What college won? I wish OLTL would bring back the college element more actually (sorry that one corridor that Ford bumps into people in doesn't count).

Viki the cheerleader, some things you just never imagined existed, lol. Eric, I think they taped at Duke.

From the August 5, 1980 Digest.

From the September/October 1991 Episodes.

In one of the old magazines I was reading about poor Nancy Pinkerton and how she basically said OLTL "made her an offer she had to refuse," sort of what happened with ATWT and Martha Byrne a few years ago I guess.

This was also when they fired Doris Quinlan. I never knew she'd been fired - I always thought she'd just left. Her replacement was Joe Stuart I think. Was that right move or would you have kept Doris?

In one of the old magazines I was reading about poor Nancy Pinkerton and how she basically said OLTL "made her an offer she had to refuse," sort of what happened with ATWT and Martha Byrne a few years ago I guess.

Carl, was that the reason why she left in 1976?

It looks like it, yes. I think OLTL must have wanted her out but didn't want to directly fire her.

It looks like it, yes. I think OLTL must have wanted her out but didn't want to directly fire her.

I think that's so interesting. I always thought Nancy Pinkerton left because she wanted to. Its not like they replaced her with an actress who remained for years. Claire Malis was only Dorian for 2 years before Robin Strasser took over the role.

I think they wanted to soften Dorian slightly, but it didn't really work.

I've read that they had longterm ideas for Dorian but didn't believe the audience would be able to shake the image of Nancy Pinkerton's villainy. That's kind of an off concept to me, I've never been a big fan of "take the character into a new direction." I say you either ditch the character or you bring on another character to achieve whatever you're going for. OR you, duh, trust that your talented actor will pull off the new direction of her character's writing. I wouldn't trade Robin Strasser for the world and we have Claire Malis' departure to thank for that, but it's still a bizarre concept that we the viewers can't buy the change in a character unless they have a new face.

I also kind of wonder if Nancy's age or appearance (if they wanted to make Dorian into a more sexual figure) might have been a factor. This was around the same time that Maeve Maguire, who was very attractive and talented and a big star on Edge of Night, was fired for her age.

Dorian is one of those characters where, as much as I love Robin Strasser, the character is - or was, anyway - important enough to survive. That's one of the reasons I never really saw Elaine Princi as Dorian Lite. In the long run, Claire being hired was probably for the best, since it eventually led to Robin's hiring, but I still wish we'd seen more of Nancy and it is a shame she never really had another role in daytime on the level of Dorian.

Edited March 5, 201114 yr by CarlD2

Makes sense. I would like to hear more about Claire Malis from someone who watched back then. I asked my mother about her years ago and she didn't even remember that there was a Dorian btw Nancy and Robin. She mostly remarked that Dr. Dorian Nancy was not at all the glamour puss we're accustomed to and we now know just how responsible Robin Strasser was for that. But from the stuff I've seen Claire in, it's hard for me to picture her playing the villain convincingly and I guess that was to her benefit in the eyes of TPTB. I can see her playing "cold" but kind of a scattered, feckless villain.

The thing about Elaine's Dorian is that she seemed more of an archetype than the 3D character of greater importance that RS mostly got to play. EP's Dorian seems like she could be grouped with Carmen Duncan's Iris or even (ugh!) Philece Sampler's Donna as well as Anna Stuart's Donna of later years, kind of a stock diva, pretentious, materialistic, silly and the butt of jokes with some heavy material mixed in but none of the glory of the character's heyday.