Scene And Heard

MOTHER LOAD Sal Stowers (Lani) was thrilled to have Marilyn McCoo reprise the role of Lani’s mother, Tamara, on DAYS. “That was really sweet,” smiles Stowers. “It was just so wonderful to work with Marilyn. I loved having her there. It was so nice and I hope I get to work with her again because we have a really great dynamic. I liked it a lot.” Stowers was already familiar with McCoo. “We follow each other on social media, so I was very aware of her. We actually met a few years ago feeding the homeless at the L.A. Mission. It was one of those things where we were kind of introduced like, ‘Hey, she plays your daughter on the show.’ And we talked a little bit and exchanged information. We were just kind of like, ‘Hey, I hope we get to work together soon.’ It was really, really awesome reading that script and seeing she was coming in. I was just so excited. And it gives Lani more depth. It gets to show the audience a little bit more of who she is. Even though Lani has been on the show now for four-and-a-half years, we don’t know too much of her life and her background. Through this relationship with Eli a lot of it has come out, and now with her mother there, you’ll get to see more. We’re really getting to see who Lani is and why I love Lani so much.”

SWING SET GH’s Donnell Turner (Curtis) was a big fan of the reveal that his character had pulled together a ragtag team of accomplices to secure Ryan’s kidney for Jordan. He enthuses, “I read the script and I was like, ‘Okay, okay, GH, I like what you’re doing here!’ ” The scheme was revealed via re-created flashbacks, narrated by Jordan as she speculated to Curtis how the group pulled it off. Of that scene, Turner chuckles, “The hardest part was wrangling everyone, to get all the actors there and focused! It was supposed to be this dark, sinister scene, but it was literally someone chatting up until the last second, somebody is saying something funny, somebody is goofing off, Roger [Howarth, Franco] is over there with some kind of moment or gesture or comment, and then I’ve gotta come in and try to be the quarterback in the situation! But we did it one take — 30 seconds, done. It was cool.” His most vivid memory of Jordan piecing it all together, he says, “is the way I was seated on that hospital bed — my feet were dangling [off the ground]. You can’t be hard or serious when your feet are swinging! It kind of took me out of it a little bit, but I had fun. And Briana [Nicole Henry, Jordan] was awesome in that scene.”

BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE When you watch Melissa Claire Egan’s (Chelsea, Y&R) Christmas movie, HOLIDAY FOR HEROES, debuting on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on November 8, just know that the frigid backdrop is for real. “We shot it in Mystic and Norwich, Connecticut at the end of January through mid-February,” the actress explains. “It was freezing cold and we would have 14-hour days, that sometimes lasted until two in the morning in 11-degree weather. So, when you see our breath in the air, that’s authentic, but it was fun to celebrate Christmas again.” Egan enjoyed working with her on-screen love interest, Marc Blucas, who she discovered had a Y&R connection. “He actually knows Josh Morrow [Nick], and I was like, ‘Of course you do!’ ” she chuckles. “They used to play basketball together on a celebrity league. Marc actually reminds me of Josh. We laughed a lot and he’s just a great guy and also a family man like Josh.”

MARTIN-IZED As B&B’s longest-running recurring character, Dan Martin (Chief Bradley Baker), who joined the show in 1997, is often recognized by fans. “I do get that a lot,” he shares. “And, I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of things over the years, so when people approach me, I’m not always certain what they might remember me from.” Among his other popular roles, “We can go all the way back to Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers [in 1992],” Martin shares. “That’s the first thing that really put me on the radar. Later on, it was [1998’s] Rush Hour with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. That made a bit of noise. After Gridiron Gang came out [in 2006], I just had a small part in that but people recognized me all over the place. I also get a lot from Leprechaun 5: In The Hood. It’s amazing how many people watch cheap horror movies because, ‘Boom! There I am,’ and it’s like, ‘We saw you in that!’ It’s so funny; you do a small piece like that and the next thing you know, it’s blown up because people watch it as a guilty pleasure. I remember the first time I saw [Warwick Davis] in that leprechaun outfit; he almost scared me out of the car. It was major!”