GL’s Beacons of Light
With GUIDING LIGHT’s milestone 15,000th episode airing Sept. 7, Soap Opera Weekly went to some of the show’s brightest lights for their favorite memories.
Michael O’Leary (Rick): Meeting Charita [Bauer, Bert] during Clint and Nola’s wedding, which we shot on location in Pennsylvania. She took this hour-and-a-half with me when everyone else was shooting and told me about the business. That was such a powerful impression — to have this woman who has been in the business for so many years sort of adopt me into this Bauer family. As far as storylines, the Four Musketeers was my favorite, when Rick fell in love with Mindy in Central Park. That was a great teen storyline. And, more recently, when Phillip had his nervous breakdown and those scenes that I had with Grant [Aleksander, Phillip]. Grant is like a brother to me, so anything we did together was probably my favorite.
Stephanie Gatschet (Tammy): I remember the cake from the 14,000th episode (laughs). It was big with white frosting. Delicious. We have also had many nice free lunches over the last 1,000 episodes.
Robert Bogue (Mallet): Josh and Reva’s first wedding, when we put lice in Reva’s wedding dress. That was funny (joking). I have too many good memories to name just one. I have so much fun when I come here. I feel like a kid clowning around in school.
Frank Dicopoulos (Frank): We just shot it a few weeks ago: the food fight. The Cooper day was, in 20 years, absolutely my favorite show. I like that they went outside the box.
Nicole Forester (Cassie): The thing that stands out is my first day. I was completely oblivious to what was going on around me, just trying to focus on the material at hand. I had no idea of the context. I remember sitting in the car. Brian [Mertes] was directing that day, and he was like, “Okay, we have to match where Laura [Wright, ex-Cassie; now Carly, GENERAL HOSPITAL] left off, and she was pretty much a wreck, so…go!” I was like, “Okay, I’ve got 20 seconds to get there. Excellent!”
Ricky Paull Goldin (Gus): One was trying to birth Harley’s baby in the prison cell. She slapped me, and that’s when Beth [Ehlers, Harley] and I knew we had chemistry.
Michelle Ray Smith (Ava): I liked the scene in the summer solstice episode where Ava and Colin were sitting at the bar, and Ava thought Coop had married Lizzie. I remember that scene being cool, and Ava being very laid-back.
Gina Tognoni (Dinah): It’s the stuff that happens behind the scenes, the process of coming here in the morning and getting the show done in one day. Every day is a good time. And the fact we moved to this studio here [on New York’s West Side] and we’re all so happy. We’re a big family, so every day is special.
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