ALL: They Almost Became

[Contessa Donatella]

As a fan of Jennifer, of Missy, and of Cady, I find it great luck to have Cady. She is great at Jennifer!

[David_Vickers]

Agree wholeheartedly.

[John]

On The Locker Room's Port Charles Reunion, Jon Lindstrom talks that when he auditioned for GH's Ryan Chamberlin in 1992, it came down to him & Michael O'Leary (Rick Bauer, GL) for the role. Jon got the job of course.

Edited June 29, 2022 by John

[Spoon]

That's hilarious.  On one hand it would've kept him from returning to GL and hamming it up as Rick.  On the other hand without MOL available I know Rick would have gone the way of Mike and Hope Bauer.  No recast or return.

[Faulkner]

Obviously they made the right call (even solely going off how much better JL aged), but I’m intrigued at MOL playing a psychopath.

[SteelCity]

Wasn't Anne Heche willing to come back to AW, but they went with Cynthia Watros instead?

[Contessa Donatella]

No. No. Etc. More to come.

Anne Heche was not asked back but she wouldn't have come. She loves AW & AW fans. She had just moved on. Cynthia Watros was Twin #4 but only for about 2 weeks while Jensen had some surgery. Strictly temp.

Here's the story you're reaching for. JB didn't want to come back to work. She wanted to be at home with her young children. And, she most especially did not want to play both twins. They wanted her. She asked for perks & concessions. She got them. The show went without Marley for years.

Meanwhile, Ellen Wheeler was ready, even avid, to come back & play both twins again. The show could have had her! Some idiot wanted JB even though she took advantage of the show at a bad time.

[SteelCity]

Wow! Thanks for clearing that up! Jensen Buchanan sounds like a piece of work! It's no wonder she didn't last on ATWT! 

[Contessa Donatella]

Sure thing. It was easy to see how you had a valid question that had gotten a bit scrambled up & see clear to the real reply! As for Jensen at the end of the show, many people were very angry with her for taking advantage. Others just thought she was smart enough to get whatever she could out of her deal. I was involved with actors who were very concerned with the whole show, the fans, the crew members who were going to lose their jobs, etc. But, JB didn't want to last at ATWT, she had another job at GH that started before AW was even over! She said she didn't know that P&G had an exclusive deal with her. JFP hired her at GH & she would have had to know. The 'end of the world' was not tidy. As they say, we lived in interesting times.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Also in this episode Jon mentioned he was up for Jimmy Lee Holt and Frisco Jones. 

[John]

And he also auditioned for Jack Abbott on Y&R in the 80's

i could of sworn that Anne wanted to fill in 1998 but was doing Psycho at the time

[Contessa Donatella]

I wonder what characters there have been that he personally felt were "the one that got away." That would be very interesting to hear actors talk about, I think!

Well, maybe so. Unlike many actors she finds her time on the soap as very dear to her & AW right after high school & her brother's death & her father's death she was an old hat at working. She'd been doing successful dinner theatre for 4 years I think, so AW was easily like work & like a second home to her & she & Anna were very close. Anyway, maybe we'll find out she did wish she'd had a window to come back.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Tonksadora
Anne Heche. I dropped her a line. Maybe she'll reply.

[Chris B]

I never understood the obsession they had with keeping Jensen, who I didn't find to be that great. She was a good romantic lead, but hardly irreplacable. When did they make Ellen Wheeler audition for the role? Was that when Jensen was first hired or one of the times she tried to quit? I find that so odd she was an Emmy winner and they made her audition for her own role (AND she lost).

Edited July 3, 2022 by Chris B

[Contessa Donatella]

I'm with you on this one! I never got what the bee was in their bonnet that they had to have JB. Wheeler, like Heche, had won the Emmy for the role. JB never was near an Emmy. And, Wheeler would have welcomed playing both parts again! I'm not sure when they had EW audition. So insulting & so stupid. And, frankly, the show could NOT afford to pay the perks that they paid. Most of the fans at that point wondered if JB knew where the bodies were buried!

[SteelCity]

This is why I hate when production gives the actor so much power!