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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 TattooWonder 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

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s’ Finn Carr Weighs-In on Potential Rocco and Scout Teen Romance

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Finn Carr, Kayden Brenna Tokarski

Finn Carr, who delivered powerful performances on General Hospital, when Rocco shot WSB director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) and its aftermath, may be headed for his first on-screen love story on the ABC soap opera.

Ever since it was announced that the long-running daytime drama decided to age-up Scout Cain, and in a few recent scenes between Rocco and Scout, it’s clear these two share similar interests and like each other.

Scout is now played by Kayden Brenna Tokarski, who made her GH debut back on July 20 as the daughter of Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) and the late Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco).

Rocco and Scout

Photo: ABC

In a newly-released virtual segment with ABC11 North Carolina’s GH virtual insider, Dearon Smith, both Finn Carr and Asher Antonyzyn talked about working on a soap opera, while finishing high school, and teasing what’s ahead for Danny and Rocco. While Finn and Asher couldn’t give too much away, Smith asked Finn Carr if there is something brewing between Scout and Rocco?

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ROCCO AND DANNY?

Carr responded, “That’s an interesting question. Kaden is great to work with, and I love working with her. There definitely is some great stuff coming up that people are going to want to watch. It’s good stuff and really fun.”

Apparently, Danny and Rocco will also find themselves once again in some trouble, but as Finn tells it looks like this time, Danny will take the brunt of it. “We get into a lot of trouble … well, Danny gets into a lot of trouble … but I do a lot though.” Very cryptic indeed!

You can check out the full conversation with Finn and Asher with ABC11 below.

Now, let us know, would you like to see Rocco have a girlfriend, and that it would be Scout? Do you think Finn and Kayden work well together on-screen? Share your thoughts via the comment section.

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General Hospital

Laura Wright Signs New Contract with ‘General Hospital’

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Laura Wright

While there have been plenty of on-screen newcomers in recent weeks on General Hospital, no need to worry about one of its mainstays, with the news from Daytime Emmy winner, Laura Wright, herself. Wright who plays Carly Spencer on the ABC soap opera has revealed on X, that she just re-signed a new deal with the soap opera to remain in Port Charles.

Wright is the fourth actress to play Carly, following in the footsteps of the OG Carly, Sarah Brown, Tamara Brown, and Jennifer Bransford. In fact, Laura left her major role on Guiding Light as Cassie Layne Winslow to take over the role of Bobbie Spencer’s (the late Jackie Zeman) complex daughter in November of 2005. Now almost 21 years later, Laura has made Carly her own and has delivered memorable performance after memorable performance throughout her run.

When a fans commented on X, “Can I just say if you ever leave General Hospital as Carly I will stop watching the show. I honestly have loved you and think that you are the best person to play Carly,” Laura Wright jumped in to the thread and assured her and other GH fans, that she has no plans to go anywhere else.

Photo: ABC

LAURA WRIGHT STAYING PUT AT GENERAL HOSPITAL AND FANS ARE HAPPY SHE’S STICKING AROUND

Laura expressed, “I’m not going anywhere, just signed a new contract!!!” Since she made her public statement, many GH fans were thrilled with the news with comments such as: I would’ve been devastated if you weren’t sticking around. You’ve truly made Carly your own after so many years, ” and Happy to hear this, I always enjoy #GH more when Carly is on,” plus “So glad you’re sticking around as Carly. Love Carly and can’t wait for more #Caradine and #Jarly”

One fans hopes Laura will be on for years to come a la Jane Elliot’s tenure as Tracy Quartermaine saying, “Awesome. It’s so fun getting to see the full life of a character. Hope you stick around for many more years. I think Carly will be a hoot in her Tracy Quartermaine era.”

Laura Wright’s road to General Hospital started back on ABC’s Loving when she first played  Allison “Ally” Rescott on Loving (1991 to 1995) and then its spinoff The City (1995 to 1997). She later joined Guiding Light as Cassie, who was revealed to be the sister of Reva Shayne played by Kim Zimmer. She played the part from 1997-2005. From then on its been all GH scoring a Lead Actress Daytime Emmy win in 2011, along with eight total nominations throughout her daytime career.

Currently, Carly is involved in a romance with Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), but it’s on shaky ground with Anna Devane back in the picture not so happy to see the two canoodling, and Carly having been warned by Sonny that Valentin is not trustworthy.

However, after seeing Laura’s post that she has signed on to stay at GH, James Patrick Stuart commented on X  reacted by stating, “Phew!”

So, happy to hear Laura has re-signed with General Hospital and will continue her role as Carly Spencer? Let us know via the comment section below.

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Michael Damian Set to Perform New Music from Album ‘Mixed Emotions’ on ‘The Young and the Restless’ as Danny Lays Down Roots in Genoa City

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Michael Damian

Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) is coming home, of sorts. After first, becoming the new manager of The Shadow Room, the longtime rock and roll star who has traveled the globe rocking out solo, or alongside his wife and legal eagle, Christine (Lauralee Bell), has decided to become more of a permanent fixture in Genoa City.

In a new interview with TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands now, Damian shared how back in 1981 series exes asked him to come on board for a much longer run than he initially anticipated after his three-month run as the young rocker. “When the summer came to a close, they said, ‘Do you want to sign a three-year contract?’ I was like, ‘Sounds great. Let’s do it.’ I was not expecting 45 years.”

To kick-off Danny’s new venture, circle the upcoming August 18th episode of the top-rated soap opera, when Damian will perform new music from his album Mixed emotions. Explaining Danny’s new mindset, Damian shared, “Danny wants to stay in town; he doesn’t want to spend all his time on tour, away from his wife, Christine.”

Photo: JPI

While Michael Damian has built a successful career, not only as a actor/singer/songwriter, but as an producer for many well-known television and feature film projects, he expressed he will still continue everything outside of the soap, but likes remaining a popular fixture on the CBS soap.

“What’s so great is that I’m able to write music, make albums and make movies and continue to stay in Genoa City,” he shared. Now the question becomes, will Danny and Christine’s long-awaited marriage face some new speed bumps? Will Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) stay out of the way? Will Daniel (Michael Graziadei) be happy is dad is back in town and will Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) come around and make some problems for the rockstar/club manager?

As previously reported, Tamara Braun (Sienna) and Lucas Adams (Noah) have been written out of The Young and the Restless and they headed back to Los Angeles to get away from Matt and all the trouble they faced in Genoa City to run The Shadow Room on the west coast with Noah giving Danny the gig at the GC location.

So, what do you think about the storyline-dictated move to have Danny run The Shadow Room, which should give more airtime to Danny and  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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