Movie Stars Who Appeared on Soaps — A Complete History

Marlena says: Who knows more about daytime soap opera than John K. Read, formerly known as John Kelly Genovese? I met John in 1978 when I was an intern to the late editor/columnist Jon-Michael Reed. John and I discovered a mutual interest in soaps and became fast friends. He invited me frequently to his home In Connecticut to watch kinescopes of old soaps going back to the days of Irna Phillips. I was deeply impressed with his encyclopedic knowledge of soaps and his keen, humorous tutorials, and thrilled to be able to hire him as soap critic for Afternoon TV magazine when I became editor in 1981. I learned immensely from him. So, Marlena is happy to be reunited with John here on Soaps for the Thinking Fan. So many movie actors appeared on soaps over the years, enriching the medium and setting examples for younger performers. Here’s John’s rundown on the most famous – and unforgettable. 

By John K. Read

Soaps and films are two vastly different animals. Movie actors have the luxury of copious rehearsal time with take after take of scenes shot out of sequence. Soaps, by contrast, call for intensive line memorization with minimal rehearsal time and very little margin for second takes. There is no time for “method actor” navel gazing over motivation. The great soap creator and producer Roy Winsor said it best: “This is the land of the pros. We have no room for amateurs.”

Over the years, much has been made about “big name stars” acting on soaps. A shining example was the one-shot appearance of Sammy Davis, Jr. as himself on one of his favorite shows, “Love of Life,” before playing dramatic roles on “One Life to Live” as card shark Chip Warren and on “General Hospital” as errant dad Eddie Phillips. Davis nailed every performance. He wasn’t known as one of our best all-around actors, singers, and entertainers for nothing.

Likewise, the exquisite Kim Hunter was chilling as Norma Desmond-ish faded actress-turned-murderer Nola Madison on “Edge of Night.” We were also treated to Elizabeth Taylor as Helena Cassadine on “General Hospital,” a role later filled by another great film veteran, Constance Towers. “All My Children” fan Carol Burnett relished her guest role as down-and-out Verla Grubbs.

Given these shining examples, it is easy for any soap viewer under the age of sixty to assume that film stars transitioning to daytime television is a fairly recent phenomenon. Not so. An early such casting was that of “Citizen Kane” supporting actress Ruth Warrick on “Guiding Light” in the early 1950s as Janet Johnson, a man-hungry barracuda in a nurse’s uniform. Warrick went on to major roles as Edith Hughes on “As the World Turns,” Hannah Cord on the prime time “Peyton Place,” and ultimately Pine Valley grande dame Phoebe Tyler Wallingford on “All My Children.”

A number of movie veterans graced the soaps during the 1960s. Esther Ralston was known for numerous movie roles since the 1920s when she played the mother on NBC’s short-lived “Our Five Daughters.” The same network later featured two film actors as soap dads — Macdonald Carey as “Days of Our Lives'” Tom Horton and Hugh Marlowe as Jim Matthews on “Another World.” The wonderfully prickly Geraldine Fitzgerald played Eileen Fulton’s mother-in-law in the ill-fated “World Turns” prime time spinoff “Our Private World,” then Violet Jordan in James Lipton’s ill-fated “Best of Everything.”

Maybe not as prestigious but just as well-known were Ann Sheridan as Missy Palmer’s biological mother Kathryn Corning on “Another World”… Alan Alda’s father Robert Alda as philanderer Jason Ferris on “Love of Life”’ and shady business magnate Stuart Whyland on “Days of Our Lives”… B-movie actress Jan Sterling as blackmailing housekeeper Mildred Foss on “Guiding Light”… and film noir darling Coleen Gray as college dean Ann Boyd in “Bright Promise.”

 

Yet it was Gray’s co-star, Dana Andrews of “The Best Years of Our Lives” and “Laura” fame, who got star billing and generous publicity as college president Tom Boswell. Neither lasted long, however, as the show veered away from the college setting and brought a young Tony Geary to the fore as troubled David Lockhart. David’s unsympathetic estranged mother was played by movie and TV veteran Anne Jeffreys, who was suddenly fired with no explanation. I think it’s safe to assume that her pay was too high for the show’s dwindling budget. Nonetheless, what a rotten way to go. Jeffreys later came back to soaps as Amanda Barrington on “General Hospital.”

Somewhat more successful as a soap with film stars was “Capitol.” We already mentioned Constance Towers who was an established movie actress and singer…and who had previously played paraplegic Marion Hiller on “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.” Silver screen cowboy Rory Calhoun played her ex-politico dad while the rough-edged Richard Egan was their wily political rival. Egan was known as the sympathetic dad in “A Summer Place” opposite Constance Ford as his toxic wife. Ford later displayed even more toxicity as Eve Morris on “Edge of Night” before her long, well-loved role as blunt, earthy Ada on “Another World.”

Yet “Edge” was not Connie’s first rodeo in soapland. Back in the 1950s, she played the tormented Rose Peterson on “Search for Tomorrow” — a role also filled by Nita Talbot and none other than Lee Grant! Ford went on to the lead role in “Woman with a Past,” a CBS soap that was barely a blip on the screen. Her on-screen romantic rival was none other than Jean Stapleton!

Another star who started on a soap and returned briefly to the medium was Robert (“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”) Morse. In 1954, he was the first of easily half a dozen actors to play young Jerry Ames on “The Secret Storm.”  Much later, he briefly played a sleazebag who fed Benny Sago’s gambling addiction on “All My Children.”

Back to Kim Hunter on “Edge of Night.” One of her character’s actor cronies, Trent Archer, was portrayed by Farley Granger. He established himself quite young in a few Hitchcock movies and was first cast in soaps as psychiatrist Will Vernon on “One Life to Live.” For whatever reason, he didn’t last long in Llanview. After “Edge,” Granger was delightful as Lisa’s Interpol-linked husband Earl Mitchell on “As the World Turns.”

Unfortunately, “Edge” was already on the Nielsen downslide by the time Hunter graced its already top-flight cast. Here was a classic illustration of star power not sufficient to boost an ailing show. Christina Crawford’s book “Mommie Dearest” describes her mother, Joan Crawford’s stint as her temporary replacement on “The Secret Storm.” I saw this travesty firsthand back in 1968. She chewed enough scenery to earn a lifetime of agita but did not help the show’s weakening audience numbers.

An especially ironic succession of movie crossovers involved “Loving,” a creation of Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland that went through constant upheaval during its twelve years on the air. Its prime-time pilot was basically a self-contained episode featuring Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page in roles that did not carry over to the daytime series but introduced the main characters. Leading patriarch Cabot Alden was played by Wesley Addy, a superb actor whose film credits included “Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte” but who never garnered the universal fame of his actress spouse, Celeste Holm. Cabot’s wife Isabelle was played with quiet strength by soap veteran Augusta Dabney. Then Cabot was presumed dead and Isabelle morphed into an iron-willed boss lady in the person of — ready? — Celeste Holm! By then the show was scraping the bottom of the ratings barrel, so she came and went practically unnoticed. Jane Powell had a similar fate as Rebeka Beecham, matriarch of a family that evaporated within a year.

Finally, remember that difference between soaps and movies? “Dynasty” diva Joan Collins made a big splash as the formidable Alexandra Spaulding on “Guiding Light.” Then she couldn’t get out of that pool fast enough. The lady simply could not remember her lines.