December 1995
On recent episodes of GH, Katherine Bell has been trying very hard to snag Mac Scorpio (John J. York) by whatever means necessary. Which isn’t easy, as private eyes and bartenders have seen just about everything. She’s a schemer and a conniver- which intrigues him- but it’s not enough. Naturally, she resorts to sex. We shot a scene the other day in which Katherine was supposed to walk into the bar wearing only a trench coat and a smile. The viewers were to assume I was naked underneath. At one point I was supposed to whip open the coat and “flash” Mac!
But the nude scenes on soaps aren’t anything as sexy as they appear- we usually wear a body suit, or gym shorts and a bustier. As a practical joke, I secretly wrote a lewd suggestion on a cloth diaper and pinned it to my bra. When I flashed Mac, John saw my gym shorts, bra, and obscene phrase, but he had to act as if I was naked underneath. His surprise was authentic!
A few days later, I was supposed to jump out of a soapy, sudsy Jacuzzi bathtub- totally stark naked! Women in the US don’t openly expose their breasts, so the wardrobe people prepared these special breast cover pads for me. They used toupee tape to secure them onto my chest. Halfway through the scene, as I sat in the tub, the bubbles ate the tape. Suddenly, I saw the two booby pads go floating by. I had to shoot the rest of my scenes with my knees up!
Men usually wear gym shorts when they shoot naked love scenes, although I remember Kin Shriner would wear Levi jeans and converse high top boots under the covers during his “naked” love scenes.
Once I did a prime time show called Crime and Punishment. I was in a married scene with a guy I hardly knew. We were eating dinner just wearing towels when we got carried away. We threw ourselves at each other, letting the towels drop. When his dropped, it looked like he was completely naked and I thought: “Oh my God, prime time realism is too much.” Then I realized he was wearing flesh colored underpants!
On DOOL, Patch and Kayla finally consummated their affair when I was six months pregnant. The scene was shot on a hot August night on the rooftop and involved a lot of sweat and ice. The face was mine, but they had to use a body double for the ice cubes melting on Kayla’s skinny tummy. During the last couple of months of my pregnancy, Patch and Kayla spent a lot of time being naked or taking their clothes off while gazing lustily into each other’s eyes. It was harder for Stephen to be looking at Kayla so longingly because what he was really seeing was me in a flesh body stocking with a half-slip over my big belly!
Shooting a TV love scene isn’t romantic. There are the overhead camera, foot camera, cameras on each side, director, producer, crew- not a stimulating setting. It’s never as sexy as you think. Two actors might be passionately kissing, groping and losing control, and: “Cut!” No matter where you’re up to, you just separate and stand there. It’s goofy and unnatural.
And that’s acting!
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