Scene and Heard

Rodney Van Johnson, who’s new to B&B as Sheila’s attorney, has fond memories of his run as PORT CHARLES’s Sebastian. “I really enjoyed playing a doctor,” he enthuses. “It was hard because of all the technical terms you had to say, but it was a fun challenge.” Van Johnson’s time on the show was particularly memorable, he says, because “I had the chance to work with an incredible actor [Mitch Longley, ex-Dr. Matt Harmon] who was in a wheelchair. I had never worked with anyone in a wheelchair before and what was really cool was, at that time, they had him in a wheelchair that stood up [the Parastep -1], and so he could stand up and perform surgery. I remember at that time, Christopher Reeve [ex-Ben, LOVE OF LIFE] was [also using a wheelchair to aid in his mobility], so they were trying to get that wheelchair, which was extremely expensive. I would say that story was incredibly memorable, and I really enjoyed working with him. He was great.”

When Scotty impulsively proposed to Liesl during GH’s 15,000th episode last year, portrayer Kin Shriner put his own spin on the material. He explains, “That morning, I was listening to a Chubby Checker song called ‘Changes’ and the lyrics were, ‘I’ve been running wild through my life, I never knew which way the wind was blowing,’ and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to see if I can incorporate that into my proposal to Obrecht to jazz it up!’ I didn’t think that they would really care because the gag was, she said no and that I did it in front of all of those women! I thought, ‘What fool would propose to his new girlfriend in front of five women? And three of them [Bobbie, Laura and Lucy] are his exes!’ But our director, Phideaux [Xavier], said, ‘Kin, if Scott proposed at the Metro Court, yeah, it might have worked, but if he proposes to her in front of all his exes, it’s going to be funnier!’ I said, ‘All right!’ So, I made a fool out of myself, but I was pleased with it because I was able to tweak it to make it work, and people seemed to enjoy it, which is always what you hope for.”

Y&R’s Zuleyka Silver (Audra) is delighted to be crossing storyline paths with Trevor St. John [Tucker]. “I think he’s extremely talented and I love just observing how he works,” the actress praises. “I was talking to him just recently and asked, ‘You’re so great at using your environment when you’re acting. Is that a conscious or subconscious thing?’ And he said, ‘Oh, it’s subconscious.’ I really look up to him as an actor and I feel like I’m learning from just watching him. He has the all these little specific mannerisms as Tucker, which I think is just brilliant. He’s so fun to work with because he’s always surprising me. I’ll read a scene and I’ll have a certain idea of what I’m going to do, and then he’ll sometimes do something completely different. I love that because I don’t like to be married to my choices. I’ll just play off of him and that’s what makes it really fun and surprising on set. When I know we’re working together, I get excited, and try to guess, ‘What are you gonna do today?’ I love that because it reminds me to stay open and just go with him. At the end of the day, it reminds me of why I got into acting.”

Bryan Dattilo’s latest stint on DAYS as the imprisoned Lucas afforded him the chance to work with George DelHoyo, who plays Statesville inmate, Orpheus. “That was awesome,” says Dattilo. “It’s the first time I ever worked with him, ever met him; we never really ran into each other, because we didn’t have scenes or storyline together.” The experience “was hilarious,” notes the actor. “When we had our first scenes, he really wanted to rehearse. He was amazing with it. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ He said, ‘Let’s do it one more time.’ I said, ‘Okay, it’s up to you,’ because I never say no to more rehearsal. Well, we must have rehearsed this thing, I don’t know how many times — like, for an hour! The next day George came up to me and said, ‘Bryan, I’m so sorry.’ I asked, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘I had no idea that you had been on the show for so long. I thought it was your first episode. I just wanted to make sure you felt comfortable.’ I told him, ‘I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable, because you kept wanting to run the scene.’ It was really funny.” Dattilo was impressed by DelHoyo’s work. “George has a great pace about him. He doesn’t let the rush get to him. He takes his time. I actually picked up a few things from him, which I try to do with everyone I work with, just to really sink my teeth into my work and enjoy it. There are lines that you just don’t rush. And he doesn’t rush one line.”