Your experiences meeting/interacting with Soap Stars? Best and worst?

I sent a fan letter once to Margaret Reed, who played Shannon O'Hara on ATWT. She sent me back a nice personal note, not a form letter. I was surprised.

Does Brendad Ickson count as a star?

Guiding Light people were generally lovely from what my friend said. He lived there and would go by the studio all the time.

I'm not going to out anyone but let me tell you... there's a certain Soap Star that you do NOT want to try to get to wear a support pin.

Why I will not...

I’ve made some Facebook and Instagram friends with Christopher Sean, Gina Tognoni , Kathleen Gatti ( Dr Obrecht ) . William DeVry is a Trump supporter on Twitter .

I've spoken to both Beth Raines (GL) at different times. Had a friend who ran a fan club for both. Chatted on a private AOL thingie back in the day. No real dish. Both very nice.

Thom Bierdz was always great. Seriously. Always loved Jack Wagner too.

Worst? Maybe Melissa Reeves but even she wasn't so bad.

[quote] William DeVry is a Trump supporter on Twitter .

If you go on his twitter he is ANTI-Trump

Drake Hogestyn (John on Days) was terrific...loves his fans and very genuine. Actually, most of the cast of Days have been very nice people....Roark Critchlow (Ex- Mike on Days) was a little full of himself, but that was years ago.

I ran into Morgan Englund (Dylan Shayne Lewis, GL) on the street in Chelsea one day back in the '90s. He could not have been friendlier. I think he liked being recognized. He didn't seem gay, though, just friendly.

Billy Miller (GH: Jason Morgan / Drew Cain / Jake Doe) is a drunk - and a mean one. Rabid republican and Trump supporter.

more stories!

I wrote Marj Dusay right after Soap Weekly had an article about her son who died of AIDS, and she sent me a lovely letter back.

Met her years later. She was very nice. A lot smarter and more fun than she's ever given a chance to show on her shows.

[quote] I wrote Marj Dusay

“Brain” and “brain”! What is “brain”?

[quote] “Brain” and “brain”! What is “brain”?

????????????????????

[quote] “Brain” and “brain”! What is “brain”? ????????????????????

[quote]“Brain” and “brain”! What is “brain”? ????????????????????

This is highly illogical.

I was a cocktail server and served Don Diamont (Brad Carlton, The Young and the Restless) a drink. He was very nice and very polite!

I worked for SOD for a minute, these are my recollections.

Susan lucci was lovely, shook hands with fans waiting at the barricades at the emmys.

Jensen Ackles was very serious but polite.

Jacob Young sounded far smarter than I would have imaged - more articulate and thoughtful.

Teri Young (not sure her name now, she was on ATWT) was a sweetheart, very energetic and open.

I've seen Ian Buchanan around West Hollywood for years. He's always very friendly and will chat for a couple minutes.

Ah, I never saw the Marj Star Trek scene!

I remember the Kathryn Hays one, though!

[quote] Teri Young (not sure her name now, she was on ATWT)

Her?

Back in 1980, I wrote a fan letter to Shell Kepler and got an autographed picture and a nice letter. I wrote to Genie Francis too, but never got a reply. Several years later I went out with Thom Bierdz, but had no idea that he had been on a soap at the time. He was nice enough, but we just got together a couple of times. Didn't keep in touch.

R24 how was he like in bed?

R24 Is it true that when he cums, entire small towns are flooded and hundreds drown?

I have worked in soaps and have met most of them; the nicest ones can have an occasional bad day; the 'meanest' ones can show random acts of kindness.

I think the deal with celebs is that if they have ONE bad moment they're remembered forever.

We've gone from an era where we'd only read about them in mags and see them 3 to 4 times a year outside of their soaps to following them on social media and knowing what they had for breakfast and what their political leanings are -- these are not necessarily good things.

I can tell you that not many of them can hold a conversation on the industry as a whole; some can't even talk about their own shows outside their own storylines.

Maybe that's not unusual.

The genre sells itself as one big happy family; it's not, of course, but what is?

I much preferred Elaine Princi's Dorian Lord to Robin Strasser's, and when OLTL fired Princi so that Strasser could return to the role, I was so pissed on Princi's behalf that I sent her a fan letter. She sent me a gracious reply.

On the other hand , Strasser's Rachel was a thousand times superior to Wyndham, who's never done anything else.

Yes R23 but this was back in 2001. She had just gotten married and I think her wedding was on 9/11 or the day after and she told me a story about how they considered calling it off after the terrorist attacks. She was sweet but I presume is no longer with that husband?

They technically didn't really fire Princi, they just didn't renew her contract when it expired and brought back Strasser, who was willing to return at that point. It sucked for her though, she was good in the role. She didn't have same chemistry Strasser had with Sleestak though.

Wyndham did pop up for a small guest spot on Law & Order: SVU back in 2007. I laughed when she popped her horse-like head out the car window. Her face was shown in profile only.

Kevin Spirtas was a bit flirty.

Patsy Pease was a wacko.

Robin Mattson was an odd duck.

How was Mattson odd?

Robert Newman (Josh Lewis) at the Zen Palate in the 1990s. Very nice, beautiful blue eyes. He was with a few other people I didn’t recognize.

ZImmer's a great old gal if you meet her out and about. But I know two people who went to college with her and both said she was the very definition of a mean girl.

Shawn Christian is very nice and he looks great in person.

Jonathan Frid did a poetry reading at my local library in 1983 and was reserved at first, until the wine came around. He wanted to know where the 'interesting' bars were in town. Hint, hint. He was traveling with a mincy little queen who fussed over him.

Erika Slezak was rude to me.

James Mitchell (Palmer Courtland) @ the grove on Fire Island..the NICEST man ever

[quote] On the other hand , Wyndham's Rachel was stunning, multilayered and a thousand times superior to Strasser, who always plays a one note villainess.

Fixed that for you.

r38 How wonderful, James Mitchell was a beautiful man when he was young.

I met Ian Buchanan in the 1980s. Very charming, sparkly eyes. Also John Callaghan, around the Edmund and Maria time, during his peak. Very handsome!

In high school, I wrote a few fan letters and always got some form or quick response, except for two: Ruth Warrick and Julianne Moore, seriously. Ruth's was a hoot; I had written it on behalf of my (very cool) grandmother who was a huge fan, and Ruth wrote back a wonderful letter to both of us. Julianne's was lovely and personal, 2 pages, with 3 autographed pictures. Made me a fan for life.

I've met a few others over the years. Have never been to soap event, but I've crossed paths in other ways.

Bumped into Lane Davies (Mason, Santa Barbara) at a donut shop in a suburb of LA of all places. Never felt about him one way or the other, but very charismatic in person, and friendly. It was after SB had been cancelled.

Met Robin Mattson when she was on AMC--found her to be very friendly, she seemed kind of unhappy about her treatment on AMC --it was when they were kind of sidelining her.

Was in a store in NYC and Louise Sorel was in there. She was wearing a big hat and sunglasses like she was a big star hiding from the public...no one knew who she was or cared. I felt sorry for her and whispered to her that I was a big fan (I wasn't) and she smiled and whispered back, "thank you darling". Great dame.

Have others I will post later.

Thank heavens for the r39s of our little universe.

Thank heavens for r39

Saw Grant Aleksander and his wife many years ago, at a bookstore and he saw I recognized him he shusshed me away, 'nah, nah - not dong that' waving me off. I wasn't asking for an autograph. Kind of rude.

None but I'd like to add the magic is gone. They all have instagram and FB and we know what they had for breakfast, how many kids they have with their ex-husbands and so on. The whole mystery is gone and I wish we could go back to old times where everyone of them was in the closet, and you 'didn't' know actors so much.

Back in the '90s, I worked at a cafe in Chicago's Gold Coast which had often had celebrity clientele as all the posh hotels were right in the area. I waited on John Callahan once, I think it was right before Christmas or New Years, he came in early morning and the cafe was nearly empty. Very nice, chain smoked. I was an AMC and Edmond fan, so it was a pretty big deal, though I tried to play it cool.

I waited on Taylor Miller (Nina, AMC), at the same place during the summer out on the patio. She had already left AMC and was married with kids living in the Chicago burbs, think she was just doing a day in the city with the fam. It was very busy and she had two small kids, she seemed nice if a bit of a harried mom.

I sent Judith Chapman a card telling her how much I enjoyed her performance as Gloria Bardwell Fisher Abbott. She sent me back a wonderful note and autographed photo.

That was Y&R's only watchable era. Too soon gone.

[quote] Louise Sorel was in there. She was wearing a big hat and sunglasses like she was a big star hiding from the public...no one knew who she was or cared. I felt sorry for her and whispered to her that I was a big fan (I wasn't) and she smiled and whispered back, "thank you darling". Great dame.

Louise Sorel is a very dramatic high strung person in real-life. Her behind the scenes dramatic antics got her canned first on Santa Barbara (when her ex Paul Rauch was hired as new EP) and Days of our Lives, though after the brass cooled off for a few years, brought her back.

I meet Lane Davies from Santa Barbara/GH fame. He was teaching seminar course at the university I attended. He was very nice and friendly to everyone on campus. Got to sit next to him during our table reads which was great for me.

My Aunt had lunch with Tony Geary and Genie Francis back in the 80's. They were doing some promo tour. She had a great time with them.

A friend got me on the set of Y and R a long time ago and everyone couldn't be nicer. I even chatted with a few stars regarding their characters.

Another friend took me to an Emmy party and, really, everybody was very kind. Jack Wagner took a selfie with me (with a real camera, this was before cell phones), Susan Fannery said that "Brooke" was a bitch. LOL. Jennifer Finnagan joked that she could wear her Emmys as earrings.

I also bumped into Shamar Moore on the street-better looking in person. I told him I had been watching the show since "Before black people". And, of all people, Eric Braden, who couldn't have been sweeter.

When I met Meg Bennett and Morgan Fairchild they both asked how old I was... (I watched SFT in '73, when I was 8).

A few stars stayed at a hotel I worked in, and Vikki Rowell dissed Michelle Stafford, and I asked MS if I could borrow her dress.

When I saw Judith Chapman, i told her she should dust off her shelf for her Emmy NEXT year, and she hugged me! Christian Le Blac hugged me as well...almost too tight. Jeannie Cooper acted as if we were friends forever, and held my hand because I was so excited to meet her.

I told Jess Walton I was her biggest fan and she corrected me saying her husband was.

All in all, everyone of them were very nice to me, a fan.

R50=Dierdre Hall

In the early-mid 90s I was part of an online forum that discussed ATWT. I said some nice things about Terry Lester’s acting and the storyline of his character, never imagining he’d see it, but he did, and emailed me. We exchanged several friendly emails. Really good guy. So sad to learn of his passing at such a young age.

I miss ATWT. The others not so much.

R49- I wonder if anyone has met up with Tony Geary in his later years? Hopefully he's nicer to fans when he meets them face to face, because he's as nasty as hell to them in his interviews.

I met Brad Maule and went to a Television taping with Ingo Rademacher.

Years ago I sent Cady McClain a fan letter (this was at the height of Tad and Dixie mania). I was thrilled when I received an envelope back in the mail...only to find it filled with human excrement. I was only about 14 years old at the time and was pretty upset! Still not sure what that was about.

Terrible R56

Let's see...cruised by Tom Ligon and Jonathan Frid. Saw on the streets of NY: Grant Show (hot), Darnell Williams , Mark Dobies (hot, hot), Anthony Addabbo (hot, hot, hot), Paolo Seganti, Nancy Snyder, Sally Gracie, Michael Swan, Russell Todd, Jean LeClerc. In a parking lot: Julia Barr. In a theater: Ron Raines (he dropped his eyeglasses...I mailed them to him at the studio and he wrote me a very nice thank you letter). In 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, decked out in leather from head to toe (him, not me), George Reinholdt (and he cruised me). My ex-boyfriend is a friend of Richard Bekins.

R54 why is TG such a miserable old biddy? The show has been so good to him and he seems so unhappy on it.

I always thought Tom Ligon was hot, but could never find shirtless pics of him. You say he cruised you? I always thought he was straight.

The OLTL actors were very nice on multiple set visits back in the late 90s, most notably Catherine Hickland, Timothy Gibbs, and Don Jeffcoat.

Perhaps bi.

Mark Dobies always struck me as a serious DILF.

R59- If you read his interviews, you can see he's bitter about being denied a film career because he was only known as "Luke and Laura". He left the show in 1983 and he probably thought his fame as Luke would open up the doors to being a movie star. But he had to come back to the show in the 1990s and he bombed because he wanted to play a different character. They had to kill off that character and bring him back as Luke and then they had to fire Genie Francis off of AMC to bring her back as Laura.

I guess he blames the fans for all of this.

r63, he was a DILF on OLTL fucking that college guy.

La Geary always fancied himself a DeNiro or Pacino.

He was good in many ways, but he also was not nearly as good as his ego led him to believe. And a lot of what he and others did in the service of antihero characters and dark, ugly storylines (with no counterbalance) have decimated the soap format.

Finola Hughes (GH) in a professional setting multiple times...she was just lovely. Would hang out and chat. Very humble.

Hillary Baily Smith (OLTL) at a party...obnoxious.

Paul Anthony Stewart (GL) through a friend...a total doll.

Sharon Gabet (EON) is very interactive on Facebook. Chats back and forth with her fans, talking about old Edge episodes on Youtube and BTS goings-on. She couldn't be nicer. Just a doll. She seems to have truly loved her time on EON. Always speaks highly of her co-stars especially her partner in crime Larkin Malloy (RIP).

Catherine Hickland. So sweet butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. She had me as a fan for at least a decade after I met her.

Then I found out about all the carfishing she did to soap fans online, and I have no doubt her equine best bud Hillary BS was also involved. It was so bad that she had at least 5 personae at a well known soap website - one as a spoiler maven, the others to tell her how great she was. Then there were multiple VOY discussion boards.

When being a soap spoiler maven became too much for her, she killed the character off. Metastatic breast cancer. Some of us were not surprised but many more others who believed in the character were heartbroken.

What a lousy thing to do.

Back in the 80's at the height of their popularity I sent Tony Geary and Genie Francis flowers and a candy gram. I never heard back. I told all my friends to boycott General Hospital but they all laughed at me. LAUGHED at me. Now that they are has-beens I'm sure I would get a response but I won't lower myself to their level or give them the satisfaction. I have too much respect for myself. At least Queen Lucci was classy enough to send me a form letter.

R70 damn them. I seriously hate when we make them famous, and there are literally no thank you’s.

R71- I think Luke and Laura fans would settle for no thank yous....just as long as TG didn't do interviews saying that he didn't care what the fans wanted. In his final exit interview, he said the worst part of his career was being stuck in the Luke and Laura pairing....and the best part was meeting Elizabeth Taylor.

He clearly missed the irony of that because the only reason Taylor wanted to be on GH was to make sure that the Luke and Laura wedding happened. So if he wasn't part of Luke and Laura, Taylor wouldn't know him from a hole in the wall.

R72 I was a crazed, I mean crazed GH Gay.

R73 I meant Guy, but it typed gay. Oh well, I’m gay too.

Remember Peter Bergman in this commercial? I think it played for years!

Anyway, I was volunteering at this big charity event, checking off people's names as they entered. Some were soap stars. Peter Bergman had recently left All My Children and was now on The Young and the Restless. He came to my table, spoke his name. I looked up at him and said, "I know you. You're not a doctor, but you USED to play one on television."

He wasn't nearly as amused as I was! lol

R75 wow! Great find!

I'm sure he made quite a chuck of money for that commercial. You can really rake in the money if they run past a few months.

R50, I, too, have been hugged by Christian, as you say, 'almost too tight'

it's off putting in that it has the appearance of intimacy, but it's not.

I was 21 and working as an assistant in an agent's office. One of his clients was James Kiberd from All My Children. I hadn't "come out" yet, not even to myself. I was still in that denial phase. But he was sexy as hell. Anyway, he was trying to select scenes to put a tape together for auditions. He really wanted to leave soaps and break into prime time. He asked for my assistance in helping him put scenes together, finding a place that would do it, etc. (this was many years before YouTube and iPhones, when people would edit scenes onto a vhs tape!). We spent a lot of time together. He was definitely straight. Married to a soap actress on another show. But I think he sensed I was gay and had a crush on him, so he just used it to his advantage, getting me to do favors for him. Thinking back now, I wonder if that could have included sucking his dick. I wish I had had the guts to ask. haha

R69 I heard various rumors about that character. Ravensomething.

Hillary has a long history of fuckery. She was nasty to Colleen Zenk at ATWT, she and Hickland were shit stirrers on the OLTL set too. I'm not surprised she paired up with Crystal Chappell, another person who has a long, long history of being manipulative and pitting people against one another on various sets.

I once had a volunteer job calling people on the phone to solicit a contribution to a charity. I worked from a list. I spotted the name Robert Newman, but didn't realize it was the GL star until I heard his voice. He was obviously as annoyed as everyone is, but he managed to clamp it down and be gracious. And he gave!

I waited on Y&R's Christian Jules LeBlanc and his beautiful blonde girlfriend at an LA eatery a few weeks back. They were holding hands, kissing and sharing intimate moments that only 2 people madly in love can share. I thought they were going to do in on the table at one point! He left me a big tip and wrote on the bill 'True love wins out' - it was so special.

r69, are you saying Hickland was RavenBeauty (I think that was the name)?

Catherine Hickland is the daughter-in-law of Debbie Reynolds (in addition to Cathy being a fundamentalist Christian).

Did Hickland ever suck MEK's peen?

R72 Also, being part of the 'Luke and Laura thing' was his biggest claim to fame. Without it, no one would have heard of him.

I went to a GH event in the early 80s with Robert Scorpio, Bobbie Spencer and Alan Quartermain. It was held at the A&S department store in White Plains, NY and thousands of teenagers crammed into the women's department to hear a Q&A with them. The store/mall security clearly under-estimated how many people would show up. A few minutes into it a girl near me fainted, probably because it was so hot from the crush of people. I yelled out "Alan, Bobbie! We need you back here, stat!" They didn't acknowledge it. I will also add that I wasn't the only teenage boy there. GH was a cultural phenomenon back then.

OLTL was one of the only soaps where actors were accessible just based on being outside the studio on the UWS, and they were always very nice to people who passed by.

There was a poster from several years ago who allegedly met up with Thom Bierdz.

I worked near the One Life studio - I was always surprised how many of them smoked.

[quote]OLTL was one of the only soaps where actors were accessible just based on being outside the studio on the UWS, and they were always very nice to people who passed by.

Yes. I walked by and said hello to Marty and Dylan one day in 1994 or so. She was quite friendly. He whinnied.

Most people don't know this, but actors have to pay (out of their own pocket) someone to organize and respond to fans. Plus pay for postage, stationary and pictures. The network and studio doesn't pick up a dime of this. The actress who played Marty (Susan Haskell) responded to every fan letter personally and always sent an autographed photo with her reply. Now this might sound small, but these soap actors could get thousand letters a week!

Some soap stars don't respond, while others hire a fan service that sends out a form letter and never reads the fan mail.

r92, that is not entirely true. A lot of specific, diehard fans organized fan clubs without any payment.

Gee, OP. That question has never been asked on DL. You trendsetter, you.

Good uplifting thread, OP.

[quote] A lot of specific, diehard fans organized fan clubs without any payment.

I know Deidre Hall tried that, only to get sued by the fans that she was taking advantage of. If a star goes that route, they will at least reimburse the fan for costs plus pay them for their time.

Most times soap stars will get their mother to run their fan club.

I used to see David Canary on the shuttle between Grand Central and Times Square quite regularly. After a while we would nod in mutual acknowledgement of being aware of each other. One day I asked him if he was playing Adam or Stuart that day. He laughed and said sheepishly "I don't know, I haven't actually looked at my lines yet!" Which, if he wasn't joking, is quite impressive.

John Wesley Shipp (sp?) and his co star who's character name was Nola. They were at a Mall appearance. He had his grandmother with him. Talked to the crowd in general as you do, and signed autographs. I got one, but this was YEARS ago.

[quote] One day I asked him if he was playing Adam or Stuart that day. He laughed and said sheepishly "I don't know, I haven't actually looked at my lines yet!" Which, if he wasn't joking, is quite impressive.

Once veteran soap actors grasp the the technique of soap acting, they rarely study their lines the night before. The usually start memorizing during blocking and have them down pat by tape time.

Now soap actors can't get away with that. These days they are shooting multiple episodes at a time on a single day, so I don't know how they swing the memorization of lines as their call time now is 90 minutes before block and tape.

I once shared a thimble of birdseed with Sue Lucci in her Long Island backyard. Delightful...and organic.

[quote]In high school, I wrote a few fan letters and always got some form or quick response, except for two: Ruth Warrick and Julianne Moore, seriously. Ruth's was a hoot; I had written it on behalf of my (very cool) grandmother who was a huge fan, and Ruth wrote back a wonderful letter to both of us. Julianne's was lovely and personal, 2 pages, with 3 autographed pictures. Made me a fan for life.

If I wasn't already a huge fan of Julianne Moore's, her being willing to come back for a day (and making it clear she was having a marvelous time doing it) after ATWT got canceled would have cemented it. Seriously.

For my own part, I was out at the mall when a nice African American lady pointed out Celeste Talbert was around for a day of shopping. She was quite charming and sweet. I liked her. I really liked her.

R101 Very Funny

R83 that has been a long standing rumor for years.

Knowing what I know and have heard from friends and people who have worked backstage, this is a possibility.

Mentioned quite a few times here that I saw Grant Aleksander at a personal appearance......and then saw him at the urinals in the men's room.

He hung down longer and bigger soft than nearly all of the men I've experienced in my life ***when they were hard***.

Surprised at all the Hillary Bailey Smith hate. I do remember that she and Colleen Z really hated each other, but it worked out great, because their characters on ATWT did too.

I am now officially in love with Grant Aleksander. Or am I in love with his pendulous dong?

Doesn't everyone who's ever been in a room with her hate Hillary Bailey Smith?

I'm not sure I buy the story about Hickland being RavenBeauty. It's a little too far fetched. The person would have to have a lot of time on their hands to write the many, lengthy posts of RB. But with that said, they were people leaking stuff to RB at least. Wouldn't be surprised if Hickland was the leaker or at least one of them, though.

Where was RavenBeauty a thing?

Supposedly Catherine Hickland fed RavenBeauty lots of inside info. Hickland supposedly visited with her regularly and even took her to some of her chemo appointments when she got cancer.

But no one else had ever met RavenBeauty in person.

I'd never heard any suggest Catherine Hickland was really RavenBeauty. But when I read it upthread, it made sense. I remember Hickland wrote this looooooonng, glowing tribute to RavenBeauty when she died. That tribute was just too much. It was so completely OVER THE TOP. So overdone, especially for someone who no one knew except for soap gossip.

But if Hickland was putting a character she created to rest, then her over the top tribute made sense.

R109 She had a message board on Voy.com I believe and also posted the gossip/spoiler stuff on the Soap Central message board.

Whomever it was put a whole LOT of effort in creating a persona and had her talk about other interests besides OLTL, which me think it was probably a fan which contact with people who worked on the show (like possibly Hickland). She fawned over odd people like Stephen Macht too. After the spoilers dried up, either the person(s) were probably either fired or caught. So she comes up with the cancer and dying thing to end the whole thing, because there were no more spoilers and would lose most of her audience.

This was RB's facebook page. Like I said, if it was Catherine Hickland, she sure as hell put a lot of effort into the whole thing.

Ron C. sure wanted to know who she really was.

And in that Twitter thread are the people who said "Oh, Hickland knows her personally!"

Which is where the rumors came from, I think.

I don't know if someone with a job would invest that kind of time into that many sockpuppets, but I remain convinced that Gary Tomlin posted to the DL during his tenure at OLTL.

If it wasn't him, it was someone else VERY connected to the show at the time.

Saw Justin Deas years ago in a playground with his kids in Greenwich Village.

Beautiful David Forsyth at a restaurant in Naples Florida 30 years ago. So handsome, in shorts and sandals. Long, long legs and sitting alone. I was with my family so I couldn't go all flustered lusting for him. When I wanted to finally go over to him - his dinner companion, an older guy who he hugged showed up and I chickened out.

Ingo Rademacher @ Caneel Bay / St. John in the 90s. In a swimsuit looking fine.

Tim Adams during his OLTL days, shirtless in Central Park...then in a restaurant w. his then girlfriend. Both times obviously commando.

I was always pissed OLTL never found a way to write for Tim Adams and bring him on full time. They had the absolute worst "leading men" in the last decade.

Heather Tom with Chad Allen back when Heather was a teen-ager and on Y&R and Chad was in the closet - at a gay club in Dallas. She was a little tipsy but was being really nice with the few who were recognizing her and Chad. But as soon as too many started coming up, they left.

And then several of the Days cast at a book signing about two (three?) years ago. Impressions - Billy Flynn was really attractive and couldn't keep his eyes off a few of the more flirtatious cute girls; Kristian Alfonso was polite but it felt a little rehearsed and I got a flirtatious vibe between her and Billy; Galen Garing had a brilliant smile the whole time but he almost didn't look real to me - kind of perfectly plastic looking; Deidra Hall seemed as warm and gracious and kind as Marlena does on the show; Greg Vaughn came off as an over the top party boy in man form; I had to speed past Stephen Nichols, Thaao Penghlis, and Lauren Koslow but they were all quite friendly with the fans (and I regret not getting to speak to Lauren); and then Camila Banus who is even more attractive in person than on the show - and was gracious enough to let me get three pictures with her as they kept turning out wrong - really, I was struck by how pretty she was. But really, for as many people were there, they were all good sports and were generous with their time.

I met the Hayes (Bill and Susan) during their book signing. LOVED them. Susan is a pistol. She wasn't shy with her opinions. They both adored Colleen Zenk who I believe they had just worked with on a musical ? This is almost 7-8 years ago. Susan joked about he waist-line and rolled her eyes when I brought up James Reilly. Bill said 'don't get her started' They both felt the glory years of Days, late 60's to mid 70's could not even be understood by their fellow actors, praising Ed Mallory, Denise Alexander, Susan Flannery, John Clarke and Mac and Frances. Or as Bill said 'Bill Bell left for his baby Y&R' and that was that.

I got an autograph from Larry Bryggman at the Detroit airport ca. 1980 and an autograph from Kim Zimmer at a movie theater ca. 1985.

1995-2000 met a bunch of soap people through AOL (Yvonne Perry, Allyson Rice-Taylor) and at the SOD awards (Daniel Markel, Kassie DePaiva, Judi Evans, Michael Park, and a whole bunch more). Daniel Markel was the sweetest guy and really got screwed by the show.

Florencia Lozano was very nice and talkative.

R69, I remember, back in the day, that there was a self proclaimed soap opera insider who would post all sorts of juicy gossip. Her name was Raven something. I can't remember her actual name. She had a lot of followers and detractors as well who didn't believe her. For the most part, what she wrote was accurate. She had breast cancer that spread to all parts of her body and she died. Her boyfriend made the announcement. Could this Raven person have been Catherine??? Anyone else remember this soap insider?

Many years ago, my parents invited a widowed friend and her daughter to dinner. Said offspring was Juanin Clay, who had played Raven on Edge of Night. I recall that she spoke fondly of working with Lois Kibbee.

Beth Ehlers from GL was aloof from fans, if she attended fan club luncheons she stayed for 5 minutes or never arrived at all.

R124 You're a little slow on the uptake - but yes that is exactly who and what we are talking about.

[quote] Daniel Markel was the sweetest guy and really got screwed by the show.

Daniel Markel retired from acting and now works in finance, because he wanted a steady employment for his family

[quote] Susan rolled her eyes when I brought up James Reilly. Bill said 'don't get her started'

When James Reilly took over as head-writer, the first thing he did was fire Susan Seaforth Hayes, as he felt there is nothing left to do with the character.

My mom and I encountered David Canary at a grocery store in Connecticut. This was in the mid 90s. My mom told she was a fan and he was nice and said thank you. We chatted and he said he was in that town for get together with friends.

Poor David Canary. It seems like his decline was fast. Although that is a blessing, I suppose. Not a long time in the throes of dementia or needing care.

He was a wonderful actor and from all accounts, a very nice man.

Anybody remember Margaret Klenck, " a Lewis" on All My Children? I have a fun story.

I don't think we have a B&B thread so I will put this here in any case....

WOW Joe Lando looks beat as FUCK.

What was the story with Terry Lester? He died of AIDS in 2003, but that was years after antiretrovirals were a thing. Did he go off the meds?

I think he died of a heart attack, R133.

I don't have a death certificate, of course, but I think primary cause of death would have been the heart attack, with any other factors being contributing factors.

They said it was a heart attack at the time, but apparently that was horse shit.

R132 Would've never guessed that was Joe Lando from the pic.

The effective medicines, protease inhibitors, didn't arrive until 2005-2006. Prior to that, the meds were only marginally useful.

r132, Joe is 56. What exactly do you expect? He looks like a hot daddy to me.

[quote]The effective medicines, protease inhibitors, didn't arrive until 2005-2006. Prior to that, the meds were only marginally useful.

Protease inhibitors became widely available a decade before that, and the HAART cocktail was standard treatment a few years later.

Oops -- I got my decades wrong. You are right.

r132 Here's the B&B thread.

I, too, barely recognized that as Joe Lando. Certainly has aged. But that photo also makes it obvious how much the long hair was part of his trademark look.

I was in an acting class with Lando back then. Nice enough, quiet and not douchey/actory, great hair/bad skin.

Van Hansis was weird. He interacted with his female fans a lot, but was very guarded around the gay male ones. Probably because he was closeted at the time. Hopefully he’s different now that he’s out, but I get the impression that he has mostly women friends.

OK, if Lando is 56 I guess he looks better than I thought.

I was thinking he was about 10 years younger.

Jessica Tuck looked fucking fabulous on GH when she was on last year, so.....

[quote] Van Hansis

Missss Hanzzzzzzzzzzzisssss is snooty and aloof, unless you can land her a job or a benefactor.

I would 't agree with what you say about Van. At the time of the kissing ban, I went with a group to see his Charles Busch play - and afterward he came out to see us and tried to re-assure us he was dead set against the kissing ban, then he stopped talking because crazy CBS sent a female p.r.rep to monitor him(!) - so he quickly shut up but it was clear he was fighting CBS. Van's bf was there, in the background. I had seen him in that movie where he's a killer and his nose bleeds.

Anna Lee was rude, not classy and she lost a long time fan that day. I walked into the $350 meet and greet and say hello she replies with ‘fat’ and I shook it off because I thought maybe I had heard her wrong. As I approached her in her wheelchair she stared at me blank faced. I continued talking ‘you saved my life’ I say ‘you’re the reason I’m alive today.’ She looks me dead in the eye and says ‘you’ll die soon enough fatty’ and then whispered ‘obesity.’ I started crying I had never felt pain like this and she started laughing and said ‘are you crying? Stop it. Stop it now’ and she flicked my vagina. I headed out of the MG section and that’s when Anna started speaking whale to me.

Ha, ha, R147

I used to work behind the scenes on The View so soap stars occasionally came on.. So many over the years but I wasn't an avid watcher so their names escape me.

#1 Susan Lucci-- seriously the tiniest woman I've ever seen. I could've picked her up with 1 arm. Very gracious and personable but also had an underlying air of being separate if that makes sense .

#2 Linda Dano-- charming beyond words. wanted to know how we were & not in an off the cuff manner but like she really was interested. Good friends with Joy Warmth radiated off of her.

Others I'm not sure of their names so maybe you can help me.

#3 Good looking AMC actor who I think now works as a TV host ( has subbed on Regis & Kelly and Kelly & Ryan, late night entertainment shows). Very handsome. Very outgoing to cast & crew. Has a gorgeous wife. The camera loved him not just for his looks but he was always engaging.

#4 Tiny actress from GH was on a panel of several soap actresses being asked about beauty routines. Very sweet & gracious, flawless skin like a porcelain figurine

#5 The OLTL actress who played all the personalities- cold & aloof

#6 AMC actress who married the Bachelor-gregarious & outgoing, very pretty

#3 is probably Cameron Mathison

#5 Erika Slezak or as we call her here, Viki Sleestak

#6 Rebecca Budig (Greenlee, then Hayden on GH).

I wonder if 4 is Rebecca Herbst also known as Elizabeth Webber. She does not look that different from when she was a teen player 20 some years ago.

R149 I think we all need to know more from you! Other celeb encounters? Give us some bad ones.

[quote] Susan Lucci-- seriously the tiniest woman I've ever seen.

According to Louis Edmonds (Langley) book, the joke backstage at AMC was Susan was so tiny, you could stomp on her like a bug. But it was Good-natured teasing

#4 is Kelly Monaco

No way in hell does Monaco have flawless skin

I remember when Lucci would guest on Hot in Cleveland as "Susan Lucci" -- Malick's rival, Malick would comment on her being the size including Muppet references. Say what you will say about Lucci, she was smart to have some fun with her character and its soapiness outside of AMC which helped her in the long run.

Met Rebecca Herbst twice. Once right after she joined GH. She was very aloof and didn’t like touching people. Carried hand sanatizer with her. Met her again years later and she could not have been nicer or more personable. I just wrote off the first encounter as her being new to GH and the whole fan encounter thing

Wally Kurth was absolutely charming. Engaging, kind, generous with his time. I imagine he'd be easy to work with.

Like I said I never was much of a soap watcher but of course I knew Susan Lucci's name. I knew Linda Dan's name because as a gayling I avidly watched her show Attitudes. I knew from my youth I wanted to get into production so talk shows were more my thing than soaps.

I did a Goggle search of your names & you guys were really good at figuring out who I meant.

#R150 Yes #3 was Cameron Mathison, #5 was Erika Slezak and #6 was Rebecca Rudig

R151 You're correct #4 was Rebecca Herbst

We had lots of soap actors coming through back then because of proximity but those days are long gone.

How is James ... the UK tall guy on some soap... he's very cute... ?

he's very hung

R128, Reilly had no use for La Hayes in the early 90s but when he returned a decade later he created many great scenes in which Bonnie sparred with Julie; he also had Julie be one of the few surviving Hortons after Marlena's crime spree that killed off Maggie, Doug and ALICE!

I thought Reilly hated Julie/Susan, too, but he clearly felt otherwise in the 2000s.

R131 she was on OLTL. not AMC

Matgaret Klenck was fabulous as a.

She quit acting & became a psychiatrist.

[quote]Reilly had no use for La Hayes in the early 90s but when he returned a decade later he created many great scenes in which Bonnie sparred with Julie ... I thought Reilly hated Julie/Susan, too, but he clearly felt otherwise in the 2000s.

That's because SSH finally gave in to Reilly's over-the-top style and gave him the ham-fisted theatrics he preferred.

I've never heard that Erika Slezak was cold and aloof. She is very warm and generous with younger and older actors. Everyone knows Ellen Holly had an axe to grind with Agnes Nixon and Paul Rauch, it was never personal for Erika. Erika praised Ellen often and even at times made acting suggestions to her to help her performance.

I met Sue, and she was a cunt.

I met Deidre Hall a few years ago. She's very fit and trim. Smaller than she looks on screen. A lot more dry wit than you'd ever see from Marlena, of course.

I fisted Kevin Spirtas

did u clap?

I wish I could meat Kevin Spirtas' dick.

[R170] [R171]

I could've clapped, there was plenty of room there. And there's not much dick to speak of, at least I didn't see it, he was tweaking.

It was a very sad and surreal experience for me, I had a crush on him when i was a teenager and when I met him i thought he was so cool.

Turns out that behind closed doors he is another typical old queen on meth. He didn't even want me to kiss or fuck him, just my fist.

Gross.