INTERVIEW WITH KALE BROWNE (MICHAEL) PART #3

Part #1

Part #2

AWT: What is your favorite storyline from your time in Bay City?

KB: Courting Donna. That was great. We had so much fun. Mike never really had a job to speak of that you could point a finger at; he did this, that and the other thing, but his main job was Donna. It was just an awful lot of fun. There weren’t specific storylines, but I remember actors, especially all the Vicky/Marleys (Ellen Wheeler, Anne Heche, and Jensen Buchanan). Jensen was great. I can’t remember anyone ever just walking in and taking over a role like she did, she was fabulous. I also remember doing a scene with Ellen Wheeler one time where she was Marley pretending to be Vicky, I think, and if I ever got confused about which daughter I was talking to, all I had to do was look at her feet because Marley was pigeon-toed. Ellen stands differently depending on which character she was playing, and as long as you knew that, you could tell who you were working with in a scene. That’s the kind of actor she is. And of course working with John (Considine), David (Forsyth), Linda Dano (Felicia), and Anna Holbrook (Sharlene) – talk about an actor who shows up 100% in a scene. The people who I worked with closely were people you could develop a real bond with. You got to depend on that other person to be there for you, and they always were. Some actors, if you go up (ed note. Forget your lines) will just let you die, and some will jump in and give you a little bit to get you back. The latter is what I found while working on AW.

AWT: Was there a storyline that you wished had gone a different way or one you didn’t like?

KB: I don’t remember a specific storyline. Every so often they would experiment; they don’t have anything for you or you fall out of favor with the fans, but they have you on contract and so they’ll try to shake things up. I remember a couple of times they’d try to put me with different women and I was so spoiled from working with Anna that I wasn’t always generous and probably tanked a storyline by bad acting or non-acting. But you know, the only thing I ever put my foot down with anybody on that show was somebody kept writing Michael saying ‘I could just kill her’ (referring to his daughter) and I wouldn’t say it. There’s a lot of things I can say, but I won’t even say that jokingly on the air, just because I get letters from abused kids and all kinds of people, and I just don’t want to put that out there. That was the only thing I ever said absolutely no to.

AWT: Was there a storyline you would have liked for Michael?

KB: How about bringing Another World back and bringing back Michael older, in the Mac Cory part? They actually did talk to me about that at one point, about Michael being the patriarch of the town, and I thought: I’m not sure I’m ready to be put out to pasture. But then a new EP was brought on to the show, and the idea was dropped.

AWT: What have you been up to since leaving AW? Where can your fans see you?

KB: Lately, episodes of Without a Trace, Law & Order, and Cold Case, although last year I played Dr. Miles Berman briefly on Days of Our Lives, and did a number of small films. I was in a production of Michael Weller’s Moonchildren, directed by my ex-wife, Karen (Allen), last summer. I do a lot of voice-over work, but the majority of my time is spent writing. At times, I’m a paid screenwriter. My work has been optioned, but so far not produced. But there’s nothing better than being paid to do what you’d do for free. Otherwise, I’m a full-time dad. My son lives with me now, and he’s training as a chef. I live where it’s peaceful and quiet, and the beavers are my neighbors. I like it.

AWT: Would you like to say anything to the AW fans who are still following you and your career?

KB: God bless you all, then and now. The AW audience continues to be the most incredibly loyal and enthusiastic fans I’ve ever come across. Thanks… you made the job so much fun.

INTERVIEW WITH KALE BROWNE (MICHAEL) PART #2

For Part #1 click here.

AWT: What was it like working with Anna Stuart (Donna)?

KB: Anna Stuart is unique. There is nobody like her, and from the moment we met we just clicked. To this day we’re still friends. During our time on the show, we spent more time together than any boyfriend and girlfriend ever did. I just think the world of her. I have the attention span of a hummingbird, and she’s got this photographic memory. Sometimes we’d be in a scene, and there wasn’t a line within eight miles of my head. I’d watch her. If she got lost, she’d pull the page up in her head, find the line and say the line. You could watch her do this, it was remarkable.

AWT: What do you think contributed to your fantastic chemistry with her?

KB: We were married in a previous life? I can’t explain it. We had freedom to play and have fun, and she was just great to play around with. You can’t write chemistry. You can try, but the fact is, chemistry will always win out. If two actors who just can’t cut it are put together, there’s no chemistry. The audience doesn’t buy it. I guess we were really lucky and I feel like it was more or less ordained in a way.

AWT: You also had a great fraternal chemistry with David Forsyth (John).

KB: Dave was like meeting an old friend that I’d never met before. He and I had a lovely connection from day one. He’s my best friend to this day. There was really a lot of love between all of us in that place; which you really need when working with each other that much. Again, you couldn’t write that chemistry. We just clicked and started laughing when we met, and we haven’t stopped laughing since.

AWT: Meanwhile, Michael was the mortal enemy of Donna’ father, Reginald, played by John Considine.

KB: This guy was just great, and the biggest laugher. He would pull stuff on camera and do stuff that would have me just wetting my pants! And I couldn’t say anything because he would always do it when the camera was on me. We just had a beautiful connection naturally.

AWT: Your had two runs as Michael on AW, the first run just recently ending on the AW episodes currently running on Hulu and YouTube.

KB: Yeah, the first time I left was after my son, Nicholas, was born. My wife at the time was working as well, and it was kind of nuts because I barely saw my son. I wanted us all to be based in the same city. So at the end of my contract I left AW and New York, and we moved to Los Angeles where we could both work.

AWT: How did your return come about?

KB: When I decided that I wanted to come back to AW (I was told that the door was always open), the producer at the time, for some baffling reason, didn’t like me at all. Even though I never met her, I was told flat-out that it wasn’t going to happen. Many months later, I get a phone call from the new Executive Producer offering me a job. Oddly enough, when Michael returned he had a son named Nicholas, and I said ‘Isn’t that amazing. Where did you come up with that name?’

AWT: What did you like best about Michael his second time around in Bay City?

KB: Michael now having a son gave more story. The second time around we did some of the best stuff I’d ever been given, because we had Jill Phelps and John Valenti by that time.

AWT: How do you feel your character differed the second time around? How did he evolve?

KB: Gray hair. I was bitching and moaning and, as everyone knows, the only person that bitches more than a non-working actor is a working actor. So I was complaining one day and my wife at the time said, ‘You never were the young buck on the show, more like the middle aged buck’ and I think what happened is that I went past the middle aged buck…. But honestly, Michael was me. I mean fundamentally what people saw for the most part – except for the situations – was me. You work so hard. In the early days, when you were working there, you’d see more of your cast-mates than your own family. We’d shoot until 2:00 or 4:00AM, sometimes all night and into the next day, and just move over into the next studio to start the new day’s schedule. Back then, they could do that and you wouldn’t really have time to think. Your character developed as you developed. As an actor, all I can really do is keep trying to improve and be more in the moment and do my own work before I got there. I don’t think there was any conscious evolution. I think if he evolved, he simply evolved through age.

AWT: What were your feelings on his exit?

KB: Believe me, no one was more upset about Michael being killed off than I was. I had been working off contract for a few months and heard about it on set. That’s the cruel thing about soaps. I know someone who learned they were being fired by walking on set while another actor was being screen-tested for his role. The stories are apocryphal, but they’re true. I think the higher-ups believe you’re going to act out, or act like a jerk or something, and so a lot of times they’ll wait until the last second and then tell you that you just worked your last show. Anyway, I continued working for a few months when someone (God bless them) who shall remain nameless called me up and said that they just got the scripts for December and January and told me that Michael was going to die. I was so not prepared to die. So I called up the Executive Producer and went up to her office and was told that they were bringing on a different family and were phasing out the Hudsons. The writing was pretty much on the wall by then about the show’s future, it only lasted a few more years, but it’s a marathon job and when you’re wound up and ready to go and then someone says ‘Not so fast, there, Bob,” you’re not quite ready to be stopped. But you know that’s always the case. When you’re an actor there are no sure things. Afterward, I was thinking that it was still, all in all, the best experience and I was grateful that someone paid me to do the thing that I love to do…. Then at the same time I’m wrapping up at AW, I got a call from One Life to Live and they asked me if I would work off-contract and I said ‘well, sure’ because actors act. For a while I was airing on both shows at the same time, because I had already started as Sam Rappaport at OLTL while Michael was being shown in flashbacks on AW. I felt very fortunate to have another role to step into.

Come back next week for Part #3!

INTERVIEW WITH KALE BROWNE (MICHAEL) PART #1

AWT: Do you remember your initial audition for the role of Michael Hudson?

KB: I was in Brazil doing a movie and just got back to Los Angeles. I didn’t know if I ever wanted to do a soap, not that they were knocking my door down, but all of a sudden my agent called me up and told me that I had a screen test with Deirdre Hall over at Days of Our Lives for the John Black character. So I went in and auditioned and (Deirdre) was great, really wonderful to work with, and then I didn’t hear anything, and I thought, ‘God, I know I did okay.’ I mean, not to hear anything was just odd. And then a week later, I get a phone call asking would I do a soap in New York, and I said okay. So I got on a plane and flew to New York. I tested on the sound stage with Anna Stuart (Donna). I flew in on a Monday, auditioned on that Tuesday, and was shooting on Wednesday. They actually had been shooting the back of Michael’s head while they were looking for an actor. How I got called in was that the casting director remembered me from an audition for As The World Turns about 4 or 5 years back, and so they were looking for me to audition me, but I had been in Brazil. So the first NBC knew I was back was when I came in for the DAYS test. I guess it was meant to be.

AWT: What did they tell you they were looking for in the character?

KB: Just that Michael was kind of the mysterious guy and the father of twins, and that I had been (involved with) Donna. The thing is, something like that, you’re playing the moment, so you do your work as an actor to figure out your history, and you go in and do it. I was just having fun as an actor because I thought that this would probably be thirteen weeks and I could pay off my VISA card and that would be that. So I’d go in thinking: ‘Let’s make him a shell-shocked Vietnam Vet’. I’d go in with that as my subtext and just give it a little bit of that underneath, and they started writing it. The writers were very perceptive and could see what you’re doing and take it and run with it. It was amazing.

AWT: What was it like working at Another World?

KB: The wonderful thing about Another World, bar none, is that it was always about the work, no matter what. It was like you were in a lifeboat together. You don’t choose the people who jump over with you, but now that you’re in this situation, you’re all each other have. No matter what was happening in the dressing rooms – and there was a lot! – it was always about the work. This was after teleprompters, and we’d have 12 to 15 page scenes early on, and sometimes you’d get lost in there and sometimes it became surfing. Because they’re not going to cut the cameras once you’ve got something going. We weren’t going to go back to the beginning. They didn’t call ‘cut’ unless someone came in and parked their car in the middle of the scene. So we’d ad-lib. We’d figure out our way back and it’d be like surfing with somebody else. Tommy Eplin (Jake) was great at it. It’d be like playing a symphony, and then someone would say a word that would spark something and you’d work your way back, and then I’d think ‘My God that was great!’ It really required a lot of attention and was a high adrenaline experience. It was the most fun show I’ve ever worked on, and certainly the best group of people.

Come back on Wednesday, January 27th for Part #2!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: RHONDA ROSS KENDRICK (TONI)

Rhonda Ross has joined the Advisory Board and will serve as the Honorary Chair for Hearts of Gold's upcoming fall fundraising gala. The event will feature co-Mistresses of Ceremonies Soledad O’Brien , Anchor and Special Correspondent for CNN and Goodwill Ambassador for Hearts of Gold, along with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Tamara Tunie (Jessica; ATWT).

Hearts of Gold is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of New York City's homeless mothers and their children. The 13th Annual Fall Fundraising Gala, It’s A Love Thing, will be held on Thursday, November 12 at 6:00 p.m. at Metropolitan Pavilion on 125 West 18th Street. The family-friendly evening will include a cocktail reception and a live auction. The highlight of the 1970s-themed night will be a runway fashion show with the fall collections of Beth Bowley, Teenflo, Transit, Zapa, and other designers. For the first time this year, the gala will also feature an after-hours party dubbed Love Unlimited, to be held following the fashion show and auction at Metropolitan Pavilion.

In addition to her work with Hearts of Gold, Rhonda let Another World Today in on what else she's been up to since leaving Bay City:

Another World holds and will always hold a very special place in my heart. I learned so much from the producers, directors and the veteran actors on that show. The people in the cast remain my dear friends to this day. On top of that, we had the best fans of any show ever! I will be forever grateful for my time in Bay City !

Since the show went off the air, I have continued to act as well as perform my Song-Telling concerts (Jazz vocals with a spoken-word vibe) around the country and around the world. Then, because of a love for real estate, in 2008, I launched Ross Realty International and am having a lot of success being an entrepreneur!

I gave birth to my son, Raif-Henok Emmanuel Kendrick, on August 7th, 2009, one week shy of my birthday (which is on the 14th). We are both Leos! His name is very meaningful: Raif (pronounced Ra-eef) means merciful, forgiving, and big-hearted. Henok is the Ethiopian translation of "Enoch" - a very faithful man in the bible. Emmanuel means "God is with us," and Kendrick (my married last name) actually means "Royal Power."

Having now become a mother, I am very sensitive to the overwhelming desire that each mother has for her child, and I want all of NYC's mothers to feel the pride, satisfaction, and overall contentment that comes with seeing their children thrive! Hearts of Gold is an amazing organization that serves homeless mothers and their very deserving children by making sure the that their children receive holiday celebrations, and school clothes and supplies, and their mothers receive shelter and employment. I am honored and humbled to have joined the Advisory Board of Hearts of Gold and to be serving as the Honorary Chair of their upcoming fundraising gala on November 12th!

Individual tickets for It’s A Love Thing are available for $250, $500, and $1,000, with tables starting at $2,500. Tickets to the after-party, which runs from 10:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. and includes open bar and dancing, are $50. Proceeds from It’s A Love Thing and Love Unlimited will be used to support the more than 450 children and over 375 mothers in residence annually at three Manhattan shelters.

More information at: http://www.heartsofgold.org

INTERVIEW WITH MAEVE MCGUIRE (ELENA)

Part #1

Part #2

Part #3

INTERVIEW WITH ALICE BARRETT-MITCHELL (FRANKIE) PART #2

Part #1

AWT: How was it returning to AW as Frankie’s look alike Annie?

ABM: The funny story about Annie was that literally two weeks after I moved to Los Angeles, (then-AW's Executive Producer) Chris Goutman calls me to offer me the role of Annie. He said that regretfully Frankie is so very dead and they were very sorry they couldn’t bring her back, but they had this role of Frankie’s lookalike, Annie. They offered me a two year contract, but I was hesitant with all the cancellation rumors circling and didn’t want to move my family back to New York when everything was so iffy. So we agreed to do six months and see what happened - and then the axe fell!

AWT: What was it like filming the last episode of AW as Ghost Frankie?

ABM: I think it was probably like what the Guiding Light set is now. They were all in mourning. Another World’s cast also had to film a lot of episodes in those short weeks to make the finale date. Since I had already mourned and moved on when I left the show back in 1996, it was a little different for me. It was great seeing the cast and crew again, but because I had already grieved Frankie’s end back in 1996, it was a little less burdensome. I was glad to be able to say a final good-bye to the show as Frankie and not Annie, and grateful that Frankie was given a place in the finale because I felt Frankie had been a thread in the fabric of the show and had earned a place at the table. If I had been in Los Angeles when everything was wrapped up, I would’ve been so sad. Even more bittersweet was that the 35th Anniversary Book came out the week the show was ending, so we were using them like yearbooks as we said our good-byes.

One funny thing I remember was that we were shooting so many episodes so quickly, that we had to do quick costume changes. They had a changing booth right on the floor. I remember changing as fast as I could and suddenly standing in the booth naked when Chris Goutman’s voice came over the system doing the countdown for the next scene.

I loved my final scene with Stephen, where Frankie comes to him in a dream and gives him permission to be in love with someone else. It was really us saying good-bye. I felt whoever wrote those scenes really knew Frankie and knew her and Cass’s relationship really well.

I also really enjoyed working with a grown-up Charlie. There was a scene where as Ghost Frankie, I was supposed to put my arm around her as we look up at the stars in the sky. Well, since I was a ghost she wasn’t supposed to see me and we weren’t supposed to be looking at each other. I lift my arm to reach around her and bonked the poor actress in the head! She was a pro but I was so bummed that the last moment Frankie has with her daughter is hitting her in the head!

AWT: What have you been up to since leaving AW? Where can your fans see you these days?

ABM: Well, I’m still a working actor, which is entirely due to my manager who has stuck by me through so many years. For a while after Another World, I was kind of stuck in an age range where I was too mature to play the younger cool moms, and too young to play a mother of older kids. I literally had one line on my resume that represented seven years of hard work, which, in many ways, left me in the position of having to start over. I’ve just started getting jobs playing the mom of kids that are my own kids’ ages, in no small part due to my manager banging down doors and never giving up on me.

In January I shot a movie, 13, with Mickey Rourke, 50 cent, and Jason Statham. It’s a dark story where I play the mother of Sam Riley, who is just fabulous and gives a breakout performance.

Next I did, a movie called, ironically, Twelve, about rich kids in New York and excessive drug use. I play Chace Crawford’s mother. He was a really sweet guy. I even asked if they had cast his mother on Gossip Girl and he said ‘Sorry, but yeah.'

In 2008, I did a naughty little movie that may give all the Frankie fans pause. It's called Choke, with Sam Blackwell, based off a book by Chuck Palahniuk. I played a sex addict and did my first nude scene. It was a real leap of faith for me and was a bit nerve wracking, but I felt everything was handled with respect and treated beautifully. I really love the movie.

I also did a movie with Richard Gere called Brooklyn’s Finest where I play his wife. It was out a year ago and bought at Sundance. I think it’s currently being reedited. Hopefully I won’t end up on the cutting room floor!

AWT: When Another World Today premiered, Frankie was the overwhelming first choice for the character AW fans wanted brought back from the dead, pronto. To what do you attribute her enduring popularity?

ABM: Oh, that’s so kind! I think what made her so popular was that her overall agenda was to be good. Frankie was a good soap character without being a goody two shoes. She was funny, quirky, had a backbone and was fiercely loyal. She was a truly spiritual person. I remember doing a SOW online chat and a question came ‘When is Frankie going to embrace true religion?’ and I remember replying ‘Who has stronger family values than Frankie?’ Frankie really was a woman who walked the walk. Maybe she didn’t practice in the traditional sense, but she was dedicated to family, she was a loving mother, a devoted wife, and unflinchingly devoted to the people in her life. Isn’t this exactly what Christ preached?

AWT: What would be a dream storyline for Frankie after all these years?

ABM: Wow, I’m still trying to get used to other versions of us out there! I think a dream storyline that I had for Frankie was that she’d go to law school and become a public defender. Bringing a bit of my political side into it, Frankie would’ve stuck up for the underdog as she always did and probably would’ve battled Cass in court. They’d have that respectful, adult relationship like Nick and Nora or Hepburn and Tracy.

AWT: Do you have anything to say to the fans who campaigned to have Frankie live again?

ABM: I can’t tell you how moving it is that people loved the character so much. The loyalty of the fans has been so sustaining to me over the years. I will be in a store and will get recognized and the funny thing is, it’s not my face but my voice that will get the head whipping around in my direction. I seriously cannot emphasize how sustaining it is to realize you had an impact and your work was appreciated. It has really meant everything to me.

INTERVIEW WITH ALICE BARRETT-MITCHELL (FRANKIE): Part #1

AWT: Do you remember your initial audition as Frankie?

ABM: I remember the screen-test. I really didn’t know much about Frankie from the sides except that she was originally named Francesca. What I was told about the character was that she was going to be brought in to shake up Nicole (Love) and Cass, and give Nicole a run for her money.

AWT: What do you think you brought to your screen-test that made it clear you were the actress for the job?

ABM: The scene for my screen-test was a pretty generic scene where Cass and Frankie were doing that quibbling thing they do and at one point I got the idea to inject something a little silly that might bring something else to the table. So I did a silly dance and allowed for a goofy moment. Then I had to wait because it took them forever to decide! Once I was tested, I signed a contract and was on hold for three weeks until finally I got the call. I found out that in those weeks while I was waiting they were tinkering with the character and made her a Frame so she would be related to someone on canvas (Sharlene) and also made her intro storyline to the show that she comes to Bay City to avenge her uncle’s death. Initially Frankie is convinced Felicia is involved and even got her arrested, which is how Frankie and Cass come together initially, at very extreme odds.

AWT: How much did you contribute to the character's evolution and direction?

ABM: Well, first my name was changed from Francesca to Mary Frances. Then I shortened it to Frankie because I liked her having a spunky nickname which I also had when I was on another PGP soap, The Catlins, where I played a character named Jackie.

Frankie took another unexpected turn when, in the scene where Frankie and Cass have their first kiss and recognize their attraction, they were at a hotdog stand, hiding from someone they were following and the scene called for me to eat a hot dog with sauerkraut and I told the director I don’t eat meat but would make it work with a bun with sauerkraut and everyone felt that worked for Frankie so she became a vegetarian. The crystal Frankie wore around her neck was initially my crystal as it was something I wore and the producers took that and the non-meat and decided to take Frankie on a New Age bent. It was a very flexible and creative that way. When Frankie went New Age she really took off.

AWT: What is your favorite storyline from your time in Bay City?

ABM: Kathleen/Cass/Frankie was hard, but it was the most dramatic stuff. It was difficult to retrieve the comedy considering that Frankie had a miscarriage and briefly died, but it was the best written stuff! In the later years, a storyline that I liked was when Patti D'Arbanville came on as Frankie’s high school friend, Christy Carson, who came to town and set Frankie up for her husband’s murder so she could go after Cass.

AWT: Do you have a scene that you think just went perfectly, couldn't have been done any better?

ABM: The ones that are the most fun are the biggest. A lot of the early scenes in Kathleen’s return story were great to play. One sequence that comes to mind is that just after Kathleen returns and before the triangle really begins, Cass gets in Carl’s face and warns Carl to stay away from his wife - referring to Kathleen and not Frankie - which Frankie overhears. At this stage, Frankie’s still trying to play it cool and act like Kathleen’s return isn’t driving her crazy. In a later scene, Frankie comes back in from a run and Kathleen calls for Cass and Frankie, who has been trying to not let any of this get to her. In that moment she just tosses off a line to Cass as she hands him the phone( I’m sorry I wish I could remember it!) that is just such a subtle knife to the ribs that was so very, very real and was the first time we got to see her anxiety about the situation show. I thought it was just a great, perfect subtle moment.

AWT: Is there a scene or storyline you wish you could make disappear from public consciousness? Or at least get the chance to do again?

ABM: There was one storyline with a woman whose child dies and Cass represented her in a lawsuit against the hospital and it involved prosecuting John for malpractice. Eventually the woman was to come between Cass and Frankie as Cass enjoyed being this woman’s white knight to her damsel in distress. Frankie was caught between growing more and more suspicious of Cass’ relationship with this woman and having torn allegiances between Cass and John. On paper, the story seemed great, but there was something about the execution and how Frankie’s part in it was written that just didn’t work for me. I liked that this was not another Cecile-type that was threatening Frankie’s marriage, but a woman who appealed to Cass’s need to be the hero. However, the way things played out and the roles we all played in the story just didn’t ring true to me at the time.

AWT: What do you think contributed to your fantastic chemistry with Stephen Schnetzer? How did the two of you go about creating it?

ABM: The screen test laid the groundwork. We made each other laugh a lot and cracked each other up really well. I tell anyone that the reason I’ve been married to my husband for almost 27 years is because my husband makes me laugh. We’re good friends as well as lovers and partners. Stephen and I approached our work relationship as a partnership. I haven’t worked with him in 13 years, but I still call Stephen my partner. There was a lot of respect between us and we had a shared commitment to show a different type of couple in daytime.

AWT: What did you love about Cass and Frankie’s relationship?

ABM: Stephen and I took the standard soap couple and tried to go beyond that. A convention of soap is infidelity and one thing I loved about Cass and Frankie was she was one woman with one man from the time she came on the show to the time she left. She never slept with anyone else. Yes, she left Cass and she had that one moment with Joe Carlino (played by Joseph Barbara) who was originally supposed to be Frankie’s first possible affair. We played it for one episode where he grabbed Frankie’s hand and they shared a moment of connection and the reaction was ‘What in God’s name is going on?!’ so that was that and Joe was sent off to shake up Paulina and Jake because they were a couple that was always in trouble.

When Cecile returned again and gave Cass a love potion, Frankie originally was supposed to enter, see them in the throes of passion, and she assumes the worst, gets mad and leaves. But Stephen and I fought to give the relationship a higher level of respect than that. They had been through a lot and there was an earned baseline of trust. Given how long Frankie and Cass were married and that they were in a mature relationship, and that Frankie knows Cecile’s game, Frankie would give Cass the benefit of the doubt and accuse Cecile. So that’s what we ended up doing! We played the scene as a joke where Frankie finally moves in to punch Cecile and hits Cass instead. One of the things I am most proud of about Cass and Frankie’s relationship was that Stephen and I were able to forge a stable loving relationship which was pretty unusual for daytime.

AWT: Can you tell us about learning about Frankie’s death and filming it?

ABM: I think that sometime in the last years I was on the show, the writing for Frankie wasn’t there anymore. In the last few years, Frankie was serving coffee and acting as the soundboard for others to bring up to speed on their story. I knew it at the time but didn’t know how to get her back in the thick of things. You have new writers coming in over the years and they prepare for the show by watching who is playing and create story for the characters that are already working so those characters continue to get the storyline and the airtime. There became so rapid a turnover of producers and headwriters that soon there was no one who was really familiar with Frankie. Frankie’s creators were gone and the newbies didn’t know who she was and so after a while, when they’re looking at the budget to trim costs, your name comes up.

I think it was a bit of a miscalculation on the part of the show to kill her off and in such a brutal way. They wanted something dramatic and her murder ended up being the entire hour. I think that they forgot who their audience was - they’re mothers. I really fought against giving Frankie a ‘beautiful’ death. There was something about ‘Take Frankie beautiful and at peace’ originally in the script and I countered that Frankie would’ve begged for her life and fought to be with her daughter so her death wouldn’t be beautiful. I allowed myself to make a few demands because I wanted Frankie’s death to be done realistically and I told them to have make-up put a big ring bruise around my neck, which they did. The audience was going to see the ugly realities of her murder.

A few weeks later, I happened to be at the studio and observed Stephen filming a scene that was supposed to be just three weeks after Frankie’s murder, where Cass goes to a disco and Cass the Cassanova was supposed return. Felicia and Morgan (played by Grayson McCouch) were going to confront him about it and Cass was going to defend his actions saying this was his way of moving on. Stephen saw me observing and we got to talking and I just told him ‘Wow. I have to tell you, this just makes me sad. This scene doesn’t respect Cass’s growth at all.’ And Stephen listened and talked to the producers. He ended up playing the scene with a more tragic tone, with it being Cass in denial and trying to lose himself in his old ways to avoid his grief.

Come back next week for Part #2 of our interview, where Alice discusses her return to Bay City as lawyer Anne, as well as Frankie's resurrection in "Another World Today!"