Many of us would have liked to have seen various performers playing soap opera roles that were filled by other performers.

 

For instance, Frances Heflin (All My Children) would have been a good Martha Wilson on As the World Turns.

 

I thought that Mitchell Ryan (Dark Shadows) would have been a much better recast as Mike Karr on The Edge of Night than Forrest Compton.

 

Who are some performers that you would have liked the producers to have hired for a role.   (Please identify the roles.)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 20205 yr by danfling

Gary Swanson (Greg Mercer on Somerset and Mr. Finch on One Life to Live) would have been a good Steve Guthrie on The Edge of Night, in my opinion.

What do others think?

 

Penny Hughes was unsuccessfully recast after Rosemary Prinz left.  If they would have waited several years might have worked.  But who?   Erika Slezak from OLTL maybe?

 

Edited September 18, 20223 yr by TVFAN1144
Corrected spelling

6 hours ago, TVFAN1144 said:

Penny Hughes was unsuccessfully recast after Rosemary Prinz left.  If they would have waited several years might have worked.  But who?   Erika Slezak from OLTL maybe?

 

They were big shoes to fill.

It seems Phoebe Dorin was eased in for viewers to get used to her. But she was written out sometime in 1971. I wonder when exactly?

 

For many years, I have thought that Frances Sternhagen (One Life to Live, The Secret Storm, and other shows) would have been wonderful in the role of Dr. Julia Hoffman (and other roles) on Dark Shadows.

However, last weekend, i viewed a rerun of The Naked City that had Jan Miner (best remembered as Madge, the manacurist in Palmolive dishwashing liquid commercials) would also been a very good Dr. Julia Hoffman on Dark Shadows.

 

Also, the thought just came to me as I was typing the above that Gloria Hoye (The Brighter Day, As the World Turns, The Secret Storm, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, Somerset, Another World) could possibly have played Pat Matthews Randolph on Another World.

One of my very favorite soap opera actors is (was) Luke Reilly.   I first saw him when he created the role of Richard Abbott on One Life to Live (a character that I also liked when he played Richard in 1977 and 1978, although I did not really care for the three recasts - Robert Gribbon or Jeffrey Byron).    Mr. Reilly later returned to One Life to Live in the role of Claude Charbonneau in 1997 and 1998.   Claude was the kidnapper of Max's twins whose capture was made possible by R. J. Gannon working with Max.

 

At some point, Mr. Reilly played a Ted Bancroft on Another World.    (I only remember Gary Tomlin and in that role.)

He also played Roger Benton on Texas (1982) and Cal Randloph on As the World Turns (1984 and 1985).  He played Father Claude (another character named Claude) on All My Children in 1997.

I was taking a soap opera class in 1984, and our teacher (writer Sherry Johnson) mentioned that the role of Tom Hughes on As the World Turns was being recast and asked us who we thought would be a good choice to be the new Tom Hughes.   I also told her that Mr. Reilly would would be, in my opinion, a wonderful Dr. Jamie Frame on Another World.   (At this time, Stephen Yates was playing Jamie.   I objected to Mr. Yates because he had played an earlier role on Another World as the boyfriend of Marianne Randolph who had impregnated her.)   The teacher informed me that Mr. Reilly had already played a role on Another World (about which I had not known).

I still, to this day, think that Luke Reilly would have been an excellent Dr. Jamie Frame on Another World.

 

14 hours ago, danfling said:

At some point, Mr. Reilly played a Ted Bancroft on Another World.    (I only remember Gary Tomlin and in that role.)

 

 

I don't think Gary Tomlin ever played the role of Ted Bancroft unless it was a temporary situation. The role was played by Eric Roberts, Richard Backus, and Luke Reilly. When Backus was playing Ted in 1979, Tomlin was playing the role of Eileen Simpson's brother Morgan on AW.

On 9/10/2022 at 3:36 PM, danfling said:

This afternoon, my mind has been on the late Irene Dailey.    She is pretty much considered one of the great legends of soap opera although she only played two roles (on The Edge of Night and Another World).

 

Personally, I've never heard anyone say anything about Irene Dailey being one of the great soap opera legends. Instead, what I have heard said of her was what an excellent character actress she was & how much she brought to the persona of Aunt Liz. Frankly, I am still astounded that one year when she & Beverlee & Victoria were 3 of the 5 nominees for Best Actress Emmy, she won. I never saw a year when Aunt Liz was a lead role. No, she was always in the Supporting Actress category. The only thing I can figure is that Bev & Vicky split the vote & allowed Irene to walk on through.

Legends there are two, Bev & Vicky and another one, Connie Ford.

Concerning the daytime Emmy Awards a person who had some amount of fame was frequently nominated for the Daytime Emmy awards.      A performer with some celebrity or a performer with a famous last name had a clear advantage.

 

I am not sure how many times that Frances Heflin was nominated, but I think that she was.   It was the same with Irene Daily.   Actors such as Macdonald Carey (Days of Our Lives), Shepherd Strudwick (One Life to Live), John Bernadino (General Hospital), James Mitchell (All My Children), Juliet Mills (Passions), Julious LaRossa (Another World), Howard E. Rollins (Another World), Robert LuPone (All My Children), Timothy Gibbs (One Life to Live), Bryton James (The Young and the Restless), Dame Judith Anderson (Passions), Mary Jo Catlett (General Hospital), Sidney Penny (All My Children), Jeanne Cooper (The Young and the Restless) and Anna Maria Horsford (The Bold and the Beautiful),  were nominated, and their fame before they were on daytime television helped them, I am sure.   They were well known.    Inaddtition, there was Emily McLauglin (the widow of Jeffrey Hunter) who was nominated.  Another man to be nominated for Best Actor was Andrew Robinson (Ryan's Hope), and he was famous for a movie role that he had played.

I am not saying that these performers were deserving or not deserving of a nomination, but their fame outside the world of daytime television or connections with other famous people did help them get nomiations.

Edited October 11, 20223 yr by danfling

On tonight's episode of Law and Order on NBC, actress Diane Ciesla played the judge throughout the episode.   I looked her up, and she has played roles on both All My Children and Guiding Light.  She would have made an excellent Valerie Hill Ames Northcoate on The Secret Storm.   Furthermore, she probably would have been good in any of the roles of Millette Alexander played on the soap operas - especially Dr. Sara McIntyre on The Guiding Light.

Gary Tomlin had not played Ted Bancroft.   I was mistaken, although i was sure that he had.   It was Morgan Simpson that he played.

 

Two actresses who could have easily played Mona Kane on All My Children (the role played by the late Frances Heflin) are Kathleen Maguire and Anna Minot.

Ms. Maguire played roles on A Flame in the Wind/A Time for Us, A World Apart and One Life to Live.   Ms. Minot played roles on The Edge of Night, As the World Turns and A World Apart.

These two actresses were castmates on A World Apart.

I wonder if ABC either of these actresses auditioned for the role of Mona.   After Frances Heflin had been cast, ABC could have seen some audition tapes and cast the two actresses in A World Apart.

Who were the casting directors of these two shows?  Did the three new ABC shows (All My Children, A World Apart, The Best of Everything) share casting directors?

The late actor Paul Sparer was a marvelous actor, as was his wife (Nancy Marchand).    Their daughter, by the way, played Katie the waitress on All My Children for a few years or so.

 

He could have easily played the role of Chris Hughes on As the World Turns.  He also probably would have been good as Julian Hathaway on Where the Heart Is.

I think Laura Wright would have made a great (adult) Amanda Cory on AW. Tho Sandi Ferguson was cast 4 years before LW started on Loving. LW would probably have been too young at the time, but maybe could have come on when Sandi left. Laura could have held her own as Vicky Wyndham's daughter and maybe stayed on long-term without the other horrible recasts.  

Laura Wright as Amanda going up against Anne Heche's and/or Jensen Buchanan's Vicky or Judi Evan's Pauline would have been fun.  

On 2/16/2022 at 5:42 PM, Joseph said:

I sometimes wonder how Lisa peluso would have done as Kendall

Isn’t she too old to play Kendall?

Mary Beth Evans as Liza Colby, AMC

Petronia Paley as Dr. Valerie Grant, Days

Stephanie E. Williams as Dr. Lexie Carver, Days

Cornelius Smith Jr. as Jonah Carver or Brandon Walker, Days 

 

When shows are recasing characters, there are two choices among the possiblities.  One is to hire someone who strongly resembles the departing performer and hope that the new performer is accepted by the audience.   The other option is to cast a new performer who is not all that much like the perfomer who left.  

As the World Turns hired Phoebe Dorin to replace Rosemary Prinz as Penny Hughes.  Sje did resemble Ms. Prinz.  However, Ms. Dorin was not accepted, and the show wrote Penny off the show.   (Penny's daughter was later brought onto the show.)

 

The question has been asked about any other possible replacements could there have been to replace Rosemary Prinz.

Although this performer did not resemble Rosemary Prinz all that much, the only person that I could imagine in the role would have been the late Nanocy Malone.   She was around the same age as Rosemary Prinz (and not so young as the earlier suggested Erika Slezak).

Ms. Malone had played roles on The Guiding Light and Another World.   She was later a head writer of The Guiding Light.

Just heard about Nicolas Coster's passing.  I think he would have been a great Alan Spaulding on Guiding Light after Chris Bernau's passing.  He had the elegance, style and warmth.  On the subject of Alan, Ron Raines should never have been cast as Alan.  Even Daniel Pilon was better suited as Alan than him, even though he was essentially playing Max Dubujak in Springfield.  Raines should have played a recast Justin Marler.