Already have an account?
Get back to the

Interview

ICYMI: Greg Vaughan (Eric, DAYS) Interview

Greg
DAYS OF OUR LIVES -- Season: 52 -- Pictured: Greg Vaughan as Eric Brady -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC) Credit: NBC

MY FAVORITE YEAR

DAYS’s Greg Vaughan (Eric) guested on Digest’s podcast, Dishing With Digest, and chatted about his already-amazing 2018

Soap Opera Digest: What a year you have had! How would you describe your 2018 so far?

Greg Vaughan: It’s been just an unbelievable year. It’s been definitely a promising, exciting and very just glorious start of the year. I mean, the whole ’18 has been fantastic.

Digest: There have been years on the show where Eric didn’t feel significant in the storyline. What did it mean to you to have your turn in the storyline sun come?

Vaughan: Well, you know, I look back and think about the lead-up to the Emmys and stuff and I didn’t feel I had a lot of material. But I feel I had enough depth in some of the material that I picked and stuff, so that in itself it was just like, I think I was fortunate in. There was no substantial, front-burner storyline, there were just a lot of good moments. And less is more, you know? It worked out in a really good way.

Digest: Now this was your first Emmy win; you won for Supporting Actor. You were pretty emotional when you accepted your award. How would you describe your feelings in those moments of hearing your name called and going to the stage?

Vaughan: It was an incredible, long-waited moment to experience, you know? I definitely had a phenomenal support group, and my family being in town and my kids. It started out really crappy: I couldn’t find my shoes, my car pickup was late, there was like this peacock walking around the yard….

Digest: At your house?

Vaughan: No, I was at a hotel with my family and the kids were swimming. [I’m] making sure that everybody is checked in okay, I was moving luggage — I was stressed out of my mind! I was late, I barely got any time to talk to anybody on the red carpet, so really, the start of it was just crap! I was more like stressed out of my mind and I needed something like to cool me down, like a drink, you know? But then I was presenting, so at the start of the show I was in the back in the green room. And then my date was running behind. There were a lot of factors.

Getty

Winner, Winner: First-time Daytime Emmy nominee Vaughan took home the Outstanding Supporting Actor trophy at the ceremony in late April. 

Digest: Everyone in the audience seemed really excited [when you won]. Your castmates were so excited. Were you aware of that?

Vaughan: You know what? It’s really hard to explain unless you’re going through it, but the room at the moment that my name was mentioned, there was such a pause before my name was mentioned, and when you hear “Greg”, I thought they were gonna say Greg Rikaart [ex-Leo; ex-Kevin, Y&R], you know? So, I was just like there and then when they said my name, I was just like waiting to hear my name and I was attentive and then the room went silent for me. I didn’t hear anything! I was just so focused, I think. I was like, “Wow, I have to go up there! It happened! Oh, my God!” And then it was kind of like you have to go! Start walking! It’s like being called to the principal’s office, but in a better scenario! I had never been in that position before, not even being acknowledged or a nominee before, but to be a nominee and win in the same time? It was a lot. I tried to get my composure to say what I wanted to say and all my gratitude to as many people as I could remember at the time and place. And there were so many people I still forgot, but I try to make up for it much later.

Digest: You’ve been working a lot with Missy Reeves [Jennifer]. Tell us what it’s like to work with her!

Vaughan: Love her! She’s one of my faves…. Missy is a special, wonderful woman. She has been here for a long time and she’s a talented actress and I’m just so happy to share the room with her. She’s just fun! We get along so well, we have so much in common, so, when our characters have time together, it’s just relaxing and fun. It’s just like cruise control!

Digest: Does Eric have a job these days?

Vaughan (laughs): No, he doesn’t! He’s been living above the pub for a while kind of helping there, you know, his old man, so that’s been kind of like his shtick for a bit. He’s kind of redirecting where he’s going in life.

Digest: Now someone you really haven’t shared that much time with on-screen is Tyler Christopher [Stefan], who played your brother [Nikolas] on GENERAL HOSPITAL. Would you like to have scenes with Stefan and Eric?

Vaughan: You know, I personally expected it to be established pretty quickly, but they haven’t. I think there’s something that’s good about that. It prevents people from trying to connect the fact that we were once brothers on another show. But having him here is fantastic! I think his work ethic is incredible, he’s gifted and an award-winning actor himself, so having him here is awesome! We’ve been able to reconnect and talk about our families. I definitely hope to see them cross paths and when they do, it’s gonna be exciting.

Digest: Let’s go back to your first soap job, which was Y&R’s Diego. What do you remember about that role?

Vaughan: Um, well, my first day at work in the daytime regime at Y&R was with Sharon Case [Sharon] and it was in a love scene. I was like, “Welcome to the world of soap operas! Clothes off and in the bed!” I thought that’s how it was going to become every day…. Everything just moved so fast so I really wasn’t seasoned to that. I wasn’t familiar with that, you know? … It was great, it was exciting and it got me prepared before I went over to GENERAL HOSPITAL. I enjoyed it. It’s a great family home over there, as well. There’s good people. The tremendously talented Peter Bergman [Jack, Y&R] and I are good friends. I just have the utmost respect for them over there. It was fun. It was a lot of fun! It was short and sweet but it led to another opportunity to which all things can happen, you know? It was fun.

JPI

All Those Years Ago: Vaughan got his soap start on Y&R in 2002, playing Diego to Sharon Case’s Sharon. 

Digest: Of course, a lot of GENERAL HOSPITAL fans still have fond memories of the years that you spent on the show as Lucky. What are your standout memories from your time in Port Charles?

Vaughan: That would be a long list to present. I have so many. I mean, with Tony Geary [ex-Luke], Tyler [Christopher], Steve [Burton, Jason] and Maurice [Benard, Sonny], with Kelly [Monaco, Sam], Rebecca [Herbst, Elizabeth] — I love those girls so much! Those were my best, if I was going to say like, my “years” of really understanding and fondest memories of daytime because I was younger. We were kind of all in the same status in our lives; some people married and kids or family and then some not so much, but it was still very community. We had so much fun. Those were my best college years, if you will. They were like college years to me. There was always fun parties and working and learning and like being in a master class. If you could get with Maurice Benard or Tony Geary or Jane Elliott [ex-Tracy], I mean, the list goes on and on…. I had many great memories over there.

Digest: Do you ever get recognized from your BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 or CHARMED days?

Vaughan: I have! I definitely have. Not so much anymore from that period, more so now being on DAYS or GENERAL HOSPITAL, for sure. QUEEN SUGAR … I was back east and [in] the middle of nowhere. I was asking the butcher [for] flank steak and he kept just staring at me and he’s like, “Let me go to the back, I’m gonna check.” And he kept looking back and he stopped and looked back, “Just flank steak, right? You want this amount?” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, please. That’d be helpful.” I think he was so caught off-guard and he was like, “Has anybody ever told you you look like Eric Brady on DAYS?” I said, “Uh huh!” And he’s like, “Really? I’ve never seen anybody look so similar!” And I said, “ ’Cause I am!” And he said, “No way!” He was a big man, too — a butcher! It was just like, that’s his show! And he’s like, “Me and my family have been watching your show for years. Big fan!” Just so appreciative and kind and thoughtful. I think a lot more recognition this time in my life now.

Digest: So when we ask, “Where’s the strangest place you’ve had a fan encounter?” yours will be at the butcher!

Vaughan: Well, this is a new one!

Digest: You recently revealed on Instagram that you have a new lady in your life. How did you two meet?

Vaughan: My significant other, Ms. Angie Harmon. We both grew up in Dallas, we used to model together back in our early days. She’s still 27 and I’m just like fine wine, you know? We maintained our friendship over the years and our paths crossed again and I just kind of went a little bit further by just trying to see if I could take her out on a date, and it happened! It was not an easy date to achieve, but I just said I just wanted to go out for some ice cream kind of thing. I had to fly all the way to the East Coast to do so because there was not much chance of her coming back this direction for a while, so if there was anybody gonna make it happen, it was going to be me. It’s blossomed beautifully at our pace and our speed and [she’s] someone that I deeply admire and appreciate and have a lot of respect for, not just for what she’s done, but how she’s doing it and going about it. She’s a writer, she’s a producer and director on top of being an actor. I mean, she wears many hats! She’s got a lot of irons in the fire, which is great. She has some opportunity coming ahead. She’s abroad at this time right now and she’s doing a lot of philanthropy work for world relief and UNICEF.

Instagram

My Love: Vaughan recently went public with his romance with Angie Harmon. 

Digest: You have three boys and she has three girls. She captioned the photo that you’re a modern day Brady Bunch. How has the family blending gone?

Vaughan: They’re great. We have a lot of fun. The boys are learning a lot about being in a house full of girls; something that’s completely unfamiliar to them. The one and two of her girls, the eldest of the two, they’re very hands-on, they’re mature and they really like to engage with the boys. But it’s usually the bottom four that spend the most time together. They have a lot of similarities because the other girls are more teenagers. When we have our family dinners and going out to dinner or whatever, we have a carful. We have a full bunch, that’s for sure! We’ve done a recent family trip, and Fourth of July … A full Suburban full of kids, which was fun! And then we got some more plans ahead before the summer comes to an end and back to school. She is with her girls in Africa right now and I am home and making the best of my time with them.

Digest: How are your boys doing?

Vaughan: They’re wonderful! They’ve had an incredible summer. They’ve been very fortunate and very blessed to not be at camp this whole summer. And exploring different parts of the country and getting some travel in the books. It’s been good.

Instagram

My Three Sons: Vaughan traveled this summer with his boys: Landan (top l.), 6, Cavan (bottom l.), 8, and Jathan, 11.

 

To hear this podcast and more, go to iTunes, Google Play or soapoperadigest.com. 

 

Check out our new podcast, Dishing With Digest!

Comments