WEBVTT - Susan Lucci Wins It All 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.280 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:10.119 Thing from iHeart Radio. So many actors who went on 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:15.280 to have amazing careers in primetime television and film started 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:20.439 in soap operas. Meg Ryan, Tom Selleck, Julianne Moore, to 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.120 name just a few. And then there are those who 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:28.280 stayed in daytime television to become huge stars in that genre. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.760 My guest today is, without a doubt, the biggest star 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.839 in the history of daytime TV. Susan Lucci, the actress, 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:42.199 played the iconic villain Erica Kaine on ABC's All My 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.640 Children for four decades, from the show's inception in nineteen 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:52.680 seventy until it wrapped in twenty eleven. Following nineteen nominations. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.920 She finally took home the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.920 Lead Actress in nineteen ninety nine, and sare the Emmy's 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:06.320 Lifetime Achievement Award this past December. But Lovable bad Girl 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.920 is not the only role in Lucci's wheelhouse. She has 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:14.120 acted in numerous roles in film and TV, from Devious 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.440 Maids to Hot in Cleveland, and starred on Broadway in 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:23.240 Annie Get Your Gun. Susan Lucci has yet another achievement 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.240 to boast of a long and healthy partnership with husband 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:31.920 Helmet Huber. Hubert passed away in twenty twenty two after 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.800 fifty two years of marriage. I wanted to know what 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:38.399 was the secret of their successful union. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:43.160 Incredibly good luck for my part to meet him, because 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.280 I was young and I didn't I don't think I 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.920 really knew exactly how fabulous he was and just got 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.280 really lucky. Fortunately he had a very good sense of 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:58.440 humor and he was very confident. This was really helpful 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.880 in this business we're talking about. You know, he took 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:03.760 a lot of ribbing all those guys I was kissing 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.840 on all my children. But you know, he got it. 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:08.440 You know he knew I came home to him and 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:09.000 I wanted to. 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.359 So yeah, yeah, I remember when I was younger. I mean, 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:14.760 now I don't really do any of that, but when 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.919 I was younger, and I had a girlfriend at one 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:22.359 time who really was very very agitated by that. I 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:24.360 was just starting to make films or just was starting 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.720 to go from TV to films, and I had to 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.320 kiss somebody who was very well known, and this movie 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.000 was going to be all over TV and everything. Me 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.200 kissing this person was going to be featured. Who knows, 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.000 and she really just couldn't take it. She was really 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:40.040 very angry all the time. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.080 It's not for everybody. Yeah, I used to say, if 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:43.640 that she were on the other foot, I would have 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.440 been throwing my stilettos. I mean I would not have 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:47.280 taken it as well. 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.800 When I was young, well, when I had it the 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.240 other way, when a woman in my life was in 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.079 the business and she was kissing other people, I just 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:55.600 would look at her and say, if you left me 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.720 for him, you got to be an idiot. 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:00.959 I would sound like helmet, like your good luck. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.400 I mean, please go right ahead. Don't teach me everything 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.359 about you. I need to know, but you. I don't 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.880 want to talk just about the TV show at length. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.560 I want to talk about the other things you did 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:14.840 and the other things you wanted to do. I mean, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.519 your commitment to that show is singular. You are right 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.760 to the end, you surf that wave right to the shore. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.680 But other than that, what were there other things you 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.360 wanted you did do, other things, you made films, You 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.360 stepped in for Bernadette and Nanny gets. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:30.800 Your want to go in for Bernadette. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.600 I was so through all the I loved. 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:37.120 The whole original company. 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.800 Yeah, I love But how did that happen? Like you 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.680 go to this the TV show and you say I 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:44.760 want out, or you went did the TV show and 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:45.840 went to night work at night. 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.920 I did both. I did both. I had a short 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:53.040 time off but all the rehearsals. I just was able 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.840 to have time off just before the opening, but I 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.960 wound up getting pneumonia. Because I would work at all 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.240 my children. They accommodated my schedule so that we started 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.680 a little earlier in the morning, did all my stuff first, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.960 and then I would on my lunch hour, get in 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.360 a car, go to the theater, grab a chicken soup 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.040 on the way, and go and rehearse, go to voice 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.200 lessons five nights a week because I had never sung professionally. 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.440 Did you study theater and acting in college? Where'd you go? 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.000 I went to Marymount College. It is a Catholic women's college, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.960 but it's in Tarrytown, and all the drama faculty was 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.840 from Yale and Royal Shakespeare Company in London, Mary Marytha Grand. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.440 It was a wonderful school. Wonderful for me. Jesuit school 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.120 which is the smarty pants guy, so that was good. 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.520 The faculty was phenomenal and they were all working in 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.800 the business. So the head of the drama department, who 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.159 was from Yale, was also a member of Cafe La 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.400 Mama and Lincoln Center Rep. So I got the classics 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.080 as well as the news stuff. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.080 So you do that show. You did small roles and 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.560 things back in the sixties, but then you're doing films 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:04.760 throughout the eighties, nineties, two thousands, you're doing Army Wives 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.880 a couple through episodes of that. You're working outside the show. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.479 Why did you feel you wanted to? You're just a 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.160 kind of I don't want to say workaholic, but you 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:14.240 like to work. 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:15.840 I do like to work, and I like to work 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:20.039 as an actress, and you know, probably a couple of things. 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:21.800 First of all, I'd never thought that I could call 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.920 myself an actress if I only played one part. And 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.479 even though the part was the part that kept me 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.799 on that show for so long, because I loved doing 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.599 that part. That part was one of the best parts, 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.760 with the most range and the most possibilities. And I 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:40.120 worked with a company of actors who I loved and trusted, 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:42.599 and it was wonderful, and the writing was fantastic. It 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.440 was Agnes Nixon and a lot of reasons that kept 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.400 me there. However, having said that, I just never thought 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.600 that playing one part would make me an actress. I 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.719 had to do more, and so I did. And the 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:55.520 other thing I started to say is that I think 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.800 a lot of actors, you know, you feel like you 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.839 should say yes as much as you can say yes, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.279 because someday it won't all be there, So you just 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:05.320 say yes, why you can. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:10.360 I did a soap. The doctors and everybody in that cast, 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:14.120 not everybody, but a thick band of them were all 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.000 like they did the soap for the pension and welfare 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.400 and the paycheck and the medical and then they ran 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.680 off to the theater. It was their passion. We were 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.359 a half hour which was starting to fade and go down. 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.400 The older cast was primary. I always tell people that 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.800 the cast photo were the adults in front and the 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.719 kids in the back, because the kids were the supporting players. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.279 And that changed with Bold and the Beautiful, with all 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.080 my children, well, my children were Ryan's Hope, Young and 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.279 the restless. However, on your show, the youth revolution comes 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.120 and you're still young at this point, but you're one 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.240 of the older cast members of the younger cast mean no, no, no. 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.280 I started playing Eric as a fifteen year old high 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:56.000 school girl, something that drew me to that drew me 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.599 to the show because the man who was the head 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.200 of the department at Marymount, who came from Yale, only 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.839 wanted me to do theater and maybe film. Those two things. 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:10.400 Television and daytime television never even came into the equation. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.480 But when I read the script and I saw that 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.520 the four kids and we were in high school were 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:22.880 now featured with storylines, and I loved the part. I thought, well, 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.440 I'm going to change his mind. I'm going to do 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:29.080 this and it's so well written and I have this 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.840 incredible part, so I took the part. He was not 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.680 happy at first, but then he actually was interviewed by 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.320 TV Guide and said, at the time, I know why 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:37.840 she did this. 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.200 You know, but even as you're in that generation, when 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.440 you're younger and you stayed with the show and you're 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.840 getting older, yes, and other young stars are coming into 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.520 for the show, you remain one of the stars of 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.200 the show. Why how did you pull that off? 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.080 I think it was the writing that pulled it off, 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:59.200 you know, thank you for saying that. No, thank you. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.320 I was very lucky, as I said, she You know, 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.520 so I started her playing as a fifteen year old girl. 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.280 But she was never the girl next door, and she 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.200 was not the girl that you know, everybody was going 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.320 to embrace. She was the naughty girl in town, and 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.160 she was major bad girl in town and on a 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.280 world stage. And I never thought the audience was going 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:22.480 to like her. I loved to play her, the bad girl, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:23.240 the bad girl. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.520 Yeah, and you never thought they would embrace the bad girl. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.400 Never thought the boy. 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:26.960 Were you wrong? 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:27.840 Yeah? 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.480 Turned out that we loved bad girls. They loved bad girls. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.760 They do love that. And what they saw, and again 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:38.199 the writing was there to support it was they saw 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.800 that she was a girl who had dreams for herself 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.040 and she was going to go out there and get them. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.680 She had spirit, she had spunk. She'd always do it 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.280 the right or the nice way. But they really loved 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.040 her spunk, her spirit. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.840 They would watch these shows. I remember because the generation 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.640 comes in now where the audience is in sixties housewives, 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.160 it's young people, college kids, and they stop in the 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.199 middle of the day to watch their stories, my stories 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.440 and then they would watch the show and then you're 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.120 on there doing whatever, and they sit there and be like, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:14.200 you know, Corey, Corey, it's us. We did that. You know, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:16.880 anything bad you did was very familiar to them. Well. 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:22.600 And also Erica I think represented my generation that we 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.720 were working. You know, my generation was working. They were 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.480 not getting out of college and just getting married. They 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:33.280 had their own dreams and aspirations to have. Wasn't enough, 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.920 wasn't the only thing on their mind. They had additional 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.840 things on their minds and going to Merrymount, which was 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:43.920 a women's college. I remember when we would talk about 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.720 our dreams. We had aspirations for ourselves in terms of career, 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.280 and it wasn't a question of if we were going 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.439 to do that, It was when we're going to do? 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:54.959 This is what we were going to do, and how 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:55.400 could we. 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.880 Do it now. Obviously, Agnes Nixon wasn't your head writer 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.320 throughout the entire one. She was the creator, the creator, 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:04.240 and then the writers would come and go. 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.560 The writers would, yes, a lot of them would stay 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.720 for years, but Lorraine Broderick became the head writer because 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.400 Agnes would come and go occasionally. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.160 Did everybody who came on to run the show. They 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.079 all basically treated you the same way. But then another 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.640 great advantage you had was Eric is not going anywhere. 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.280 It seemed to be that way. It seemed to be 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.559 the way. It's hard only again, you, I think because 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.800 Agnes was involved and it was her creation, and she 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.120 was in the room, you know. And also I remember 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.120 our last producer, Julie Cruthers, who lucky to have wonderful 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:44.040 producers too, and Julie would say the last man who 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.559 was the head of ABC Daytime, I believe, was not 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.760 so enamored of Agnes being involved. And I remember Julie 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.800 saying that Agnes is the youngest voice in the room, 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.840 so she had good stories to tell and she remained 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:03.240 relevant and groundbreaking always. So I think because of Agnes 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:08.240 and Agnes's beautiful writing for my character Erica, I think 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:09.480 that's why I got to stay. 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.120 These people work really hard. You come up with a 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.719 fresh idea every day. The only bad part was we 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.520 do with double tape very rarely because we had to 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.640 accommodate people who were working on Broadway. We had cast 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:22.600 members who were on a Wednesday, they did the matinee, 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:24.640 so they would have to leave by one. We'd pretape 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:26.960 their scenes and they had a scene on a Christmas 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.160 show where they're floating between everybody. So they're in a 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.000 party and all the family of the show was there 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:34.679 and they're floating with the camera and they go, I'll 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:36.920 land on this one and this one, and they're like, 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:38.760 my god, I can't wait for us to head down 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.000 to Palm Beach and have a nice vacation. Something light. 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:43.800 Pan to the next one and the wife or the 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.520 girlfriend saying to the boyfriend, I knew you had drinks 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.839 with her chat I knew you had drinks with I 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.960 saw you and something from being turgid there. Then they'd 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.040 land on me last, and I was like a little 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.800 bit drunk because I went to lunch at Hurley's down 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.079 on the bottom of the building. That's where we always 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.040 went because we usually left it and come back we 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:03.600 had launch and film. Now we had to come back 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:05.040 to finish the rest of the taping as we did 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.200 a double taping, and I came back when they finally 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.160 land on me in their floating shot. They landed me 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:16.360 and I go, you know, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry everybody. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.000 I blow the whole take for and they looked at me, like, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.079 you better straight out. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:22.480 This was at the beginning. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.840 This was in the beginning, and I thought it was 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.400 I didn't take it as seriously as I should have, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.440 But I learned a lot. I learned a lot of 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.280 the things that were significant to me about the professionalism 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.160 of your acting career on that TV show, on that 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:38.079 daytime TV. 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:39.360 Interesting, it's wonderful. 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:44.600 The show ends twenty eleven, correct, and all of the daytime. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.400 That was an empire. Where did you shoot a West 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.079 End Avenue over in the big at the Kremlin? 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.680 I call it the Kremlin sixty sixth and Columbus. Yeah, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.600 And we moved to sixty seventh and West End, And 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:57.480 the last two years we shot in La. 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.440 You did, I didn't know that. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.920 I hadn't lant well. We were told that it would 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.160 be more cost effective at that time, and also because 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.760 of the climate, it would be really great. We could 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.360 shoot outside as well, with the location actually nearby. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:13.240 Did you enjoy it? 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:14.319 I did? 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:15.560 I did. 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.640 I didn't expect to, because so many actors from New 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.400 York would say how much they didn't love working in 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.800 LA I did, maybe because I grew up in the 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:25.720 suburbs and I was used to being in a car 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:28.760 and even like it, so I was fine with that. 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:30.280 And where did you live when you were out there? 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:31.240 Where did you shoot? 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.640 We shot in Glendale. We shot in Glendale, and we 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.360 had an apartment in Glendale. The studio was six minutes 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.480 from our apartment. If I hit the red lights in 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.560 Garden City, it was an hour and a half commute. 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.440 But I really it was fine for me because I 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.959 studied my lines on the way in and I could 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.120 just return phone calls and be a vegetable way. 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:52.680 How did you get in every day? Somebody drove you? 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:57.680 Yes, it began with helmet driving me. That's love, Yes, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.840 it really, Yes, he was fantastic. But then when I 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.040 was twenty seven, one of the vice presidents of the 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.040 network offered me a limo, you know, to pick me 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.920 up and take me in, And I remember saying, I 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.440 thank them very much, But I said, you know, people 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.400 are coming here on this subway, and if I show 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.000 up in a limo, this is an ensemble, I'm going 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.240 to be playing scenes with them. This is probably not 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.960 going to be a good way to have a company 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:27.880 of actors. 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.360 You didn't want to be viewed that way, No. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:31.800 I wanted to be. I was part of the company. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:34.200 I recognized that the part that was being written, and 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.240 I was lucky enough to have it was written for me, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:41.120 but there was a collaboration for sure. I saw it 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.760 was on the page, and frankly, I mean, you know, 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:48.480 my experience with the writing there was incredible, and I 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.680 had good training, so I knew how I mean. My 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.360 judgment I thought was a good judgment and it was 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:57.080 really so well written. Also, I was one of those 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.960 characters you're talking about that the writer wanted to tell 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.240 the story through, and I realized that it was very, 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.960 very lucky. But one thing with Agnes is that she 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:11.360 would tell very complicated, relevant stories, current stories through everybody's eyes. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:17.080 I think Erica was Agnes's voice, but I really admired 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.840 the fact that these complicated issues anybody watching out there 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.160 could could have see themselves represented. 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.040 What was the challenge for you to keep that role fresh? 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.560 Do you suggest things to them? I always believe that 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.960 someone who's as talented as you are, and who owns 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.040 that role in the way that you did, you have 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:37.720 every right to turn to them and say, I'd like 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.280 you to mayven think about this? You suggest how much 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.280 were you able to suggest very little? 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:43.840 Really, yeah, very little. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:45.680 You just referred to Agnes. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:48.920 It was there, you know. I was really lucky most 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.080 mostly I would read this. First of all, it was 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.320 a newscript every day, and you know very well from 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.120 having been on daytime. It was the length of a 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.160 play a day. It was a play a day, and 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.280 so there's a lot of material not only to commit 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.360 to memory, but to fill to make work, you know. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.520 And so the day to day was very occupying of 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.960 my mind. And I was in such good hands in 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.720 the final times, you know, when we moved to la 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:16.680 and when the person who was in the charge of 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.920 daytime brought in a new writer altogether, and he met 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.040 with our company of actors during a lunch period in 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.080 our rehearsal hall. And the first thing that that writer, 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:30.840 who might have been a wonderful writer in a different genre, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.440 but what he said was I'm going to shake things up. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:38.520 That's fine, but he said, so some of you may 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.160 not recognize your characters or your relationships and so on. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.240 And so what happened was that during rehearsal in the morning, 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:52.440 what he said was true, and so many actors were concerned. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.120 I was one of them too. Of course, you know, 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:55.560 people would come to me and say, what are you 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:57.240 doing about this? So you just try to hold on 0:16:57.560 --> 0:16:59.160 tooth and nail, you know. 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.520 You tell when people were coming on the younger people 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:04.720 knew were people, whether they had it or not, the 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.040 discipline to do the show. 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.480 I could see that some people were, you know, no, 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:15.000 we're wonderful. Wonderful yeah, Josh, Kim Darnell, they stood out 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:20.320 right away. Kim Delaney, Kim just mel be my god, yeah, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.359 Kim Delaney, yes. And actually Michael B. 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:23.800 Jordan. 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:29.640 Michael played my steps on by marriage, to Jack Montgomery, 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.399 to Walt Willie, who was spectacular too, but he was 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:38.200 one who was sixteen and always very what you're saying, discipline, 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.760 showed up on time, showed up prepared, very respectful, very 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:43.400 nice person, good guy. 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.919 When you did the show. Were their actors you just 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:48.439 fere like you enjoyed working with them? 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.639 They were, Oh absolutely, what Willie, who I worked with 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:55.960 most often, who was my love interest throughout lots of times, 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.119 in and out. He's so funny and very quick and 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.240 loved working with him. And on the other side of 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:07.639 the coind David Canary, who was spectacular actor I worked 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.120 with him, probably next to Walt. I worked with David 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.719 Canary most, but we hate I mean I hated him, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:17.199 Erica hated him. But those scenes were wonderful. And you 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.199 know you were saying earlier about you know, the senior 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.840 actors leaving because they were on Broadway and they had 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.520 places to go. I thought that was one of the 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.160 biggest pluses working in New York. But the other actors 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:34.119 were phenomenal Broadway actors. I mean Jimmy Mitchell who danced 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.399 the Curly Ballet in Oklahoma on Broadway and was so urbane. 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:40.920 And you know, I was young and to learn from 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:46.000 these incredibly successful actors who were working on Broadway. Sometimes 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.359 someone like Philip Bosco, who, yeah, would come and do 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.639 you know an arc on the show? Yeah. Oh, I 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.440 remember one day I was doing a concert version of 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.960 One Touch of Venus and we would rehearse the Amsterdam 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.159 Theater during my lunch hour, run out there and do 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:06.239 that and come back was for encores, Yes, and at 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.560 the time, and I was so much fun and again, 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.040 wonderful Broadway actors. Piggy Cass was playing my mother, Yes, 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.159 I know, it was incredible. And coming back to the 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.359 studio and waiting behind the sets, you know, if the 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.560 cameras broke down a little bit or something was happening 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:25.600 technically that we didn't know what we had to be 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.840 on hold, stayed our places. So behind the scenes, my 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.480 set flowed into behind Jimmy Mitchell's set, and he came 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:36.439 up to me and he just took me in his 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.639 arms and waltz with me. He danced with me all 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.919 over the backstage while we were waiting. You know, some 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:43.840 of those wonderful experiences. 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:54.040 Actress Susan Lucci. If you enjoy conversations with talented female Thespians, 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.560 check out my episode with former As the World Turns 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:01.080 star and Oscar winner Julianne Moore. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:03.880 I'm very chatty. I like to talk all the way 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:06.960 up to action. I do, I do, And if you 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.760 can't talk to me, I'm really disappointed. Then I get lonely, 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:11.359 and I want to be lonely when I want, I 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:12.600 want to be with my buddy. 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:13.960 I want to talk to me. You talk to me 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:15.199