Bye-Bye Byrne
Martha Byrne’s last day as Lily was on Friday, March 14. After taping scenes with Jon Hensley (Holden), Michael Park (Jack) and Maura West (Carly), Ellen Dolan (Margo) brought in bagpipers to serenade the show’s signature star, who gave a speech about leaving a show she joined when she was 15.
“I talked about how all I kept thinking about through this whole process was I remember when I was a kid and I was doing a movie with Dick Van Dyke,” says Byrne. “It was the middle of winter and we were at the Plaza hotel and we were filming outside. It was like 20 degrees and the director kept asking, ‘Do you want your stand-in to come out here and do this?’ I was like, ‘No! I want to do everything. I want to run blocking ten times.’ I would just tap dance on the side of the road to keep warm. I finished all of my schoolwork for a four-week shoot in a week just so I could be on the set with Dick Van Dyke and the crew because I loved it so much. And it’s still in me; after 30 years, I still have that passion for what I do and I need to get back to that person inside that has that drive and ambition. Whatever’s happened in the last few weeks, I will not let that cloud my memories, feelings, appreciation, love for all of it. I can’t. It’s impossible. I also talked about a director I worked with, he was the first director I ever worked with, when I was 11, his name is Fred Keller, and I called him during this whole process and I said I’m having a hard time. He said, ‘Even when you were 11, you were out with the crew trying to make things fun. You always loved the crew and they always loved you. What are you going to do to celebrate?’ I said, ‘We’re going out with the crew and have a big party!'”
Indeed, her bash surely put Blondie’s over capacity. “We had some camera guys from 57th Street [studio, where ATWT previously taped], some sound guys, Elizabeth [Hubbard, Lucinda] was there, which was great, because she had to get on a plane to Holland in the morning. Anne Sayre [ex-Mitzi] came…. A lot of my really close friends, my sisters, a nice group of people. Michael Park gave a speech that made me cry. It was really nice. I’ve had so many well-wishers,” she says.
One who didn’t make it was Kelley Menighan Hensley (Emily), who couldn’t get a babysitter. “Kelley almost brought Gigi with her. That would have been interesting: ‘We have a baby in the car!'” she laughs. “It was important for Jon [Hensley, Holden] to be there for me. I needed his shoulder. I have used it many times over the last 20 years and will continue to. He’s such a solid guy. He just gets it. He gets me. He gets all of it. It’s a once in a lifetime bond, like Maura [West, Carly] and Michael [Park, Jack] or Ellen [Dolan, Margo] and Scott [Holmes, Tom]. I love him.”
Check out the 4/8 Digest, on sale 4/1, for more from Byrne.
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