ICYMI: B&B Stars Reflect On What Makes Don Diamont (Bill) So Great

Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) “I’m not even sure if I met Don [when he was on Y&R as Brad]. We all kind of wave and just go about our business. It’s funny, but I was excited to see him come over. He was a great addition here because he’d been on that show for so long. He was a big, strong character over there. I thought, ‘Okay, this is definitely a BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL guy.’ I thought he fit the part and fit in well, and he has. Bill is such a great character. I like that Don really came in with lots of ideas for the character and how he wanted to play it, how he wanted to dress, even down to the sword necklace and the beard. He’s bigger than life, and we need those characters. When chemistry is there and you’re in the middle of it, you don’t really feel it that much. It’s more like everything comes easily, so I think that’s what happened with me and Don. We work really well together. He’s the nicest guy and he’s funny — so funny — and he has so much energy. Sometimes I have to tell him to zip it [laughs]!”

Heather Tom (Katie) “Katie calmed the savage beast! Oh, gosh, I have known Don since I was 15 years old. It has been that long. I trust him, and not just professionally. When I’m in a scene with him, I trust him personally. When my husband got hit by a car while on his bike, Don was one of the people I called and asked, ‘Who does he need to go see? Who can you recommend to us to help?’ Don is that guy. I adore him and I feel like he has created this amazing character and just ran with it. I’m so proud of his work, and I love working with him. I love the dynamic we have together on-screen and I think that no matter what our characters have been through, there’s still that history there and there’s still that dynamic there.”

John McCook (Eric) “I believe that the most interesting mastery and the most interesting male character on the show has got to be Bill Spencer. I really like the way Don plays him, and looking back at his work, I’m proud of what he’s done with the part. I don’t want to play that part. It’s unfortunate that we don’t do very much together. You can only grab each other’s shirt fronts so much but I appreciate, very much, Don’s accomplishment here. He carved out a real position for himself on BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL and he gets a great deal of credit for creating that character and making it as popular as it is. I salute him.”

Thorsten Kaye (Ridge) “I like Don. You know exactly what you have with him. He’s funny. He’s kind. He takes care of his family. He’s fun to work with. I think some fans might think we have a problem with one another because our characters do but we really don’t. I like the guy.”

Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter) “I love Don. We don’t get a lot of screen time but we’re still in the makeup room together. One thing I get from Don is he is truly a father. He always talks about his boys and shows me pictures and we’ll talk about his son [Luca] playing football. There is so much pride and love that he has as a father. A couple of his sons have come on set and it’s fun to watch their relationship. That’s what I get the most when I see Don. He’s a great dad, man. I hope to be one, too.”

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy) “As loyal as the ‘Steam’ fans are, the ‘Still’ fans match them in their enthusiasm and intensity, and that is just amazing. When Bill and Steffy finally got together [in 2017], I can’t believe all the tweets and comments on Instagram that I got all the time, because they did have such a powerful history and they were a powerful couple, even if it was for a quick second. I commend Don for doing such a fabulous job, and it was really a beautiful thing to see Bill’s rough, tough exterior give way to all that emotion that just poured out. With Don, you rehearse it one way and then the scene just catches him. When Bill was estranged from Liam, you just look at him — he has seven boys — and doing all these emotional scenes about losing his son, you really felt the authentic emotion of him really feeling the weight and pushing those feelings down. He did such a phenomenal job with that story. I’m still in awe.”

Hunter Tylo (Taylor) “I love working with Don because he understands the psychology of it all. When we play together, this is a psychiatrist looking at a power-hungry, narcissistic man. It’s a hilarious combination when you think about it, and Don loves to work hard to bring all of those elements out. When he gets into his character, he is just absolutely hilarious, and Taylor is like, ‘You’re just so rude!’ But we have a way of laughing about it and we work together very well. He’s amazing. When you work with him, you never quite know what he’s going to do in the scene. That always makes it exciting, but he’s also true to what’s happening in the scene. Yeah, he’s fun.”

Courtney Hope (Sally) “The one thing I’ll definitely say about Don is that he truly commits to being Bill, and he is Bill. I don’t mean like Don Diamont is Bill. I just mean what he has created, he knows so well and so intricately. I know he loves to say that Bill is a part of him, and I think that really shows when he plays him. When I’m acting with him, he’s really good at pushing buttons and really, truly irritating you through Bill. It’s so funny because then when the cameras are off, he’s completely the opposite of that, and that’s something I really appreciate about him. When you’re rehearsing, he’s there. He is Bill and he’s constantly playing with the different nuances of Bill. When he’s in the dressing room, he’s got such a light, playful, child-like quality to him, which does come through in Bill when he does those little things and makes those choices. He’s awesome. We’ve gotten to be friends off-screen, and it’s definitely an adventure working with him because when he is Bill, you never know what you’re going to get thrown at you — and you literally might get something thrown at you! I know somebody has had a phone thrown at them. He’s just so much fun to watch.”

Darin Brooks (Wyatt, B&B) “Oh, Donaldo.... What’s great about Don is how he cares a lot about his character, this show and Scott [Clifton] and I, in particular. He obviously needs more sons in real life, so what’s a couple more, right? We’re 8 and 9 and [Finnegan George, Will, is] 10. Every time we’re all on set together, we can expect to jab and rib at each other and just bust each other’s balls. But I think that camaraderie translates on TV, too, and hopefully the fans enjoy watching it.”   Scott Clifton (Liam) “I was actually a little intimidated by Don at first, which I can’t believe because Don is just the most immature person on set, and I mean that in a good way. He’s hilarious and so jovial. He always wants to make the crew laugh, but he’s such an epic personality, both on camera and off. Actually, I don’t know if intimidated was the right word, but it was very clear to me that, ‘Uh-oh. I am going to have a relationship with this guy who is just larger than life. What is my role with him going to be? Do I try to match his personality? No, that’s not going to work. What’s going to work is that I complement his personality and let him be him and just enjoy him.’ Once I allowed myself to do that, I said, ‘Oh, yeah!’ and it was wonderful.”