RIP Lisa Brown

[Vee]

An awful shock. What a legend. I'll pick up my Marland binge this weekend in her honor. RIP.

[Soapsuds]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Out of her three Daytime Emmy award nominations, Brown was nominated twice in the Best Supporting Actress category, both for As The World Turns and the episode that her '87 nomination reel came from is not even up on YouTube, which is a real shame. 

Most people continually mention the barn scene when citing her work (which was probably part of the reel for her '88 nomination) but there was more to the Iva Snyder character than just her relationship to Lily. The Tad Channing storyline (from 1986) as well as the realization that the man that she loves would always be in love with another woman (also in 1986-it was from one of these scenes that formed her Emmy reel for the '87 Emmy nomination) comprised some of her strongest performances on ATWT.

It's tragic that those scenes are not out there to be viewed and enjoyed by the fans of the show and Brown.

Some of us were fortunate to see these episodes in real time but if you haven't had the chance, sadly you have missed some if her best work on the series.

Edited November 27, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

Was this Craig or Steve, or someone else?

[lilyredd]

It was Craig, but I would suggest her best work was her first run as Nola on GL and her romance with Kirk Anderson which allowed the drudgy character that was Iva to shine with wit and fun. 

[koos]

Same. Very sad.

[DramatistDreamer]

It was Craig. It took place in the barn at the Snyder farm, the episode before she took the backbreaking fall. Craig was breaking up with her because he wanted to reunite with Sierra and Iva knows that this is what's happening and she knows he wants to let her down easy, so in the process although her heart is breaking, she tries to help smooth the way for him to end the relationship.

No screaming and shouting, which is the usual Emmy bait but she did great work and it was memorable.

I don't remember which scene she submitted for her Emmy reel for the '88 Daytime Emmy awards, do you remember? 

It was a shame that Ellie and Kirk ended it getting married because Iva and Kirk were a much more entertaining and dynamic fit. I thought each was the others' best pairing on the show but I don't know if one particular scene stood out for the Emmys, it was more about the banter they had and the obvious chemistry that Brown and Tom Wiggins had.

It's just one of those quirks of the Daytime Emmys that Brown was never nominated for her work on Guiding Light despite how incredibly popular her character obviously was.

 

My main point is that I don't think that her best work from ATWT is even on YouTube.

[P.J.]

The Lily reveal is what everyone brings up, but I thought her romance with Kirk was better. Their breakup broke my heart.  "Damn you---damn you for making me want and hope for things I could never, ever have with a man like you..."

I constantly complain about the writing for Iva in the ATWT thread, but never, ever about Lisa's performance. She never phoned her scenes in. 

Edited November 27, 2021 by P.J.

[Soapsuds]

During the ATWT reunion Tom Wiggin said the audience was so upset he chose Ellie over Iva. The viewers hated him and Ellie as a couple.

[lilyredd]

I’m not certain what she submitted.
 

Iva had spunk when she arrived but Marland sent her down a dreary road. I think Brown had a bit of Garlandesque quality to her and writing her character as such a sad drudge was a disservice. 

[Soapsuds]

Lisa Brown submitted the Lily reveal in 1988...

1987 is on YouTube but the scenes have been removed by whoever posted the video.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[mango]

Tom Wiggin shared something lovely on Facebook. I don't know how to embed it because it's a comment on a post.

"I am shocked and so saddened by the news of Lisa Brown’s passing. It would take more space than we have here for me to adequately express my admiration and gratitude for her as a friend (before ATWT) and a colleague on ATWT. Thanks in large part to her cooperation during my screen test for Kirk, I got the role. And thanks in large part to her iconic status as Iva I rode her coattails to be a part of a “super couple”, which was my first time in that space though ATWT was my third soap. More importantly, however, were the laughs and the shared comittment to making each scene the very best it could be.That is what I’ll focus on during this sad time."

You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063752360078

[DRW50]

This just breaks my heart. I loved Iva - one of my favorite soap characters ever. As a kid, something in me connected with her immediately. She suffered and suffered and suffered, which could have been very maudlin, but  Lisa rarely played the material in a melodramatic way. She connected with the pain of Iva and never let viewers forget what Iva had gone through, even when it might have been easier to do so. She was at her best in the quiet, sorrowful conversations with her family, or when she found out about Ellie and Kirk. As time passed, the sorrow seemed to completely consume  Iva, but I never stopped wanting the character to have everything she had dreamed of and which was never in her grasp.  I never forgot Lisa's presence on ATWT, even after Iva was written out and barely mentioned, and I never will. 

Lisa was born in the wrong era - she would have been right at home in the "queens of the lot" era of the '30s and '40s. That's why she was so at home in the old Hollywood homages Nola went through,  especially the Bette  Davis  moments Davis herself wrote her a fan letter in praise of. 

Even if  the filming was shambolic in that final year,  I'm glad Lisa was  willing to return as Nola for the finale, and give fans a chance to say goodbye.

The main moment going around for Lisa seems to be Lily's paternity reveal, which, to be honest, I did not care for as a scene, so I will post this instead: 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[mango]

A beautiful tribute by her son, Buddy 

Please register in order to view this content

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWwULNFpmdC 

 

[Soapsuds]

Alan Locher said he was going to interview Lisa soon. So her passing must have really been sudden.