TV Guide June 3 1996
By the next year Jane was back onscreen on Loving. In 2003 she returned to GH. So the BTS career didn't work out for whatever reason.
Loving: The new house of Elliot
Jane Elliot, one of daytime’s most beloved divas, quit her Emmy-winning role as General Hospital's Tracy Quartermaine in 1993 and promptly disappeared in a whirlwind of rumors: Some said she was being lured to As the World Turns. Others claimed she was a shoo-in to replace the great Beverlee McKinsey as Guiding Light's Alexandra Spaulding. Still others saw her having private discussions at One Life to Live. But last January, Elliot popped up in a part no one expected—as the producer of ABC’s Loving. “After 30 years as an actress, I was beginning to feel that my days onscreen, my income, and the number of [soaps] available to me could only diminish,” says Elliot, who has starred on four of the ten current daytime serials. “Looking at the sunset of my career just wasnt going to do it for me."
So, after departing GH due to conflicts over story and management, the single mother of two decided to pound the pavement for production work. Just one contact came through—her former Days of Our Lives boss Al Rabin, who hired her as dialogue coach on his syndicated sudser, Valley of the Dolls. "Al was the only one who took me seriously. [Hollywood] is a boys' club where my sex, my age, and the experience that comes with time are liabilities," says the 48-yearold Elliot. “So I moved East, where you could hear the sound of doors banging against walls as they were flung open for me." The female programming heads at ABC Daytime let Elliot observe all aspects of soap production at One Life to Live, and after she proved that she had the chops, they awarded her the Loving gig. “I’m learning on the job," she admits, "but the cast and crew have been extremely supportive. And that is a miracle. I was fully prepared to have people saying behind my back, ‘Who the hell does she think she is?”
By
Paul Raven ·
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