Actors & Actresses who were Divas/Difficult on their soap sets

[John]

Did you read CC's book, I believe she claimed KA didnt want her there in 2009 and that PR didnt support her

[Vee]

Crystal says a lot of crazy shít. Since her first run on DAYS it's always been about how much she suffered.

[John]

yeah I got that from her book

[dragonflies]

I remember Nellie Branco and CC got her stans all fired up to the point they attacked KA on twitter. After that NB arse got canned from his column. 

[John]

That was a good day when that  happened

[carolineg]

I could actually buy KA and PR weren't thrilled to see her.  Days just got rid of the DH's and MBE and SN-and spent money on CC.  I could imagine the feeling on the set was a little fearful for everyone.  My problem with CC is she had a chaste lesbian romance at the end of her long, unremarkable GL run that gave her some rabid stans and gave her a sense of power when she was basically just a B list soap actress, who has a long history of being difficult.  Plus she had the soap press and her ultimate stan behind her Nelson Branco.  Glad to see neither are relevant today.  I am not even a Hope/KA fan but >>>>>>>>>>>CC always.

[Wendy]

I wonder if Chappell's claim of "Peter Reckell not supporting [her]" was because he knew his version of Bo would always go back to Hope and was just over the triangle thing, or if he didn't like Bo jumping into the sack with Carly almost the minute Bo and Hope split? That wasn't Bo's nature, and I could see him protective of his character.

 

Still, what a change from Chappell's first stint as Carly, when she was all "rah, rah!" about Peter Reckell in the soap magazines, especially in comparison to Robert Kelker-Kelly.

[Quent]

The Colleen Zenk / Hillary Smith feud actually worked out well for ATWT. Barbara and Margo hated each other, and this probably carried over from their portrayers personal issues. Barbara/Margo scenes (as well as Barbara/Shannon scenes) were must-see-TV for me. Turning Barbara from perpetual victim to bitch was the best move ATWT ever did.

[titan1978]

I love scenes with HBS’s Margo and Barbara.  I wish I had been a viewer then.

 

I loved Nora on OLTL but I really loved her as Margo with Greg Marx as Tom.  YouTube has been good to soap fans.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

+1  ITA.

 

If people don't like anything about Marland's writing (and there are folks out there like this), at least respect the fact that he gave his women characters agency!  When I try to watch a soap today, I get p*ssed off at how little agency the female characters have.  During that time period of the late 80s when you had Barbara, Margo, Lucinda, Lisa, Kim-- you didn't have to like or even agree with the decisions they made or the things they did but they were fully-fleshed out women who had minds of their own and made decisions usually based on what they wanted.  Barbara was a b*tch but she was a b*tch with first-class talent as a designer and she ran a successful design house. Lucinda was a b*tch but she was a b*tch with a first-class brain for business and sometimes she mixed business with pleasure (the way many men did) and she usually paid the cost.  Kim decided she wanted a career outside the home and despite the fact that Bob didn't like it, he had to deal because Kim's mind was made up.

They had partners, husbands and lovers but not all of their decisions revolved around men.  Very few of their business/career decisions had to do with men.

But I digress...

 

The tension and animus between Barbara and Margo (and Lisa and Lucinda) made for some dynamic soap!

Given Margo and Barbara's backstory (Margo's affair), the nature of their relationship made perfect sense.  I don't know why no one capitalized on this aspect before.

Edited May 17, 2019 by DramatistDreamer

[Brolden]

I believe there were issues between Colleen Zenk and Jacqueline Schultz as well, a few years ahead of Smith's and Reed's arrivals on the show.

[Khan]

There was -- to the point where CZ and JS didn't have scenes together, even though their characters (Barbara and Dee, respectively) were supposed to be close friends.

[BetterForgotten]

I wonder if that's why CZ seemed to enjoy playing crazy Barbara/Hogan Sheffer Barbara more - because it was closer to who she actually is. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Just an observation but it seemed as though CZ wanted to work and have screen time, so she had to go with the flow.  Also, it appeared that CZ relished being paired with a younger man (maybe it made Barbara seem more vital?) even one as eccentric as Henry Coleman.  Another aspect is that perhaps she witnessed how the vets who questioned their character's trajectory (e.g. Scott Bryce) or raised objections about how they were treated (Martha Byrne) and decided that she didn't want to rock the boat.

 

In the odd case that she actually enjoyed what was done to her character, well, there's no accounting for taste.

[Khan]

It's really sad when that bull that James sent to kill Barbara looked sane next to Barbara herself during ATWT's final years.