Dusay Dishes
Soap Opera Digest: What was your reaction when you learned you would be taken off contract?
Marj Dusay: I could see it coming. For some reason, they were diminishing Alexandra and in a way, it wasn’t my character anymore. It burned me out a little bit on the character and I felt bad about that. You know how you identify with your characters and you really want to do what they do best and to give the audience what they expect, and it didn’t feel like that was happening. So, I’m not surprised at all by [being dropped], and if the character was going to fade or be a different kind of character, then that’s fine with me that I was taken off-contract.Digest: Did they say it was for storyline reasons?
Dusay: They really didn’t. I sort of presume, in a way, that it goes back to when I was doing ALL MY CHILDREN [ex-Vanessa] and Joan Collins was brought in for a short stint of six months and for some reason, that didn’t work out. So they brought me in immediately and I don’t know that they had a design for the character at that time except for the fact of putting Joan on as sort of a boost for the show. 
Digest: And Alex certainly has had a lot of her backstory rewritten.
Dusay: It really became a little bit disheartening when I recognized what they were doing to the character because I loved Alex. I thought she could be a sterling character and reach that audience of women out there who have experience and have done things right and wrong. These days, I know they are trying to get ratings and everyone is trying to survive, but the audience always loves a good story about people….. That’s just my modest opinion. There is nothing better than good story and it’s also such a relief in these tumultuous times to have just good, family drama. It’s a necessary art. I don’t really blame the writers because they have a tough job. Everything is pretty much corporate and I realize that they throw [around] storyline ideas and, of course, they are going on such a fast pace these days. They want the show to move ahead. Relationships don’t. They take time and feeling out and getting to the underbelly and going through all the cobwebs in your brain. My philosophy isn’t going to do a heck of a lot of good, but I’ll put it out there anyway [laughs].Digest: Have you learned any specifics about the future of the show, like the relocation to the CBS studios?
Dusay: No. Mostly it’s rumor. There are so many specifics that haven’t been given to us in detail. There are so many things they have to deal with — with different unions and with the move. They really haven’t come down with definite times, dates and answers and things like that. Which you can imagine disturbs everyone because they are saying, “Wait a minute, what am I going to do? Where am I going to go? Who am I going to work for? Can I stay here?” So really, the sad thing is that it doesn’t just affect actors, but everyone.Digest: What will you do after you’re taken off-contract?
Dusay: Well, the first thing I am going to do is take some time off. I am going to China for a month in October. I had already planned that trip with my daughter. I’ve got a couple of projects I’ve been working on having to do with the University of Kansas and seminars. We’ll see what happens. This last year has been pretty disappointing on the show for me, so I want to be able to take some time off and breathe a little and see before I do anything else. It’s been a long time and a lot of years of doing soaps and before that, I had a lot of years of doing movies and episodic TV and it’s kind of a welcome reprieve for me at the moment. I said, “I really need to stop, think and live a life outside of this alter ego here.” Mainly, [the studio] is not a happy place to be right now. You see people with little children — my children are raised and everything — but you see families with little children and the worry. But I realize that it’s a business, too, and you have to make decisions and tough ones. I don’t think it’s been easy for anyone, not the executives or anybody else. Unfortunately, it’s the way of business and dollars and the world. It’s a struggle to try to keep your art and keep fighting for what you think is right, but that’s an ancient problem that artists have had for an eternity. A lot happened in Michelangelo’s time, too, so why are we complaining?
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