OLTL Tribute Thread

[danfling]

I am pretty sure that Nancy Pinkerton had left the show prior to the arrival of Pat Ashley.     I began watching shortly after the Vernon family was introduced to the show.  I remember the original Dr. Will Vernon, but the original Samantha had already left and had been replaced by Julie Montgomery.   (I cannot locate the name of the original actress.)

I was watching when Victor Lord died.   Nancy Pinkerton may have played the role of Dr. Dorian Cramer Lord at that time.

[Joseph]

she did play Dorian when Pat came there's even a scene with them together on youtube

 

[Joseph]

wasn't Julia Montgomery The Original Samantha? I know Susan Keith Played the role between her tenures 

[robbwolff]

Melody Libonati was the original Samantha Vernon. Look back through this thread to around 2011 as there was a discussion about her portrayal. She only lasted about 6 weeks and was a brunette as I recollect. Someone has posted a photo back in 2011 of the Vernon family and Melody was featured in that image.

 

 

[Joseph]

Thank You! I WILL!!! this thread brings new info everyday 

[vetsoapfan]

It's all subjective, of course, but I found TVD a little more refined and reserved than LB. LB came across as warmer, and she became my preferred Meredith. This is NOT to say that I disliked TVD. I did think she was good. Like on The Guiding Light, I found Mart Hulswit warmer and more appealing as Ed Bauer (and he was my favorite), but I would not claim that Robert Gentry was untalented...just different.

GS was excellent as Viki, and she had chemistry with everyone, but ES really made the character her own, and her chemistry with Lee Patterson was off the charts. The second Viki, JD, was not as awful as legend would suggest, but she was just...colorless. Think Linda Borgenson as Alice on Another World, or Ann Hamilton as Mindy on TGL. Temporarily adequate, but not star material.

Yes, when Nancy Pinkerton left the show, the portrait of Dorian was recreated to feature Claire Mailis' head.

OLTL was very lucky that every single actress cast as Dorian was a fine performer, and they all had chemistry with Courtney, although because the Courtney/Strasser pairing was my sentimental favorite, I liked their interaction best.

No, Jacqueline Courtney joined trhe show while Nancy Pinkerton was still there, and the actresses shared a dressing room for a while. There's an episode on youtube in which Pat is crying in the hospital courtyard over Tony Lord, and Pinkerton's Dorian approaches her and wonders if she's all right.

And yes, Pinkerton played Dorian during the period of Victor's death.

Edited July 24, 2022 by vetsoapfan

[vetsoapfan]

The original version, concept and execution of OLTL were 100% different than what it later became. IMHO, it was gutted and destroyed under Rauch in the 1980s.) In the beginning, it was naturalistic, nuanced and adult in nature. Characters were diverse, spoke in believable dialogue, and behaved like people you would meet and know in your own community. It dealt with real-life issues, and didn't pull punches or turn everything into pablum for the lowest-common denominators in the audiences to understand. It was as if...TPTB took it for granted that their viewers wered erudite and educated. Imagine that! With long, character-driven scenes, it was like a mini piece of theater every day. It had to compete with the flashier soaps in the 1970s, of course, so more beautiful people were added and the plots started to move faster, but Llanview still felt like Llanview. Scriptwrite Don Wallace was an unheralded gem, and the hewadwriting team of Dordon Russell and Sam Hall were stellar. Then everything fell apart in the 1980s with sweeping changes in front of and nehind thecenes (and not for the better). The writing collapsed. A huge number of popular characters were axed and replaced by a revolving door of irrelevant newbies, and cretinously-stupid camp and science fiction drivel took over. Imagine This Is Us being turned into Beavis and Butt-Head overnight. Again, JMO, but I found it revolting, and a total bastardization of what the show was created to be.

My favorite Viki was ES. I liked all the Dorians, but my favorite was Robin Strasser.

I have a ton of favorite stories, all from the first 11-12 years of the series: the Viki/Joe romance, Carla's passing for white, the Jenny and Tim romance, the introduction of Pat and Tony, Dorian's descending into Llanfair, the Karen/Larry/murder trial/breakdown on the witness stand saga...the list goes on!

[Joseph]

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[soapfave06]

@vetsoapfanAre there any lesser remembered stories or scenes you remember fondly? 

I would also love to know what you remember of Carla and Ed's wedding and Josh entering their lives or Julie & Mark Toland drama. 

[Joseph]

Thank you so much for the Infos

Just One More Thing what was your impression on Claire Malis as Dorian, was she much Different in her portrayal than Nancy and Robin? And was her portrait much different from theirs? We could see Nancy's and Robin's have nothing in Common

[danfling]

i stand corrected about who was playing Dr. Dorian Lord at the time of introductions of Pat and Brian Ashley.

And, I too loved all of the actresses who played Dorian, but Claire Mallis was my favorite of them.

[oltl1]

Thank you for your insight and thoughts, I only wish there was more material from this time to actually view.

[danfling]

Don Wallace and Paul Lammers were the original headwrtiers along with Agnes Nixon.

Mr. Wallace and Mr. Lammers eventually left.     Gordon Russell and Sam Hall from Dark Shadows replaced them.

However, during the time that Paul Rauch was the executive producer, Mr. Wallace returned as a writer.    He continued writing this show for quite a few years.

[vetsoapfan]

Me too! I'd eagerly watch the years 1968 to 1983 again!

[vetsoapfan]

I thought Malis' Dorian was  more vulnerable than eith NP's version or RS's version. I liked Malis a lot. She could still be a shrew, LOL, but she had her soft moments.

IIRC, Malis' portrait  as Dorian had her in the same pose and outfit as Pinkerton, with just the head being different.