Check out our new podcast, Dishing With Digest!
1 of 4
Photo credit: Getty
ON THE CASE
Donnell Turner (Curtis, GH) did an internal happy dance when he found out that his character would once again be sharing scenes with Michelle Stafford (Nina), whose alter ego hired Curtis to investigate Peter. “I don’t know what she thinks of me, but I just love that woman. She’s awesome,” he enthuses. “Frank [Valentini, executive producer] told me about a month ahead of time and I was excited. We have so much fun. There’s great chemistry there, I think. She’s given me some great nuggets of wisdom that I’ll never forget, like, ‘When a woman takes the time to dress up, the least you can do is tell her she looks beautiful.’ Especially with an actress, with their hours of hair and makeup and wardrobe, sometimes it’s nice to go on set and have someone, in a non-creepy way, say, ‘You look nice. You look beautiful.’ Michelle gave me that one. I respect that wisdom. And she’s just so much fun. I mean, we can sit down and study lines — we just did it yesterday — and within 30 seconds, we’ve put the script down, we’re laughing, and we’re talking about anything and everything under the sun. I’m so pleased to share the canvas with her, honestly.” For the record, the admiration is mutual: “I love working with him,” Stafford enthuses. “He is just terrific and such a lovely person. And I love him with Billy Miller [Drew], too! I think they are fantastic together and I’d love to see more of that friendship.”
2 of 4
Photo credit: JPI
STRONG MEDICINE
B&B alum Linsey Godfrey (ex-Caroline) beat cancer as a teen and survived being hit by a car back in 2015 — and she continues to face life’s adversities with a sense of humor. In fact, she took her mother to the scene of the accident that shattered her ankles and “re-enacted” the incident. “To be honest, it’s not that brave,” she shrugs. “It was actually at the grocery store I go to all the time, but I was determined to go back there, even though it was scary and weird at first. You can still see on the wall where the car hit. Every once in a while, if I hear a car slam on its brakes or beep suddenly, I’ll jump. Since my mom hadn’t been there, I re-created it for her: ‘That’s exactly the position I had my body in after the car accident!’ ” Godfrey credits her mother, Char, for her ability to face life’s challenges head-on. “My mom always taught me that we never had an option to feel bad for ourselves,” she explains. “In fact, if something bad happened, my mom literally threw us a pity party, with cake and balloons and treats. So, you got one night to feel terrible and talk about how life is unfair and you can indulge in self-pity until your heart’s content — but then the next day, you have to get up and move on, and I love that. My mom is like a little Southern Yoda.”
3 of 4
Photo credit: JPI
TIME AND PLACE
DAYS’s Bill Hayes (Doug) and Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie) remember their 1976 TIME cover well. Though the magazine had gone to many soap sets for the story, “The fact that our storyline was the hottest in America at that moment in time, that’s why we were on the cover,” recalls Seaforth Hayes, who was proactive at the photo shoot. “I had looked at TIME covers and decided if we were going to be photographed, we should be photographed in the set of Doug’s Place and I should wear the color of the band around the magazine, the red band,” she explains. “So I got a red negligée. I’m the one that decided to put tears on my face. I said, ‘Well, that’s soap opera. She’s always crying!’ And then the sex and suffering title was on the cover. Other than getting our salaries completely inflated, the material in the article was interesting and not 100 percent correct, I have to say that! I said, ‘Gee, I didn’t know I was making that. I’m not but who cares?’ ” Seeing themselves on the cover “was a surprise,” Seaforth Hayes shares. “We were having lunch in the commissary and our NBC publicist walked in and handed us this magazine and I couldn’t believe it. Suddenly it was pop culture and there we were.” Adds Hayes, “It’s still reverberating. That’s very unique. Nobody else in soap has been on the cover of TIME.”
4 of 4
Photo credit: JPI
MUSIC TO HER EARS
Shanica Knowles, who has been recurring on Y&R as Devon’s musical artist girlfriend, Simone, is thrilled to be able to incorporate her singing talent in her acting — although it was a circuitous route to get there. “At first, I came to Los Angeles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to become a country singer,” she explains. “Yeah, you would think that I would’ve gone to Nashville, but I was new at this and didn’t know better, so I thought L.A. was the place to be. Even though music was a huge part of me, I soon learned that everyone was doing the triple threat thing: singing, acting and dancing. So, I got into acting and in the first year, I booked HANNAH MONTANA and I decided to put the music on hold for a while and that opened up so much of my life and I was able to get other roles. But I’ve never played a music artist, which was what I ultimately wanted in the first place.” To say the least, Knowles feels her first daytime job is a perfect fit. “Y&R was my last audition for 2017 and I found out on Christmas Eve that I got the part, so that was the best Christmas present,” she enthuses. “I was only supposed to be on for three episodes and now I’ve been here for 10. I just feel like I’m destined to play Simone.”
ON THE CASE
Donnell Turner (Curtis, GH) did an internal happy dance when he found out that his character would once again be sharing scenes with Michelle Stafford (Nina), whose alter ego hired Curtis to investigate Peter. “I don’t know what she thinks of me, but I just love that woman. She’s awesome,” he enthuses. “Frank [Valentini, executive producer] told me about a month ahead of time and I was excited. We have so much fun. There’s great chemistry there, I think. She’s given me some great nuggets of wisdom that I’ll never forget, like, ‘When a woman takes the time to dress up, the least you can do is tell her she looks beautiful.’ Especially with an actress, with their hours of hair and makeup and wardrobe, sometimes it’s nice to go on set and have someone, in a non-creepy way, say, ‘You look nice. You look beautiful.’ Michelle gave me that one. I respect that wisdom. And she’s just so much fun. I mean, we can sit down and study lines — we just did it yesterday — and within 30 seconds, we’ve put the script down, we’re laughing, and we’re talking about anything and everything under the sun. I’m so pleased to share the canvas with her, honestly.” For the record, the admiration is mutual: “I love working with him,” Stafford enthuses. “He is just terrific and such a lovely person. And I love him with Billy Miller [Drew], too! I think they are fantastic together and I’d love to see more of that friendship.”
STRONG MEDICINE
B&B alum Linsey Godfrey (ex-Caroline) beat cancer as a teen and survived being hit by a car back in 2015 — and she continues to face life’s adversities with a sense of humor. In fact, she took her mother to the scene of the accident that shattered her ankles and “re-enacted” the incident. “To be honest, it’s not that brave,” she shrugs. “It was actually at the grocery store I go to all the time, but I was determined to go back there, even though it was scary and weird at first. You can still see on the wall where the car hit. Every once in a while, if I hear a car slam on its brakes or beep suddenly, I’ll jump. Since my mom hadn’t been there, I re-created it for her: ‘That’s exactly the position I had my body in after the car accident!’ ” Godfrey credits her mother, Char, for her ability to face life’s challenges head-on. “My mom always taught me that we never had an option to feel bad for ourselves,” she explains. “In fact, if something bad happened, my mom literally threw us a pity party, with cake and balloons and treats. So, you got one night to feel terrible and talk about how life is unfair and you can indulge in self-pity until your heart’s content — but then the next day, you have to get up and move on, and I love that. My mom is like a little Southern Yoda.”
TIME AND PLACE
DAYS’s Bill Hayes (Doug) and Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie) remember their 1976 TIME cover well. Though the magazine had gone to many soap sets for the story, “The fact that our storyline was the hottest in America at that moment in time, that’s why we were on the cover,” recalls Seaforth Hayes, who was proactive at the photo shoot. “I had looked at TIME covers and decided if we were going to be photographed, we should be photographed in the set of Doug’s Place and I should wear the color of the band around the magazine, the red band,” she explains. “So I got a red negligée. I’m the one that decided to put tears on my face. I said, ‘Well, that’s soap opera. She’s always crying!’ And then the sex and suffering title was on the cover. Other than getting our salaries completely inflated, the material in the article was interesting and not 100 percent correct, I have to say that! I said, ‘Gee, I didn’t know I was making that. I’m not but who cares?’ ” Seeing themselves on the cover “was a surprise,” Seaforth Hayes shares. “We were having lunch in the commissary and our NBC publicist walked in and handed us this magazine and I couldn’t believe it. Suddenly it was pop culture and there we were.” Adds Hayes, “It’s still reverberating. That’s very unique. Nobody else in soap has been on the cover of TIME.”
MUSIC TO HER EARS
Shanica Knowles, who has been recurring on Y&R as Devon’s musical artist girlfriend, Simone, is thrilled to be able to incorporate her singing talent in her acting — although it was a circuitous route to get there. “At first, I came to Los Angeles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to become a country singer,” she explains. “Yeah, you would think that I would’ve gone to Nashville, but I was new at this and didn’t know better, so I thought L.A. was the place to be. Even though music was a huge part of me, I soon learned that everyone was doing the triple threat thing: singing, acting and dancing. So, I got into acting and in the first year, I booked HANNAH MONTANA and I decided to put the music on hold for a while and that opened up so much of my life and I was able to get other roles. But I’ve never played a music artist, which was what I ultimately wanted in the first place.” To say the least, Knowles feels her first daytime job is a perfect fit. “Y&R was my last audition for 2017 and I found out on Christmas Eve that I got the part, so that was the best Christmas present,” she enthuses. “I was only supposed to be on for three episodes and now I’ve been here for 10. I just feel like I’m destined to play Simone.”