One Life to Live Tribute Thread

[Vee]

My pet idea was always to tie the Grays/Halls so tightly into the lore of the show that you could never extricate them again. Have Carla's grandson or daughter come to town (with her waiting in the wings, assuming Holly would appear) with the truth - that Victor Lord stole the family's land or money or something. Maybe a bit tame, but I rejected the obvious idea of claiming Victor had, say, slept with Sadie Gray bc I thought it was an old racist trope and not something she'd have done. (It also limits the potential to pair Viki's family with Carla's.)

 

The wildest variation was to claim the Lords were actually an ancient offshoot of the Grays, but I'm pretty sure nobody on this planet's ever gonna buy that Erika Slezak was mixed.

[Darn]

 

Imagine if instead of bringing on Shaun and his family (I don't remember their family name), they'd have brought on Carla's (they could've given her and Ed more kids, adopted or bio, doesn't matter). It would have been great. Sigh. I know they tried with Joshua and Ed but they didn't really try. And that they didn't get Ellen Holly to come back is such a missed opportunity.

 

 

Thanks for sharing this. I know what I'm doing for the next hour.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Darn

[Vee]

She was asked back in '93 and refused. Supposedly she was on Carlivati's wish list near the end and I assume she would've refused again. But if OLTL were still around TPTB ought to have kept asking til the day she passes away.

 

I always wanted Joshua Hall as a spoiler for Kevin and Rachel; you could recast him with someone like T.C. Carson, who was old enough. These days though - in an imaginary world where OLTL was on a major streaming platform - I'd probably bring back Jared Hall in that role, however improbable that character's existence (he was tested with Ellen Bethea's Rachel in 2000), and go so far as to ask Laurence Fishburne to make a guest appearance as Josh instead. I mean, why not? And how else to demonstrate the impact and importance than with a major celebrity? Stranger things have happened - paging Julianne Moore.

[DramatistDreamer]

@Darn I know some didn't like the 2.0 version but even back then, I thought it would've been wonderful if they had brought her on as Jeffrey King's (Corbin Bleu) grandmother.  It could've deepened his ties to the canvas without being too incestuous.

[Vee]

That would've been genius.

 

I know EH has spoken with venom about Agnes Nixon in recent years - I don't know if she does here. Agnes, for what it's worth, admitted "Ellen hates me now" in one of her last interviews. But I'll never forget when Agnes retold the Carla/Sadie hallway reveal story on-camera for SoapNet in 2008 for OLTL's anniversary and burst into tears.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I could see it working well.  And the nature of the online versions would have offered a bit more flexibility for Holly's schedule. 

 

Darn, too bad the online versions got cut short but at least there was an attempt.

[John]

She does as well as Doris Quinlan and only refers to Erika Sleak as Third Viki and says Joanne Dorian , Viki #2 was given a raw deal

[Darn]

This interview is fascinating. She's claiming that in 1969-70 that a 1/3 of the audience was black and that ABC had the numbers to back this up, although because she didn't have representation she wasn't privy to this. Wasn't there research from the 90s-early 2000s claiming the same thing?

 

Say Erika Slezak had one of the most high powered agents in Hollywood when she was cast, considering who her father was I'm not surprised.

 

Al Freeman made 4 times as much as Ellen Holly on the show. When he joined the show his lawyer negotiated a contract for 100k a year. Says she made less in 1973 than she did in 1969! Wow. Agnes Nixon did her dirty.

 

It took her 5 years to realize that Agnes Nixon wasn't she just the writer of OLTL but the creator and soul owner. Wow. She was really kept out of the loop on the business side of the show. Sounds like most of that ignorance was bore out of fear of losing her job. As someone stuck in the middle, too light to be black, too black to be white, I get it but damn.

 

And wow, just like Victoria Rowell she wrote for the show with no recognition or pay.

 

Also she mentioned that AMC had some big black story when it first started? Did it? I feel like the black presence on AMC started (and ended almost) with Angie and Jesse.

 

What a smart woman. She knows the industry and she KNOWS soap history, she listed other soap stars off like it was nothing.

 

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Watch the whole thing. Heartbreaking!

Edited September 7, 2018 by Darn

[SoapDope]

The EH interview is great. I always wondered why Robert Milli as Dr. Jim Craig # 1 (who she referred to as gorgeous) left the show so soon. She said they quickly wrote him and Peter Deanda (she referred to him a as  gorgeous too) as Dr. Price Trainor out and never told her why. They then paired her with politician Bert who she said was a "nothing burger" and put on the back burner. The story about her contract was sad. She said Doris Quinlan froze her out making her panic and sign again with the show getting a raw deal. 

[John]

So is her resentment with Erika Slezak is that she had this great agent and got better contracts and that she replaced Joanne Dorian?

 

I do agree that she got a raw deal but I feel that was on the EPS and Agnes. I dont see how Erika Slezak and Jackie Courtney are somewhat to blame here

[Soaplovers]

 

I get why she refused to return... she came back in the early 80s and was let go after Paul Rauch came in...so she didn't want to risk having that happen again.

 

I recall when my mom was alive, that I had asked about the character of Carla Gray..and my mom (who was a pre teen) said that it was an awesome story..done well and intelligently..and was sad that her character got phased out since there was huge potential for her character.

[DRW50]

Does she say anything about Paul Rauch in these?

 

I've watched several and she is a brilliant actress and storyteller even here. It's just difficult to watch them more than one or two here and there because of the pain she feels. 

[Vee]

I don't agree with everything EH has said in recent years - especially about Erika - but I understand her pain about her history with the show and I think it's all extremely valid. And heartbreaking. I would've moved heaven and earth to try to get that family back on the show one way or another. Whether or not  she ever agreed to appear, you needed to honor Carla and Holly. Carla would be the linchpin of the story, holding the family secret onscreen or off (dead if necessary). Though if she could appear, she would be patterned as an older woman after Holly herself - fiery, angry, brilliant and full of inconvenient truth about Llanview.

 

Erika (and Bob Woods) talked about the Jack Scott mess in Jeff Giles' book - they hated the actor (Arthur Burghardt) too and said EH wrote it all and that Burghardt treated her horribly.

 

 

So did Erika and Tim Stickney. For no fee, IIRC.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Vee

[vetsoapfan]

 

Yes, EH is quite contemptuous towards Slezak and Courtney, but it's not their fault that they negotiated better salaries than Holly received. I'm sure neither actress went into negotiations with the thought, "I'm going to ask for a good salary...just to stick it to Ellen Holly!"

 

Of course, Holly's getting kicked out of her dressing room when Courtney arrived at the show must have been degrading and infuriating, but again, I doubt Courtney marched in and demanded, "Kick Ellen Holly out of that dressing room because I want it!" Would Courtney have even known beforehand that another actress had been removed so that she could get a dressing room?

Edited September 8, 2018 by vetsoapfan

[DRW50]

Was Joe Stuart also the one who did the dressing room (or was that when Doris Quinlan was still there?).

 

Stuart sounds like he mostly brought problems to the show.