The Guiding Light

Marcia McCabe - Trish Lewis

Forrest Compton - Mike Bauer

Kim Ulrich - Hope Bauer Spaulding

John Reilly - Ed Bauer or Sean Reardon (Bridget and Matt's dad)

Matt Ashford - Rick Bauer

Nina Aversen - Amanda Spaulding

Cady McClain - Stacy Chamberlain

Bailey Chase - AJ Chamberlain

Dylan Bruce - Peter Reardon

 

Paulette Breen (Claudette Flax Montgomery #1 on All My Children) would have been an excellent Kimberly Harris on Ryan's Hope.

 

And Susan Platt-Winston (Claudette #2 on All My Children) would have been an excellent Anne Tyer St. Cyr Davis Martin on All My Children.

1 hour ago, danfling said:

Paulette Breen (Claudette Flax Montgomery #1 on All My Children) would have been an excellent Kimberly Harris on Ryan's Hope.

 

Thanks for remembering Paulette Breen. She was a fine young vixen! Lots of good suggestions from everyone.

Lisa Cameron (Susan Shearer on AW, Peggy Reagan on ATWT) would have made a fine replacement for Susan Flannery as Laura on DOOL.

Gregory Abels (Michael Hathaway on WTHI) would have been an excellent Tom Hughes on ATWT. We had to put up with C. David Colson instead? (Sorry, CDC fans!)

Had AW brought back Missy Matthews, Andrea Marcovicci (Dr. Betsy Chernak, LIAMST) would have been a good choice.

When AW recast Rachel, they chose an established star, Victoria Wyndham. Instead of going with the unknown Susan Harney as the recast Alice, what if they had chosen a non-blonde proven star? Jada Rowland (Amy, SS; Carolee, TD) immediately comes to mind, as do Sally Stark (Kate, LOL), Andrea Marcovicci, and perhaps even Delphi Harrington (Christine, WTHI).

Ron Tomme (Bruce, LOL) and Mart Hulswit (Ed Bauer, GL) would have been good recasts for Robert Delaney on AW, and for Lenore Delaney I would be happy to have Caroline McWilliams (Janet Mason Norris, GL), Delphi Harrington, or Sally Stark.

Julia Duffy (Gerry Braylee, LOL) would have been a better Marianne Matthews on AW than any of the several who played the role.

I was thinking about alternative replacements for Beverlee McKinsey as Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light.   While I agree with the theory that the writing for Marj Dusay was more problematic than the performance, here are some ladies that could have played that part.

1. Dina Merrill - a Hitchcock blond - her own history as the heiress to the EF Hutton/Marjorie Maryweather Post fortune makes her a perfect fit, and by the 90s she was mostly doing daytime celebrity game shows.

2. Louise Shaffer - played iconic business women in soaps, seems like a smart fit for Alex once she became interim CEO of Spaulding

3. Carole Shelby - she pinched hit as a replacement for Beverlee when she played Iris on AW, so she was familiar with understudying a role in daytime

4. Sharon Acker - played Judith on Texas, and was an Iris prototype after Beverly left the show

Edited September 27, 20214 yr by j swift

Jacqueline Courtney.. I always thought she would be a good Hope Bauer on Guiding Light tbh

On 9/26/2021 at 9:20 PM, j swift said:

I was thinking about alternative replacements for Beverlee McKinsey as Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light.   While I agree with the theory that the writing for Marj Dusay was more problematic than the performance, here are some ladies that could have played that part.

1. Dina Merrill - a Hitchcock blond - her own history as the heiress to the EF Hutton/Marjorie Maryweather Post fortune makes her a perfect fit, and by the 90s she was mostly doing daytime celebrity game shows.

2. Louise Shaffer - played iconic business women in soaps, seems like a smart fit for Alex once she became interim CEO of Spaulding

3. Carole Shelby - she pinched hit as a replacement for Beverlee when she played Iris on AW, so she was familiar with understudying a role in daytime

4. Sharon Acker - played Judith on Texas, and was an Iris prototype after Beverly left the show

Hey it's Carole Shelley not Shelby🙂 and I understand your point she made a great crazy Iris, I thought Carmen Duncan could be a nice replacement too, even if she probably go on a different direction with the Character the rest was Spot-on except Dina Merrill was kinda old if I'm not mistaken didn't Alex have her twins as a teenager?

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Jacqueline Courtney.. I always thought she would be a good Hope Bauer on Guiding Light tbh

Wasn't she a bit to old? I think hope were born onscreen in the 1960's

1 hour ago, Joseph said:

Hey it's Carole Shelley not Shelby🙂 and I understand your point she made a great crazy Iris, I thought Carmen Duncan could be a nice replacement too, even if she probably go on a different direction with the Character the rest was Spot-on except Dina Merrill was kinda old if I'm not mistaken didn't Alex have her twins as a teenager?

Wasn't she a bit to old? I think hope were born onscreen in the 1960's

I think Courtney would have been great...and she was playing Dee while Roussell (sorry, never got the love for her) was playing Hope on GL.  I never understood why the never brought her back and have Alex luring her to SF to get Alan away from Annie/FauxAnnie/Olivia or the business. RR always looked ridiculous chasing after those sweet young things and not even Alex making a comment ("Here is Alan's late middle age crisis bimbo now!")

1 hour ago, Joseph said:

Hey it's Carole Shelley not Shelby🙂 and I understand your point she made a great crazy Iris, I thought Carmen Duncan could be a nice replacement too, even if she probably go on a different direction with the Character the rest was Spot-on except Dina Merrill was kinda old if I'm not mistaken didn't Alex have her twins as a teenager?

Wasn't she a bit to old? I think hope were born onscreen in the 1960's

I think it could've worked. I mean Courtney could've been the recast after her OLTL stint in the 70's and join in 1977 or 1979. I mean Elvera Roussel quiet looked like she was the same age as Jacqueline.

4 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

I think it could've worked. I mean Courtney could've been the recast after her OLTL stint in the 70's and join in 1977 or 1979. I mean Elvera Roussel quiet looked like she was the same age as Jacqueline.

Didn't knew this detail about Elvera Rousseau then It might have worked, Jacqueline looked younger than she was, having that in mind I thought she looked terrible at her 2nd stint as Alice with that middle aged doctor look, not to say they wasted her completely 

7 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

I think it could've worked. I mean Courtney could've been the recast after her OLTL stint in the 70's and join in 1977 or 1979. I mean Elvera Roussel quiet looked like she was the same age as Jacqueline.

1979! That's when George Left there's when Pat stopped being really interesting 

to Nicholas Blair:   Your suggestion that Caroline McWillams replace Susan Sullivan as Lenore is an excellent suggestion.

 

Thank YOU for mentioning Susan Cameron!  I never saw her on Another World, but I really liked her on As the World Turns.  I have been dismayed over the years that her As the World Turns role seemed to be end of her career.  

21 hours ago, danfling said:

to Nicholas Blair:   Your suggestion that Caroline McWillams replace Susan Sullivan as Lenore is an excellent suggestion.

 

Thank YOU for mentioning Susan Cameron!  I never saw her on Another World, but I really liked her on As the World Turns.  I have been dismayed over the years that her As the World Turns role seemed to be end of her career.  

When GL dumped Mart Hulswit, AW would have scored big by casting him as Robert Delaney and Caroline McWilliams as Lenore. There was so much story for those characters.

Lisa Cameron is one of my all-time favorite soap actresses, and she and John Cunningham are my all-time favorite soap couple. She also had great scenes with Nancy Wickwire (imagine having Liz Matthews as your mother!) and with Charles Baxter (as Fred Douglas, whom Susan briefly married). I always wondered why they were written off, only to learn from Harding Lemay's book that he thought AW had too many blondes! If I had Jacquie Courtney, Beverly Penberthy, Susan Sullivan, and Lisa Cameron under contract, I would be thanking God that I had such talented and beautiful women to write for.

Naturally, I was pleased when Lisa Cameron quickly re-surfaced on ATWT as nurse Peggy Reagan. It looked like she would become a prominent player in the Dan Stewart storyline. Alas, she was caught in the "Saturday night massacre" when Irna killed off or wrote out almost everyone with any connection to the Stewarts.

After that, Lisa Cameron simply vanished, as far as I know. She would have made an excellent replacement when Barbara Bain left MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. She had the same look, the same attractive low voice.

Do not get me started on what I thought of Lynn Milgrim as her eventual replacement on AW. Not today, anyway! At least Lynn Milgrim was a brunette, I'll said that for her.

12 minutes ago, Nicholas Blair said:

When GL dumped Mart Hulswit, AW would have scored big by casting him as Robert Delaney and Caroline McWilliams as Lenore. There was so much story for those characters.

Lisa Cameron is one of my all-time favorite soap actresses, and she and John Cunningham are my all-time favorite soap couple. She also had great scenes with Nancy Wickwire (imagine having Liz Matthews as your mother!) and with Charles Baxter (as Fred Douglas, whom Susan briefly married). I always wondered why they were written off, only to learn from Harding Lemay's book that he thought AW had too many blondes! If I had Jacquie Courtney, Beverly Penberthy, Susan Sullivan, and Lisa Cameron under contract, I would be thanking God that I had such talented and beautiful women to write for.

Naturally, I was pleased when Lisa Cameron quickly re-surfaced on ATWT as nurse Peggy Reagan. It looked like she would become a prominent player in the Dan Stewart storyline. Alas, she was caught in the "Saturday night massacre" when Irna killed off or wrote out almost everyone with any connection to the Stewarts.

After that, Lisa Cameron simply vanished, as far as I know. She would have made an excellent replacement when Barbara Bain left MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. She had the same look, the same attractive low voice.

Do not get me started on what I thought of Lynn Milgrim as her eventual replacement on AW. Not today, anyway! At least Lynn Milgrim was a brunette, I'll said that for her.

Couldn't agree more Nicholas. Mart would have done great as Robert Delaney. Why that never happened. Sigh.

John Cunningham. He was so great and handsome.

Catherine Oxenberg as Brooke Logan, Amanda and Brooke sound like the same character, they're both childish, very beautiful, obsessed with a certain guy (amanda with dex, Brooke with the Forresters) and i don't find neither one sympathetic (I began disliking Amanda not long after she entered the show, i began hating Brooke in the mid 2000's/early 2010'sof what i saw), now Catherine is not the best actress in the world but she could act being given the right material, Amanda never had very good storylines specially after Moldavia

Who are Brooke and Amanda?