19 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

This SOU cover from 2001 made think about how much ATWT wasted MBE and Sierra throughout the last decade. What were your all thoughts?

I don't believe MBE was ever on contract at ATWT (If I am wrong about that, please let me know). So without having the actor on contract, it always seemed to me TPTB were reluctant to write any stories for her. She seemed to come and go for short periods for the better part of a decade, but only as a supporting character -- as most non-contract players did at that time. MBE played a more mature Sierra with more self-confidence than the character had displayed under Finn Carter, and I enjoyed MBE very much in the role. Plus she had chemistry with Liz Hubbard, Martha Byrne, and especially Hunt Block. MBE's Sierra didn't take any crap from Craig, and had no patience for Craig's return to being a cad.

MBE would have also made an interesting Betsy Stuart Andropolis recast. But there would have been no reason to bring back Betsy unless the actor was on contract. And I don't believe MBE was interested in a contract role in New York. Again, if I am mistaken about MBE never having a contract at ATWT, let me know.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Tisy-Lish

Did Heather Rattray leave on her own or was she let go because they wanted Martha back? I never knew what happened behind the scenes at the time. I just knew Martha was returning and then she shows up singing.

There really not much info on Rattray and she has no acting credits after about 2000. I remember back in the day Superstation WTBS use to rerun all those 1970's Wilderness Family movies she appeared in as a kid/young teen.

54 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

Did Heather Rattray leave on her own or was she let go because they wanted Martha back? I never knew what happened behind the scenes at the time. I just knew Martha was returning and then she shows up singing.

There really not much info on Rattray and she has no acting credits after about 2000. I remember back in the day Superstation WTBS use to rerun all those 1970's Wilderness Family movies she appeared in as a kid/young teen.

Douglas Marland was in frequent touch with Martha Byrne about six months before Heather Rattray's contract expired, to see whether she was interested in returning. Martha expressed interest, so the powers that be (TPTB) allowed Heather's contract to expire without negotiating a renewal. Once Heather's contract expired (and she left), TPTB began speaking with Byrne for an ATWT comeback, so it didn't appear that Heather had been fired for Martha.

1 hour ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I don't believe MBE was ever on contract at ATWT (If I am wrong about that, please let me know). So without having the actor on contract, it always seemed to me TPTB were reluctant to write any stories for her.

One Life To Live made MBE an offer; when that happened, she wanted to give ATWT first right of refusal. When they heard of OLTL interest, they immediately put MBE on contract.

32 minutes ago, TheyStartedOnSoaps said:

Douglas Marland was in frequent touch with Martha Byrne about six months before Heather Rattray's contract expired, to see whether she was interested in returning. Martha expressed interest, so the powers that be (TPTB) allowed Heather's contract to expire without negotiating a renewal. Once Heather's contract expired (and she left), TPTB began speaking with Byrne for an ATWT comeback, so it didn't appear that Heather had been fired for Martha.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like they pretty much saw Rattray as a placeholder till Martha was ready to come back.