When I wrote the previous piece about established movie stars appearing on soaps, I knew that despite its considerable length, I was only scratching the surface. Thanks to a few knowledgeable readers and my renewed research into the subject, here are some additions. Please understand that there are many other such performers who graced the big screen prior to their daytime roles, yet were better known for their prime-time television careers. I chose to concentrate on primarily film actors here.
Dame Judith Anderson as Minx Lockridge
For starters, All My Children had more celebrities than I previously credited. Sylvia Miles did a brief stint as Jackie Diamond in the New York modeling story involving Erica and Jenny. And Gwen Verdon was a dour killjoy as Judith Sawyer, mother of Melanie and sister of Brandon Kingsley. Hardly the Damn Yankees” temptress who belted out “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.”
Santa Barbara could claim not one, but two big names in the role of quirky matriarch Minx Lockridge. The first was Dame Judith Anderson, who displayed a charming, playful countenance totally foreign to her darkly toxic housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. When her health declined the soap replaced her with Janis Paige, another movie veteran.
While Santa Barbara could claim Mrs. Danvers, Ryan’s Hope briefly enjoyed the talents of Joan Fontaine, who played the title role in Rebecca. Here a longer run was enjoyed by Gloria DeHaven as Bess Shelby, estranged mother of Jillian Coleridge (Nancy Addison Altman). Cesare Danova (as Silvio Conti) was established in Italian and Spanish films, as Daniel Pilon (Max Dubujak) was a fixture in French-speaking Canadian movies.
Anyone who saw Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed as evil pre-teen Rhoda Penmark would have a difficult time imagining her as an adult in sympathetic roles. Yet she was a capable long-term substitute for Kathryn Hays as Kim on As the World Turns, and much later for Leslie Charleson as Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital. Actually, her first soap stint was in 1970 as a young Manhattan career woman in James Lipton’s short-lived The Best of Everything.
On a lighter note, how about that scene where Marilyn Monroe’s skirt billowed up from the wind out of a New York subway cover? That was a high point in The Seven-Year Itch, a charming Billy Wilder movie co-starring Tom Ewell as a middle-aged married man who was momentarily tempted by Monroe but fortunately did not act on his desires. Ewell surfaced on Search for Tomorrow in the early ’70s as Sheriff Bill Lang. Again, not a romantic lead but a believable, “regular guy” role.
Several decades ago, The Brighter Day told the story of a minister and his family. It made stars of Lois Nettleton as daughter Patsy, Hal Holbrook as alcoholic son Grayling, and Patty Duke as Grayling’s adopted daughter Ellen. Yet a mere few weeks before its cancellation in 1962 the show was graced by an already established film professional: Rex Ingram, an actor of color probably best known for God’s Little Acre. He was cast as Reverend Victor Graham. Just imagine the stories that could have developed from this character.
Brock Peters as Frank Lewis
Finally, we come to The Young and the Restless. In the role of Amy Lewis’s cop dad Frank was the superb Brock Peters, renowned for his contribution to To Kill a Mockingbird as the unjustly accused Tom Robinson. And in the grand soap tradition of bringing in heavy hitters to play estranged parents, Eric Braeden masterfully delivered tour-de-force performances as Victor Newman was reunited with his dying mother played by Dorothy Maguire, then with his chillingly uncaring father played by George Kennedy. Dare we hope that someday soon “The Mustache” will be once again allowed to display the vulnerable side of his all too omnipotent character?
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