Already have an account?
Get back to the

Interview

ICYMI: Alley Mills Interview

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Alley Mills of the CBS series THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, Weekdays (1:30-2:00 PM, ET; 12:30-1:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved Credit: CBS

Alley Mills (Pam) Looks Back At Her Favorite B&B Moments

Favorite Storyline? “Probably going to the cabin to try and kill Donna by tying her in the chair and pouring honey all over her and letting the grizzly bear in. It doesn’t really get any better than that. That whole storyline had great moments, like the scene of me popping the tea bag in my mouth in order to freak her out. If you don’t remember, Pam was telling her how serious she was as a formidable stalker, as if trapping her in the tanning booth and putting green in her hair and gray on her teeth wasn’t enough, right? I love working with Jennifer Gareis [Donna] and I’m so happy with how that relationship has evolved since those days. Even when she was just coming back for the family weddings and holidays, the writers always tried to give Pam and Donna a little bit of business, even if it was just handing her a tissue because Donna always cries at weddings.”

Favorite Character Arc? “Donna and Pam. They had some of my favorite stuff, and we had the best dynamic because I loved how stupid she was. Pam actually really loves Donna. They were nemeses because Pam hated that she was with Eric. She deeply hated it because she loved Stephanie but once that was over, they had a talk show together. Then we were secretaries together. Pam truly missed Donna when she was gone, and now that she’s back, they have a common enemy in Quinn, so that could lead to all kinds of misadventures.”

JPI

Favorite Scene Partner? “Oh, my favorite person would be Susan [Flannery, ex-Stephanie]. I love her and I miss her so much. She could always make me laugh. I remember when Pam got her modest apartment, Susan said something like, ‘Where the f–k are you living? This is ridiculous. She should live in the Taj Mahal. She inherited all of Ann’s money, so I’m sure she’s richer than Eric. She’s a Douglas; that was the money that started Forrester Creations. Where are the oil paintings from Dad? Where are the Tiffany plates?’ I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Favorite Line Of Dialogue? “Patrick Mulcahey, I believe, wrote the best line I ever got to have with Donna. It’s such a good line; it involved the poem The Road Not Taken. It began with, ‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,’ etc., so Pam mentions this to Donna and I said, ‘Donna, please tell me you know who Robert Frost is.’ And she goes, ‘Of course, I do: ‘Nipping at your nose….’ ”

Favorite Guest Star? “Fred Willard [ex-John]. He’s hilarious. That story was cute, too. Pam wasn’t ready for a new dog after she lost her beloved Tiny, and so they were judging some dogs, which was fun, and it made Charlie jealous, so it served its purpose. It’s so funny because when you said this feature was called ‘Best In Show’, I thought, ‘What does Best In Show mean?’ because Fred was in that; I saw the movie and I loved it, so I thought, ‘Are you asking me who’s the biggest dog on the show [laughs]?’ I actually couldn’t have a better Best In Show story than doing a Best In Show homage with Fred Willard right here on B&B.”

JPI

Favorite Storyline That Never Happened? “Pam and Eric. The show actually toyed around with it for a little while. That’s why I was brought on. Did you know that? Pam was supposed to come between Eric and Stephanie. They wanted Pam to be the absolute opposite of Stephanie, which meant baking, demure cashmere sweaters — domestic like Martha Stewart but soft and cuddly and sweet. However, Susan said, ‘Stephanie would not be jealous of her, so I’m not playing it. Not happening,’ so Brad said okay, and that’s why they took me off for a while. But he told me, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.’ Then, because I did the thing with Tiny, where he started eating my sandwich and then I started licking his mouth, Brad realized, ‘We could make her completely off-the-charts crazy!’ So, we started going down that route, with much better results. And, because of the character’s background of abuse and neglect, it gave me so many deep, rich areas to explore.”

JPI

Favorite Mentor? “Well, of course, John [McCook, Eric] welcomes everyone with open  arms and shows them around, and he has since become a dear friend. But I learned a lot from working with Betty White [ex-Ann]. Orson [Bean, her real-life husband] is a good friend of hers, because they did all those game shows together back in the day. She’s just the sweetest and most genuine f—ing person, and I can say that because she loves to throw the f-bomb all the time. Well, for our first 10 days, which was originally all I was going to do, they gave her pages and pages of dialogue and she couldn’t remember all of it, so I memorized her part, too, and would throw lines at her so we would keep going, and she didn’t care. I learned from her that’s a really good way to be on a soap so you don’t freak out if you can’t remember a long speech. They’ll just work around you, so chill. That’s from all her years of experience. What really matters is that you have fun, and that you’re really present in the scene, and it will work out.”

JPI

Favorite Whodunit? “I really liked how they did the ‘Who Shot Bill?’ story. The way they set up all the suspects and the way it was filmed. It was very atmospheric. I actually thought Pam had done it! She had motive, because in her mind he’d abused Stephanie’s namesake, her beloved niece Steffy. She was off her meds at the time. I was convinced she’d done it.”

Favorite Moment Of Pam And Charlie’s Romance? “I have to say, the writers did a beautiful job with the proposal in the kitchen. It was the perfect place, the ring was beautiful, and Dick [Christie, Charlie] was just so sweet in those scenes. Those were real, happy tears. Pam had been used by men before, and I like the fact that what she has with Charlie is so sweet and innocent.”

Favorite Off-Screen Buddy? “Thorsten [Kaye, Ridge]. He just took his whole family to my apartment in New York and they went to the theater — and they brought blow-up mattresses. I can’t tell you how happy that made me. Orson and I turned him on to Venice [CA] and all the cool places around here. He likes to come over and drink beer with my husband.”

Favorite Thing About Being A Part Of The Forrester Family? “Pam was an outsider for so long but when she was welcomed into such a warm and large group, and she became Aunt Pammy, it was life-changing for her. My favorite physical part of being a part of the Forrester family is that because she’s the receptionist, Pam gets to know everything, and Pam loves gossip, although she wouldn’t call it gossip. She’d call it concern, but she loves to know what everybody is doing and she gets the front desk, so she sees people storm in and out.”

Favorite Thing About Working With Dick Christie? “You never know what’s going to come out of his mouth at any time.”

JPI

Favorite Location Shoot? “Well, I never made it to Monte Carlo or Italy, but I didn’t need to: My very favorite place was right next door, doing THE PRICE IS RIGHT. That was about the most fun I ever had. Are you kidding me? I’m from the ’50s, so THE PRICE IS RIGHT has been in my lexicon forever — and I’m a big fan of Drew Carey, so it was incredible fun. I also got three women from our church to sit next to me, and they’re insane, dyed-in-the-wool, pass-out fans. They wore T-shirts and the whole nine yards. They were so excited to be at the show, and Drew kissed me and Jennifer [Gareis], so it was great.”

JPI

Favorite Thing About Working With Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley Bell? “My favorite thing about him is the incredibly twisted mind that created my character. I’m forever grateful, and I say that at every drop of every hat, because it can only come from a wonderfully twisted mind of someone like him to create such a wonderfully twisted character. He must wake up in the middle of the night and go, ‘Aha!’ He gets some wild ideas; that’s his gift. Brad creates characters out of story, so the fact that Pam went crazy was the story, but the fact that Stephanie was abused as a child and I was the daughter who was trapped listening to that makes Pam such a rich, complicated character. I’m so grateful for his brain that can think this stuff up every week. I’ll read the script and go, ‘I can’t believe he thought of that.’ Like Bill and Steffy? Are you freaking kidding me right now? Or when Eric woke up in bed with Quinn? I was like, ‘No, that did not just happen!’ Now, Orson is hooked on the show, and it’s the stories that hooked him. And personally speaking, Brad is generous, kind and loyal, which you can see just by the amount of people who’ve worked here for years and years and years. That in and of itself speaks volumes.”

 

 

Check out our new podcast, Dishing With Digest!

Comments