One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[Dale]

Yes, she did, and she was very funny! There were some good scenes between Wilma and Alex. Played way over the top, in my opinion, but in a good way.

[John]

How long did both actresses play Wilma?

[amybrickwallace]

I think I'll always remember Eileen Heckart best for The Five Mrs. Buchanans, the short-lived 1994-95 CBS sitcom where she was the matriarch who despised the wives of all four of her sons and the feeling was mutual. She just had that acid wit. Her Mrs. Buchanan was like a white Mother Jefferson, who was always insulting Weezy.

[danfling]

I HATED Eileen Heckhart (rest her soul) on One Life to Live.

She had played the mother of Allison Perkins in the 1980s, and, upon hearing that she would be on a soap opera, I thought that she would be good.

But, she did a terrible job. I was quite surprised when the show hired her to play a second role when she had been so horrible as Mrs. Perkins.

She was just as bad as Wilma. Elaine Stritch, who replaced her, was truly wonderful!

That being said, the creator of The Five Mrs. Buchanans was quoted as saying that she was a fan and viewer of One Life to Live and had named the Buchanan family as an homage to Asa Buchanan.

Edited July 24, 2014 by danfling

[amybrickwallace]

Really? I didn't know that they used the name Buchanan as an homage to OLTL. Very cool.

[SFK]

EH is great playing Diane Keaton's mom in The First Wives Club. Her son wrote an autobiography that I've read portions of, his mom was a trip.

[Dale]

[amybrickwallace]

That's right, I had forgotten that she was in The First Wives Club. She also did a great job in the Debbie Reynolds/Cliff Robertson VistaVision comedy My Six Loves, and the dramatic film based on Corrie ten Boom's autobiography about the Holocaust and being in the camps, The Hiding Place (which was produced by the Billy Graham organization).

Edited July 28, 2014 by amybrickwallace

[amybrickwallace]

What did you guys think of the character of Rafe Garretson (Ken Meeker)? He seems to always get lost in the shuffle of the other Buchanan men - Bo, Asa, Clint and Cord. He was on the show for over a decade. Was it Ken Meeker's choice to leave or was he let go? How was Rafe written out of the story?

[Dale]

Ken Meeker was a likeable performer, but Rafe was the kiss of death for his leading ladies. He and Samantha were a dead end, literally, and I was not pleased when they paired Rafe and Delila because there was nowhere for them to go. Delila was watered down to a goody two shoes by that point, and Rafe was just dull as dishwater. The old mags I have say that Ken was let go in late 1991 - I don't believe he was given a goodbye scene, but it was said he left to join Sami and Delila in California. I am pretty sure that Delila never mentioned Rafe when she returned in 2001 for Asa's Ex-wives reunion at his pretend funeral. I could be wrong on that.

[amybrickwallace]

Thank you. I wonder if he was ever asked back for any specials or anything over the years.

[BKuzak]

Did you know that Roseanne's 1990's TV show was set in Llanford because she loved One Life...set in Llanview.

[soapfave06]

I remember thinking Rafe had wanted housewife in Delila every time I watched some late 80s clips or read recaps. Wasn't Delila origiy a schemer? Too bad they didn't do more with them with her yearning to be a singer in night clubs. I think she did continue singing though.

Was there anyone else they could have paired Rafe with after she left in 1989?

[allmc2008]

That's interesting!

[danfling]

I think that Rafe was heading toward attraction of a policewoman for a while. She may have been the older sister of Billie Burrows (Lisa Peluso).

They dropped this, maybe because they had decided to bring back Delilah.

Delilah had been a schemer. However, she went into business with the horrid Gabrielle, who stole the partnership from Delilah. The business had been built by Delilah, and that was due to her talent.