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Robin Wright’s ‘Santa Barbara’ Beginnings Recalled by Former Co-Star, A Martinez and Series Co-Creator, Jerome Dobson

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: JPI

When motion picture star, Robin Wright first came on to the scene, it was Santa Barbara’s co-creators and co-head writers, Jerome and Bridget Dobson, who cast the very ‘green’ actress when she was only 18 in the role of Kelly Capwell on the NBC soap opera.

Wright appeared as Kelly from 1984 to 1988, and became famous for her role as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride. Since that time, she has earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jenny in Forest Gump, and starred as Claire Underwood in Netflix’s drama House of Cards for which she won a Golden Globe. Robin has also appeared in the films: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Wonder Woman, Blade Runner 2049, and Justice League, to name a few.

In 2019, Robin added director credits to her impressive resume with her first feature, Land, and later directed a couple of episodes of the hit Netflix drama, Ozark.

Photo: NBC

Santa Barbara’s Jerome Dobson and Daytime Emmy-winning star, A Martinez (ex-Cruz Castillo) recently chatted live on the Michael Fairman Channel were they offered up many behind the scenes stories of the beloved the soap opera. When the question came up of what was Jerry and A’s experience working with Robin Wright, both TV legends (and now Daytime Emmy Gold Circle Inductees) had some very interesting and complimentary things to say.

Dobson began, “When we tested her to come on the show, we weren’t sure of ourselves because she was basically a model, and hadn’t done any acting, but she had an interesting, very gorgeous look, but there was more to her than that.”

Photo: NBC

With her stunning looks and raw talent, Dobson added about Wright, “We thought, this may be a gold mine. We hired an acting coach for. She would have trouble some with some of the scripts, and she would come up to my office and we’d talk over the script. It’s like she had learned from Dame Judith Anderson (ex-Minx Lockridge), ‘I need to know why I’m saying this line, and why am I flirting with this person and where am I going?’ Robin was incisive, interested and involved, and she took off.”

A, who shared numerous scenes with Robin, recalled, “One of the things that I sort of reduce it to is the two words, ‘b*s detector.’  I think that as you go through the the journey of doing this (acting), you have to have a ‘b*s detector’ operating at all times, just to check yourself. I learned early on that if you think you have just transgressed on your intentions in terms of being truthful, you need to stop yourself immediately. You don’t want to finish up something that’s already broken because you had a false moment in it.”

“You want to have a detector working, and when something doesn’t go right, you just stop, and I just thought what Robin developed in that regard was just impeccable,” Martinez explained. “You look at the run she had on Santa Barbara and the depth and the truth that she found in that character.  She went from starting so raw, but I just thought her sense of honesty was impeccable. Working with Robin was a great joy. It is so great to see all that has happened for her, and for all of us that we got to know her. Once in a while, I run into her still and it’s literally like Christmas. I just love her so much.”

You can watch the full chat with A Martinez and Jerome Dobson and their walk down Santa Barbara memory lane below, and then take a look at an early clip of Wright in a scenes with Louise Sorel from the series.

Now let us know, did you know Robin would become a huge success from her work on Santa Barbara? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

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Honestly Robin Wright was hands down the best Kelly Capwell her story with Dane Witherspoon was classic soap and robin really was in a class of her own ! For me her leaving was a game changer and I lost interest but Lane Davies Robin Mattson Justin Deas were amazing and sorry GH fans Nancy lees best moments were in Santa Barbara

I loved robin as Gina she was so damn funny

Omg, her and Justin Deas were a show, all on their own!

I watched SB occasionally when Carrington Garland played Kelly and she was great too. It was great fun to watch but I was too much into Guiding Light at the time and had to watch Reva’s adventures!

I really think that Robin has forgotten where she came from. She seems oblivious to the fact tat if it were not for SB she probably would not have the career that she has had.

Whenever SB comes up in an interview you can just see that she doesn’t want to talk about it.
In an interview with Gwynneth Paltrow she exclaimed that “it was such a cheesy show”!! in another interview she said she was hesitant to do House of cards because of her bad experience on SB where you had to memorize 30 pages of dialogue and say “really cheesy words”.

When she was still on the show she told Vanity fair that the show was “puke suck” and that she had made a vow to herself “to never make that kind of television show again and that she couldn’t wait to get out of her contract so that she could “act” again.She has also said that she hated it at the time and that it “was like being forced into the army”

I think all of this really speaks to her as a person and not in a good way. I loved her on the show but when she makes comments like this it is as if she is saying that her fans from the show were not important. I take it all as a real slap in the face!

I agree with you, what the hell does she think she was a Princess or something?

Greg…oh, I agree. I was never a fan of Robin Wright. At all. She always struck me as being a two-faced kind of person. And I think that she sets off negative vibes. Yuck.

Why is this site not reporting about the big Santa Barbara 40th anniversary reunion that’s supposed to be happening next month? I hope that you’ll have extensive coverage of it, Michael, for those of us that won’t be able to attend. It sounds like it’s going to be a great event for all of the fans who loved and still miss this show (myself definitely included).

I don’t think Robin Wright would even be acting still if she didn’t do Santa Barbara though I do like her I didn’t appreciate some of the rude comments she made about Marcy Walker and the nose comment especially since Marcy only has good things to say about Robin

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RATINGS: ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ Catches Fire; Up Over a Half Million Viewers Since Last Year, Inching Closer to ‘The Young and the Restless’ for #1 Slot

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The Bold and the Beautiful

The race for the number one show on CBS daytime and overall across all broadcast networks became more intriguing after the latest ratings for the week of June 29-July 3 were released.

According to Soap Opera Network, The Bold and the Beautiful while adding +49,000 total viewers for the week is actually up over +566,000 in comparison to last year at this time. That is over a half million viewers. Additionally, B&B was once clocked in with over 3 million viewers for the week at 3,010,000 tuning in. The week marked its second largest viewership of the current TV season.

In comparison, The Young and the Restless which consistently holds at number #1 came in at 3,217,000 with a net gain of +32,000 and also up + 300,000 from 2025 at this time. This makes 23 weeks in a row that the soap has come in with over 3 million tuning-in.

However, there is now only 200,000 plus lead by Y&R shortening the gap between the two soaps. Additionally, The Bold and the Beautiful once again topped the key demo of women 18-49 besting The Young and the Restless with a 0.22 ratings share of the audience compared to 0.20 share.

Courtesy/CBS

HOPE AND BROOKE’S MOTHER/DAUGHTER SHOWDOWN

On The Bold and the Beautiful, the ratings week featured the fallout of Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) being revealed as the new creative director and lead designer of Logan.

Hope’s decision to keep it a secret from her mother, Brooke Logan Forrester (Katherine Kelly Lang) then showcased major confrontations and showdowns between Brooke and her sister, Katie (Heather Tom), and then Brooke and her daughter, Hope, which ultimately left viewers on the Friday, July 3 cliffhanger with Hope passing out in anguish over betraying her mother.

Photo: JPI

PATTY MAKES HER DEADLY MOVE AGAINST JACK

Over at The Young and the Restless, the week featured the aftermath of Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) surgery to save her eyesight, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) being stabbed by a vengeful Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk), Kyle (Michael Mealor) rushing to save his mother, Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters), and Billy (Jason Thompson) and Jill (Lauren Koslow filling-in for Jess Walton) trying to settle old grievances.

As for General Hospital, the ABC soap opera came in with just under 2 million viewers adding +27,000 for the week and up +140,000 at this time. Meanwhile, Beyond the Gates had a week of repeats, so it was down to 1,354,000 total viewers but still up +282,000 from last year.

*ratings are derived from Nielsen’s Live+Same Day Big Data+Panel viewing and DVR playback.

So, what do you think of the ratings performance of The Bold and the Beautiful? Was it one of their best week’s in a long time on-screen? Do you think they will soon be able to top The Young and the Restless as number #1 in total viewers, or do you think Y&R will continue to remain the kingpin for some time to come? Weigh-in via the comment section below.

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Beyond the Gates

‘Beyond the Gates’ Tamara Tunie Shares Bittersweet Moment of Learning She’s a Daytime Emmy Nominee Following the Loss of ATWT’s Scott Bryce

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Tamara Tunie and Scott Bryce

As many are celebrating their nominations for the upcoming 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on October 30, for some it was a “mixed bag of emotions,” as detailed by first time nominee Tamara Tunie (Anita Dupree, Beyond the Gates), who was named as one of the five women in the coveted Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama Series: Actress category.

The Lead Actress nominations were actually announced on Monday on Entertainment Tonight, ahead of the full nomination announcement by NATAS on Tuesday. Sadly, on Sunday night, Tamara’s longtime friend, and former As the World Turns co-stars, Scott Bryce (ex-Craig Montgomery) passed away from cancer at 68-years-old.

Michael Fairman TV first reported the heartbreaking news of Scott’s death, and his beloved son, Jackson took to his Instagram to announce the death of his father, sharing, “What began as stage three esophageal cancer eventually spread and became brain tumors that took his life away from him.”

Photo: JPI

THE LOSS OF ‘AS THE WORLD TURNS’ CO-STAR

Tamara spoke on receiving the recognition from peers while mourning the loss and trying to process the news of Bryce’s death via heartfelt message on her Instagram on Wednesday. Tunie had appeared on As the World Turns as Jessica Griffin from 1986-1995, 1999-2007 and 2009. She crossed paths with Bryce during several of his runs on the show 1982-1987, 1988-89, 1990, 1993-94 and 2007-08.

In her video message, Tunie explained she was at the airport in Atlanta (where Beyond the Gates is taped) and was heading to Pittsburgh for a speaking engagement, but she took a few moments to address these two moments in her life.

Tamara began her video with, “Hey family. I didn’t want to let any more time go by without expressing some of the emotions I had been feeling over the past couple of days. Many of you know that a dear friend of mine passed Sunday night. He was like a brother to me. We were friends for 40 something years and we actually met on the set of As the World Turns, a daytime drama. Monday, a mere 24 hours later, it was announced that I was nominated for an Emmy award for Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama.”

Sharing how the loss of Scott Bryce has deeply-affected her, Tamara added, “So, you can only imagine the rollercoaster of emotions that I have been feeling since Sunday night. I know my daytime soap opera brother is smiling down on me and cheering me on, and I am so grateful for this recognition from my peers. Being nominated for the first time it’s a mixed bag of feelings I have to tell you.”

Photo: CBS

BEYOND THE GATES FAMILY SCORES BIG IN EMMY NOMINATIONS

However, Tamara took some moments to recognize Beyond the Gates Emmy nomination haul, expressing, “I’m looking forward to the next couple of months leading up to the awards as we continue to create great television. I am so proud of the rest of my cast members, not only those who are nominated, but every single person who works on this show and gives a hundred percent of themselves every single time they show up. Our crew, our production staff, the Beyond the Gates family is truly special.”

“To have these 15 nominations is really extraordinary. Thank you family for watching. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for supporting me,” concluded Tunie.

You can check out Tamara’s emotional video message below.

Now, let us know, are you happy to see Tamara receiving the first Daytime Emmy nomination of her career for her role as Anita on Beyond the Gates? Do you remember when Tamara and Scott Bryce both appeared on As the World Turns? Share your thoughts on Tamara’s heartbreaking words on his passing via the comment section.

 

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A post shared by Tamara Tunie (@msttunie)

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General Hospital

Grady Eldridge Makes His ‘General Hospital’ Debut as Music Executive Simon

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There’s another new face in Port Charles, when on today’s Wednesday, July 15 on General Hospital, Grady Eldridge made his debut as Simon, a new music executive, who is scouting talent for his record label.

According to Soap Opera Digest, Eldridge is on recurring status with the ABC soap opera, and in story, Simon is the A&R rep responsible for signing music acts and he enters the scene as Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) sets up a musical showcase for Trina (Tabyana Ali) and Gio (Giovanni Mazza) who accompanies her on guitar. As the showcase kicks off, Simon arrives.

While his GH role marks his first on daytime, Grady can currently be seen in the final season of HBO’s comedy hit, Hacks. He has numerous credits in primetime including: Doctor Odyssey, The Sex Lives of College Girls and appeared as Max in the recently released in Jennifer Lopez’s movie office romance.

Eldridge joins several other newcomers have joined the ABC soap including: Dean Geyer as Dr. Tristan Roberts (who first showed up on Monday’s July 13 episode), and Troy Lennon Appel as mysterious businessman, Hudson who shows up later this month.

In addition, GH fans will get the chance to see Kayden Brenna Tokarski who takes over the role of Scout Cain, and Kelly Kruger (ex-Mackenzie Browning, The Young and the Restless) who is the recast Serena Baldwin, who debuts on July 30.

So, do you hope Simon sticks around Port Charles? Do you think Trina and Gio will become a major recording act, or will trouble be brewing with this new music executive, and Brook Lynn will spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e? Let us know your thoughts and impressions after checking out Grady on today’s GH via the comment section.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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