Excerpt from a 1979 article about soap stars

Colleen Zenk (Barbara in As the World Turns). “I went through the mill getting on this show. For the first three years I was in New York, I had 14 tests for 14 different soaps. I wanted daytime so bad, because it’s a three-act play every day. There’s nothing like it for an actor. It’s the best challenge. In the theater, you can get stale in the most wonderful part. I don’t have a wonderful part every day on our show, but I can DO things.” A Chicagoan, Colleen started dancing at 3, modeling at 9, doing commercials at 11, and was the Dr. Pepper girl and the 7-Up girl. She’s done a total of 100 commercials. “I LOVE WHAT I’m doing now. I’m part of people’s everyday lives, and when I go home to visit, I’m mobbed in shops. People like Barbara, and so they like me. I don’t want to be a star, you see. My private life is too important to me. I won’t sacrifice it, and I don’t want the notoriety that goes with being Farrah or Cheryl Tiegs. I want to have a family, all those wonderful Midwest things.”

4 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Excerpt from a 1979 article about soap stars

Colleen Zenk (Barbara in As the World Turns). “I went through the mill getting on this show. For the first three years I was in New York, I had 14 tests for 14 different soaps. I wanted daytime so bad, because it’s a three-act play every day. There’s nothing like it for an actor. It’s the best challenge. In the theater, you can get stale in the most wonderful part. I don’t have a wonderful part every day on our show, but I can DO things.” A Chicagoan, Colleen started dancing at 3, modeling at 9, doing commercials at 11, and was the Dr. Pepper girl and the 7-Up girl. She’s done a total of 100 commercials. “I LOVE WHAT I’m doing now. I’m part of people’s everyday lives, and when I go home to visit, I’m mobbed in shops. People like Barbara, and so they like me. I don’t want to be a star, you see. My private life is too important to me. I won’t sacrifice it, and I don’t want the notoriety that goes with being Farrah or Cheryl Tiegs. I want to have a family, all those wonderful Midwest things.”

Okay, who read that and immediately checked to see if there were 14 different New York-based soaps from 1975-78? Just me?

(There were, but only if you count Lovers and Friends and For Richer, For Poorer as separate shows.)

Immediately starts wondering what roles Colleen would've been right for in that time frame....

5 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Immediately starts wondering what roles Colleen would've been right for in that time frame....

She did appear as a Nurse on RH briefly.

1 hour ago, Franko said:

Okay, who read that and immediately checked to see if there were 14 different New York-based soaps from 1975-78? Just me?

I counted 14 daytime dramas filmed in New York from 1975-1978.

CBS: Search for Tomorrow, Love of Life, As the World Turns, Guiding Light

ABC: One Life to Live, All My Children, Ryan's Hope, The Edge of Night

NBC: The Doctors; Another World; Somerset; How to Survive a Marriage; Lovers and Friends; For Richer, For Poorer