Courtney Hope admits she was stunned when she got the call to cross over to Y&R as B&B’s Sally Spectra. “Somebody from Y&R reached out to my reps and asked, ‘Hey, we’d really like to write Sally into our show. Would that be something Courtney would be interested in?’ ” recalls the actress. “The second I heard that, I was like, ‘What?’ Of course, my response was, ‘Um, yes! Absolutely!’ I love Sally, and I love [CBS] Television City and everybody over there. I’m still reeling from it. I’m very honored and, quite frankly, flattered.”
A conversation with Co-Executive Producer/Head Writer Josh Griffin confirmed for Hope that she made the right decision to continue playing Sally. “He gave me a feel for what they were planning and wanting to do as well as hoping to do and I really loved it,” she enthuses. “When I first got on BOLD, Sally came to L.A. and was just really rarin’ to go with her career, but that all got derailed by some love drama. When everything was done at BOLD, I thought there was still so much potential left for Sally, so I’m thrilled that I’m getting the opportunity again to play that out.”
The show released the news of Hope’s hire in August, but kept who she’d be playing under wraps. “I was really happy with that approach,” she shares. “When I first said I was leaving [B&B], my heart was touched by how many people loved Sally and were advocating for her. So, I was really happy when Y&R told me, ‘Okay, we’re going to tease about you,’ which was nice because I was able to enjoy it publicly and didn’t have to keep this secret for a long time. It also made sense because I’d be shooting in the same studio, so the second I started coming back to Television City, people would ask questions like, ‘What are you doing here?’ ”
Hope admits she enjoyed the online speculation about who she would be playing. “It was kind of fun to watch from the sidelines as people were saying, ‘I think she’ll play Sally,’ ‘No, it’s someone new,’ and, ‘I think she’ll be with this person or that person.’ I was giggling to myself and going, ‘Oh, I can’t wait till everybody finds out.’ ”
The actress is excited that her character can start over in Genoa City. “She’s in a new city where anything is possible,” Hope explains. “Of course, every town has its own rules. Sally knows that her name has been around and a lot of people know who the Spectras are, so coming from L.A. after all the turmoil that she’s been through, she’s looking forward to finding her footing and confidence again. Now she can decide how much she wants to reveal of who she is. Sally knows who she is but this is still new territory for her. The big question is: Will she just be herself or will she reinvent herself?”
Hope reports that her first day “was amazing but still there was a mix of emotions. Obviously, a little case of the nerves comes with starting anywhere new and I wanted it to go well which, thankfully, it did. I knew of a lot of the actors already, but it was really nice to get to know them instead of just waving to them in the hallway. I had always heard wonderful things and now I’m seeing it all for myself. Everybody was so welcoming and excited. It was an interesting thing to feel new even though I wasn’t new.”
The actors Hope worked with on her first day helped to make her feel at ease. “Peter Bergman [Jack] was really lovely,” she marvels. “He’s a legend and I think he’s just wonderful. I’ve seen him around the studio for a while, so it’s nice to work with him and also have a conversation with him, on-screen and off. I love the actors who have been there for a while like him because their stories are amazing and they have interesting viewpoints.”
She also enjoyed connecting with Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren). “I really enjoy getting to know her, too,” Hope shares. “She worked with Darlene Conley, who was the original Sally, and I asked Tracey what Darlene was really like. The majority of the stories I heard were from John McCook [Eric, B&B], but everyone has a different perspective, so I told Tracey, ‘I want all of the dish.’ From day one, when I found out I was playing Sally Spectra, I did my due diligence to find out how Darlene embodied Sally because I wanted to bring some of her into what I was creating and then, over time, make the character my own. I’m really bummed that I never got to meet Darlene, so everything I can find out about her is helpful and Tracey is wonderful about that. She’s also a dancer and does Pilates like me, so we have a really nice bond going.”
As for what viewers can expect from Sally, Hope teases, “She’s building herself up again as much as she can so she can be a force to be reckoned with in this new town.”
