In the bible, I believe Isabelle is described as a Eleanor Roosevelt type, very diplomatic and pragmatic. Meg Mundy, who was well known for her controlling society matron role on The Doctors, was initially cast against type to play Isabelle. Mundy, though, had recently played a more gentle grandmother role in the film Ordinary People. I think Mundy would have been bored with role eventually, though I wonder if Doug Marland, who had written for Mundy in her previous role, would have given Isabelle more of an edge, especially in light of the arrival of Shana. Ultimately, it wasn't creative issues that led to Mundy's decision to not continue with the daily series after the telefilm, it was money. She wanted more than ABC was willing to pay.
Augusta Dabney really embodied that initial description of the character. She seems very sweet, but I haven't really seen any of her work that seems super memorable. That isn't something I would fault Dabney. There are some scenes when she and Cabot return in 1994 where Clay confronts Dabney's Isabelle about his paternity and it just seems quite unfair to see Dabney's Isabelle suffer for the sins of the previous Isabelles. Dabney does her best trying to bridge the characters, but it would a hard sell for anyone.
The evolution of Isabelle in the 1990s was the result of constant changeover. The face cream story was Tom King /Millee Taggert with Jacquie Babbin as EP. Babbin wanted to shake up the show. In interviews, I believe Babbin alluded that the Aldens represented too much of the Reagan / Dynasty era and that she wanted something different. It is Babbin who's behind Isabelle's departure in March, 1991, after Cabot's death. When Celeste Holms' Isabelle returns in late November, 1991, it is now Fran Sears (of Handmaid's Tale fame) who is EP with Mary Ryan Munisteri headwriting.
Munisteri's version of Isabelle, played by Celeste Holms, is a delightful character who is a little bit wicked and is paired with Matt Ford's mother, Bethel Ford as her social secretary. Holm's Isabelle shows a unique approach to business that works in the brief weeks that Munisteri pens the character. She utilizes her social connections to determine where businessmen are located. One of my favorite Isabelle scenes is when she is interviewing Bethel and Bethel is instructed to call Shana so that Shana will badmouth Isabelle while Isabelle listens in.
The shift to Addie Walsh is very harsh. Celeste Holms was promised the chance to work with her husband Wesley Addy, and those scenes are very whimsical at first before they end with an abrupt about face from Cabot's ghost telling Isabelle "she knows what she has done." Walsh recycled her work from the French soap Riviera penning a story that undid the paternity of one of the central characters under similar circumstances, I believe. This version of Isabelle became increasingly menacing and controlling. Holmes didn't like the character and I believe clashed with new EP Haidee Granger when she arrived. Granger doesn't seem well liked from one of the Loving interviews several years back.
Pat Barry's Isabelle is a snob. As @Sapounopera pointed out, she becomes a carbon copy Phoebe Wallingford complete with a visit from Ruth Warrick's Phoebe as Isabelle's friend.
I know its sacrilegious, but I enjoy Celeste Holmes the most.
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dc11786 ·
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