Scene And Heard

TOTAL SHOW-OFF: When Kimberly McCullough reported to duty at GH for her most recent Robin reprisal, she had a special guest in tow: son Otis, who was born in June. “That was part of my motivation [for coming back], to go parade him around the halls,” she chuckles. “And I learned something about Otis: He’s into blondes! Every blonde lady he came into contact with, he flirted with, including Kristina [Wagner, Felicia]. In the hair and makeup room, there’s a huge corkboard with all the GH babies on it, and he finally got his photo on there. That was cool. So many people were eager to meet him, but either Kristina or John York [Mac] probably were the most excited.” Little Otis is already a pro at being on set (“He’s been on three different sets in his young life”), but his other experiences were on sets where McCullough was directing, not performing. “He watched me on the monitor, and my mom said he was tripping out a little; he didn’t know what to make of it. My mom actually took him up to the fifth floor, where all the old pictures are, and was showing him a photo of me and Tristan [Rogers, ex-Robert; Colin, Y&R] when I was, like, 8. I think he was like, ‘Why is my mommy in all these pictures?’ It was a joyous occasion, being back and having him there with me.”

MISSING IN ACTION: Galen Gering (Rafe, DAYS; ex-Luis) enjoyed being part of the recent PASSIONS Fan Festival and reunion, but he was disappointed by the absence of one particular co-star. “I was really wondering what the hell happened to Ben Masters [ex-Julian],” he shares. “No one seemed to have an answer. I was friggin’ dying to see him.” However, he was happy to catch up with the PASSIONS castmates who were in attendance. “It was really fun being at the reunion and seeing so many people again, like Juliet Mills [ex-Tabitha]. I actually have to call her. My wife and I are going up to see her. I live very close to Kim Ulrich [ex-Ivy]. Kim, James Hyde [ex-Sam], Travis Schuldt [ex-Ethan] and Natalie Zea [ex-Gwen, Schuldt’s wife] were just together hanging out in Canada.”

THE MAMA BEAR NECESSITY: 

EMPIRE’s Taraji P. Henson (Cookie) feels that the success of Lucious and Cookie’s on-screen relationship is due to her off-screen connection with scene partner Terrence Howard (Lucious). “These two have a friendship first,” she says of their alter egos. “[Cookie and Lucious] fell in love when they were really young, so when I got this script, I knew that [Lucious] had to be somebody I trusted as an artist. That’s Terrence. In life, we’re friends. If you see us, people will always call us Cookie and Lucious, but that’s us in life because this is my guy here. I knew that I needed this. If you’re talking about seven years, maybe, however many years this show goes, that’s a long time to spend with a person. And with the complicated places that these characters have to go? I could not see myself doing it without him. It was a no-brainer for me — and I think that’s a big part of the success, because when you talk about the Empire, that’s who you think about: Mama Bear and Papa Bear.”

MAKING AN ENTRANCE: 

B&B’s Steffy may be having problems in her marriage, but for portrayer Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, ziplining into Steffy’s wedding back in March was a highlight of her year. “I didn’t know how they were going to execute it,” Wood smiles. “It was a last-minute thing. We know that Steffy’s a one-upperer, and so she had to one-up the high heel, black outfit with the cape, driving up the aisle on the motorcycle [at their second nups in 2013]. When I was talking with Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] about it, we spoke about Steffy maybe showing up on a Jet Ski, but the logistics just didn’t work. I definitely would have done it, but then Steffy would be soaking wet at her wedding. There was talk about a monster truck, then it was a muscle car, then a convertible. I think what inspired Brad was Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl, but I’m not sure. When they said zipline, I thought it was going to be in Australia, and then I found out it’d be when we were back [in the studio with a green screen]. It was so tastefully done with those beautiful flowers. I was very happy with it.”