BACK IN IT
Soap vet Linda Dano (ex-Felicia, ANOTHER WORLD et al) came out of retirement for Executive Producer/star Alison Sweeney’s (ex-Sami, DAYS) Hallmark Movies & Mysteries flick, CHRONICLE MYSTERIES: VINES THAT BIND, and says it was a labor of love. “Alison Sweeney called me at home — in daytime, we all know each other — and said she was producing three of these films, and she had a part for me in the third one,” smiles Dano. “I never hesitated. I watch Hallmark a lot. I think it’s because with the world the way it is right now, it’s like going home again for me. It’s warm and fuzzy and sweet and kind, and I love it! It makes me feel good. So, when she asked me to come, I absolutely, without hesitation, said yes. I’ve been retired for about 14 years now. My only worry was that I couldn’t do it and everyone said to me, ‘It’s like riding a bike. You’ll see. It will come back.’ Thankfully, it did! Everyone was so kind to me there, especially Alison. We laughed a lot it. I was so grateful to be invited to this party, and I really loved being an actor again. I do sort of miss it. So, who knows. Would it be nice to come back and do more of these? Yes. This was really good for me. I’m 75 now, and I feel like I’m still 43, so it was good for me. I had such a good time. I’ve had a magical career.”
SURPRISE, SURPRISE
Drake Hogestyn (John, DAYS) admits he was caught off-guard by the Leo twist. “It was so interesting because I was sitting in my dressing room and I was reading the scripts and then more came in and I went, ‘Oh, goodie!’ ” he recalls. “And so right away I picked up the scripts and started going through them. The last script I got, the last page was, ‘John goes to Diana Cooper’s door. He hears she’s in Salem and she opens the door and says, “Roman!” ’ And I went, ‘What? Are you kidding me?’ I didn’t even see it coming. I like to be surprised like everybody else, and I was surprised! I was so surprised that I got up and walked out of my dressing room, walked across the studio floor, and I knew the people that know everything are in wardrobe. Richard Bloore, our costume designer, was there and I hold up my script and say, ‘Oh, my God, Diana?’ and he goes, ‘Yep, and Leo’s [Greg Rikaart] gonna be your boy!’ I didn’t see this one coming. Those are really pleasant surprises.”
SUMMER LOVIN’
Zach Tinker (Fen, Y&R) is getting to know co-star Hunter King (Summer). “Hunter is a great human being, so it’s very easy to work with her,” he enthuses. “She’s a fantastic actress and very natural but she’s very disarming, and in a good way. My very first scene with her was a kissing scene. I had just met her that day and already we were going to make out, so it felt a little weird to me, at first. Then we talked about other things and she told me all about her fiancé, which made me realize, ‘You know what? This is just acting and it’s our job.’ I’ve done this kind of thing before but I never had it be so easy with someone because they make you feel you can put your guard down.” As far as that smooching sequence, Tinker explains, “It went well, even great, but you should ask her because she might have a different opinion [laughs]. We had to do three takes of kissing, then the scene came back where we’re coming out of the kiss, so I think we had to kiss eight times. At that point I was thinking, ‘Okay, I feel like I should buy her dinner now.’ ”
SHORT AND SWEET
Before joining GH as Shiloh, Coby Ryan McLaughlin had a brief run as Y&R’s Andrew, where he got to share scenes with the late Kristoff St. John (ex-Neil). “I am so glad that I got to work with Kristoff St. John,” McLaughlin declares. “He was an amazing guy. We would always end up walking out to our cars at the end of the day; we always wrapped [our scenes] at the same time and it became this thing every single day where we would sit in the parking lot and chill and hang out and just talk about life. He showed me pictures of him and his fiancée. I was like, ‘Wow, what a really nice, open man.’ His energy was really pure and really lovely. I didn’t know him very well, but it really affected me when I heard about [his passing]. He was very cool, very sweet and very warm. I wish I had gotten to know him better.”