I still believe that if he'd submitted this scene, he would have won in '07.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=iyqUXp9vg6w

That was his last best acting until Reid came around. He did have some nice scenes with Kevin. But the whole Noah borefest sure made his acting go to hell.

Really? I think he should have submitted his coming out scene with Holden and Lily. To this day I don't know why he (supposedly) chose the confrontation with Damian at the airport. Van had a tendency sometimes to go over the top, and that scene was a perfect example of that for me.

But in these scenes he was phenomenal:

I read back then that he submitted this episode, mainly for the dream sequences that begin at 5:16...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ttP8VdE_E

And wow, even "not gay Luke" in that fantasy sequence comes across as being in denial.

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by All My Shadows

I adore Robin Christopher, SoapBoy. I am so glad you opened the thread with her because I just think she is incredibly underrated. She is so nuanced and layered in her performances.

Maurice Benard should've taken home the Emmy last year for Lead Actor after those BONE CHILLING scenes he had opposite SJB at Claudia's birthday party!!

"DONT YOU EVEN MENTION MY SON, AFTER WHAT YOU DID TUH HIM, YOU PSYCHOTIC PIECE OF TRASH!!" OMG! The way he said that to Claudia. IMO that was some of his best work on GH..

Seriously? His choices in that scene were not only obvious, but routine. He mumbles, stammers THEN HE YELLS REAL LOUD!! Then he, y'know, ha-ha! Mumbles, stammers... THEN HE YELLS REAL LOUD!!! But, then again, I am not a fan of "showy" acting -- which is what Maurice does when he decidedly turns it on. He claims to be Method, but I always find his style in contradiction to what Method is supposed to be. I don't find anything he does to be "natural." For instance, I find Tyler Christopher to be more in line with Method acting than Benard. I find Benard to be very selfish in his acting. The forgetting his lines, the YELLING to convey emotion, the lack of eye contact... And, what makes me mad, is that he wasn't always like this. I look at old clips of GH and even AMC, and he was actually present in his scenes. But to get back to the point, I don't feel a sense of his being present and in the moment in the Claudia confrontation scenes. I just get a sense of him reaching into his bag of standby tricks.

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by R Sinclair

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by R Sinclair

I adore Robin Christopher, SoapBoy. I am so glad you opened the thread with her because I just think she is incredibly underrated. She is so nuanced and layered in her performances.

Seriously? His choices in that scene were not only obvious, but routine. He mumbles, stammers THEN HE YELLS REAL LOUD!! Then he, y'know, ha-ha! Mumbles, stammers... THEN HE YELLS REAL LOUD!!! But, then again, I am not a fan of "showy" acting -- which is what Maurice does when he decidedly turns it on. He claims to be Method, but I always find his style in contradiction to what Method is supposed to be. I don't find anything he does to be "natural." For instance, I find Tyler Christopher to be more in line with Method acting than Benard. I find Benard to be very selfish in his acting. The forgetting his lines, the YELLING to convey emotion, the lack of eye contact... And, what makes me mad, is that he wasn't always like this. I look at old clips of GH and even AMC, and he was actually present in his scenes. But to get back to the point, I don't feel a sense of his being present and in the moment in the Claudia confrontation scenes. I just get a sense of him reaching into his bag of standby tricks.

I love Robin as well! Skye is one of my favorite soap characters of all time, maybe even moreso than Bobbie. I agree with what you're saying. I've never understood why she didn't get more acclaim for her work. I consistently found her to be one of the best on every show she's been on, no matter how crappy the material. And, like you said, she's not over the top or flashy. She's more subtle, and in many ways that's what makes her acting so raw.

I totally agree with what you're saying about Maurice, too. I think he played that scene like he plays them all.

Wow, we agreed on 2 things today. Hell must be having a cold front.

There are TONS I can think of from back in the day... can't link videos right now, but a couple that come to mind:

AMC:

-Maria giving that baby back to Edmund in the airport (Eva LaRue)

-Annie breaking down at ConFusion in front of all of Pine Valley, ready to marry Ryan again, after stabbing Erica (Melissa Claire Egan)

-Erica's melt down and speech in front of all of Pine Valley, while addicted to painkillers, at Brooke's Woman of the Year ceremony (I think...) -- (Susan Lucci)

-Vanessa's meltdown in front of all of Pine Valley, while holding Greenlee hostage by knife (Marj Dusay)

-Tad on the witness stand for the murder of Dr. Madden (Michael E. Knight)

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by alwaysAMC

Oh, those are all great choices!

GL: Beverlee McKinsey for the Divorce Party at the Country Club, aka Alexandra eviscerating Roger in front of her friends and family then apologizing for her part in letting him into their lives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlZN0fZAN_g

The confrontation the next morning in her bedroom is just as powerful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW_knfRP6sw

That story is tough for me to watch, especially knowing that it wasn't long before JFP ruined Alexandra.

I'm sure it was cathartic for Beverlee to play those scenes, since she hated the Alex/Roger story.

Zaslow and McKinseny didn't like one another either.

No, she didn't. I think she hated the pairing even beyond that. Around 1990 or so SOD asked her about Alex/Roger and Roger raping multiple women, and Beverlee said she wanted Alex to kill Roger.

That story is tough for me to watch, especially knowing that it wasn't long before JFP ruined Alexandra.

I'm sure it was cathartic for Beverlee to play those scenes, since she hated the Alex/Roger story.

The animosity is riveting to watch though. The sheer intensity, the pure venom, for a moment I actually feared for Alex's life, Roger was that intimidating and threatening. In the same way I feared for his when Billy was choking the life out of him at Towers. I miss that intensity (and those payoffs) on my screen.

AMC:

-Maria giving that baby back to Edmund in the airport (Eva LaRue)

Oh, as it's known within my family of AMC-watchers... "Muh baby, muh baby, don't take muh baby... Eeeeeek! Please, Edmund... muh baby, muh baby! Eeeeeek!"

ETA: Eva LaRue said that scene was a composite of two takes. She said she did all of that blubbering and such until the end of the scene... then the director came down to the set and said she had to do it again because of a technical issue which caused them to lose the end of the first take. So she had to get BACK into that "muh baby, muh baby... eeeeeek!" mode for the second take.

That seems to be one of a few stories about AMC 1990s performances being obstructed due to tech issues. Didn't FrenchFan have an interview with Dick Shoberg where he said a scene, around the same time, featuring Tom speaking out during an abortion protest when Julia was going to get one after her rape was done several times because of tech issues? That leads to a sub question of how many performances we didn't see due to tech issues?

Edited June 24, 201114 yr by R Sinclair

Wow I hadn't seen that in quite some time! Thank you, scherra!

Not exactly Emmy-material, but speaking of, I really liked the understated way Susan Lucci played the scene where Erica gave Sonya back to Maria explaining the whole story. Maria wasn't getting it, and the way Erica shook her head and tearfully said, "No Maria..." has stuck with me.