Nathan Fillion, who stars on ABC’s The Rookie, which was officially renewed for its ninth season, and who began his television career on One Life to Live as Joey Buchanan from 1994-1997 was the guest along with actress Geena Davis on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live on Bravo.

During their conversation, Cohen who is a big fan of soap operas himself, especially All My Children asked Fillion about the incredible pace of acting on a soap. Fillion reflected, “It is extreme acting at a pace that you cannot fathom, and I’m told even since then it’s gotten faster and faster.” The Llanview alum added, “There are very soap operas left. I was in it just as they were starting to decline.”

However, in the buzzworthy moment that has made it to social media, Fillion shared, “I learned one very important thing. We were talking about that slow closeup at the end of a scene,” also referred to as the tag.  So, “I complained about how long that closeup was like, “What am I supposed to do?”

Photo: ABC

THREE FACES OF A SOAP OPERA TAG

Fillion recalled, “A lovely man named Michael Knight (ex-Tad Martin) from All My Children (now Martin Grey on GH), I complained about (it to and) how long that closeup was, like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ He said, ‘You need to make three faces.” Now Fillion made the faces associated with these thoughts in front of Cohen and Geena Davis, while looking straight to the camera. “They are: ‘Did I leave the stove on?’ ‘I did leave the stove on!’ ‘No, I turned the stove off.’ Works for every scene!”

Photo: ABC

ONE LIFE TO LIVE LEADING LADIES

Later, Cohen asked about the leading ladies he got the opportunity to work with on One Life to Live, and mentioned, then Nathan’s on-screen mother, Erika Slezak (Viki), and then Nathan’s on-screen lover Robin Strasser (Dorian).

Nathan explained, “I was in between Erika Slezak and Robin Strasser – the matriarch of the show, the villain of the show, I was torn between them. It was the perfect position to be in. I had a fantastic time.”

You can catch the moments where Nathan and Andy talk about Fillion’s time as Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live below beginning at the 3:08 mark.

So, what did you think of advice Michael Knight gave to Nathan to help him cue into the looks of a soap opera tag at the end of a scene? Did you love the story which saw Joey torn between the love for his mother, and the passionate affair with an older woman, Viki’s nemesis, Dorian Lord? Let us know via the comment section below.

Sad news to report for the One Life to Live family. Actress Jennifer Harmon who was the last actress to play the emotionally troubled Cathy Craig has passed away. Harmon, who also starred on the defunct NBC soap opera, How to Survive a Marriage, died in New York on May 9 at the age of 82. Harmon’s family made the announcement.

Jennifer was the fifth actress to play One Life to Live’s Cathy, following Catherine Burns, Amy Levitt, Jane Alice Brandon and Dorrie Kavanaugh. During her two year tenure with the soap, from 1976 through 1978, she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series at the 5th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 1978. The award that year went to Another World’s Laurie Heineman (ex-Sharlene Frame).

In her soap career, not only did Harmon have major success as Cathy on One Life to Live, but she starred on NBC’s new soap opera, How to Survive a Marriage as Chris Kirby and stayed with the series through its entire run which lasted just over a year from 1974-1975.   

Photo: NBC

How to Survive a Marriage told the story of divorced couple as they battle for custody of their daughter, and as the mom enters the workforce. In the span of a year, Chris got divorced, remarried and battled alcoholism. Rosemary Prinz was the featured name in the cast.

On One Life to Live, Cathy was the nemesis of Victoria Lord (Erika Slezak). Cathy blamed the wealthy Viki for the accident that killed her child Megan Craig Riley (even though the baby has a congenital heart defect and her life expectancy was short).  So, she set out to make Viki’s life hell by kidnapping Viki and Joe’s child, Kevin.

Later,  Jennifer would return to One Life to Live in the 90s to play Viki’s attorney in a new role, went on to play Jean Weatherill on Guiding Light in 1991 and Lucretia Jones on Loving in 1995. Her primetime TV credits included: Barnaby Jones, Dallas, The White Shadow, St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz, Rescue Me and The Good Wife.

Harmon was also known as one of the most accomplished stage actresses on Broadway having appeared over 21 times in different productions spanning nearly 50 years including in plays of the works of legendary playwrights: Noël Coward, Wendy Wasserstein, Lillian Hellman, Neil Simon, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee and Jon Robin Baitz. Throughout her theatre career she was was known as a reliable actress, and at times was an understudy for the likes of: Stockard Channing, Judi Dench, Jessica Lange, Blythe Danner and Jessica Lange.

Share your remembrances of Jennifer Harmon on One Life to Live, How to Survive a Marriage, and more, in the comment section below.

Coming to AMC+ and Shudder on May 7 is the beginning of the six-part limited series, The Terror: The Devil in Silver, which stars Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens (ex-Matthew Crawley) in the central role of Pepper and two-time Daytime Emmy winner and two-time Tony Award winner, Judith Light (ex-Karen Wolek, One Life to Live) in the role of Dory.

Ahead of its premiere, Light and Stevens visited The Morning Joe on MS Live on Wednesday, April 29th and attended the AMC Upfronts to talk about their latest project. The series also features CCH Pounder, pictured with Judith and Dan below.

The Terror: The Devil in Silver tells the story of Pepper, a working-class moving man who, through a combination of bad luck and a bad temper, finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital – an institution filled with the people society would rather forget. There, he must contend with patients who work against him, doctors who harbor grim secrets, and perhaps even the very Devil himself. As Pepper navigates a hellscape where nothing is as it seems, he finds that the only path to freedom is to face down the entity which thrives on the suffering within New Hyde’s walls – but doing so may prove that the worst demons of all live inside him.”

Photo: AMC

POWERFUL STORY OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE AND MENTAL CHALLENGES

Speaking with Stevens about The Terror: The Devil in Silver, Light shared why she decided to take on the role of a longtime institutionalized patient. “I read two lines of the script, and I called the agent and I said, I’m in,” recounted Judith. “It’s a really powerful story. It’s what Dan said about our mental healthcare and people with mental challenges in our country and around the world, so it really speaks to that. It speaks to a kind of culture and what happens to people when they are put in places like this. So, it was a combination of things that really drew me to it.”

As to the state of her characters lives, Light said the time period for people such as Dory, set the tone for what was to be her ultimate fate. “This is in the early fifties, and it was the way that if a man didn’t like the way a woman was behaving, and it resonates to this day, he just dropped her off at this place and left her there, explained the multi-Emmy and Tony winner.

Photo: AMC

Judith continued,  “So, (Dory) she’s been there for 30 years. What she has made of herself is that she is sort of the welcome wagon to really acclimate people to this particular place. So, somebody new, someone fresh, someone exciting, comes into the space and it’s all about, ‘let me show you around, let me show you what this is’. But her own deterioration has happened through these years, as you can see. It’s quite a comment on a lot of social and cultural issues.”

The limited series is executive produced by Dan Stevens, Ridley Scott, writers and showrunners Chris Cantwell and Victor LaValle who is also the author of the celebrated novel on which the season is based, and Emmy nominee Karyn Kusama who directs the first two episodes. New installments will also air on AMC later this year.

Now below check out the official trailer for The Terror: Devil in Silver and Judith and Dan on The Morning Joe.

Then let us know, intrigued to see Judith in what will surely be one of her finest character roles on TV and streaming? Excited to see her share scenes with Dan Stevens? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Judith Light Archives (@judithlight_archives)