Courtesy/ABC

If there is a sentimental favorite at this year’s 39th Daytime Emmy Awards, look no further than Robert S. Woods!  “Woodsy” as those close to him call him, received a nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actor category in the final year of One Life to Live.  And who in soapland doesn’t know that the heart and soul of the show, and that salt of the earth character that you could trust above anyone else, was the beloved Bo Buchanan.

An understated performer who can break our hearts, or make us smile, Bob Woods has been giving performance after performance for over three decades on OLTL.  And it wouldn’t be such irony, that on Emmy night, it would be Bob’s turn to take home the gold for only the second time in his accomplished career.  When you think about his body of work, and in particular last year, he had enough to rival any one of his competitors. 

On-Air On-Soaps spoke with the popular Woods to get his thoughts on finding out he landed a nomination, and to find out how life is after One Life to Live.  And, we took this opportunity to discuss Bo’s last scenes in the series finale, and the shocking alternate ending that no one knew about!  We have to share with you that throughout our conversation, Bob had us beaming with pride, holding back the tears, and laughing and smiling.  It was emotional, heartfelt, and direct, exactly what you would expect from this daytime legend.  And as you will learn, Bob is just as devastated as all of you are that Llanview is no longer on the TV map.  So here we go with our special Emmy interview, and more with Robert S. Woods!

MICHAEL:

What fantastic news, Bob, that you were nominated (and deservingly so) for your work as Bo Buchanan in the Lead Actor category.  How did you find out the news that you received the nod?

ROBERT:

Courtesy/ABC

I was out working in the backyard, and I heard my wife, Loyita, screaming, “You’re kidding?”   I think Billy Warlock and Julie Pinson called her and told her! (Laughs) I did not know the nominations were coming out that day.  I was talking with Leah Webber, one of our producers at One Life.  She was handling all of our submissions.  She was working on material with an echo in the room, because everyone was gone.  Leah is the one that pulled out some scenes for me, bless her heart!

MICHAEL:

All of your fans and colleagues are so thrilled for you that you got recognized for your work in the final full year of OLTL.  Did you speak with your OLTL co-nominees, Eddie Alderson (Matthew) and Erika Slezak (Viki)?

ROBERT:

I called Eddie right away.  I have watched that guys since he was very young.  Hillary B. Smith (Nora, OLTL, now Stacy B&B) says, we have watched him grow since he was three.  When Kristen Alderson (Starr, OLTL now GH) started on the show she was five or six, and so Eddie had grown up in the studio.  He was being a prop man.  He used to help the prop department and strike the sets!  I heard from Erika Slezak and she congratulated me, and so did Hillary.  Frank Valentini called, too, which was nice.  He has been working his butt off at GH!

MICHAEL:

You must have been thrilled!  This is coming at such a bittersweet moment with the beloved One Life to Live canceled, and now you receive this recognition!

ROBERT:

Courtesy/ABC

If you had asked me, “How would you feel if you found out you were nominated?”  I would think, “Geez, I don’t know what I would feel.”  But I was grinning from ear to ear.  I think a lot of it is that it is so sentimental.  One Life to Live is gone.  I still can’t believe it.  I thought I would be gone some day, but I never thought One Life would be, nor that ABC would not have those three mainstay daytime dramas all together in their daytime lineup.

MICHAEL:

There is such a hole in people’s hearts who followed One Life to Live for decades, or even if they were new fans.  Many are having a hard time dealing with the fact that they can’t see Bo, Viki, Nora, and everyone in Llanview anymore on a daily basis.  I have to say, it does feel really odd.  A huge piece is missing and it feels like this big chunk was cut out of the ABC daytime lineup!

ROBERT:

I have days where I keep thinking, “I better look at my scripts.”  Then I go, “Wait. Oh no. I don’t have to go back.”  I went through that for a long time after we taped the final episodes.  We are looking back at November 18th of last year when we taped our last episode, and then the last airdate was January 13th of this year.  I just remember it was Friday, the 13th!  I miss talking to the camera guys, and Michael Easton (John, OLTL now GH).  We have been playing phone tag forever.  It’s just weird that you can’t go in and walk through the door and see people that you knew and have a kind of reunion.  That is what I always thought when I left the show years ago.  I thought I would be able to pop back in now and then.  And that it would always be there to go home to.

MICHAEL:

And fans are hoping that somehow the show will get another lease on life and be resurrected, but so many hopes have been dashed!

ROBERT:

People are always asking me, “Do you think OLTL will come back now that ABC realized they goofed?”  They ask that especially in light of The Revolution tanking, but people in the cast and the production have moved on in just six months.  It’s just a shame.  We were doing very well.  But if the network felt they had to do something they should have cut the show back to a half hour, as well as All My Children, and have two half hour shows and then GH!  Then some day when everything gets reinvented again, they go to an hour.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: Robert Milazzo

I always said, “thank God” when ABC decided to cancel The Revolution. However, instead of airing the GMA Summer Series in its timeslot for the summer, they should have taken that nine weeks and brought back One Life to Live to wrap it up properly and give a semi-bone to the fans.  But now, since that’s a matter of getting the actors, the sets, and the costumes all again, that would prove difficult.  We will have to work on OLTL: The Movie!

ROBERT:

We have Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati over at General Hospital now, and so what are you going to do?  It’s a sad thing.  I never thought it would happen where we would not be on the air.

MICHAEL:

I will never forget the day you, Hillary B. Smith, and me taped that final video interview together at the last OLTL press junket back in November.  I so recall the three of us looking at each other with such disbelief and sad faces, that we were actually taping a farewell interview together after decades in the genre!

ROBERT:

That was a strange day.  It was sure not what I had in mind.  I said, when I came back to the show after I was gone for a couple of years,  “Either they will carry me out the door or throw me out the door, but I was going to stay.”  Then the minute I got older, I could see retirement a couple years down the line.  I will say the schedule was really tough towards the end. We were maybe doing three or four shows a day.  It was harder and harder to remember all the lines.

MICHAEL:

On a happier note, I think you had a great year last year.  In my mind, you had a lot of strong material to choose from. What did you end up submitting for the Emmys?  I heard you changed it up from the pre-noms to the final round.  Is that true?

ROBERT:

Courtesy/ABC

Yes.  I changed it up.  In the pre-nomination, I went with the barn showdown scene with Clint.  Bo was going to shoot him and Asa’s hat was in it, and all of that.  Then in the second go round, and for the final round of judging, it was about when we had to make a decision about Matthew, when he was pretty much soap opera brain dead. (Laughs) It was about whether we were going to pull the plug on him, because his heart was a match for Clint.  Clint was going to die if he did not get a heart transplant.  So I submitted a scene with Erika Slezak, where Bo says, “How do you give up on a child?  But if something is not done, do I end up killing my brother by refusing to help him?”  It was one of those back and forth moments, and Nora comes in at the end of it.  I think the scenes start with Bo coming out of Matthew’s hospital room, and then he turns the corner and there is Viki.  It was kind of cool, because way back in 1979 I came in the door and sat down in a chair and said, “I am in love with you, Viki!”  You know my screen test for Bo was with Erika!

MICHAEL:

I know you can’t have a better scene partner than Erika Slezak!

ROBERT:

Oh, God!  And when you watch the scenes, Erika really went to bat for me!  She was good with everybody, but there was something a little different about it when you look at all the scenes from that day.  There was a lot of material also with Eddie Alderson as Matthew that I considered was strong, too.

MICHAEL:

Why did you make the decision to switch reels?

ROBERT:

Courtesy/ABC

I did not think in a million years I would get nominated for anything, and with the show being gone.  I just thought, “It’s over, and no one is going to give us a second thought from One Life.”  So my favorite scene was with Erika.  But then I found Leah Webber initially submitted the barn scene.  She sent me stuff that I could watch via You Tube, and so I watched them at home.  I have to say the barn scenes with Jerry verDorn (Clint) were fun!

MICHAEL:

I really wish the Daytime Emmys were judged and gave recognition for a body of work through the eligibility year, instead of just scenes from one episode.  Then when comparing it against other actors, it can often times feel strange and then it makes the whole process more of a game, even though in the end, the Emmys are a game!

ROBERT:

The whole thing over the years, and how it evolved, became about campaigning with different shows.  There was the issue of block voting, too. That happened on CBS with Guiding Light and As the World Turns.  I don’t think we ever did that on One Life to Live.  Jill Farren Phelps, when she came to our show as executive producer, she was like. “Well, I know how to do this.  This is what we have to do to win.”   I will tell you how you get nominated?  You submit good work, and if they like it, you win.  But I guess Jill’s approach was about how to get nominated.  We never did that at One Life.  If you had something to show that was good, and something you are proud of, we would go for it.

MICHAEL:

Now if I recall, the year you won your Daytime Emmy was the year the Emmys weren’t televised!  Now I think there is something to this!  (Laughs) They might not make it to television again this year! 

Courtesy/ABC

ROBERT:

Yeah!  And it’s so funny.  Somebody told me, “I will be watching!”  And I went, “Well, I don’t know what you’ll be watching.” (Laughs)  And usually the next year after you win, you get to present the honor in the Lead Actress category.  I was all excited because that year was Erika Slezak’s first Emmy nomination.  And Paul Rauch, our then executive producer, had us on location the night of the Emmys!  We were downtown in Greenwich Village and the character of Delilah was running away from some sailors who were chasing her.  I was there for when I won my Emmy and it’s just that it wasn’t televised.  I just remember, I thought it was cool being there and my first time being nominated, and I was just kicking back, because again, I had to work at the show late.  I did eventually get to the Emmys, but missed the dinner part with my date, and a buddy of mine, who went with me.  Paul was not a big fan of the Daytime Emmys.  I will never forget the expression on Robin Strasser’s (Dorian, OLTL) face.  She was presenting my category.  All of a sudden her eyes widened, and she took a deep breath with a big smile and I thought, “Oh, you have got to be kidding me?” (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

What do you think of your competition in the Outstanding Lead Actor category?

ROBERT:

It’s a good group.  It’s a veteran group with guys who have all been around for a long time.  I have met John McCook (Eric, B&B) before, but briefly.  The other three guys I have known forever.  I met Maurice Benard (Sonny, GH) when he was on All My Children.  Tony Geary (Luke, GH) and I go back a long time.

MICHAEL:

There was such disappointment that OLTL was not nominated for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series.  This show can never catch a break, even after it’s canceled!

ROBERT:

I know there were some good shows in their submissions.  Judging from our last fan club gathering, nobody could understand what happened and why we were canceled?  You know traditionally, we were that middle child.  The network was always worried about the lead-in and keeping it going.  Then, you have the strong finish with GH.  Everyone always talked about GH and AMC, and we were like, “Hello! Over here!”

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL:

In January, the final episode aired.  There was no one more moving in the final episode than you.  Those scenes between Bo and Matthew, when Matthew names his baby boy Drew after Bo’s late son, was so touching!  But then, when Bo tells Nora he loves her, as he is about to walk out the front door, we all sobbed!  Did you watch the finale?

ROBERT:

I did watch the day it aired.  I had a lump in my throat, too.  Eddie and I were talking before we did it, and even when the script came out.  Eddie said, “I think we are going to have our moment.  We are going to have a moment!”   This is the last show and we were going to have our moment, and the same with Hillary.  It did feel like our goodbyes were very real, and especially walking out and being able to turn around, and just when you think it’s over and then Bo to say, “I love you, Red,” and that’s it.  The last words out of your mouth, and there was a lot of history there.   It was nice way to end.  We shot an alternate ending in case the show was going to the internet, and if I was not going to stay with the show.

MICHAEL:

Oh, my God!  What was the alternate ending for Bo?

ROBERT:

I went out the door and a guy was there with a gloved hand and dressed in black.  There is a hand over my face, and Bo is about to fight and then he realizes, “Oh, it’s you guys.” And then he gets taken away and out for some clandestine thing from the old days.  It would have kept it going, but the way it worked out it just ended with a moment of Bo and Nora looking at each other with nothing planned.  So much of what we did was like that.  It just came right out of the moment, listening to each other, and trusting, and our timing.  Hillary and I had that big ten-year gap.  I forgot how easy it was to work with her and how well we worked together.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/ABC

The final press junket also included a timeout when the cast gathered on the set to take the final cast photo of One Life to Live.  And I know they put Asa’s hat in the shot as a special memory of Phil Carey (Asa).  That must have been very emotional for you. 

ROBERT:

Yes, they put Asa’s hat there, and it was so tough looking over at it during the photo shoot and remembering Phil Carey.  There are so many things I remember.  I have posters and memorabilia that I had framed.  One day, Phil showed up with something and went, “Here Woodsy! You like this kind of shit.”   I looked at it and it was the front page of the Banner and it said, “Asa Buchanan is dead.”   I framed it and hung it on my wall, and right behind that the prop guys are saying, “Anybody seen that newspaper?”  (Laughs)  But Phil would walk off the set with things like that and have things framed! (Laughs)   I said to somebody, “You know, we all have been lucky to have worked with a guy like that. “  He is the last of a breed.

MICHAEL:

If Frank Valentini would find a way to work Bo into GH, would you even be interested in going?

ROBERT:

Oh, I don’t know if they ever could.  Michael Easton came up with an idea that if McBain ever got in a jam, he looks up and goes, “Thank God. Where you been?”  And I turn around and fans see its Bo!  Usually, it would be me in trouble, and John would come rescue me.  Michael Easton said, “Is it something you would do?”  And I said, “It sounds cool and if I was working with you, I would do it.”   But that was just us talking.  But honest to God, GH is GH.  They have enough people from One Life on there now.  It’s their show.  It’s got to be tough when you have invested in the show, and you have been an actor who has been there years and years and years, and then you have all these new faces. You can understand them pondering, “Well, why don’t you think about us?”

MICHAEL:

So right now are you done with acting?

ROBERT:

At this particular point right now, I really don’t want to act.  I like to watch people act and go see some plays and watch TV.  I love Mad Men, Castle and Smash.  Right now, I am happy with what I am doing.  Loyita and I are not at each other’s throat, where I need to go find something to do.  We are still a great team.  I was on One Life to Live 30 years over a 32-year period.  And I have had to memorize so many lines for so many years.  I said to a friend, “I have probably said more during my time at One Life than a lot of big movie stars have had to memorize in their whole life!”  It’s a lot of work and it’s so fast.

Courtesy/ABC

MICHAEL:

In closing, I have to say, I don’t think there will be a dry eye in the house if you were to pick up the Daytime Emmy in June for Lead Actor.  You want to win, don’t you?  It would be such a terrific cap on your daytime career!

ROBERT:

You know what?  I would be grinning for the rest of my life if I was to win.  I can’t say, who cares?  There have been years in the past where I did not care if I was nominated because I have one already.  And then I watch friends of mine like Tony Geary and Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R) who are multiple winners, and especially Tony.  And then I thought, “Maybe it would be good to have another one.”   Tony must have them all over the place.  (Laughs) I would be very happy and proud if I won.  I would be so grateful.  I had the good sense to come back to the show after I left, and made the choice I did to stay as long as they would keep me.  One Life was very good to me, and it gave me one helluva life!