Scene And Heard

THE BEST-LAID PLANS Meg Bennett, who recently reprised the role of Julia on Y&R, remembers well when then-Head Writer William J. Bell decided to make Eric Braeden (Victor) a long-term fixture on the show back in 1980. “The plan was to bring him on with Julia and then there was a break-in in the house that totally traumatized Julia, so Victor taught her how to shoot a gun,” recalls Bennett. “Several weeks later, Julia was going to be alone in the house and think there was another break-in and shoot and kill Victor. After Julia killed Victor, Beau Kayzer’s character, Brock, was going to be Julia’s attorney and defend her in the murder case and then the two of them would fall in love. That was his long-term story projection for Julia. But after we were on the show for a couple of months, Bill Bell said, ‘Well, wait a minute, I don’t want to go through with that!’ He saw Eric on camera and saw what a special actor he was — and so unusual for daytime, which I think [accounts for] his longevity. There is just nobody like him! So they changed the story and Julia never shot him. Eric just made such a distinctive presence in daytime and I am really not surprised that he has lasted as long as he has!”

TOO CLOSE TO HOME Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie) and Anthony Geary (ex-Luke) played GH brother and sister for many years, but, the actress reveals, the show flirted with pairing them romantically when Geary played the role of Luke’s look-alike cousin, Bill. “For like a quick second, when they brought him on as Bill Eckert, they toyed with that idea, because we had such good chemistry,” she recalls. “I think in the beginning, I think there was a second where they were going to have him go on the run with Bobbie and then they said, ‘No, you can’t do that with your sister!’ They were always trying to find ways to put the characters together because the audience liked it and there was definitely a spark there. So when he was playing Bill Eckert, they were toying with us having an affair and I think we had one quick kiss in a scene one day and the audience was, like, horrified. They got such negative feedback because he was Bobbie’s cousin. People got really angry and so [the powers-that-be] said, ‘Nope! Not going there! Can’t do it!’ And I remember being a little disappointed, like, ‘Eh, can’t you just push the envelope a little and see where it goes?’ But, no, they didn’t want to touch that one with a 10-foot pole!”

TEAMING UP Kassie DePaiva (Eve, DAYS; ex-Blair, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) was thrilled to work with Nathan Purdee (ex-Hank, OLTL et al) in a new film, Killian and the Comeback Kids. DePaiva and Purdee play husband and wife and parents of the title character, a struggling musician who returns to his hometown to find a job while putting his band together. Killian is played by Purdee’s son, Taylor. “Oh, it was a delight,” DePaiva enthuses. “Nathan came to see me at least once a week when I was sick [battling acute myeloid leukemia]. The first 24 days when I was in the hospital, he was there every other day. He was just a sweetheart. When he asked me if I wanted to do this, he said, ‘You don’t have to,’ and I’m going, ‘For one, I love you and I’m going to and for two, if I don’t do it, God’s going to strike me dead [laughs]! Of all the goodness you’ve provided in my life over that stretch of time, I can’t go and give you your son three days of my life. I can handle that.’ ” DePaiva enjoyed exploring a new character with Purdee. “We were playing an older couple with kids. It was really nice, very family. It was different. There were no remnants of Blair or Hank or anything like that, so it was fresh and fun.”

SEE YOU IN THE MOVIES Linsey Godfrey (Caroline) has been busy in her time away from B&B. “I finished a movie in December called DEADLY RUNWAY,” she shares. “It’s about a fashion photographer who has obsessive tendencies, takes a job teaching, becomes obsessed with one of her students and deadly consequences ensue. Now, I’m doing a movie called OLD FLAME and it’s the reverse of that. My character has a boyfriend who’s a photographer who becomes obsessed with her and deadly consequences ensue. And, I’m about to start a movie called BABY OBSESSION, where my character has a baby and somebody becomes obsessed with trying to take the baby.” In that, Godfrey is hoping to play opposite a former soap fave. “I don’t want to say because I don’t know if it’s official, but he’s close with [daughter] Aleda’s dad [Robert Adamson, ex-Noah, Y&R] and Camryn Grimes [Mariah, Y&R], who is a part of my family. I got a message from him saying, ‘I think I’m playing your husband.’ I was so excited I screamed, so I’ll let you now!”