Can being a long-time soap actor be a burden?

[frequentsoapfan]

Judy Wilson has been very successful in the casting department as well and she still works in the business.

[Errol]

She's at Y&R right now, right? I'd give you her though as AMC has had far more success stories in the last ten years than any other soap (Josh Duhamel, Amanda Seyfried, Jesse McCartney, etc).

[frequentsoapfan]

Yeah she's still at Y&R. I read an article recently where she was interview about her success stories. Some of them I completely missed their time on AMC.

[SFK]

Judy had worked on other ABC soaps and she was brought to AMC when TPTB felt that Joan D'Innecco's tastes were growing out of date and the show needed a fresh eye for casting. SMG was one of Judy's first big finds. She read Minshew several times before the show decided to recast Kendall and she had a hunch that this would be the one she finally booked. I guess the physical resemblance never dawned on them before.

Judy's late husband was an actor, Trey Wilson from Raising Arizona.

[Wendy]

Oh, for the older actors, absolutely. Look at how many actors have fallen off the radar since AMC, GL, OLTL, and ATWT have ended, for example.

As was said, the younger actors have a shot. The one-and-done rule (meaning, one contract cycle) seems to be true. Do soaps for a finite time, then move on. Because, unfortunately, the longer you stay, the more complacent you may become, and then the dreaded tics can start.

Not to say those who move on do not have tics, but it seems to be the POV outside soaps.

Funny, though, that Beverlee McKinsey was quoted in the thread. I don't know how much work she did ultimately get outside of soaps, but I do have the Remington Steele DVDs and she did guest star in an episode in late S1. (Granted, we're talking 30 years ago...) So, I think she could have gotten some more roles as a character actress. Maybe paying not as handsomely as steady work, but some.

Also, John McCook, post-Y&R, pre-B&B, also guest-starred on Remington Steele three years after BM, and even A Martinez was in an episode. Granted, at the time, it was just prior to his first soap role on SB, but there you go.

[SFK]

Ms. McKinsey did quite a few primetime guest spots in the '60s before she started out in daytime. There's a wonderful interview of her on beverleemckinsey.com where she talks about how she literally mourned the loss of her career (i.e., her realization at a certain age that a high profile career in film/primetime was not in the cards for her). She of course had one of the best daytime careers ever. Towards the end, you could tell that she was tired (she admitted that she was tired when she started Texas) but she was able to coast in a way that a lot of other actors could not because they don't possess a fraction of her talent (not to mention that marvelous "listen to her read the phone book" voice).

[Paul Raven]

Mention of John McCook makes me think of all the early Y&R stars who left for 'greener pastures'.

Some of them landed primetime gigs eg Trish Stewart (Salvage 1) McCook (Codename Foxfire)Jaime Lyn Bauer (Bare Essence) that were soon cancelled while others -Janice Lynde, William Grey Espy etc soon returned to daytime after finding that there was nothing of substance out there for them.

For every soap actor that moved on and sustained a career there were 10 others who obviously gave up and went in another direction or returned to soaps.Some of them couldn't even manage to land a soap role.

[~bl~]

Did you ever listen to the commentary track on the Remington Steele DVD, and they talk about Bev and wonder what happened to her?

[SFK]

That's interesting They knew nothing of her soap work?

[Wendy]

I have listened to pieces, but not everything. I'll have to remedy that. But that is sort of amusing!

[EricMontreal22]

Right, but in general TV had a lot less stigma in the UK. Things are changing here quite drastically (I mean primetime tv--actors who would never consider a tv show even 15 years back are now happy to do one--particularly on cable), but for a long time the UK simply didn't have the snobism between the mediums. Great actors would do a sitcom, star in a major West End stage production or do a movie. I read somewhere that one reason was due to the fact that the majority of acting in the UK is based in London--it's not like the US where when movies and TV became Hollywood based it made a bigger gap between movies and theatre.

I can't remember who said it, but I wouldn't say movies are the hardest work. There's a reason why some actors who have been awful on soaps then turn in surprisingly good movie perfomances--where they have the luxury of much more time, tons more takes, a lot shorter scenes usually, etc. (There's also a reason why some perfectly talented movie stars--like Julia Roberts--utterly bomb when they then try theatre--it takes a different set of acting muscles).

[frequentsoapfan]

I think movies are hard work. Long shoot days where you're reshooting again and again for the "perfect" and it depends on the type of movie as well. If your doing an action movies you have stunts as well as weather conditions to worry about on top of the dialogue.

[EricMontreal22]

True but it's, like I said, a different kind of acting muscle (especially if you're doing a big budget action movie and not some intimate character piece). I know long hours on set can be beyond tedious, but to be honest that aspect of the work isn't something I really have sympathy for (particularly for the well paid lead actors).

[Wendy]

I think, as with anyone, while the majority of older soap actors fade away, it still is a case-by-case situation - and what kind of agent, if any, more mature actors have. And if not agents, general connections.

I mentioned Beverlee McKinsey and John McCook being able to snag guest roles on Remington Steele in the 1980s, but I was watching the Thomas Crown Affair '99 remake (coincidentally, also starring Pierce Brosnan, huh), and Charles Keating had a small role in it, and this would be around the time he was still on Another World, near its end (the movie came out in summer, if I recall, so the show was still on the air during filming since AW ended in June).

Maybe he just had the right "type" for the role and got lucky.

But maybe there wasn't such an issue of older soap actors landing non-soap work some time ago as there is now. (And it was likely easier, too, with the scads of Law & Order shows, which did have a lot of soap stars and/or ex-soap stars. But with its end, so went the roles.)

Adding that today's climate - even much more than a few decades ago - is youth, youth, youth, it isn't a surprise that the older actors who had stayed with soaps can no longer seem to do other TV work these days and fade away, unlike the young newbies who come, go quick, and move on easily.

At least I have noticed that the more mature actors have, in some cases, turned to theater work to keep honing their craft.

[frequentsoapfan]

I don't have sympathy for anyone in the acting business