50 is Fabulous!
This week marks Eileen Fulton‘s (Lisa, ATWT) 50th anniversary in Oakdale. In the 5/11 issue of Digest, the actress shared some her favorite behind-the-scenes tales — and then some. Here’s a look at what we didn’t have room to include in the magazine.
Soap Opera Digest: You’ve already shared so many great stories from the early days on ATWT. Is there one you haven’t told?
Eileen Fulton: When I first went on the show, walking out on the set when the organist was there and not knowing I was going to hear the organ music as I’m doing these dramatic scenes with Bob and Nancy. [Lisa] walked to Nancy and tell her not only has she married her son but that she’s pregnant and what is she going to do? Ted Corday who was directing said, “When you talk to her, I want you to be so afraid it’s like you are Dorothy and she’s the Wicked Witch.” Charlie Paul played the organ like it was my heartbeat. And I thought I was really dying! I have a picture somebody took from the television set of the fear on my face. I really thought that was it.
Digest: Did you ever fight something that was written for Lisa in the early years?
Fulton: Something that really bugged me was when Lisa was pregnant. She couldn’t say to Alma and Nancy in the kitchen over coffee, “Now that I’m pregnant.” I had to say, “Now that I’m carrying Bob’s child.” I said, “I won’t say it! I’m saying pregnant!” and they said, “You will put us off the air!” The suits, as they’re called, stood out there on the floor to threaten me. I said something like, “Now that I’m like this” and patted my tummy instead. Now we show it and say it all, and there’s nothing left to the imagination! You’ve got to titillate ’em a bit [laughs]!
Digest: Lisa’s had many rivals through the years. Who’s been your favorite on-screen sparring partner?
Fulton: Lucinda. Elizabeth [Hubbard] and I have had some good scenes, but what we liked most were the scenes that we rewrote! We made them human instead of screaming at each other and hitting each other and rolling around in the church vestibule. I loved the scenes were we both commiserated over a coffee machine and we both beat up the coffee machine. That was one of my favorites.
Digest: Aside from Don, which other leading men have you really enjoyed working with?
Fulton: I love the things with Michael Shea [Roy Shuman] because he was such a son of a gun. The things with James Douglas [ex-Grant]. What a hunk and wonderful actor! I loved working with him. And Farley Granger. He had been in Roseanna McCoy. My high school girl friends and I would cut class to sit and watch what we thought was the sexiest movie! The first day he came to the studio he was sitting down and I swooped in, threw myself in his lap and sang, “Roseanna, Roseanna, Roseanna McCoy!” with my arms around him and he said, “That was the least favorite of all the movies I ever did. I hated it [laughs]. That was my introduction!
Digest: What will you miss most after the show goes off the air?
Fulton: I will miss the people I work with and I don’t mean just the actors. I’ll stay in contact, of course, with Colleen [Zenk Pinter, Barbara] and Kathy [Hays, Kim] and Don [Hastings, Bob], but I will miss the hair department, the makeup department and the wardrobe. When I dream about the show, and believe me, I dream about it a lot — I dream that we’re back over at the 57th street [studio]. Oh, how I miss that! I’m always going to visit my makeup hair and wardrobe people in my dreams. It’s a very upbeat dream and I have it repeatedly. I don’t know what we’re doing but it’s fun! I hope it comes true.
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