Stephen Nichols
Soap Opera Magazine’s Star of the Week
June 30, 1998
(Picture by JoyceA228 – Please do not copy without permission)
Stefan Cassadine has been living through a classic romantic tragedy. Ever since the time Laura was stranded on the family’s island as brother Stavros’ wife, she’s been the object of Stefan’s enduring love and unspoken obsession. But the night of the Bacchanalia Ball, an event designed to celebrate his engagement to Katherine Bell, everything changed when the truth came crashing down – along with his innocent fiancée. For his flawless portrayal of a man whose shocking self-revelation allows him the possibility of a requited love only seconds before it is lost to him forever, Soap Opera Magazine honors Stephen Nichols as its Star of the Week.
When asked what scenes have been most enjoyable to perform, the actor replies, ”I particularly enjoyed doing the scene where Stefan found Katherine in tears with Laura’s portrait and trunk full of memorabilia. When she caught him in so many lies all at once, it all came down on him. In those few moments, Stefan was fully cognizant that he had been obsessing over Laura,” reflects Nichols. ”When they made it out to the parapet, that realization allowed him to see there was a chance he really did love Katherine and that if it weren’t for this other interference, he could perhaps have a relationship with her. But of course, in true soap opera fashion, it was too late at that point.”
Hearing of Katherine’s impending death, Nichols sought motivation to be icy, the direction given to him in order to propel the story during the trial. ” The hardest thing for Stefan to do was to keep from breaking down, especially with Nikolas crying on his shoulder,” Nichols explains. ”The only way I could play it was to believe in my heart that Cassadines do not display public emotion.”
Attention to detail is another hallmark of Nichols’ performance, such as the choice he made for his character’s appearance after his arrest. ”Stefan made the concerted effort to keep himself completely buttoned up in his prison clothes,” explains the actor. ”Some people were saying, ‘Oh Boy! We’re going to get to see Stefan in an open-collar shirt.’ Maybe if I hadn’t heard those comments, I wouldn’t have thought about it, but, it wouldn’t have been right for the character to let his shirt hang open.”
”It’s like Stefan is Siddharta,” says Nichols, evoking the founder of Buddhism. ”He’s thinking, ‘I can wait, I can meditate, I can fast. And no matter what comes my way, barring death, you people can’t do anything to hurt me.’ The greatest hurt Stefan suffered was the indignity of having Nikolas see him shackled. I thought it was interesting for the writers to include that he was too proud to have Nikolas see him that way. I enjoyed that.”
Nichols relishes his work but rarely watches it. ”When I do it, I know whether it’s working or not,” he says. ”I just want to get into the scenes, tell the truth and have some continuity in terms of who I am, where I’ve been and where I’m going.”
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