Tricia Cast (ex-Nina), Barbara Crampton (ex-Leanna) and Patty Weaver (ex-Gina) are all back on Y&R so their characters can attend Genoa City’s bicentennial gala. Crampton, who appeared last week, wasn’t surprised when the show asked her to reprise Ms. Love. “I actually saw on social media that the 50th anniversary was coming up, so I told my agent to call them and say I want to be part of it,” she explains. “It wasn’t that pushy. They had asked me several times through the years to come back but it never worked out. I had moved up to San Francisco and I was raising my kids, and my husband worked early hours and I couldn’t get away. Now my kids are in college and I moved back to L.A., and since Y&R had asked me before to come back, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to reach out and basically say, ‘I want to celebrate with you.’ There are eight episodes of the big party and I was written into seven of them!”
Leanna last appeared in Genoa City in 2006, but Crampton was happy to see that her character hadn’t changed. “The writers went back into their history books and, wrote Leanna the same as she was,” Crampton reports. “She’s still sassy, fun, funny and combative. I was very pleased. And everybody in Genoa City still doesn’t like her.”
Crampton was thrilled to be reunited with her former co-stars. “It was really nice to work with Peter [Bergman, Jack], Mel [Thomas Scott, Nikki] Eric [Braeden, Victor] and Jess [Walton, Jill] again,” she enthuses. “And because Leanna is reporting on the event, trying to get information and dirt on whatever is happening in town, I got to talk to almost the whole cast, including Joshua [Morrow, Nick] and Kate [Linder, Esther], and a lot of the new actors, who are very talented. I kept telling people that I felt like it was a dream. It was just a lot of fun.”
That sentiment is echoed my Cast. “This was so special,” she smiles. “Seeing Lauralee [Bell, Christine], Patty and Michael [Damian, Danny] was like old folks’ week, but still felt like no time had passed. Although there was a lot going on, they managed to work in a nice little scene for me to chew on.”
For the two days Cast was on set, “I had an absolute blast,” she declares. “I loved the dress wardrobe gave me but I couldn’t wear the heels all of the time because of the long hours, so I’d just put on my boots and I’d be fine. Everybody looked absolutely fabulous. We even hung around afterwards to visit and talk. It was really nice.”
Cast, who resides in Tennessee, shares that she’s ready to come back whenever Y&R needs her. “I love playing Nina,” she says. “I felt really honored to be included this time. I was crossing my fingers that I would a part of [the 50th anniversary] and I’m so glad they called.”
So was Weaver, who was last seen in 2013. “To tell you the truth, I never expected to be asked to come back,” she admits. “When you’re gone from something for so long, you don’t really expect to be remembered, so when they did call, it was a very beautiful moment for me.”
Weaver accepted immediately, but “after hanging up the phone, I thought, ‘What the hell did I get myself into? Maybe I can’t remember lines anymore!’ But I was struck with the realization I’ve been a soap actress for almost 38 years. A great portion of my life was lived on soundstages.”
Weaver’s first day back on the Y&R set was “surreal,” she notes. “It was early and I was really quite moved. I had been away from it for a long time, but there I was, walking into those enormous sound stages with this bustle around me of things being moved around and set up for the day. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is like coming back home.’ I love the crew. It was wonderful to see a lot of them still behind the camera and working the floor.”
Since almost the entire cast was on hand for the gala scenes, Weaver was a little overwhelmed. “It was a lot to take in but I loved seeing everybody again,” she muses. “I almost felt like I was on THIS IS YOUR LIFE. And Christian [J. LeBlanc, Michael] had me on the floor laughing, he’s so funny. I felt greatly honored to have been a part of Y&R. It changed my life and it gave me so much. I’d be very happy to get another call from them.”
