Although John Loprieno hadn’t taped a scene as ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Cord for several years, when he returned to the show in January in some ways it felt like he never left. Read about his return, his life now, a surprise reunion and one of his favorite Buchanan boy stories.Soap Opera Weekly: How many days did you tape?
John Loprieno: It was just one day, hit and run.Weekly: How did it go?
Loprieno: Very well. I was pleased. It was a lot of fun. Very surreal in some respects. Part of me felt like it had been years since I’d been there and another part felt like I’d never left. All those little encounters in the hallway… Cameramen or prop guys come up and see me in the hall and say, “Oh, hey John. How are you doing?” And then the double take and “What are you doing here?”Weekly: When was the last time you were there?
Loprieno: I stopped in over the summer and said hello. That was the last time that I’d been in the studio. But in terms of the last time I worked there, probably about seven years ago.Weekly: So you remember what the story was then?
Loprieno: They sent me to London. Tina and I were leaving at the same time — she was going to Baltimore and I was going to London. We were going to swap the kids whenever we could. Obviously that didn’t turn out very well (laughs).Weekly: It’s nice that the show is open to bringing back veterans for short stints.
Loprieno: It makes sense, given the economic state of the business. It’s not probably prudent to keep a lot of these people on contract, but on the other hand, I think the fans like to see these people. It’s really cool that they can bring people and keep them an ongoing part of the continuity. It gives a sense of stability to the audience.Weekly: Right, like they’ve done with Clint (Ritchie, who plays Cord’s father Clint).
Loprieno: He was sorely missed when we were there, because a lot of stories came back. Stories from even before I was there. Hearing Phil (Carey, Asa) and Bob (Woods, Bo) talk about their Macho Nacho episodes, when they would do these little cooking demonstrations when they had first started. All those stories that I heard when I had first started. I was actually telling some of the younger guys, “Hey listen, you’ve got to ask Bob and Phil about Macho Nachos. They’ve got a story of you.”Weekly: OK, now you have to tell me.
Loprieno: When they had first started on the show, ABC had booked them to do some kind of a cooking segment on another ABC show, and they had to make Macho Nachos. From what I understand it turned into a food fight. It’s one of my favorite stories. I wish I had been a Buchanan back then.
