounding the corner.

Sylph, some more Nolan interviews:

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/18/style/glamour-boy.html

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B24OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=G4EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5337%2C2838234

Edited October 20, 200916 yr by SFK

I wish Youtube hadn't taken down the clip of Alexis at some dive, singing Boys in the Backroom. I loved when 80s soaps did that, to remind us that so and so was just folks. Like on Paper Dolls when Roscoe Born tried to shock Racine by taking her to a ribs joint, and she just casually sat down and started polishing off the food. Or on GL when Alex and HB would go bowling.

I don't remember Abby Ewing doing any of that though. She did have the classic scene where Greg tried to catch her sans makeup.

Sylph, the Dynasty talk starts in part 7. This dude has dressed EVERYone.

Mo Garrett, who did she play?

Mo = Maureen

She played Holly on GL.

And by the way, where is Elsa? This thread is right up his/her alley.

Oh, right. Brain fart.

I was thinking of Joy Garrett, I think...

Gasp!

Where is Maeve Kinkead's Vanessa Chamberlain Lewis in this thread????

Hurumph.

In an issue of SOD from the early 90s, she was noted as being one of the most stylish business women in soaps, and I think they mentioned how she seemed to juggle it all motherhood, her career, her drama with Billy and Fletcher.

And I'll throw in Mary Kay Adams as India von Halkein in there as well..

And who can forget this little number in 1986

Edited October 20, 200916 yr by MichaelGL

Dorie, another character who was never seen again, rarely mentioned.

Poor India, she looks like she's going to be put in an oven.

Dorie would have been a decent addition to the younger crew(Bridget, Dylan, Julie, Hart) in the early 90s.

That scene with Dominique in the taupe cowl is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO2Q3TAsSMg. She's also got a huge sable muff on her arm.

Sylph, here's a link to Nolan's Archive of Television interview (several parts), as well as another interview he did for a TV magazine news show: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22Nolan+Miller%22&search_type=&aq=f

He has such nice things to say about everyone except Pamela Bellwood. Why was she not liked? Has anyone heard anything about this? He also didn't seem enamored with Diahann Carroll.