THE ALLEY MILLS INTERVIEW – THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Published

18 years ago

May 20, 2008

Michael

By Michael Fairman

Listen to the audio:

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TV SOAP:
Were you surprised to find out that Pam was returning to “B&B” this time as a whack-job?

ALLEY:
I was somewhat surprised. I did not know at first, it started with Stephanie being shot. I was just coming back and thought maybe I was just still in love with Eric. I did not realize I was quite nuts until I read the scripts. Nobody really told me.

TV SOAP:
So, you figured out that Pam must have been on some sort of medication for a mental illness?

ALLEY:
Of course, not many people sit by somebody’s bedside and squeeze it like a pillow like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, with foam practically dripping from their mouth. Then I went, “Oh, she is taking a turn!” Then I read ahead. Ann, Betty White’s character says, “Have you taken your medication?” Then I went, “Oh, I love it.” So, that is when I realized I was on medication the whole time and somewhat normal.

TV SOAP:
So the meds are the great Pam “neutralizer”?

ALLEY:
It’s so much more fun to be off your medication and in life.
(She laughs)

TV SOAP:
The last time we saw you and your alter ego, Pam, was during the shooting of Stephanie storyline.

ALLEY:
After the shooting of Stephanie, I stayed on the show quite awhile as a suspect. Then my mom, Ann, says, “You better come home darling. What have you been doing?” I was sitting there with my dog, which was eating my sandwich.

TV SOAP:
Pam has quite a dog as her sidekick. How is working with the dog?

ALLEY:
“Tiny”, is the dog. I love working with the dogs. There are actually two dogs. There is one that growls and grits its teeth, but he is the sweetest thing and his name is Hudson. Then, there is another dog playing Tiny, who leaps at the suspect. Jennifer Gareis, who plays Donna, is actually terrified of dogs! And in recent episodes that aired in the States, this time Stephanie and Eric are on the outs and Eric is with Donna. Theoretically, I think I am helping Stephanie by saving Eric from Donna. But of course, in Pam’s deranged mind she likes Eric too, and she hates Donna. In the scenes I shot with Jennifer I had to use this wonderful man named OJ, who is this 60-year-old African American wrangler, because the dog would leap and Jenn could not be in the scenes.

TV SOAP:
What kind of dog is “Tiny”?

ALLEY:
He is a Doberman Pincher. I am not afraid of dogs, but at the end of the scenes where I leap at Donna and leap at her again, I’m holding the dog by the leash, and OJ goes, “Good boy!” Then, he takes this fake arm that “Tiny” has been holding onto the whole scene. The dogs have really huge jaws, so it was quite scary.

TV SOAP:
So, how on earth, did you tape the scenes between Donna and Pam and “Tiny”?

ALLEY:
During the entire dialog, it’s a close-up of me. OJ would be in Jenn’s spot, and I would be talking and the dog would leap at OJ. Then, what we did was tape the whole thing without the dog. I pretended to lurch forward with an empty leash going backwards and forward. It is really hard though, because you have to remember what people did and where they were positioned.

TV SOAP:
How crazy is Pam going to get?

ALLEY:
It’s pretty deranged, but I put a tea bag in my mouth. My husband, Orson Bean, who is a comic said, “Make sure to make the string hang in your mouth as long as possible.” My husband helps me with the comic side of being crazy. The crazy part I have already explained to Donna, is how I get obsessed and how I am borderline psyzophrenic. I have told this to her to freak her out. I am mostly keeping normal around other characters. It’s mostly around Donna that I am freaking out.

TV SOAP:
Does Stephanie know what is wrong with Pam?

ALLEY:
Stephanie does not know what I am doing, and she does not know about the fact that I am off my meds.

TV SOAP:
How far will her insanity go?

ALLEY:
I don’t know. Who knows? Brad Bell (creator and head writer, “B&B”) knows. Everyday you pick up a script and go, “Oh thank you Brad.” You just don’t know. I know I am just going to mess with Donna with her exterior. Pam is trying to get Eric uninterested in her. Pam basically thinks all that Donna has going for her is her sex appeal, and wants Eric to just notice that. Her main motivation is to get Eric turned off.

TV SOAP:
Is Pam adversarial with Sister Stephanie, at this point?

ALLEY:
No. Stephanie and I are having fun. I tell her that I am responsible for everything that I do to Donna. So this is what I do: I turn her hair green, I keep her in a tanning booth for 15 minutes or so… so she turns black, and her teeth gets stained. So she loses her confidence. Stephanie thinks it’s really fun, but she does not know I am mentally unbalanced, but I think she might know. She knows that Pam has had a really rough childhood. So, my excuse for me being mean and crazy is what happened to Pam as a child.

TV SOAP:
For those who don’t know, please recap the childhood abuse that caused the problem for the Douglas sisters.

ALLEY:
Even though Stephanie was the one that got abused by our father, Ann, our mother, would make me play piano in the next room while Stephanie’s beatings were going on. Even though it’s just soap, the show got so many calls from South American countries from people who had been abused. They had an abuse hot line, which was used a lot. I think Brad was freaked out by it, and it turned into a very serious thing. I don’t think people talk about that in their lives, especially in other countries. So, when I first came on the show, the whole thing was very serious. The childhood was very bad. As bad as it was for Stephanie that our father was creepy and hit her, it was left vague what he really did to her. But Pam heard her screaming and saw the blood on her back. I am six years younger than her and was always left out of what really happened. Pam has lived with her mother her whole life, which is pathetic. I think Pam has probably been on medication her whole life, and Ann has repressed everything. She let her little girl get hurt in the next room.

TV SOAP:
My theory is obvious, that Ann has been medicating and drugging Pam her whole life! What are your thoughts on that?

ALLEY:
It has not been said that Ann was drugging Pam to keep her in check. She just said, “Pammy have you been taking your pills? You know what happens when you don’t take your pills!” You get the feeling that Ann is the regulator.

TV SOAP:
But, you have made the whole crazy scenario a little like Lucille Ball from “I Love Lucy.” Is that on the money?

ALLEY:
Yes. It’s really interesting, because Brad had kind of made it comic like a Lucille Ball, trying to get Donna. I love that! It’s really fun and it’s fun to be funny. If it were too cruel and too mean, it would not be the same thing with Donna. Everyone likes to get the bimbo! It’s fun! The truth is, in real life I have a friend who is a lot like my character. But the truth is, the manic factor of this disease is actually quite fun. When you are around people who are really manic, it’s fun. The other side of it is not fun. It’s really, really dark. Brad has it in the writing that, “If Pammy does not take her pills; she goes to a really dark place, Donna. I am going to take you with me, if you don’t back off!” My threatening to murder her was pretty nasty. You just never know where this is going to go.

TV SOAP:
How long will you be back on the show this time?

ALLEY:
It’s been six weeks since I have been doing this story with Donna. Then, you never really know till Brad wakes up in the middle of the night! He gets these ideas and then the next thing you know… Pam is off her medication! Last time, I was after Eric, so he changed that.

TV SOAP:
How is working with John McCook (Eric)?

ALLEY:
John is a doll, great to work with, and hysterically funny!

TV SOAP:
How is it working with Susan Flannery (Stephanie)?

ALLEY:
When I started working on the show, she was so powerful in the child abuse storyline.
Susan is an amazing actress. I like her as a person and to hang out with her in her dressing room, running lines.

TV SOAP:
Do you run lines with her and go through a certain rehearsal process?

ALLEY:
She does that everyday, which is fantastic. When you arrive at the studio, the first thing you do is blocking, even before make-up and hair. Susan wants every one of the actors in her scenes to get together, whether it’s one or four people. In this case, Susan had the four of us, John, Betty, her and me, and we would run every scene three times. Then we would talk to each other about anything that we didn’t think felt real. Then, Susan will change lines to make it real if she has too. She says, “Be free.” You know if you run the scenes three times, then it’s not a free-for-all in front of the camera.

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TV SOAP:
How do you feel about working with you new on-screen rival, Jennifer Gareis (Donna)?

ALLEY:
I think she is great! She will let me make fun of her without hurting her feelings. That is the thing that gets kind of tricky, when you get into something. I, as Pam, don’t like Donna, and Jenn is a very vulnerable girl. She is young. I keep forgetting at times that she is. But, I want to make sure she doesn’t think I hate her. I want to be free to feel it when we are taping. So, I try to have lunch with Jenn and stuff so she knows that I like her as a person, and then I can be really nasty to her on stage. Jenn is getting her MBA at Pepperdine, so she is not an airhead.

ALLEY:
Most actors I know would not be able to go and learn lines this fast. “B&B” tapes four days a week now. So, we tape one and half episodes per day right now. There is a luxury in that you get a long weekend. If you are in a heavy storyline, it’s a lot of lines, and if it’s emotional scenes where you want to be there, then you have to get them under your belt before then. I am doing a play by J.M. Barrie who wrote “Peter Pan.” It is called “Alice Sit By the Fire”, and every Thursday through Sunday I am in that, too. So, it’s been a challenge to do both things, but I am alive! (She laughs)

TV SOAP:
Have you been to Australia yet?

ALLEY:
I have never been to Australia. My husband lived there and the kids went to school in Melbourne. I want to go really badly, and he has promised me he would take me. We have really good friends that live there in an Arts Colony where a lot of people from the television business live. It’s called Daylesford and it’s in Victoria.

TV SOAP:
In closing, by your best guestimate, what do you think is coming down the pike for Pam?

ALLEY:
My guess is maybe we are going to get another facet of Pam; the inside of her… of what this whack job is really going through. I never know till I pick up a script. It all depends upon the pill jar. Do you know what I mean? (She laughs)

TV SOAP:
Now that you have spent time on a daytime soap, how is it stacking up against your other primetime work, such as “The Wonder Years”?

Related Topics:alley mills Interview Podcast The Bold and the Beautiful

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ann rich

15 years ago

Love the dress you wore to Ridge’s and Taylor’s wedding (July, 2011). Wondered if you can reveal the label? Enjoy your part very much.

‘The Young and the Restless’ Eric Braeden Talks Daytime Emmy Nomination, State of Nikki and Victor’s Marriage, and His Co-Stars (Exclusive)

Published

4 days ago

July 30, 2026

Michael

Eric Braeden has been playing Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless for 46 years. The iconic star of the #1 rated daytime drama series has thus far won once for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series back in 1998 in a ceremony he did not attend. Fast-forward to 2026 and the 85-year-old Braeden is once again nominated in the category for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Earlier this month, Eric, along with 4 other actors learned they were going for gold at the ceremonies on October 30. In a twist of fate, fellow co-star and also Lead Actor nominee, Christian LeBlanc (Michael, Y&R) and Braeden submitted the same scenes which centered around Victor firing his longtime attorney and friend, Michael Baldwin.

In a new interview, now on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Braeden shares: his thoughts on the nomination, if he will attend daytime’s biggest night of the year, what he thinks will happen with the current cracks within the relationship of Y&R’s Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Victor, his reaction to the heartbreaking scene where Nick (Joshua Morrow) admits to Victor that he has a drug addiction, and much more.

Photo: JPI

VICTOR NEWMAN AND MICHAEL BALDWIN EMMY SCENES

On his Lead Actor Emmy-nominated reel, Eric recalled, “The show submitted it for me and I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ Had I known Christian was part of it, I would’ve said, ‘No!’ I’m kidding. It’s difficult to do a scene with Christian without beginning to laugh in the middle of it. Anyway, he’s wonderful to work with and he did a wonderful job, and I’m grateful for the nomination.”

Braeden also shared plans for attending this year’s Daytime Emmys with his granddaughter making it all the more special, “I will go this year. You know why? It’s an honor first of all, and secondly, my granddaughter, when she heard about it, she says, ‘Opa, can I go? I already know what dress I would buy.’ I mean, it was so sweet. But you bet. Now, I’ll really go to the Emmys!”

Photo: JPI

CAN NIKKI AND VICTOR’S MARRIAGE SURVIVE?

Over the past year, Nikki and Victor’s marriage has been on shaky ground, especially after Victor caught his nemesis, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) alone in a hotel room with his wife. Nikki went on a bender and Jack was her AA sponsor, but in order to help her, he almost OD’d himself. Victor believes the two hit the sheets.

Now in 2026, Victor was there after Nikki woke up after surgery to save her eyesight, and she has yet to see post-procedure. However, Braeden notes ‘not so fast’ on a reconciliation.

“I would say it will be a rocky road, because you don’t get over these things so quickly. You don’t,” teased Eric. “It’s jealousy and it’s a very, very deep emotion, and every time there’s something that reminds Victor of that incident, he will feel that emotion. It’s an emotion that is not taken seriously enough by people. Relationships are very difficult because of that sometimes.”

Photo: CBS

JOSHUA MORROW DOING THE FINEST WORK OF HIS CAREER

Back in March of this year, in one of the most unforgettable in this, or any soap season, Nick Newman accompanied by his brother Adam (Mark Grossman), came to see Victor where Nick admitted he now has a drug addiction to fentanyl and how he is so ashamed of himself. In the scene, Victor goes to comfort his son, calling him, “My boy” while broken-hearted.

Eric recalled the taping of the scene: “It touched me deeply and it was one of those moments that a father and son don’t want. They’re horrified by that. I think Joshua made an enormous leap in acting in that scene. He showed what he is capable of. It was a very, very touching scene. We had some scenes after that, again, about the same thing. Now, there’s a whole deeper connection between father and son. Any father would almost have a breakdown knowing that his son is on drugs or his daughter. It was a very well-written scene.”

Photo: JPI

ERIC BRAEDEN AND MICHELLE STAFFORD MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY

The Young and the Restless led the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Nominations with 18, more than any other series or programs. One of the nominations belongs to Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) who nabbed another Lead Actress nod.

Recently, Eric and Michelle have shared much screen-time since Phyllis took Victor’s company from him. During the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live!, Stafford she loved working opposite Eric in the storyline, to which Eric has now responded.

“It’s mutual because I love watching her work,” exclaimed the TV icon. “I just don’t know what she’s going to do in a scene and I love spontaneous moments. I don’t like it to be set and adhered to. I like it to be improvised as much as possible. Michelle is just so facile, so quick, so smart as an actress. She’s wonderful.”

Check out the full conversation with Eric below.

Now weigh-in: are you happy to see Eric receive a Lead Actor nomination? Do you think Nikki and Victor will continue to have issues in their marriage? Did you like the scenes with Michelle Stafford and Eric, and of course the hankie-inducing moment between Joshua Morrow and his TV dad? Weigh-in via the comment section.

Interviews

‘The Bold and the Beautiful’s’ Scott Clifton Talks His Lead Actor Daytime Emmy Nomination, and the Omission of His Scene Partner, Annika Noelle (Exclusive)

Published

1 week ago

July 25, 2026

Michael

Less than two weeks ago, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer) received the news he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor category at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Clifton delivered what may have been the best work of his career in 2025; in a heartbreaking story arc where a believed-to-be-dying Liam tries to come to terms with his fate, and what his exit from the land of the living means, and what it would do to the daughters he leaves behind, the women he’s loved, and his father.

Going into this year’s Emmy race, Scott is already a three-time Daytime Emmy winner and a record holder for being the only actor to have won in the three acting categories throughout his career: the now defunct Younger Actor, Supporting Actor and Lead Actor.

Shortly after receiving the news of his latest nomination, Scott shared his reaction and what scenes he decided to include on his now Emmy-nominated reel when he participated in the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live!

During the conversation with Scott, it was very apparent that he feels his on-screen partnership with Annika Noelle (Hope) was a key to his success in 2025, and one of the reason for a key scene he chose. However, Annika’s name was left off the nomination list which disappointed Clifton as he shared below.

Photo: JPI

HOW SCOTT CLIFTON WENT ABOUT CRAFTING HIS LEAD ACTOR REEL

“They got a lot of reels to watch. So, I just picked three scenes. It’s important to create a context so that people aren’t completely lost,” explains Clifton on his best practices strategy. “I picked the scene where Liam found out the diagnosis (about his inoperable brain mass), where Finn (Tanner Novlan) and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) tell him which sets the stage. And then, there is a scene where Liam is saying “don’t tell anyone.”

Next, there’s the scene at Il Giardino between myself and Don Diamont (Bill) where Liam is telling his father without telling him, by saying, ‘I just want you to know how much I love you, and how grateful I am to you.'”

Then, the final scene, and I owe it all to Annika, was between Liam and Hope. This is where Hope kind of says, ‘I know,’ and then they just have a conversation about their lives and their daughter. Liam also talks about his mom. It just seemed real to me and the best way to close it out. That was it. That was the whole reel about 11 minutes long.”

Photo: JPI

ANNIKA AND SCOTT’S BITTERSWEET EMMY MOMENT

When Scott connected with his on-screen wife, Annika Noelle, following the news of his nomination, which actually came on the Monday before the full nominations were revealed on Tuesday via Extra, there were a rollercoaster of emotions.

Scott detailed, “Annika sent the most beautiful congratulations, and I was trying to figure out if they had announced her category. However, it was in the middle of that conversation that she said. ‘no.’ And then, the conversation turned into my rage for her not being recognized because that whole story was just as much hers as it was mine.”

“My, God,” Clifton continued. “The way that she had to downplay so many things and keep the secret that she knew, that I knew, that she knew. The end of that scene, I couldn’t not include it. It’s more a scene about her and how hard this is for her than it was about Liam. It blew me away that she wasn’t recognized for it this year, but she will next year.”

You can check out Scott’s segment on the Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live! below at roughly the 25:46 mark into the show.

So, were you happy to hear what scenes Scott submitted that earned him a Lead Actor Daytime Emmy nomination? Do you think he’s one of the frontrunners to take home the gold when the Daytime Emmys are handed out on October 30? Do you feel as Scott does that Annika Noelle should have been a nominee for her work in 2025? Let us know via the comment section.

Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of Our Lives’ Christopher Sean Opens Up About His Daytime Emmy Nomination to Honor His Late TV Father, Drake Hogestyn (Exclusive)

Published

2 weeks ago

July 18, 2026

Michael

There was not a dry eye in the house when in June of 2025, Paul Narita (Christopher Sean) gets up to eulogize his father, John Black (Drake Hogestyn), after the iconic character passed away and his funeral brought Salem together for one last goodbye.

In real life, Drake Hogestyn had passed away of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70 back on September 28, 2024. When DAYS taped the funeral episode, Drake was still alive and had given his blessing to the series longtime executive producer, Ken Corday, that it was OK with him to kill off his character and to have a memorial. Sadly, shortly after the cast filmed the scenes, Drake died leaving a lasting legacy on DAYS that will never be matched.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Christopher Sean received the bittersweet news that he had received a Daytime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Guest Performer category for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards for his performances. Christopher appeared shortly after the news of his nomination on the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 were he shared his emotional reaction. Here’s part of what he expressed below.

Photo: JPI

WHAT DID CHRISTOPHER SEAN SUBMIT?

“I submitted Paul’s lowest moments in his life, and Paul’s highest moments, meaning the eulogy with John Black, his father, and for my hero, Drake Hogestyn, and Paul getting married to Andrew (Colton Little). So it was two very opposite ends of his life. But what a great culmination of 12 years of being on Days of Our Lives it was.”

ALWAYS BEING GRATEFUL TO DRAKE HOGESTYN

“Even talking about it now, I have so much love for Drake. I’ve got him here on my wall and I wake up every day and I try to make him proud. It’s hard to talk about it, but I feel that my life is on the path that I am because of him, because of him being my role model, because of him loving and guiding me, because of everything that he has taught me on and off the set.”

Photo: JPI

THE EARLY STRUGGLES WITH PAUL’S EULOGY AND HEARTFELT ADDITIONS TO THE DIALOG

“I had been texting back and forth with Drake and I was actually pretty angry, because I felt that we shouldn’t exploit this, but Drake was so attached to the fan base that when Ken Corday spoke with him and gave him the permission to allow the fans to grieve with us, that’s when I said, ‘OK, if that’s what he wants, then I’m going to go full throttle with it.’ In Paul’s eulogy and monologue I’d read it and without asking the writers, I added a few lines and they allowed me to keep them.”

Christopher continued, “One of the lines was, ‘anytime I see a rainbow in the sky’ and I said, ‘and a baseball up high, or a rainbow in the sky,’ because I wanted to attribute it to baseball and to Drake. It was already perfect the way it was written, but that was my nod to Drake. We all loved him and there’s not a person I know who didn’t love him. Drake lit up any room he was a part of. I would not be here, again, without Drake.”

You can catch Christopher’s conversation on the Daytime Emmy Nominations Special at the 2:14:25 mark below.

The 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be handed in a ceremony on October 30 from the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood California. Current plans are for the event to stream live on the National Academy Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), watch.theemmys.tv and associated apps.

So, will you be rooting for Christopher to take home the gold for his heartbreaking performance of Paul’s grief over losing John and then marrying Andrew? Were you touched by how much Drake Hogestyn had meant to his life and career? Let us know via the comment section below.