Recasts on shows: good, bad, in between

[Joseph]

Considering I've never seen Peggy except for here and a brief scene from the first Episode I really wouldn't Know, so thanks for the heads up

[danfling]

One Life to Live, in the later 1970s, had some recast of longterm characters, and I tended not to like these replacements.

I am talking about the recasts of Anna, Vinnie, and Wanda.    I don't know the order in which these came, so I am taking them alphabetically.

Doris Belack left the role of Anna, and she had been on the show since the show's premiere.   She later joined the cast of The Doctors (when it was produced by Doris Quinlan) and The Edge of Night (as Beth Bryson, R. N.)

She was replaced by Katlhleen Maguire, who had appeared on A World Apart in a maternal role and (much earlier) on Three Steps to Heaven.   

I was a great fan of Ms. Maguire, and I really enjoyed her on One Life to Live.  I thought that she was a very suitable replacement.

Ms. Maguire later left the show, and the role was filled by Phyllis Behar.    Ms. Behar was a seemed younger than the other two actresses and filled the role well.    However, she was so different from the others.   The role seemed to change, especially after Anna became a widow.  Ms. Behar really put her bubbly personality into the role.

I think that Ms. Behar was removed as a contract actress later and appeared on a recurring basis.    The final scene with Anna was in 1982.  The character later moved to Florida.

 

The role of Vinnie was created by Antony Ponzini, and he was given a wonderful exit.   The role was later played by Jordan Charney.    (Both actors had worked with Agnes Nixon and Doris Quinlan on Another World.)  His portrayal of Vinnie was not all that much different than the way he played Sam Lucas on Another World, except he sounded more ethnic (not particularly Polish, though).

Mr. Charney left the show and was replaced by Michael Ingram.   Mr. Ingram was chubbier than either Mr. Ponzini or Mr. Chaney.   The comic talents of this actor were primarily what I remember about Mr. Ingram in this role.    

Vinnie was later poisoned by the imposter posing as Ted Clayton (played first by Keith Charles and later by Mark Goddard).

 

Vinnie's wife was Wanda Webb Woleck.    Wanda was created by the wonderful Marilyn Chris, who had earlier played Edie on All My Children.  I missed the part of the show in which Wanda was in love with Joe Riley.   She was already married to Vinnie when I began watching the show in 1976.

Ms. Chris departed the show, and her replacement was Lee Lawson.   Ms. Lawson tried her best to be Wanda, but she was lacking so many of the attributes of Marilyn Chris.

Ms. Chris later rejoined the show and remained on the show for over a decade.

 

 

 

[Contessa Donatella]

#AW Victoria Wyndham as Rachel

#DOOL Susan Seaforth-Hayes as Julie

#ATWT Cady McClain as Rosanna

#GL Gina Tognoni as Dinah

#SB WORST recast: everyone but Robin Wright as Kelly

#SB WORST recast: everyone but Lane Davies as Mason

[j swift]

I recently read that Erika Slezac dated one of the Vinny's, I assume it was Anthony Ponzi?

I first watched around the time of Marco Dane murder trial, but I had no idea that Wanda was ever played by another actor.

Did they establish Wanda's familial connection to Asa from the start, or did they later figure out that they were cousins?

[Vee]

She did date Tony Ponzini.

[Spoon]

Best.

ATWT:

Cady McClain, Roseanne

Hunt Block, Craig

Roger Howarth, Paul

 

DOOL:

Cady McClain, Jennifer Rose

Abigail Klein, Stephanie

 

GL:

Gina Tognoni, Dinah

Daniel Cosgrove, Bill

Esme Rylan, Lizzy

Jeff Branson, Shayne

 

OTLT:

Karen Witter, Tina.  Not as good as AE, but close and definitley better than the other Tina recasts.

[Contessa Donatella]

Personally I think Cady has been a best recast 3 times, at 3 shows: Dixie, Rosanna & now Jennifer Rose.

They were both very very good but I also really liked Scott Bryce & Scott Holroyd.

Very very good but I have to raise a hand for Susan Seaforth-Hayes. She was Julie #4 but she's been Julie for 50 yrs!

Totally agree! Of course, I pretty much think Danny Cosgrove could play any part you put in front of him. Very versatile guy. And Jeff had to overcome my dislike of him from his character at AMC! Gina & Esme are just terrific.

 

[wonderwoman1951]

funny — two of my three worst are hunt block and roger howarth. nothing against the actors;  just hated what happened to craig and paul when they took over. and hated why those recasts happened: the abcifaction of the cast after barbara bloom took over at cbs…

a process that actually began in 1997 when felicia minei behr took over as exec producer and immediately replaced alison rice-taylor with susn batten as connor: my number one pick for atwt’s worst recast — ever!

Edited October 3, 2022 by wonderwoman1951

[Contessa Donatella]

OMG. I was gonna say anyone besides Robin Wright for Kelly Capwell is the worst but Susan Batten ewwww really is worst of all! I'll never think of dusting blinds the same way again.

[danfling]

A whole lot has been written and discussed about Victoria Wyndham being cast as Rachel #3 on Another World.   I would like to ask others about the role she vacated and which The Guiding Light recast:  Charlotte Waring.     Actress Melinda Fee became the new actress in the role.

Victoria Wyndham played the role for two years.   Ms. Wyndham's sister Felice Carmargo (who had soap opera experience from having played a role on Woman with a Past) was a temporary substitute as Tracy/Charlotte while Ms. Wyndham was on her honeymoon.

Dorrie Kavanaugh (who had played roles on Dark Shadows and The Edge of Night) was cast briefly in the role.   I am not sure if this was intentionally for Ms. Kavanaugh to play the role briefly or if the show replaced her.

Then, Melinda O. Fee was cast as Charlotte.   (By this time, everyone knew that Tracy was not the character's real name nor was she the neice of Dr. Sara McIntyre.   That impersonation had been exposed while Victoria Wyndham was still in the role.)

Charlotte was trying to get Mike Bauer to marry her.    She succeeded, and the lives of the members of the Bauer family were not very tranquil as long as Charlotte was Mrs. Bauer.

Did you viewers like Ms. Fee in the role - or was your preference Ms. Wyndham?

 

 

[j swift]

We've discussed Melinda Fee so often on these boards that I was inspired to go back and look @slick jones thread about Soap Hoppers.  To my surprise she was on five daytime soaps and three nighttime soaps, three times as a re-cast.  She may have been the most underrated soap actress in history to pull that off.

Which is a roundabout way to mention that she's on the same page of that thread as Heather Tom, which got me thinking about re-casts in general.  When Heather was cast as Kelly Cramer on OLTL, the character was in an uncharacteristic time in her life.  Suddenly not only was Kelly desperate to hang on to Kevin, (whereas in the past she was always the pursuit not the pursuer), but she also valued things like political power and social status (the underpinnings of her motivation during the baby switch story). All of which were features that we'd never saw in Kelly, nor what was popular about the character.

Thus, I would propose that one of the principles of a poorly accepted re-cast is when the actor is asked to play a part in name only, but the character is written with none of the qualities that made them iconic enough to be re-cast.  Heather Tom is talented and if she was just playing Kevin's social climbing wife that he married off-screen I think that she might have had more longevity on the show (especially because in the end, they didn't need Kelly and Paul to be siblings in order to make the baby switch any more convoluted than it already was).

BTW speaking of re-casts, the moral of Paul Cramer is, if they have to re-cast the part three times in one year, it's the character that's not working, not the actor (for other examples see Dawn on GH)...

Edited November 22, 2022 by j swift

[Noel]

Oh, goodness. I wouldn't know where to start. THE GOOD list pretty is much self-explanatory. THE BAD list are the recasts that I considered tolerable. THE UGLY list are the ones that I loathe deliciously (but in a fun way).

THE GOOD

• Peter Bergman (Jack Newman; Y&R)
• Kimberly Simms (Mindy Lewis; GL)
• Liz Kiefer (Blake Marler; GL)
• Kam Heskin (Caitlin Deschanel; SB)
• Lauren Koslow (Kate Roberts; DAYS)
• Noelle Beck (Lily Snyder; ATWT)
• Eddie Cibrian (Cole Deschanel; SB)
• Mary Stuart (Meta Bauer; GL)
• Shawn Batten (Sara Cummings; SB)
• Bethany Joy Lenz (Michelle Bauer; GL)
• Gina Tognoni (Dinah Marler; GL)
• Beth Chamberlin (Beth Raines; GL)
• Brenda Epperson (Ashley Abbott; Y&R)
• Billy Miller (Billy Abbott; Y&R)
• Mandy Bruno (Marina Cooper; GL)
• Thom Bierdz (Phillip Chancellor III; Y&R) ---> super creepy though
• Jess Walton (Jill Foster Abbott; Y&R)
• Lindsey McKeon (Marah Lewis; GL)
• Marcy Rylan (Lizzie Spaulding; GL)
• Marj Dusay (Alexandra Spaulding; GL) ---> Before 1997
• Cady McClain (Rosana Cabot; ATWT)
• Billy Magnussen (Casey Hughes; ATWT)
• Daniel Cosgrove (Bill Lewis; GL)
• Ellen Dolan (Margo Hughes; ATWT)
• Ellen Parker (Maureen Bauer; GL)
• Roger Howarth (Paul Ryan; ATWT)
• Mark Collier (Mike Kasnoff; ATWT)
• Austin Peck (Austin Reed; DAYS)
• Rick Hearst (Alan-Michael Spaulding; GL)
• Krista Allen (Billie Reed; DAYS and Taylor Hayes; B&B)
• Marie Wilson (Meg Snyder; ATWT)
• Hunt Block ((Craig Montgomery; ATWT))
• Jon Lindstrom (Craig Montgomery; ATWT)
• Heather Lindell (Jan Spears; DAYS) ---> Reilly years
• Peter Simon (Ed Bauer; GL)

 

THE BAD

• Mary Beth Evans (Sierra Esteban; ATWT)
• Barbara Crampton (Mindy Lewis; GL)
• Dennis Parlato (Roger Thorpe; GL)
• Bonnie Dennison (Daisy Lemay; GL)
• Brian Gaskill (Dylan Lewis; GL)
• Nancy St. Alban (Michelle Bauer; GL)
• Frank Grillo (Hart Jessup; GL)
• Martha Madison (Belle Black Brady; DAYS)
• Robert Kelker-Kelly (Bo Brady; DAYS)

 

THE UGLY

• Signy Coleman (Annie Dutton; GL) ---> I still call her Teri DiMarco to this day
• Stacy Haiduk (Stacy Dimera; DAYS)
• Ann Hamilton (Mindy Lewis; GL)
• Michelle Stafford (Shelia Carter; Y&R/B&B)
• Kit Paquin (Marina Cooper; GL)
• Nicole Forester (Cassie "Shady" Layne; GL)

Edited November 22, 2022 by Noel

[David_Vickers]

On your THE GOOD list, it's Jack Abbott, lol, I know a simple mistake.   I don't think I ever saw anyone say Roger Howarth was good as Paul on ATWT, same goes for Hunt Block as Craig.  BOTH Robert Kelker-Kelly as Bo and Martha Madison as Belle were/are good recasts.   RKK's real life antics were bad, but he did a good job as Bo, and that's coming from a Bo & Hope fan.   Martha is a good Belle,  even though she's a lot different than Kirsten Storms, whom we now see on GH as Maxie, and who'd want her as Belle now, no way.   I don't even like her as Maxie any longer.   THE UGLY recast was Charity Rahmer as Belle.

 

Stacy Haiduk is a good recast as KRISTEN, you calling her "Stacy" doesn't make her a different character LMFAO!,  A little young yes, the show writes her crazier and different yes, but THAT is NOT the actress's fault. 

Edited November 22, 2022 by David_Vickers

[Noel]

To each their own. I'm not sweatin' nuts about it.

[Soaplovers]

Stacy H is a better Susan Banks than Eileen was.