Soap Opera Feuds

[John]

Any intel but Not shocked at all

[CSF]

GA wasn't always the easiest person to work with. From what I've heard/read, he had a lot of quarrels with his female co-stars.

[John]

I think GA has mellowed through the years but he was pretty big at GL at the time. Coulda been ego

[AmandainNC28655]

Didn't KDP and RH have an issue the first time Todd and Blair were paired together on OLTL???

[MissLlanviewPA]

When KDP was first interviewed for SOD after joining OLTL, she was asked about some of her GL costars, including GA, and she said that she loves him now, but when their characters were first paired up, there was a bit of a clash in personality, as Kassie said she has always been more "in your face" (always talking, I guess?) and Grant was caught a bit off guard by that. I dunno.

The two women GA seems to have always gotten along with are Beth Chamberlin and Krista Tesreau.

Does anyone know if he and Mary Kay Adams got along at all?

I don't know if it was so much of an issue as it was that they were never particularly close. Just my interpretation, though.

[rlj]

Nah BC said GA was def a little difficult to work with in the beginning, but they smoothed it out quickly.

remember in the early time of the 4 Muskateers, they all seem to get along great, even saw them on News programs when they were filing in NY. The last time GA was asked to list his favorite time on GL, the Xmas in NYC was right at the top and he mention JE fondly. Reportedly things went downhill for Judi with regards to her time at GL after she won the EMMY, and also reportedly she didnt get along with VI either as he was a little difficult as well. If GA and JE didnt get along right from the start, you would never know it by their scenes, because they always brung right up til their last scenes when GA left in 84.

[greens_dupres]

What were the issues between BE and GA that caused the breakup of Pharley? I loved that pairing in the later 90s and was shocked when GL completely destroyed them.

[ellabelle]

After reading Finola Hughes' novel "Soapsuds," I'm dying to know exactly what went down between Finola and Susan Lucci when FH was on AMC. There are some aspects of the character of Meredith Contini that I saw as clear digs at both Deidre Hall and Melody Thomas Scott, but the bulk of that character is obviously a very unflattering portrayal of Susan.

[AmandainNC28655]

Hmmm that would be interesting to find out. Even though it has repeatedly been denied, the rumor still pops up regarding a feud between SMG and Lucci when SMG was in the role of Kendall.

[ellabelle]

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Susan Lucci read that book or got a summary of how she was portrayed in it. I know FH said in interviews that the characters were mostly amalgams of people, but there is enough of Susan in Meredith Contini that it was obvious who FH was slamming.

As far as the "feud" with SMG goes, I have heard everything from SMG's mother was a horrible stage mother who pissed off Lucci over something and Lucci didn't want to work with SMG after that to SMG was a total "mean girl" and it rubbed SL the wrong way and she didn't like her because of that to SMG felt the need to rub it in that she had an Emmy. LOL. Who knows? Personally, I doubt whatever it was that started the supposed feud was really all that big of a deal but now that so much time has passed and people have speculated for so long, we'd probably never believe what either party had to say about it.

[SFK]

Very interesting. What kind of things made it click that it was Susan?

[Antoyne]

Gellar has said in the past that they just didn't get along and you don't always click with everyone you work with, and that there was no feud. I tend to believe that.

[ellabelle]

Have you read the book? If not, pick up a copy - it's pretty obvious who she's slamming.

The part about Meredith having an identical twin who hadn't had plastic surgery was clearly a dig at Deidre Hall who is an identical twin, and I thought the comments about Meredith's figure (she was written as being soft without much muscular definition and was being stuffed into too-tight clothes) may have been a dig at Melody Thomas Scott who while not fat has never looked overly "fit" to me.

What made it click that it was Susan? Meredith Contini has an Italian last name and had been on the show forever, she was one of the original cast members, she sold a bunch of products on QVC, she had a foreign-born husband who managed her career, she had Meredith Contini dolls. She was incredibly short and never without absurdly high heels. Meredith used a picture of a fluffy white dog (her dead dog) as inspiration to produce tears when the scene called for it - Susan had a bichon frise. Um... the way Finola described Meredith as doing this wide-eyed expression during some of her scenes reminded me of Susan/Erica. Meredith regularly hosted the Emmys but either hadn't won or had only one once. Meredith's daughter was a hopeful actress who later in the story dyed her hair blonde - Susan's daughter is blonde. Um... Meredith's character Regina was a b*tch queen who'd been married a lot but hadn't aged much in the last 15 years or so. Meredith was very surface-friendly to everyone, and Kate (who Finola has admitted was more or less her) was told to avoid mentioning Meredith in interviews or to at least only say very nice things. The way Meredith's hair was described was a rather unflattering description of how Susan used to wear her hair at one point on the show.

As to why Susan would hate the comparison (aside from all of the above) - it was made clear that Kate/Finola thought Meredith was a bad actress. Meredith was sleeping with some of her costars, and it was speculated that a former cast member was actually her daughter's father, not her husband. Meredith's husband was portrayed as weak and unattractive. Meredith was nice on the surface but was insecure and and b*tchy and didn't want any other strong female characters on the show, and she felt that her own real life daughter was too old to play her character Regina's daughter.

[SFK]

Uh, okay, SOLD. Yeah, that's pretty darn obvious. Sounds like a fun book.

[kalbir]

Anyone here read Victoria Rowell's "Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva"? It's really good, and those who are long-time viewers of the Bell shows can figure out the real-life counterparts of the characters and events.