I think by the time Joan came in, Alex was basically done as a character. I've said this before but as much as I don't think Marj was the best choice for Alex, I have to pity the woman for dealing with 11 years of consistently bad writing. That must be a record.

Joan reinvented Alex for me, with a few of the basic Alex character traits still there, like her warmth, her humor, and her ability to sit down with the commoners and relax. I think she was the only one of the Alexes who could have just sat and had a beer with Buzz -- Marj/Justin worked well together but she was never quite that common, and Beverlee probably would have recoiled at this man.

I think what you've said can be summed up by the immortal words of Bob Hope: "Joan Collins? She's a great broad."

Joan, like many actresses, plays a bit of herself in every part she does. Unlike the Meryl Streep's who shape shift at will, underneath every single one of JC's characters is Joan herself. The way she played Alex is how she is herself, fun, full of joie de vivre, both warm and icy and very down to earth, happy to be 'one of the boys'.

Now I kind of wish she'd had Alex sing that "Boys in the Back Room."

You're right though. I should also say that she did well at the boardroom scheming stuff too. Really she did much better than I expected, and it's a shame it didn't work out.

Rue McClanahan Spent 1970-72 On Another World & Where The Heart Is

In Her Intimate Portrait She Didnt Speak Badly But In TV Legends Interview which is up on youtube. She Has All Negatives To Say. At One Point She Even Asks The Interviewer Not To Spend Any more Time On Soap Opera

Rue McClanahan Spent 1970-72 On Another World & Where The Heart Is

In Her Intimate Portrait She Didnt Speak Badly But In TV Legends Interview which is up on youtube. She Has All Negatives To Say. At One Point She Even Asks The Interviewer Not To Spend Any more Time On Soap Opera

I don't blame her. Here's a woman with a career that spanned decades, did TV, film, theatre and was an entertainment icon. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for her to have someone who was supposed to be looking at her career as a whole start fixating on a job she held for two years back before disco was big. I often think that the reaction of fans is the reason some actors grow to hate their soap work. Too many soap fans lack perspective. Soaps are held in low regard and that's for a reason. If an actor wants to trash their soap work, so be it. It's like trashing your old job working fast food or waiting tables. It's all honest work but no one's going to pretend it's good work.

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by marceline

I don't blame her. Here's a woman with a career that spanned decades, did TV, film, theatre and was an entertainment icon. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for her to have someone who was supposed to be looking at her career as a whole start fixating on a job she held for two years back before disco was big. I often think that the reaction of fans is the reason some actors grow to hate their soap work. Too many soap fans lack perspective. Soaps are held in low regard and that's for a reason. If an actor wants to trash their soap work, so be it. It's like trashing your old job working fast food or waiting tables. It's all honest work but no one's going to pretend it's good work.

It's odd though, because Rue never really seemed to see her soap job as being beneath her. When AW was canceled, Rue was one of many actors who spoke to SPW about their memories of working on the show, and she even told a funny story. Rue was certainly very vocal about jobs she didn't like - like her role on Mama's Family - but she didn't have negative comments in that interview. She even mentioned that she had been asked to stay on longer than intended.

I don't think Rue was ashamed of her soap work, I think those interviews for some reason just tend to catch people when they aren't in the best mood -- don't the Legends interviews go on for a long time? That might wear actors down, especially if they aren't in the best of health.

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I don't blame her. Here's a woman with a career that spanned decades, did TV, film, theatre and was an entertainment icon. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for her to have someone who was supposed to be looking at her career as a whole start fixating on a job she held for two years back before disco was big. I often think that the reaction of fans is the reason some actors grow to hate their soap work. Too many soap fans lack perspective. Soaps are held in low regard and that's for a reason. If an actor wants to trash their soap work, so be it. It's like trashing your old job working fast food or waiting tables. It's all honest work but no one's going to pretend it's good work.

Exactly. It really is a lack of perspective. I can never get over how some soap fans act as if the soaps are this form of high art so no actor can disparage it. For some actors, the soaps were a bloody awful experience and they say so. It isn't the end of the world and they shouldn't be savaged for being honest.

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by Ann_SS

Rue McClanahan Spent 1970-72 On Another World & Where The Heart Is

In Her Intimate Portrait She Didnt Speak Badly But In TV Legends Interview which is up on youtube. She Has All Negatives To Say. At One Point She Even Asks The Interviewer Not To Spend Any more Time On Soap Opera

I saw some of the interview online... I think she answered that you never really leave a soap opera but get fired from it. I'm guessing she enjoyed working on AW because that answer was in response to why she quit AW. She mentioned the role she took over on Where the Heart is was very boring so she had to overplay it in order not to fall asleep LOL

It was at the start of her career pre-Maude, Mama's Family, and The Golden Girls. She probably viewed it as a stepping stone and not to dwell as much on that as opposed to other aspects of her career.

In regards to Meg Ryan: I'm viewing her dislike to the character of Betsy as opposed to the soap opera genre.

What surprised me was that Dana Delaney started on soap operas as well as Donna Mills. Did Donna Mills have anything to say about her soap days? I know she tried out for Gloria when JVA left. Btw, what did JVA say about her stint on Y + R?

Thats BS. Acting is Acting. If Your An Actor You Act. So Many people Wanna be Famous. Fame Fleets and ACTORS Should Be Happy To Get Work Regardless If Its Daytime, Primetime, Theater Or Film. No One Medium Should Be Looked Down As Less Than The Other

Exactly. It really is a lack of perspective. I can never get over how some soap fans act as if the soaps are this form of high art so no actor can disparage it. For some actors, the soaps were a bloody awful experience and they say so. It isn't the end of the world and they shouldn't be savaged for being honest.

Frankly, I think that if more actors were allowed to be honest about what they experienced working with soaps and if fans didn't engage in such reactive protectionism, the genre would be in a much healthier place today. Perhaps bad managers, writers, producers, (and other actors,) etc... would've been pushed out instead of allowed to drive talented people away.

Soap fans are more than happy to point out that Actor X got his start in soaps but if Actor X dares to say that it was just a job he took to pay his rent, they want to roast him.

Thats BS. Acting is Acting. If Your An Actor You Act. So Many people Wanna be Famous. Fame Fleets and ACTORS Should Be Happy To Get Work Regardless If Its Daytime, Primetime, Theater Or Film. No One Medium Should Be Looked Down As Less Than The Other

Bullshit. There are jobs you love and there are jobs you just do. That's like saying I shouldn't trash my gig at Burger King when I was 16. It's freaking Burger King and nobody in their right mind would look at the job I do now and say it's equal to my job working the drive thru.

No medium may be better than any other but there are certainly jobs that are better. Taye Diggs was on GL for a few months. Do you want to tell me that RENT and what he does now on Private Practice aren't considered more respectable? One of your benefits of working your ass off is that you don't have to keep doing the same crappy work for your entire life.

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by marceline

I saw some of the interview online... I think she answered that you never really leave a soap opera but get fired from it. I'm guessing she enjoyed working on AW because that answer was in response to why she quit AW. She mentioned the role she took over on Where the Heart is was very boring so she had to overplay it in order not to fall asleep LOL

It was at the start of her career pre-Maude, Mama's Family, and The Golden Girls. She probably viewed it as a stepping stone and not to dwell as much on that as opposed to other aspects of her career.

In regards to Meg Ryan: I'm viewing her dislike to the character of Betsy as opposed to the soap opera genre.

What surprised me was that Dana Delaney started on soap operas as well as Donna Mills. Did Donna Mills have anything to say about her soap days? I know she tried out for Gloria when JVA left. Btw, what did JVA say about her stint on Y + R?

Something Tells Me Donna Mills Reagrds Her Daytime Days Well. Her & Leslie Charleson who played sisters on Love Is A Many Splendid Thing are still close and Donna was in a interview about Leslie a few years back

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by J.W.S

Frankly, I think that if more actors were allowed to be honest about what they experienced working with soaps and if fans didn't engage in such reactive protectionism, the genre would be in a much healthier place today. Perhaps bad managers, writers, producers, (and other actors,) etc... would've been pushed out instead of allowed to drive talented people away.

Soap fans are more than happy to point out that Actor X got his start in soaps but if Actor X dares to say that it was just a job he took to pay his rent, they want to roast him.

I dont Mind Is someone didnt enjoy their soap experience because of the role or an executive but to say that they dont consider themselves acting on soaps is ridicioulous Acting Like They Are Better Than Actors In Soaps Is Just Plain Wrong

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by J.W.S

I dont Mind Is someone didnt enjoy their soap experience because of the role or an executive but to say that they dont consider themselves acting on soaps is ridicioulous Acting Like They Are Better Than Actors In Soaps Is Just Plain Wrong

I agree that acting like they are better than other actors is wrong but calling soaps out as crap isn't. In fact who's more qualified to do besides the people in it?

I agree that acting like they are better than other actors is wrong but calling soaps out as crap isn't. In fact who's more qualified to do besides the people in it?

Yeah Like I Said They Can Talk Bad About Their Experience That Relates to Them Fine But Dont Go Around Putting Down The Whole Genre Or All Actors In Soaps Because you Had a Bad Experience

The TV Legends interviews go on for like 2-3 hours and are meant to be as detailed as humanly possible, so IMO, the interviewer asking her to talk in depth about her soap work doesn't show a lack of perspective. It's through interviews like those that we get to hear stories and details that we'd otherwise never learn about.

I think some soap fans don't realize that putting down your past work isn't just a soap thing (tons of primetime stars went on to start hating shows that did more good for them than soaps did for some of these people), but for me, it's all about how they act as is working on a soap was a disturbing experience and a great harm to their marvelous talents. I worked at Taco Bell when I was 17, but that sh!t hasn't had any influence that I know of on my current career...at all. So I can look back at that and say it was a crappy job that was all about a paycheck and nothing else, a means to keep going towards what I really wanted to do. But when you're an aspiring actor, given a chance to spend an outrageous amount of time acting on national television and expand your reel infinityfold, it's just seems very entitled to act as if the whole thing was beneath you and a waste of time.

Exactly. It really is a lack of perspective. I can never get over how some soap fans act as if the soaps are this form of high art so no actor can disparage it. For some actors, the soaps were a bloody awful experience and they say so. It isn't the end of the world and they shouldn't be savaged for being honest.

Which is why you haven't seen me speak to Robin Wright Penn being a "bitch" because she trashes Santa Barbara. Yes, they let her out to do The Princess Bride, but they forced her to extend her contract by a YEAR to do it. She wasn't gone for a year (I know, I was watching) and they only did so because they wanted to capitalize on the probable success of the Rob Reiner directed fairy tale she was to star in. The climate in Hollywood was different then- daytime stars can leave to do a movie now and half the time, it's straight to DVD or on the indie circuit. Clearly, that wasn't going to be the case there and they knew exactly what they were doing.

As an actor in Orlando, I've stayed out of Disney because I know myself- I'd feel creatively stifled rather quickly having to play the same character saying the same lines day in and day out. Who the hell am I to fault Robin for wanting the chance to spread her wings and feeling resentment toward the people and the show that held her hostage for a YEAR just so she could do it?

My God, most soap actors today would just quit & risk the lawsuit! She was a good little soldier and went in and did her job day in and day out for that entire year. She honored her contract and has every right to flip them the middle finger for the rest of her life now if she wants.

Edited November 29, 201015 yr by juniorz1