In recent years, as women have become an afterthought on soaps, it's become meaningless about whether or not men can play strong and emotional scenes with women. With the likes of Sheffer, Guza, and Frons, it's almost a positive if you don't bother to make an effort with women.

But this wasn't always the case.

Which actors do you think worked exceptionally well with women, not just romance or passion but also friendship, emotion, and being a good listener/supporting player to their problems?

For me Ben Hendrickson and Scott Bryce top the list (and that's probably one of the reasons they both became so popular with fans).

I thought of another one- James DePaiva. Lord, that man was a goldmine of chemistry with his leading ladies- Andrea Evans, Jessica Tuck, Mia Korf, Fiona Hutchinson, Kassie DePaiva, Robin Christopher- he was red hot with all of them. And then of course he had that sweet "mother/son" kind of chemistry with Patricia Elliot's Renee. To this day, I don't understand why OLTL let the handsome, charismatic, debonair, and charming DePaiva go. There's a HUGE hole in the OLTL canvas with Max gone IMO.

Indeed.

In addition to James DePaiva awesomeness Tim Stickney is another actor with incredible chemistry with women (Kassie, Robin, Florencia, Sherri, Catherine Hickland, Ellen Bethea, HBS) too.

He even made Evangeline watchable.

I thought of another one- James DePaiva. Lord, that man was a goldmine of chemistry with his leading ladies- Andrea Evans, Jessica Tuck, Mia Korf, Fiona Hutchinson, Kassie DePaiva, Robin Christopher- he was red hot with all of them. And then of course he had that sweet "mother/son" kind of chemistry with Patricia Elliot's Renee. To this day, I don't understand why OLTL let the handsome, charismatic, debonair, and charming DePaiva go. There's a HUGE hole in the OLTL canvas with Max gone IMO.

Agreed! I know what you mean. The character of Max was like no other. I really enjoyed his brief return for Asa's funeral. He is sooooo needed right now.

I thought of another one- James DePaiva. Lord, that man was a goldmine of chemistry with his leading ladies- Andrea Evans, Jessica Tuck, Mia Korf, Fiona Hutchinson, Kassie DePaiva, Robin Christopher- he was red hot with all of them. And then of course he had that sweet "mother/son" kind of chemistry with Patricia Elliot's Renee. To this day, I don't understand why OLTL let the handsome, charismatic, debonair, and charming DePaiva go. There's a HUGE hole in the OLTL canvas with Max gone IMO.

I agree with this in his first run, but by the late 90s I thought it had all become very ugly and misogynist, really nasty to watch. The only woman I liked him with in those last years was Ilene Kristen.

Max was one of my favorite characters during JDP's first run on OLTL.

In some ways, though I find this category difficult as I am trying to come up with men who don't work well with women and failing...so trying to think of ones who I think do makes my list too long.

Sadly watching ABC or Y&R these days it's easy to come up with a list like that.

Jon Hensley

Uh uh NO!

I think Daniel Cosgrove is currently showing that he works exceptionally well with them on AMC. His Scott is clicking with every female he interacts with

I think Daniel Cosgrove is currently showing that he works exceptionally well with them on AMC. His Scott is clicking with every female he interacts with

He was wonderful on GL. Even the hot mess that was Bill/Beth(Lorelei) worked, and I've never been a fan of Chamberlain's. I loved the family dynamic with MK and GT.

Maybe I should have explained that further, for me if I consider an actor talented in daytime they are able to work well with the opposite sex or the same sex. If they lack the capability of interacting well with others (even if they are good at soliloquies), I won't like them. So I find it difficult to come up with a list of actors who work well with women, because that would include every actor past/present I've liked and that list has maybe 50 or more names.

Michael E. Knight for sure --- he wasn't nicknamed "Tad the Cad" for nothing.

I would add...

Nicolas Coster - SB, ATWT

Farley Granger - ATWT

Donald May - EON

Forrest Compton - EON