Marj Dusay

[victoria foxton]

 

 

[Sindacco]

She did a good job filling in for Louise Sorel as Vivian. Not an easy task.

[DRW50]

 

I think I remember her joking about putting pins in a doll so she could take over the part, as she really enjoyed it. 

[SFK]

I saw Lisa's IG post and my heart sank. I DM'd Lisa a few months ago about Marj but she never replied. Same with LSV who I know from college. Marj has been on my mind off and on for a long time, and it's always a treat when I'm up at some ungodly hour and catch her on FOL or Hart to Hart.

 

I had the pleasure of meeting her in 1997. I was a freshman at Marymount Manhattan College, only stayed a year, but apparently there was a soap opera course (that I didn't know about!) and I saw a flyer for a panel discussion with Marj, Richard Culliton, and Courtney Simon, who moderated. Marj was so charming and funny (she did her killer Kate Hepburn impression), and I got to ask her about GL and Capitol and being a frequest recast. After the panel, she came up and shook my hand and purred, "Well, you're quite the fan!" We chatted a bit more and I made her toss her head back and release that gorgeous laugh with an off the cuff impression of her Alex.

 

 

As we filed out, she gathered with the other panelists and some of their guests and they made their way up the block. Wrapped in her long trench coat, I watched Marj light up a white 100 with flare and disappear into the night in a puff of smoke. 

 

This was not long after she'd  been let go from GL and I'm so glad that she many more years of soap ahead of her. She will always be one of my very favorites, and I'll continue to steal from her whenever I feel a character is "having a Marj moment." 

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[DRW50]

That's a beautiful story. I'm so glad you got to meet her and it was a positive experience.

[SFK]

 

She also starred in A Darkness at Blaisden, a telefilm under the Dark Shadows franchise, which I believe was originally intended to be a series pilot. 

 

I loved this commercial which used to air during Guiding Light. Pure Marj.

 

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[DaytimeFan]

 

What a wonderful recollection. 

 

I would say Vanessa was her crowing achievement. She took every story she was given, which weren't always stellar, but made her scenes incredible to watch, like this one:

 

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[Cat]

 

Never saw Marj on AMC but honestly, nobody but Marj Dusay could have played that scene! 10 full minutes of monologue, including musical numbers and accents, and she committed to that high camp throughout. Nevermind that those 20 cast members could have easily overpowered her in an instant, or that only Leo and Trey would have shed any tears if Greenlee actually had 'severed an artery.' LOL

 

@SFK That is a beautiful memory and she sounds like she was a truly life-embracing and life-enhancing woman.

 

 

 

Glad Khan was able to answer your question because I knew nothing about these shenanigans back when SB aired. I only knew that New World locked the Dobsons out of the studio one day (for creative control reasons, I'm guessing), and that Sally Ann Field replaced a never-aired Eggar, only to be recast a few months later. SAF was definitely the wrong choice for Pamela Capwell -- too soft-spoken, too sane. I think they chose her because Pamela was meant to be English.

 

I also think they should never have killed off Elena (Sherilyn Wolter) so soon -- an absolutely electrifying psychopath villain.

[Vee]

IIRC Agnes Nixon was heavily involved with both Vanessa's early story and her final one on AMC. People pooh-poohed the Proteus reveal at the time but I thought using Vanessa gave it real power after months of boredom. The multiple personalities (were any real?) were criticized but that whole gothic jamboree was supposedly Agnes' doing, and you could see why she didn't want it to end - Marj was at the peak of her powers in the above clip alone.

[Khan]

I loved Vanessa's parting shot to Maggie: "That was a wonderful test scene, dear, but work on your diction."  If only I could say the same thing to Elizabeth Hendrickson.

 

 

I can believe it.  To me, Proteus had shades of Cobra, with Vanessa taking Peg English's place.

 

I'll always love Agnes as a storyteller, but she never learned that drug smuggling storylines never worked on AMC.

[Vee]

I think she made much of it work with Vanessa, but that's me.

[Khan]

 

I've always assumed they weren't, and that Vanessa just played Viki Buchanan in order to avoid going to prison for the rest of her life.

 

 

Oh, no question, Marj Dusay's performance was the very glue that held that POS storyline together.  It's just tragic she had been written into such a corner with a dud of a story, when Vanessa (and Marj) could've lasted much, much longer.

 

Honestly, did Richard Culliton (or was it Jean Passanante?) have any idea at all how to wrap up Proteus when he started, or was he literally making it up as he went along?  Because, between him and Jean Passanante, that's how it felt to me.

[Cat]

 

ugh I cringed when both Greenlee and Maggie got their parting shots in. Were we supposed to cheer on our plucky heroines? All I could think was Vanessa doing PV a favor by offing those two harpies.

 

Diction is so important and has turned me against many an actor, including Hedrickson. (Don't get me started on Eden Riegel). I also remember Rebecca Herbst on GH saying the name "Crishun" instead "Christian" and that driving me bananas. Safe to say, Marj never had this problem! Her voice was arguably one of the most clear, mellifluous and distinctive in Daytime.

[Vee]

IIRC (and I may be wrong) Passanante started Proteus during her abysmal 2001 run. Culliton and Agnes together finished it and I believe they're the ones who made it Vanessa. I thought Culliton's run with Nixon was flawed but pretty damn good. It was the advent of Frons in late '02 that sent him - and Agnes - packing.

[DRW50]

 

I think you're right.

 

2002 was a decent year for AMC. The show immediately crashed after the changeover.