January 1996
When I entertain, it isn’t just for the Hollywood crowd, or just for the neighbors, or just for the family. I mix ‘em all together. This summer, I’ve had regular weekend barbecues and I usually invite nine or ten couples. The guests may include a sister or two, a movie star, the parents of my son’s friend, an Academy Award winning composer, my best friend from high school, a former Days of our Lives costar, a plastic surgeon, and a producer from General Hospital.
There was a time not long ago when different levels didn’t mingle, not only in every day society, but in the arts as well. Movie stars looked down their noses at TV stars. Primetime TV actors brushed off Daytime TV actors, and theatre actors snubbed everyone.
The divide is not so wide anymore and it’s common to see movie stars on TV. Many actors are attracted to the steady work, the nine to five routine and the security of working with the same group of people.
They are crossing over at an astounding rate. This is especially true for actors with two or three kids. The theatre is hard on a family. You perform every night, party afterward, and sleep until noon. Daytime is much nicer because they rarely have location shoots or night shoots. And when you are shooting a movie, especially if you are on location, you can be away for weeks at a time, or it can sometimes even be months. And then, in between movies and stage productions, you wait- without pay- for the next job!
Cybill Shepard, Lea Thompson, and Candice Bergen all have regular sitcoms on primetime TV. George Hamilton has a talk show. Charlton Heston and James Earl Jones have regular gigs as announcers on various TV shows. Tom Selleck, Pierce Brosnan, Heather Locklear, and Richard Dean Anderson move easily between TV and movies.
Deidre Hall, Anthony Geary, and a score of others have gone from soaps to nighttime or movies, and back to soaps without any trouble. Even Elizabeth Taylor was on GH. Marcy Walker left Santa Barbara, tried a primetime show, and is now on All My Children.
Since working on soaps, I’ve done several commercials and a few episodes on other shows. I’d love to do more movies- maybe even an Australian one- but I also love having steady work. The same is true for Matt Ashford. Although he and his wife have a theatre group in Los Angeles, GH is still his bread and butter. Stephen Nichols also left DOOL to explore other things. He’s done the rounds and appeared in episodes of a lot of different shows and several theatre pieces, but I’ll bet he’d like to work on a soap again.
The other day, Charles Shaughnessy reminded me of what a good perspective he’s got on his life and work. “It does not really matter if you work in movies, prime time or soaps,” he told me, “Making a good life for your family, that matters.”
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