Martha Byrne has joined GENERAL HOSPITAL as Andrea, the power-broker wife behind embattled Mayor Floyd. Byrne shares what it’s like to create a new, mature character after growing up onscreen playing AS THE WORLD TURNS’s Lily.
Soap Opera Weekly: Have you been checking in with ATWT since you left?
Martha Byrne: Sure. I don’t watch the show, but I do keep in touch with people I have worked with — Jon [Hensley, Holden], Kelley [Menighan Hensley, Emily]. And Michael Park [Jack] — I talk to him at least once a week, if not more. It’s those friendships that you created over that time, [which] just don’t go away just because you don’t work there anymore. It takes a little bit more effort to keep in touch.
Weekly: Both you and the show have moved on.
Byrne: Here and there. The first couple of days you tune in to see. It’s something I lived and breathed for so long, I can’t detach, in a way. I can’t watch from an outsider point of view. The whole Carly/Lily/ Holden triangle — I watched more as a viewer than someone who has any investment in it anymore. To have any emotion about it is really pointless. You have to move on. I tuned in to see Paolo [Seganti, Damian] when he came on.
Weekly: So it’s more out of curiosity?
Byrne: When I’m home, I watch B&B every day, and ATWT will be on, and I’ll watch for a couple minutes to see what’s going on, but it’s been a long time now; it’s been over a year.
Weekly: So you have not seen a lot of what Noelle Beck is doing with Lily?
Byrne: I wish Noelle the best, and I give her a lot of credit for doing what she’s doing. It is a tough thing to do. I don’t know if I would take on that responsibility. With any character that has been on for that long, it’s hard to take all of that on — not just the character, but all the things that go along with it: the history and the relationships. You’re taking a character after the [original portrayer] is gone and making it your own. It’s a whole different challenge than starting something new.
Weekly: You have a new responsibility of your own, creating an original adult character with Andrea.
Byrne: What’s nice about it is you never know when you’re going to bring your Lily stuff, your “Lily-isms” to a character. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on camera. It’s still a soap, so you say, “Okay, if I go into a familiar environment, will I go back to what I did as [Lily] for 20 years? Will I use those [mannerisms]?” It didn’t happen at all, and I was so relieved!
Weekly: Andrea seems much different.
Byrne: I’m happy that once I put on the new clothes and got the new hairdo — I cut all my hair off — [I] really went in with a whole different attitude with this character. I hope it comes through. I was relieved that I didn’t feel like I was doing the same thing again.
