All My Children Tribute Thread

[Steve]

Sandy Gabriel played Dottie's mother, Edna Thornton.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes - thank you!! I know that prior to AMC, Mrs. Gabriel appeared a few times on her husband John's show (RH).

[danfling]

Sandy Gabriel played Martha on Ryan's Hope before the character of Edna was introduced on All My Children. Tovah Feldshuh played the role in the early weeks of the show.

Jeff returned to Pine Valley around 1976. Robert Perrault played the role. Jeff, at that time, seemed close to Mona and, seemingly, may have been trying to get Erica back. However, the other characters were afraid that when he saw Betsy Kinnecott, she would remind him of Mary and depress him.

Mr. Perrault was quickly replaced by James O'Sullivan. Mr. O'Sullivan bore a strong resemblance to Charles Frank (Jeff #2, who is the Jeff that most people remember).

The storyline that Jeff would fall for Betsy was dropped. While James O'Sullivan was playing Jeff, his storylines were that he fell in love with Christina, he testified on Erica's behalf at her annulment hearing even though he detested Erica, and he and Christina left Pine Valley to move to California.

Jeffrey Byron later played Jeff when he returned from California as a divorced man. This was right after he had played Richard Abbott on One Life to Live, and the show had not been too happy with his performances and the character of Richard had become engaged to his first cousin.

I personally believe that the character of Jeff was supposed to be connected somehow to the baby adoption ring. Actor Denny Albee appeared on the show about the same time, and I think that perhaps Denny was supposed to play Jeff, but that Jeffrey Byron had a contract with ABC (and his mother did also), so it was decided to cast Mr. Byron in the role.

Jeff and Angie were then paired. A new producer (Stephen Schenkel) was hired, and I think that this pairing was his doing. He was the executive producer for only about a year. It seems that any character other than Jesse who would be paired with Angie would not be accepted and written off, which I why I was shocked later when Peter Bergman (Dr. Cliff Warner) was so surprised when he was written off the show after Cliff and Angie were paired.

Then, after Jeffrey Byron was written off, actor Robert Tripp played Jeff for a few weeks. (I think his name was Robert Tripp, but I know that if that is not correct, it was similar.) Mr. Tripp was not even under contract to the show but was on recurring status. The only thing that I remember about him is that he and Tad were in a restaurant and Jeff asked Tad (who had recently divorced Hillary) how he would feel if Jeff started seeing her. The show was obviously headed to a Jeff-Hillary-Tad triange. However, Mr. Tripp was not put on contract and the character of Jeff moved to California for a third time.

Then, when Erica had the dream about Erica: The Movie, Charles Frank was again playing Jeff. He made two appearences.

Later, Jeff returned from California for the third time, and John James (Search for Tomorrow) was playing him. His storyline was that the child that he and Erica had conceived had not been aborted, as everyone had thought.

The character was later dropped without explanation.

[robbwolff]

I've never seen Tripp credited as playing Jeff but there is an AMC episode on YouTube that features the actor.

[ellabelle]

Thank you, danfling! I knew about the Jeff/Christina relationship, but I wasn't sure what Jeff was doing in PV in the 80s, beyond Erica's dream.

[amybrickwallace]

How long was Charles Frank on AMC? I know he was an original cast member, but I don't know how many years he was on. Did anyone ever see him on the short-lived Emerald Point NAS? (That was a primetime soap set on a Naval base that aspired to be, I think, what Army Wives would become years later.) Other actors on that show included Susan Dey, Richard Dean Anderson and a pre-Santa Barbara Richard Eden.

[John]

Charles Frank was on AMC from 1970-75 then Erica's Dream in 1988 and finally the 25th anniversary in 1995

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks. He also appeared on Oprah in a segment of Erica's many men a couple of years ago. That was fun.

[ellabelle]

I think he did this twice! Oprah devoted an entire episode to Erica and her men in 1990, and it was FABULOUS. It used to be on YouTube, but I think the user took it down. Women in the audience were losing their minds over all these men! It was so funny!

And yes, Charles Frank was there when Oprah surprised Susan with all of Erica's husbands in one place in 2011. He's obviously aged quite a bit, but he's still handsome for an older man. He's definitely aged better than, say, Larkin Malloy, has.

[Khan]

No, I don't think he was an original cast member, Amy. Wasn't Christopher Wines the first one to play Jeff?

[ellabelle]

^ I think Charles Frank was the second Jeff Martin, but he played Jeff during his marriages to Erica and Mary. The original Tara, Phil, Jeff and Chuck were all recast.

[Paul Raven]

I believe the actor playing Jeff was John Tripp.

On the one hand AMC seem to realise the value of continuing the core by having Jeff around but then were half hearted in their committment to the character.

Like a lot of other leading men on shows (Russ Matthews,Paul Martin,Linc & Chuck Tyler,Don Hughes) TPTB didn't give them children to maintain their involvement or keep the families onscreen.

Also,Peter Bergman was originally intended to be Jeff Martin but the character evolved into Cliff Warner.So possibly,Jeff would have beenmore prominent throughout the 80's.

[ellabelle]

Interesting about Bergman possibly being Jeff. I was going to say that I thought Peter Bergman was too young to play the part, but I checked and he's actually only about 6 years younger than both Charles Frank and Susan Lucci. I wonder what led TPTB to go with the character of Cliff instead.

[allmc2008]

It would have been interesting if they had him play Jeff and had him be Nina's love interest. Assuming Jeff and Christina broke up I could see that happen. Also, the Cortland's basically took over the prominence of the Tylers so the feud would have integrated both the Martins and the Courtlandt's a bit better.

Then of course we would have two Bobby Martin's.....

[danfling]

It is correct that the late Christopher Wines was the original Jeff Martin. He had changed his name to Christopher Lofton later in his life.

Jeff was his second soap opera role. He had earlier played Marty Dillman on The Guiding Light.

In between his soap opera roles, he toured with some played on the Red Barn circuit in the South. He came here to Mississippi, and the Red Barn Theatre here was very close to the Jackson Yacht Club. The Haining family with three daughters were very active members there. The three daughters were Carol, Alice, and the youngest whose name I have forgotten.

He was a big influence on middle daughter, who was interested in theatre and communication. (The mother worked with deaf children, I believe.)

Anyway, she became a local actress and then moved to New York. I have heard that he would suggest her to casting directors and agents. He was cast in roles on Search for Tomorrow, Loving, and One LIfe to Live. After those roles, she played Liza Colby #2 before the character was written out (This is when Liza began having a crush on Dr. Cliff Warner) and she was hired to be on As the World Turns as Angel.

Mr. Wines, who, as I stated, changed back to his birth name of Christopher Lofton, became a screenwriter (most television movies).

Edited September 4, 2014 by danfling