Exclusive
Interviews With Daytime’s Bold, Beautiful, Best and Brightest at the 2005
Daytime Emmy Awards
By Art Swift
(Originally
published, June 2005)
On
an unusually cold night for late May in New York City, with temperatures
hovering around 50 degrees, actors, actresses, directors, writers, talk show
hosts and assorted creative types swarmed midtown Manhattan to celebrate each
other.
The
32nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards may not have gotten the desired TV
ratings (viewership has been dropping steadily since Susan Lucci won in 1999),
but that didn’t seem to faze the hundreds of celebrities on hand.
With
a few exceptions, these stars pass through the vaunted red carpet on 51st
Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. It’s set up like a massive tent that spans
several football fields. The red carpet
glides through the middle of the street, with reporters on the edge of the
cloth, hemmed in by police barricades.
Shrieking fans are removed behind another barricade, just far enough
away for a reporter to hear the stars, but close enough to make their presence
known.
The
ways to interview people on the red carpet fall into a few scenarios. There’s talking to the obvious stars that
everyone knows (like Susan Lucci).
There are the stars that you know are somebody because you’re a soap
nut, but the general public probably has little idea about (too many to mention
one). Then there are the people you
have no idea about, but they’re dressed up and they come to you to be
interviewed (more on that later).
Once
the red carpet gets started, it’s a 2-½ hour roller coaster. From around 6:30 to 9 pm, stars pass by in
varying levels of speed. Some want to
be interviewed, others don’t. Some will
be interviewed if you almost physically stop them, while some have
representatives requesting interviews.
After a while, so many stars are streaming by that you have to be
tactical as to who you want to talk to.
“Oh, Miss Veteran Star, I could talk to you all day but that hot younger
actor that everyone wants to hear from is approaching. Talk to you another time, love you,
bye!”
Even
after interviewing 42 people on the red carpet, there are always some you miss,
and inevitably, you dwell on that. Why
did Steve Burton course by so fast, on the other side of the carpet? Or, if I had stopped talking to a certain
Lead Actress nominee could I have spoken with that other Lead Actress prospect?
But
the quibbles are minor. The best part
of the red carpet is chatting with the people who make the soaps special. Most were tight-lipped about what’s going to
happen soon with their characters, but some offered nuggets.
“She’s
a murder suspect in a trial, so she’s becoming desperate and will do what she
can to keep herself out of prison,” Supporting Actress nominee and past winner
Crystal Chappell said about what’s going to be happening with Olivia on
“Guiding Light.”
Peter
Reckell, Bo on “Days of Our Lives,” and a presenter this evening, said Bo and
Hope (Kristian Alfonso) will be joined together in a hot summer storyline.
“The
storylines are changing here,” Reckell said. “The head writer got a mandate to
bring back ‘Days of Our Lives’ to the way people want it.”
Motherhood
hasn’t diminished Alison Sweeney’s looks in the slightest. On her first official day back on screen as
Sami, Sweeney said she brought her three-month-old son Ben with her to New York
as she promoted the return of Austin Peck to “Days of Our Lives” this summer.
“I
can only imagine how that’s going to bode for our characters,” Sweeney
said. “Sami and Lucas (Bryan Dattilo)
are going to have a tough time with that.”
Michael
Easton, heartthrob John McBain on “One Life to Live,” offered a glimpse into
the immediate future for him.
“I
know we took down the attorney general.
We have a big decision between Evangeline (Renee Elise Goldsberry) and
Natalie (Melissa Archer), have to make a choice, and that’s good because that’s
something we’ve needed to have happen.”
Easton
added that he’s thrilled with the fan support he has and the transition from
his former stomping grounds, “Port Charles.”
“If
you play a vampire, you’ll never be without fans anywhere you go,” Easton
said. “We have a couple of the same
writers. And I get to work with my best friend Kamar de los Reyes. We share a dressing room about six feet
wide.”
Goldsberry
said she’s excited to be involved with Easton’s McBain.
“I’m
trying to kill this triangle. Kill it!”
she said mock-passionately.
And
Dan Gauthier, strolling in with Goldsberry, said his Kevin is trying to get
Kelly (Heather Tom) back. But at the
Emmys, Gauthier was more focused on the sight of the Queen of Soul, Aretha
Franklin.
“She’s
fine by the way,” Gauthier quipped.
The
effervescent Drew Tyler Bell and Kayla Ewell, Thomas and Caitlin on “The Bold
and the Beautiful,” burst by and said plenty was going on this summer where
they are.
“How
about, he dumps me?” Ewell said about Bell.
“Love,
hate, thrills, drama, suspense,” Bell offered.
“Teenage
romance and heartbreak,” Ewell continued.
“A
lot of swimsuits,” Bell said.
“A
lot of bikinis,” Ewell promised.
“Thomas
is getting into the family business and is going to start designing,” Bell
said. “He’s going to come up with short skirts for all his girlfriends to
wear.”
“No
one will be as good as Caitlin,” Ewell quickly added.
As
the fans continued to shriek, Bell paused and surveyed the crowd.
“You
think these are fans for the red carpet but they’re all in line for Star Wars,”
Bell theorized.
“Which
you saw today, huh?” Ewell asked Bell.
“I
did see it. I had to leave halfway
through to get to the red carpet. I
didn’t get to see the helmet coming on!
I felt like standing up in the theater before the movie and yelling,
‘Anakin becomes Darth Vader!’ But I
didn’t want to get beat up by a bunch of wookies.”
For
the nominees, this Daytime Emmys saw them at various stages of career: at the
beginning, or with several Emmys under one’s belt or a first nomination in a
long while.
Greg
Rikaart, a winner that night for Best Supporting Actor, received his first
nomination in his second year on “Young and the Restless.” The Staten Island, N.Y. native, formerly on
“Dawson’s Creek,” had his family in attendance (that was his father snapping
photos in the audience) and proudly mentioned the episodes he chose for
submission to Emmy voters.
“There
were some episodes when Kevin was at the end of his rope and he was considering
suicide and Michael, his brother, talks him down from doing anything
foolish. They’re pretty intense
episodes.”
Michael
Graziadei, though he didn’t snag the Emmy award, was nominated for his very
first year on “Y & R.” Not too long
ago the 25-year-old was at the University of New Hampshire and the rest is
fast-moving history.
“It
hasn’t sunk in yet,” Graziadei said with a grin. “All I know is tonight will be
fun, but afterward will be FUN.”
Contrast
that with Erika Slezak, one of the grand dames of Daytime, every bit polished
as a queen, but with none of the regal snobbery. She won her sixth statue that night for her portrayal of Viki
Davidson on “One Life to Live.” Clad in
a Katherine Regehr gown and 19th Century jewels by Fred Leighton, she shared
her favorite thing about the Emmys.
“Best
part of the evening is getting to see all your friends who work on different
shows,” she said. “We’re all here but
work at different times. And all your
friends from California; it’s really great.”
Kassie
DePaiva was a cross between Graziadei and Slezak: a first-time nominee but very
much a veteran. The Kentucky native was
wearing a stunning dress by C.D. Greene with the hopes she would not be named
one of People magazine’s “Worst Dressed” this year, as she was last year. DePaiva rattled off her busy schedule for
the next few months.
“Going
down to Fan Fair, going down to Nashville on June 9 and 10, for the CMA
Festival. Signing autographs and
selling CDs at our lunch and breakfast down there. Got something coming up in October in Jamaica, Jimmy (DePaiva)
and I are renewing our vows for Ladies Home Journal.”
Juliet
Mills had never been nominated for a Daytime Emmy before this year’s nod but won
a “Nighttime Emmy” in 1975 for “QB VII.”
She popped over with her husband Maxwell Caulfield (who’s starring in
the BBC series “Casualty,”) and said she was “flying the flag for ‘Passions!’”
The British actress, with that lovely, lilting voice, shared her thoughts on
the death of her father, Academy Award-winning character actor John Mills.
“It’s
still very new,” Mills said. “The
family was very bereft. He was 97 and
he had a great life, and it was his time and we’re dealing with it.”
Jack
Wagner was the opposite of bereft. He bounced around, modeling his Vivienne
Westwood tux and singing bits of Andy Gibb’s “I Just Want to be Your
Everything,” and Elvis’ “Heartbreak Hotel.”
When the fans screamed coincidentally after that second snippet, 80s
one-hit wonder Wagner proclaimed, “See what happens when I sing?”
Nominated
more than 20 years ago as a Younger Actor on “General Hospital,” Wagner was
enjoying his first nod for Lead Actor in “The Bold and the Beautiful.” He offered a peek at what’s coming up with
his character.
“It’s
gotten kind of boring because it’s like normal life,” Wagner said. “I’ve gotten engaged to the woman I was
engaged to last year, I’m engaged to the daughter but I’m still in love with
the mother, so it’s just normal life.
So what I’m going to do is probably continue to make love to the
daughter, but really keep thinking about the mother, and I might go back to the
mother and break the daughter’s heart.
I can’t decide, just tune in.”
The
night held some revelations as well. Rebecca
Budig denied a published cover story that said she was leaving “All My
Children.” Melissa Archer was virtually
jumping for joy at coming to an agreement to stay on “One Life to Live.”
“I’m
so glad we were able to work it out,” Archer said. “Thanks to ABC and my agents and everybody; we really pulled
together. This has been the best day,
I’ll tell you that.”
Several
of the celebrities were eagerly looking ahead to future projects or just
exploring other options.
Jeff
Branson, who’s currently playing a fantasy in brother Ryan Lavery’s (Cameron
Mathison) imagination on “All My Children,” is in pre-production for “The Big
Bad Swim,” an ensemble feature film shooting in the New York metropolitan area
this summer.
Tonya
Lee Williams of “Young and the Restless” is taking a leave of absence.
“I’m
shooting a movie this summer in Toronto.
Then I’m going to South Africa for two months, October and
November. It’s been 15 straight years
so I’m a little tired.”
Jacob
Young, nominated again for Younger Actor, is considering doing another album
for Artemis Records but is concentrating his sights on being in a Broadway
musical.
“I’d
like to use some of the musical abilities that I have to make that happen,” the
“All My Children” actor said. “I’ve
been going for some of the Disney, “Beauty and the Beast,” “Mary Poppins” is
coming to Broadway. We’ll start small and see where we can go from there.”
Shemar
Moore of “The Young and the Restless,”
who said he wants to chase the Jamie Foxxes and Denzel Washingtons of the
world, is off to “Criminal Minds” this fall on CBS, a series starring Mandy
Patinkin.
Eva
Larue has the most immediate new job.
She’ll be hosting “The Modern Girl’s Guide to Life,” premiering July 8
on the Style Network. Larue hosted the
Daytime red carpet for the syndicated TV magazine “Extra” and will be recurring
as George Lopez’ sister on “The George Lopez Show” next season.
Perhaps
the most surreal moment of the cavalcade that is the red carpet was when
someone you don’t know comes up to you and you assume they’re soap actors but
you’ve never seen them before. That
awkward moment occurred when Zach Roerig and Alyssa Diaz from “As the World
Turns” appeared.
On
the show since January, this was the first Emmys for the ingénues.
“To
be honest, it’s kind of overwhelming,” Roerig beamed. “I’m from a small town in Ohio, dude, this is nice.”
“Everyone
is so hyped up,” Diaz added.
“They
should have little trays of drinks, man,” Roerig concluded.
Nope,
didn’t need it. The 2005 Daytime Emmys
red carpet was so intoxicating, no alcohol was needed. Just a love of the stars.
Copyright 2005 Arthur Swift