Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
To Have And To Hold: Eric (John McCook) is eager to make Donna (Jennifer Gareis) his wife once more.
With his dire health crisis behind him, Eric is ready to embrace life to the fullest — and making Donna his wife (again) becomes top priority.
“This has been an incredible six or eight months for him,” begins Eric’s portrayer, John McCook. “I mean, my goodness, driving up to the edge of the cliff and then deciding not to stay there and glimpsing the other side has been a big revelation for him. Now he has his life back and he’s a very happy guy. I think his enthusiasm and joy for his life in general has really come over him — and Donna very specifically has risen to the front of his awareness. I mean, she’s beautiful and she’s funny and she’s fun and she has stood so close to him through all this; she stayed by his side for this whole thing. So, I think asking her to marry him, at this point in their lives, is a great idea, and I think everybody’s going to agree!”
Following what McCook describes as “a very romantic” proposal, replete with a gorgeous new ring for his beloved (“I think there are characters on the show who have six or eight rings by their bedside at all times, but Eric’s not that guy — Eric makes a new ring every time, and this one is fabulous,” chuckles the actor), Eric and Donna waste no time in getting to the “I do’s”. Says McCook, “Ridge has the rings and Carter has the bible,” and the party quickly morphs into an impromptu wedding. “Eric is very enthusiastic about doing everything in front of other people and having a party,” the actor notes. “There’s a party for everything. A really nice sandwich is a reason for a party as far as Eric is concerned!” Even popping the question before an audience reflects Eric’s new outlook on life and “renewed enthusiasm for life since he recovered,” his portrayer opines. “Doing it privately, that’s his old style, but not anymore. His zest for life is multiplied a thousand times and Donna is a big part of that to him. In fact, she’s almost the whole thing. I think that what he’s seeing in her and in this new life is that it’s all about him being creative and having her in his arms all the time.”
McCook says that the mood was jovial on set for taping the Eric/Donna nuptials. “It was great fun. It was very lighthearted and emotionally engaging and really fun for everybody.” To pull off the wedding, “Katie takes charge and tells everybody what to do and, ‘Get that table out of the way,’ and, ‘You stand over there,’ and, ‘You go back there,’ and, ‘Brooke, go get some flowers.’ It was all impromptu and that was what was so fun — as the actors, all of us had fun shooting it. And, in fact, you will see at one point, when Carter tells Donna to put the ring on my finger, she starts to put it on the wrong hand. And that was not an actor’s choice, it was just Jennifer [Gareis, Donna] doing the wrong thing. And it was funny, you know? We laughed about a lot of different things that day.”
Though this is far from the first time that Eric has entered into holy matrimony, McCook is hopeful that this marriage will be a stable one. “I think that’s something very important to have on a show,” he nods. “And I really think that’s going to be our slot now. We’re the rock on that set, and being married [in the Forrester living room] puts us in that place.” The actor feels that Donna’s own evolution has prepared her well to take on that role on the canvas. “This is what I like about Jennifer — Jennifer is not just this sex kitten anymore. I mean, she is, but she’s an adult. She’s taken on the mantle of being — it’s hard to say matriarch in the same sentence with Donna Logan, but she and Eric are the grownups on the show. I think that’s where we are going to be from now on. I really hope so. I think there’s obviously going to be conflict down the road; otherwise, we’re just sitting on the sofa with a martini, and I don’t want to just do that. I hope there will be some story for us to play, that there’s a challenge for us. But this [saga of Eric’s near-death] has been the biggest challenge I’ve had in a long time and I’m glad we got to play it, and I think this [wedding] is a very fitting end to it, I really do.”
And there is one more item on McCook’s wish list. “That picture above the fireplace, which used to be Stephanie and then it used to be Quinn and now it’s Eric, I think what it should be now is a picture of Eric and Donna together. That would really tell the story. I haven’t told Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] that, but I think that’s what it ought to be.”
For a look back at Eric’s previous walks down the aisle, click here.
