Short term soap stints you enjoyed

[Bright Eyes]

Are you talking about Crazy Nurse Ali McIntyre (Lisa Lynde) and her mother Claire? If yes, I would say so. I wish that scene of Claire wiping the bloodily written 'Mike', after Ali cut her wrists, from the bathroom mirror was uploaded on YouTube.

[MichaelGL]

Yes! Talk about a spine tingling bone chilling scene, that was by every definition chilling. My jaw was on the floor after seeing that scene. That was such an awesome storyline.

[DRW50]

Yes. Thanks. They were both good. I thought they belonged in a different story, they were both such stark characters, they were more interesting in their own element than in conflict with Mike or Carrie.

[juniorz1]

I liked Cynthia Watros's guest spot on AW as Vicky.

For PURELY campy reasons, I LOVED Fiona Hutchinson's turn as Celia on ATWT.

I thought Joseph Bottoms was an EXCELLENT short-term Cal Winters on DAYS back in the day.

Jessica Tuck ROCKED as Madeline (Thank You Gary Tomlin). Please don't let her be dead.

I enjoyed Marcia Wallace on Y&R.

Any of Nancy Frangiones returns to AW, but particularly in 1986 when she kidnapped & drugged Cass. I still remember them rolling around on the beach, ala "From Here to Eternity," and Kathleen walking up & finding them.

This probably shouldn't count, but I thought Sophia Landon Geier did a more than admirable job filling in for Anna Stuart on AW. Hell, her handful of episodes showed far more character study & depth than Philiece Sampler's entire(ly too long) run as Donna.

And I just ADORED Dorothy Lyman returning to AW as Gwen Frame in 1989, as I had never seen the character before.

[DRW50]

I thought Dorothy was great but from the little bit I'd seen of Gwen, Gwen was a very tense, neurotic woman (although she did have a history of mental instability). Dorothy Lyman said she had no idea what was going on with Gwen in that return. I think they were trying to cash in on Dorothy's work as Opal. Anyway, I did like her scenes with Rachel, Dorothy and Vicky Wyndham, two titans.

I liked most of Cecile's return stints - the one in 1989 also had some good moments, mostly when she was alone with Cass, and some fun moments when she lived under the Cory roof. I also liked the ending for that story, as she decided at the last minute to be good and not embezzle the charity fund.

I really loved Julie Osburn's two day return in 1989 when Cass was delirious and sick and hallucinated that Kathleen was with him.

It's never wrong to count Sofia Landon.

She also had a brief run on ATWT in 1988, as a woman who worked for Duncan, but from what I've seen the role wasn't up to much.

[LegalGirl82]

Those are two of my favorites. Also Nancy Marchand as Iris' friend, Therese Lamonte, on AW.

[DRW50]

Did you get to see that or just read about it? I'd like to see it sometime...

[SFK]

I wonder if any of her eps are still in existence as the episode right after Therese's funeral has survived.

[LegalGirl82]

^^^I saw it, Carl. I was about 11 years old. I distinctly remember both her first and last appearances; and I'm sure I saw some in between. I can still hear her singing "Bye Bye, Blackbird" just before she passed away on Iris' terrace.

[DRW50]

That's great. I'm glad you got to see some of the Lemay era. Obviously it was good stuff for you to recall.

[LegalGirl82]

^^^Reading Lemay's book for the first time a couple of years ago definitely dusted off a lot of my old memories. I'd forgotten about Luise naming her plants, but after I read that passage in the book, again I could hear her voice. Good times.

[Khan]

Either that, or Naomi Harper must've gone to Bay City in Gwen Frame's place.

[DRW50]

It seemed more like an unholy union of Naomi and Eunice.

You've probably already seen this, legalgirl82, but a few years ago Eddie Drueding updated his page with some comments from Anne Meacham.

http://www.igs.net/~awhp/1louise.html

[Quent]

I loved Claire Bloom's short run as Damian Grimaldi's mother, Orlena. Her evolving character went from refined Maltese matriarch to The Mother-In-Law-From-Hell. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete her run, and the actress who took over the role was just way too over-the-top.

I also got a kick out of the fact that BOTH main characters from the old TV spy series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." appeared on ATWT at different times. David McCallum was heavily involved in the Steve/Betsy storyline during Meg Ryan's run. Robert Vaughan played Jeff Hamlin's father (Jeff was dating Emily Stewart).

I wish I could say I enjoyed the short stints of Peter Noone (of Herman's Hermits fame) and Mickey Dolenz (of the Monkees). But the storyline they appeared in (Jessica's daughter, Bonnie McKechnie turns out to be a Scottish princess and inherits a castle) was one of ATWT's all-time worst.

[DRW50]

Claire was just phenomenal. I still remember the scene where she killed Eduardo in the hospital. Looking back I'm surprised that even got on the air, it was so stark and so slow and agonizing to watch, and you were just stunned.

Robert Vaughan was good -- I liked Jef a lot (yet another wrong choice for Valente to fire) and his relationship with his father. Vaughan's character was also a big attorney, I think he represented John in the wrongful death or malpractice lawsuit Lisa filed against him.

I should also include Larry Pine as Adam's lawyer Barry Shire on AMC. That's actually one of the only roles I totally enjoyed Pine in.