A Nichols’ Worth
Soap Opera Digest
November 16, 1999
Written by Kristen Ghallagher
So intrinsic a thread in the GENERAL HOSPITAL tapestry has Stephen Nichols become that the only real reminder that it’s been a mere three years since he first stepped onto the Goth course as brooding Stefan Cassadine is the fact that his initial contract with the soap was set to expire in July. Lucky for fans of GH and the long-time favorite himself, Nichols inked a new deal that will add several more years to a legacy that began back in 1985, when he first burst onto the soap scene as DAYS OF OUR LIVES’s roguish hero, Patch, joined soon after by his future (and now former) GH co-star, Mary Beth Evans (ex-Katherine; ex-Kayla, DAYS). Here, Nichols reflects on his past three years in the HOSPITAL (as well as DAYS gone by), his much-pondered choice to re-sign and his burning desire to get back into the “trenches.”
DIGEST: How did you come to the decision to re-sign with GH?
STEPHEN NICHOLS: Well, it was not an easy decision. There were certain things that I needed to explore. There were other opportunities for me.
DIGEST: Inside or outside of daytime?
NICHOLS: Both. So I had to make a decision. I like it here. I have liked it here in the past. And I always said that if a person has a job in daytime, this has got to be the best show or one of the best shows in the arena. So it’s not something that I would easily walk away from. But I did have to ask a few questions, get a few things straight, before I agreed to re-sign.
DIGEST: What did you expect when you initially came to GH?
NICHOLS: I expected exactly what I was told before I signed, which was that I would be involved in a very exciting, dynamic and compelling story, and that it would continue as long as I was here. And, you know, that seemed like a lot on a show. It’s a lot to deliver to one actor on a show with so many leading characters.
DIGEST: Did those expectations change over the past three years?
NICHOLS: It was a little hard to handle when I realized that it was possible for me to be put on the back-burner of a story and sit there for months and months and months. I made it very clear when I came on this show–I would not be a supporting player on [GH] or any soap opera. It’s not that I think I’m bigger than that or better than that, it’s that I just don’t want to do that. To be on a daytime show and continue to do the kind of work that I want to do, I have to be connected to the work.
DIGEST: Obviously, it was difficult for you when Stefan was relegated to being a shoulder for Laura to cry on during and after Lucky’s “death”.
NICHOLS: Well, I understand that it’s part of the nature of this daytime realm that when the focus goes off your story and on to another, it changes. For example, when Jonathan Jackson [ex-Lucky] decided to leave and they had to “kill” him. That took the romance out of the relationship of Laura and Stefan.
DIGEST: But it also showed the audience Stefan’s more humane side.
NICHOLS: And I think that’s great. From the beginning, I said, “I don’t want to play one-dimensional. I won’t just do all these bad things and not be a human being.” All humans have feelings and moments of vulnerability. But I can still be evil and villainous or do things that are questionable and continue on that way. This kind of job is fun when you’re really in the trenches and you’re working. When you’re not, it’s not fun. I can’t just go and [work] one day, two days a week and take the paycheck and go home and feel good about myself as an actor.
DIGEST: Have you always been this way?
NICHOLS: Yes, I think because of the way…just my initial training; the foundation that I got. And it also came from my experience with my grandfather when I was younger. He raised me until I was 8, and he just really believed in hard work. Doing the very best that I could do.
DIGEST: Those are admirable qualities.
NICHOLS: I guess. In a way, it’s an irritation to me, because life would be so much easier or less frustrating if I could not care so much. I’ve really contemplated being one of those people who say, “I’ll just come in here and whatever they give me, I’ll learn the lines and we’ll get through it.” I just can’t do it. It’s not that I take it all that seriously in terms of what it is and what it means to the world, but if I’m expected to do a certain job, then I want to do it well. If there are obstacles, I want to get rid of them. At least [the powers-that-be] at GENERAL HOSPITAL understand these frustrations. They understand actors. The doors are open for dialogue and for collaboration, and that’s something that I am grateful for.
DIGEST: Is this similar to or different from the experience you had at DAYS?
NICHOLS: It got to the point on DAYS where I kept putting more and more into it and the collaboration–if there was any–got further and further apart. In the beginning, Patch was more powerful, but when the [Patch/Kayla] romance started, it became only about that. You get so popular, I don’t know how DAYS is now, but my experience then was that it didn’t matter what we were doing, Mary Beth and I. The audience just wanted to see us; it didn’t matter what [DAYS] wrote.
DIGEST: Are there other genres you are interested in pursuing?
NICHOLS: Well, I do love the theater, and I love comedies–fast-paced comedies. I used to say I prefer drama, but I really don’t. I’d be happy doing a sitcom.
DIGEST: What a lot of people don’t know about you is that you’re very funny.
NICHOLS: They wouldn’t know it by the stuff I do on this show, but behind-the-scenes, I’m always goofing off. People who have never met me are flabbergasted because they expect Stefan–a guy who’s uptight and speaks very succinctly–and that’s not what they get. If I’m in the mood, they get this really goofy, loud, gregarious guy. But I’m not always in the mood. I’m either one way or the other–there’s no in-between.
DIGEST: What type of fan base do you have at this point?
NICHOLS: There are a lot of very young women and there are a lot of older women. Now, when I was Patch, [my fans ranged] from the youngest child to the oldest person. I found a lot of older women wanted to be my mother as Patch.
DIGEST: You’ve enjoyed some amazing success over the years.
NICHOLS: I’m very grateful to be working. A guy walked in here the other day. He came down the hall toward me and his face looked very familiar. He looks at me and he goes, “Stephen!” I knew him almost 20 years ago when we were in the same acting class together. And I remembered that this guy was a fabulous actor. Well, he was playing a small part on the show. As soon as I finished talking to him, I came to my [dressing] room, got on my knees and said, “Thank you.” Those are the kinds of things where you say, “You know, it doesn’t matter how good you are, luck has a lot to do with it.” I’m very grateful that I happened to get into a position where I can be a working actor. That’s all.
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With an indelible soap partnership behind them, as well as an abiding off-screen friendship, it’s no surprise that Nichols was among those hardest hit by the recent departure of Mary Beth Evans (ex-Katherine). “It was terrible,” sighs the actor. “Not only for me, but for a lot of people around here. So, a couple of weeks before she left, I went around with a video camera, and I put a little sign on it that said, ‘I will miss Mary Beth because…’ And you could just see the look on people’s faces the instant they saw the question because she was one of those people who kept everybody feeling good around here; such a great spirit and funny as hell.”
So what did Evans think of Nichols’s gift? “Well, I called Mary Beth last week and I said, ‘Did you see your tape yet?’ ” grins Nichols. “And she said, ‘No, I don’t have a VCR hooked up.’ They just moved into a new house and it’s all done…but no VCR [laughs]. That’s my Mary Beth.”
Side Bar:
BIRTHDAY: February 19
MARRIED, WITH CHILDREN: Nichols has three kids, Vanessa, 21, Aaron, 19, and Dylan, 8, and has been wed to wife Lisa for nearly 15 years.
FLICK TO PICK: “One of my all-time favorite films, one that struck me deeply, was A Man for All Seasons with Paul Scofield.”
BLOOD, SWEAT AND (BORED TO) TEARS: I exercise, which is a big bore to me. But it’s an occupational hazard, so I have to do it. I have a stair climber at home in this special, little bungalow I built with my own hands.”
HIGH SIGN: “Dylan gets a little excited when people want my autograph. One day, she said to me. ‘Because so many people want your autograph, you should carry them with you [laughs].
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