Llanview In The Afternoon: An Oral History of One Life to Live, by Jeff Giles out today

[Vee]

Too bad. She's Dorian fuckin' Lord.

[dragonflies]

Why? Cause it's RS? People on this very board constantly say worse things about actors, why is RS suddenly exempt?

[Vee]

I'm pretty sure no one says that anywhere on this board.

[marceline]

I go back and forth on Strasser. She seems capable of great kindness and yet she's got this well-documented history of erratic behavior. Sometimes she says things and I think "Hell yeah!" but at the same time I can see where she wouldn't be much fun to work with. I'm fascinated however by the instant forgiveness she seems to be granted for what was apparently rude behavior to Mr. Giles. I don't think many actors that are given that kind of leeway, especially on this board. For the record, I tend to support actors being outspoken even when I disagree with what they say but Strasser often goes past outspoken to somewhat manic.

[Vee]

I don't "forgive" her being short with Mr. Giles, but at this point Robin Strasser is Robin Strasser. We all know she's a headache, the crew knows she's a headache, but OLTL by and large loves her anyway. She's got all sorts of eccentricities which could account for her behavior. With people like her - and any number of other soap royalty - we either take the bad with the good or we exhaust ourselves, IMO.

All I can say about this particular incident with Mr. Giles I've already said - I think she was insecure and made a mistake. But when it comes to other random SON posters just attacking her as though we've all just learned Robin Strasser can be difficult, it's like, don't waste our time.

[Skin]

Agreed, for instance in recent memory the board went into quite a frenzy over Tony Geary not being more of a team player on GH these days in regards to his scenes, his pay and his storylines. Where as Robin is just as equally difficult if not just as obstinate in terms of causing difficulty for the crew and filming daily scenes. Oddly enough though, Tony seems to get a lot more flack for doing similar things and as a result a lot of posters just want him gone. Even though he would also qualify as being apart of "soap royalty" and a bonafide "soap legend" (if not even more so than Robin) in all regards. The same excuse that is being made to justify Strassers behavior. Color me confused. I don't get it, but I guess it's just playing favorites. I don't really care who she is, or who she played, Dorian's loss was never so irreparable to the show that such behavior should have been tolerated. I understand why Cartini shucked her off along with other cast members the September before they were cancelled.

[BKuzak]

What a lot of people, includding my mother doesn't like about Tony is that he somehow has it in his contract to be on these long stretches of vacations but then he seems to come back just in time to do a little three month thing where he rarely shows any emotions. and that little sting gears him an emmy nomination all the time (and a lot of times award.) Why not give it to actors who do the work 12 months out of the year. I think there is just too much hoopla centered around him because for a breif period over 30 years ago he was a mega star with Genie Francis. That's the only reason he's given the leeway he's got now. Jane Elliot still can run circles around him as far as acting goes. She can be a bitch one minute and then nice the next.

No matter what went on behind the scenes, Robin Strasser always was front and center. She came in every day she could, dressed to the nines and giving it her all. I don't know about the original Dorian (because i've only seen one or two scenes of her) but the other Dorian's i've seen don't even come close to what Robin has done on screen. Look at Dorian's two prison sentences. Or when she had to confront the fact that she ran down pregnant Jessica. or the scenes when she found her mother alive. Any fight scene between Viki and Dorian was emmy worthy. Or the scenes when David left her at the alter the second time (when he was kidnapped.)

I have no doubt she was hard to get along with off screen by many producers but it never stopped her from giving the best performances of Dorian in the 80's, 90's 2000's and 2010's.

[DRW50]

The idea that Ron and Frank made any decisions based on actor behavior is baffling to me, as there were rumors of a number of their pets behaving badly, and this never affected their airtime.

There was also never any great indication that Robin wasn't asked back because of bad behavior.

If Robin gave interviews year after year badmouthing her scene partners and the actors playing her family, then you'd see more flack.

[Jeff Giles]

I don't know if I'd say she was outright rude to me, just very weird. The interview was disappointing, and the Twitter thing happened when someone told her they enjoyed reading her quotes in the book -- she responded by saying that I didn't pay her for the conversation and complaining about not getting a free copy. When I pointed out that I don't have any free copies because I self-published, she said I "allegedly" wrote it on spec and told me to send an autographed copy to the address listed at her website.

I think a lot of it is just her being eccentric, and I know she didn't really want to talk about the show when we spoke. It was relatively soon after the final airdate, and she only agreed to it because she's close with Paul Glass. I still thought her tweets were unnecessary.

For what it's worth, a lot of people told me she's difficult to work with, but with a few notable (and off the record) exceptions, they all said it was worth it.

[rhinohide]

She is quite a character. I find it hard to talk to her because she's all over the place. And she's abrupt. But I never thought she was rude.

[Vee]

That's what I'm saying, yeah.

I imagine she regrets what she said because she was pretty broken up about the end. Whether she'll ever say that to you is another story.

[cher1989]

I don't need my copy of the book any longer. I think I'll send Robin my copy and sign it with my appreciation.

[Khan]

Agree. As I've said before, I feel a diva can get away with just about anything as long as she (or he) has the talent to back up all the crazy behavior.

[EastMA2]

Disagree. Just because the woman may be talented doesn't give her the right to treat the crew like crap and to yell at a cameraman because he doesn't get the right shot that she thought she should get. No one deserves to be treated the way Robin treated the crew. Diva or not, she was a nasty person.

[marceline]

If someone said that they didn't want to work with cast or crew who were racial minorities or LGBT, how talented would they have to be to make that okay?

If an actor was a violent, untreated addict who abused their family, friends and coworkers would that be acceptable as long as they produced good scenes on camera.

I'm not claiming any of this about Strasser. I just don't think anybody should be given a pass to be abusive.