Scene And Heard

TAKING ACTION Soap newcomer Noemi Gonzalez (Mia, Y&R) appreciated how welcoming her co-stars were on her first day at the studio, but one in particular was extra helpful. “Tracey Bregman [Lauren] was just immediately so giving to me,” smiles Gonzalez. “I think she might’ve noticed how quiet I was and went out of her way to talk to me. When I told her that I had never worked on a soap before she was like, ‘Oh, honey this,’ and ‘Oh, honey that,’ and more so about the logistic stuff. I found out from her that ‘Action!’ isn’t called to start the scene and that it’s ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1’ instead. I was so thankful that I wasn’t in my first scene yet because I would’ve waited for ‘Action.’ Thanks to Tracey, I didn’t feel like a fool on my first day! She is such a sweetheart and I just really love that she was proactive about helping me, especially when I wasn’t necessarily tapping her shoulder for answers. I was trying not to disturb anybody else’s work ethic or their day, but she was beyond welcoming.”

ACROSS THE SPECTRA SPECTRUM B&B’s Patrika Darbo (Shirley) has made it a point to keep in touch with all the members of her Spectra family. “I adore both of my Courtneys,” Darbo says of Courtney Hope (Sally) and Courtney Grosbeck (ex-Coco). “I’m just astonished by Courtney [Grosbeck], who has gone off to do prime-time shows [HOMELAND]. I’m so proud and happy for her. I keep in touch with Danube [Hermosillo, ex-Darlita], who’s also done some TV and film work since I last saw her. And, Alex [Wyse, ex-Saul] is back on Broadway in Waitress. How fantastic is that?” Darbo was touched that Wyse even insisted she reprise her role in the second season of his successful web series, INDOOR BOYS, despite the fact that they’re now living across the country. “Oh, my gosh, I couldn’t believe it,” Darbo enthuses. “He called up and said, ‘We’re going to film [Darbo’s scenes] here, even though we’re doing it in New York, just so we can keep you in it,’ which I thought was just as adorable as could be. I’m very fortunate to be a part of that. Just like any family, sometimes you move away and you don’t see each other as often as you’d like but you keep in touch, and that’s what we’ve all been doing.”

OFF WITH HER HEAD For GH’s big reveal of Mary Pat’s fate — she was decapitated by Ryan — the doomed nurse’s portrayer, Patricia Bethune, had to make a trip out to Vincent Van Dyke Effects in Burbank, CA, to get a head cast made. “Years prior, I had head casts done when I worked on BUFFY and ANGEL,” she says. “So, I said, ‘Are you sure you need me? I know I have a dead head from BUFFY on a shelf somewhere!’ But no, they needed a fresh one. Thankfully, they have a new process where they do your nose and your ears first so that you can breathe when they pour this silicone cover over your entire body and put a plaster cast on top of that. It could be claustrophobic; you have to go into a Zen mode, as all of a sudden, your senses are taken away. But this time, I could breathe. When I had it done before, they had to put straws up the nose to make sure you could breathe, which is a very odd feeling. These guys were pros and it took about an hour and a half to do the whole thing. Then they come in and take your skin tones and look at your hair and weave in the hair and the lashes. They take a lot of pictures of you for when they get to the stage of molding it and painting it. I can’t even believe how much they made it look like me. I mean, it’s so amazing, how lifelike — or dead-like! — and how real it looks. It takes them maybe two weeks to finish the whole thing. I got to see it when I came in to film one of my last days at GH. They were all so excited about it! They were going to be doing the scene with the head the next day and they ran the head up to me in a box so I could see it. It’s pretty phenomenal!”

THOSE WERE THE DAYS DAYS’s Christopher Sean (ex-Paul) says there’s a lot he already misses about being in Salem. “I miss waking up, going on set, and laughing with everybody,” Sean shares. “I miss the camaraderie and the family. Everyone I worked with, we all cared for each other. We all had different working relationships. Chandler [Massey, Will] and I had ‘dressing room sessions’ where we’d run around and have fun, make it lighthearted just to kind of alleviate all the stress everyone was under with all the dialogue they had. Freddie [Smith, Sonny] and I would always sit and talk business and life. Eric Martsolf [Brady] was like an older brother. No matter what, he was always there with advice or a joke or a dance move or a song. Kristian Alfonso [Hope] was like a mother. She was always kind. She always had something nice to say and a sweet to give, like candy.”