Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH):
What does this nomination mean to you? “As far as the [Alzheimer’s] storyline goes, it’s an important storyline, and for that, it meant quite a lot. And to see so many people from the show also nominated is always a great thing, especially Laura [Wright, Carly] and Max [Gail, Mike] and Vernee [Watson, Stella] and everybody else in that story. They really kicked butt.” How do you feel about going up against another actor from your show, Jon Lindstrom (Kevin/Ryan)? “I’ve been down that road. He’s a great actor and I actually feel really good that I’m up against him, because if I don’t win, I really, really would love for him to win.” What did you pick to submit? “I picked a whole kind of father/son thing. It starts with Sonny telling Carly that his dad has Alzheimer’s, and he breaks down. One of my favorite scenes was when Mike grabs the phone from me and he thinks I’m somebody else. The work that day, I remembered that it just felt right. And I think I might have fallen asleep right after [laughs]! It wore me out. Then I chose a scene with Dominic [Zamprogna, ex-Dante], who is always solid, great. And I ended it with me singing onstage at the Nurses’ Ball with Max. I just put that in because it was a nice moment.” Are you looking forward to Emmy night? “My anxiety rises in situations like that and it’s not very pleasant. But I will have fun seeing all the people I haven’t seen in so long.” Are you going to prepare a speech? “I’ve prepared a speech seven times. I’m not preparing a speech this time. In the past, I always believed that I was going to win, maybe, so you prepare that speech. This year, I don’t really feel that. And now I’m going to feel stupid when I don’t have a speech! But that’s all right.”
Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R)
How did you find out? “I was doing some carpentry work. I literally had a saw in my hand when Matt [Kane, publicist] called. I answered and I don’t think I gave him the excitement that was appropriate for the moment because I was trying to keep a number in my head, 24 and ¾ inches. Matt’s telling me this excellent, excellent news and I’m going, ‘Oh, good. That’s great.’ I had to call him back later to say, ‘Hey, I’m sorry. This is one of the best jobs you have all year, to get to call and tell people good news and I gave ya nothing.’ So anyway, we kind of started the day over.” What did you submit? “I had a lot of stuff. The day of the theater thing. It starts as the end of the film is happening and Jack is pretty gobsmacked with what he’s just learned. And off camera, his mother delights into a speech about how great her life with John was and what a good parent she was, and Jack just unloads on her. I guess the following show kind of kicks in there and that’s Eileen [Davidson, ex-Ashley] with me having just found out that she was behind it. That’s months later, of course. The chair did make it through the window. A little over the top, but I thought just powerful enough.” Will you be bringing your wife, Mariellen? “Yes. It’s an opportunity for people to see Mariellen, and I’m always happy for her place in this company. I like the way people react to her. That always makes me feel good. In this business that I’ve now been in for 40 years in May, it’s a chance to be around the people in my industry and that’s a nice thing. And not everybody gets to go to the party. I feel great that I’m there. My winning percentages are pretty abysmal, but it’s nice to get invited to the party.” Do you prepare a speech? “Not written in my head, but I know the people I want to thank. I got a one in five shot at this.”
Tyler Christopher (ex-Stefan, DAYS):
You’ve been nominated and won before. Does the excitement level change? “Yes. This is why. After playing the same character [Nikolas] for nearly 18 years on GH, to be able to transition to a new show, a new family and a new environment and get recognized for my work at DAYS was amazing. I was also fortunate enough that everyone I played with also got nominated — Billy Flynn [ex-Chad], Marci Miller [ex-Abigail] and Kate Mansi [ex-Abigail]. We were all in it together. For all four of us to get recognized for the hard work we put in is really cool. We all get to share that together.” How did you find out? “Because there’s such a gap between when you submit yourself and when the nominations come out, I always forget about it. Then I get all these texts saying, ‘Congratulations.’ I was like, ‘Oh, right. That was today.’ ” What did you submit? “This year’s format was a little different, because you got to choose 15 minutes of material, which is a ton. So I kind of got to tell a little bit of the story. I started off with one of the many fights Stefan had with Chad. Then I went to Stefan going to the abortion clinic and trying to convince Abigail not to abort her child. Marci just knocked it out of the park. I transitioned to a snippet with Gabi, where Stefan had her tied up to a chair and was torturing her with a hot poker. I finished it off with one of my signature conversations with the portrait of Stefano.” Who did you tell first? “I think my wife came home shortly thereafter, so I told her. I’m in Indiana now, so I don’t talk to very many people. I don’t know anyone here.” Did you receive any memorable congratulatory messages? “Billy and I are really close. We talk all the time, at least once a week. He was actually the first call that I got. He said something like, ‘Congrats, brother. The DiMera brothers are back.’ ” What are you most looking forward to on Emmy night? “Seeing everybody that I haven’t seen for a while. You don’t spend 23 years on daytime and not make friends unless you’re a real jerk. Thankfully, I have not been.” Who are you bringing? “I’m coming solo. I have gone solo before. My wife and I live in Indiana now, and we have two children who are in school.” What do you know about the competition? “Obviously, I know the work that Billy put in, because he was in my reel and I was in his. He’s very deserving of it. And of course, Maurice is the quintessential Emmy nominee, who always turns in solid work. I used to watch Maurice in the very beginning and say to myself, ‘How do I become that truthful in my work?’ Now I’m standing next to him after all these years, when I used to emulate what he was doing in his work. And of course, Peter Bergman has been around longer than all of us. So has Jon Lindstrom. Vets, right? I thought I was in it for a long time but Peter, Jon and Mo have been in it longer than I have.” Anything you want to add about this nomination? “I just want to thank those that put me in the position to get it. [Head Writer] Ron [Carlivati] brought me on and entrusted me with this incredible role. [Co-Executive Producers] Albert Alarr and Greg Meng and [Executive Producer] Ken Corday all said to me, ‘You were always the guy for this. Go do what you do.’ It just felt really good that after all these years, I’ve earned that level of attention, to where people allow me to do what I do. It makes you feel good that all those sacrifices you made, from leaving your hometown in Ohio and your friends and your family behind, to moving to California for the unknown, and all the hard work you’ve done, has finally paid off.”
Billy Flynn (ex-Chad, DAYS):
How did you find out you were nominated? “I knew it was the day of, but you put that in the back of your mind, to kind of set yourself up to not hear. And then Marnie [Saitta, casting director] called, and it was just kind of like a ‘Hey, how are you?’ and then I got a text from Maya [Frangie, show publicist] while I was talking to Marnie, and then I told Marnie. And then Marnie was like, ‘Oh, my God, who else?’ And then I looked and I saw that Marci [Miller] and Kate Mansi and Tyler ... Everybody from that storyline had gotten nominated. I think Marnie started to cry and I was like, ‘Don’t you cry. Now I’m gonna start to cry,’ even though I’ll never admit to that!” How did it feel? “It felt really good. You know, a lot’s changed for me over the last couple of years. I think the other years, I always ran into it with ego. I think in the back of my mind, for whatever selfish, egotistical reason, I think I felt that I would get nominated or that I deserved something. This year, I just kind of gave it up to the universe and I was filled with a lot of gratitude. I don’t know if I was more happy that I got nominated or that Marci and Tyler and Kate did. It was a really interesting kind of shift. I feel like I’ve grown up a lot in the past year. It was kind of like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like to be grateful for something.’ ” What did you submit? “I submitted the scene where Abigail tells Chad that the baby isn’t his, and then that’s followed by where I deliver the baby — the whole scene from the cabin. I always try to be so specific. In other years, I needed to tell a story or I needed it to be this or I needed it to be that, and I was nervous about submitting the scene in the cabin where I deliver the baby, even though it’s so different and more tongue-in-cheek. It’s super-me and Marci. I talked to Maura West [Ava, GH], and she said something like, ‘You stirred everything into that pot and you mixed it massively,’ or something like that, and I was like, ‘Oh, what a cool thing to hear,’ ’cause, I mean, it’s Maura West.” Who did you tell first? “My wife was just super-excited. She’s my biggest fan.” What are you most looking forward to on Emmy night? “Seeing Kate and Marci and Tyler. Tyler’s in my category, so it’s bittersweet, but I’d love to see them win. Two years ago [the late] Kristoff [St. John, ex-Neil, Y&R] and I were back and forth like, ‘You’re gonna win.’ And now it’s weird. I understand so much of his struggle because I went through a lot of it. We had a very similar kind of battle, so it’s going to be a little bittersweet because there’s a part of me, when I got nominated, I thought, ‘Oh, I wonder if he got nominated.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, s**t.’ Peter Bergman is always a champion to me, so it will be really cool to see him. We’re nominated together again. It’ll just be really nice to connect with people that I haven’t seen in so long.” What does it mean to you to be in this category with so many soap vets? “It’s interesting. There’s always gonna be a little bit of inadequacy that I have. It’s just who I am to feel like, ‘Oh, they’ve been doing it for so long,’ or, ‘They deserve it and I don’t.’ That’s kind of the thing that I struggle with personally. The last time I was nominated, I was the youngest. And I’m the youngest this time, but I think it’s a feeling of just accepting, kind of embracing the fact that whether I deserve it or don’t, I’m here and I just have to enjoy that. And be grateful for the fact that I’m among them. That must mean that I did something right, as well.” Will you be bringing your wife, Gina? “I will be bringing Gina. I’m excited.”
Jon Lindstrom (Kevin/Ryan, GH):
How did you get the news? “I was with Cady [McClain, ex-Dixie, ALL MY CHILDREN et al, his wife] on the couch and I got a text from [B&B Writer] Michele Val Jean, who had written virtually all of the original Kevin/Ryan stuff back in the ’90s. It was great to hear it from her.” What did it feel like to realize you’d made the cut? “It felt like, ‘Wow, all that double duty finally paid off!’ I had to work later that day and as I looked up at the building that I’ve gone in and out of off and on since 1992, I realized, ‘This is the first time I’m walking into this building as an Emmy nominee.’ Kevin and Ryan really gave me a career in so many ways, and I just had this great sense of fulfillment and gratitude.” Have you and Maurice Benard conferred about being in the same category? “We haven’t really talked about it except to give each other a hug and a congratulations. There is no rivalry between Maurice and me. If he walked away with it, I’d be perfectly fine. I love Maurice’s work. I always have. I think he always delivers. He’s never lazy. I hope I can say the same for myself.” You had so much material last year. How did you pick your reel? “I’m a lucky man, because Cady said, ‘Listen, let me help you with this.’ It’s so hard to sit there and be objective about your own work. Cady has amazing taste and a great story sense and was able to be objective about it and say, ‘I think these are the scenes that really worked for you.’ ” Do you have an unfair advantage, getting advice from an award-winning director and a two-time Daytime Emmy winner? “If so, too bad! I say, ‘Well, guys, if you have a problem with that, marry up like I did.’ ”