Actors That Wouldn't Have Been Cast Then & Now

[amybrickwallace]

That's right - I'd forgotten about that show.

[EricMontreal22]

I don't fully agree. By the '80s, anyway, they were clearly hiring a lot of the younger cast (especially,) based first on looks and as others have pointed out they always cast models. Of course even what's considered attractive with models has changed drastically from the 1970s to now.

The big difference though, especially for the New York based soaps (and I'd say AMC and possible OLTL in particular,) was that they still cast different *types* in leads. As you point out, they would balance it out with character actors, etc--and, between casting more from theatre and also having better rehearsal and acting coaches and training at their actual shows, the discrepancy was less apparent. But, for example, if you read any soap book from the 1970s they will comment on what a striking change it was when Y&R started casting usually with an eye to glamorous looks first.

[John]

i do feel based on how they cast together. None of the original cast of Ryan's Hope would have been cast today if that soap was just starting out

Its sad they want looks over talent. You need to be able to act damnit

[Gray Bunny]

Crazy. 24. So matronly. It's so weird how people had such an older essence to them back in the day. Imagine Farah Fath post-DAYS as 1971 Viki?

[amybrickwallace]

I was watching some of the recently uploaded 1981 GL clips, and Kristen Vigard doesn't fit the mold of what would be a teen starlet today. For one thing, she actually had meat on her bones. Then, due to her red hair, light eyes and very fair skin, she was highly freckled. (She looked like a REAL KID!!!) Finally, she had been trained both in voice and acting since childhood, so by the time she joined GL, she was a seasoned vet.

She was adorable, cute as a button, and held her own opposite John Wesley Shipp, Lisa Brown, Kevin Bacon, Geraldine Court, Charita Bauer, etc. But the Kristen Vigard of yesteryear wouldn't get an audition today. She'd be told to lose at least 20 pounds, get a nose job and bleach her skin to get rid of the freckles. Sad but true.

[kathyj]

Suzanne Rogers once said that someone at Days didn't want to hire her because he (she) thought she had no sex appeal.

[amybrickwallace]

And here she is, 40 years later!! Glad she proved them wrong.

[DeeeDee]

All the Y&R actors Bill Bell cast were attractive but they could also act.

It wasn't a Ford Family on OLTL situation.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes - and it made all the difference in the world.