Marland Mondays: Three More Tonys, Eight Grammys, an Obie, and a Drama Desk Award.
Oh my goodness, what day is it?
Marland Monday!
Yes my children, it’s another Marland Monday. Every Monday I look back at the career at Douglas Marland, one of the best writers in the soap genre.
I realized I made a mistake when I did my essay several weeks ago about notable cast members, I forgot several. I know I know, bad me. Part of it is many of them were day players; on for two or three days, then gone. Another part of it is I just plain out made a mistake. So let us go again back in time…
Corbin Bernsen: When Frannie and Kim were kidnapped on As the World Turns, Bob and Frannie’s ex boyfriend Kevin needed to go where they were being held hostage. It was risky and they required a plane. Bernsen to the rescue! This was six months before he went to Los Angeles to do a show called LA Law, a role he’s going to return to soon.
Kelly Bishop: Long before she donned a Hugo Boss suit and became Emily Gilmore, Bishop was Grace the waitress, who listened to Lily Walsh’s problems (and man, did Lily have problems) and tried to offer advice. In addition to Gilmore Girls, Bishop was Baby’s mom in Dirty Dancing, was in the short lived show Bunheads, and recently was in the miniseries Halston.
Calista Flockhart: Before Ally McBeal was even a thought in David Kelley’s head, Flockhart was making the rounds in soap operas as a day player. She played Mariah Lewis’s babysitter on Guiding Light, then the next year she was Courtney Baxter’s roommate on As the World Turns. In this clip, she is questioned what happened to Courtney. She doesn’t know. What’s missing is her dancing with a baby.
Lauryn Hill: One of the storylines Marland created was Duncan McKenchine (chk spelling) making his castle home a runaway shelter. One of the runaways was Kira, played by Hill. Kira couldn’t read or write. Paging Nancy Hughes! Nancy helped Kira learn to read and write, but she did in a way Kira would understand by rapping. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Nancy Hughes rapping, I tell you. Seven years later when I heard Hill singing on the Grammys, I thought oh yes. Nancy would be proud. Also adding to the award list: Eight Grammys!
Ken Olin: Before he went on to discuss things to death on thirtysomething, Olin was a work friend of Mike Donovan’s on the show Loving. After thirtysomething, Olin continued to act, but expanded and directed episodes of Felicity, The West Wing, Alias, Brothers and Sisters, and This is Us (he’s also the executive producer of the show) The clip below is in Italian:
Tonya Pinkins: Pinkins only worked with Marland for a year before she departed ATWT. Heather Dalton was Betsy’s best friend and the love interest of Detective Roy Franklin (Count Stovall) She also sang at weddings and Christmas gatherings and played a role in the Douglas Cummings mystery. After she left ATWT, Pinkins went on to play Livia Frye-Cudahy on All My Children, then went on to Broadway in Jelly’s Last Jam and Caroline or Change. She also wrote, directed and starred in the horror movie Red Pill. Also add two more Tonys to the awards list! Below Pinkins as Heather sings “Joy to the World around the 37:00 minute mark:
Victoria Racimo: Racimo played Annie Spotted Eagle, who helped Lily when she ran away from home (this was right before Grace the waitress) and was incredibly kind to her before Lily continued on her journey. Racimo was a character actress who did episodes of Cagney and Lacey, Eight is Enough and Lou Grant. She was a theater consultant on the movie Lincoln then wrote, produced and directed the documentary One Day, plus collaborated on a musical with Alicia Keys. She also co-wrote a book about Elvis Presley and horses called All the King’s Horses: The Equestrian Life of Elvis Presley. Racimo died last year at the age of seventy-six.
Tamara Tunie: People know Tunie as Melinda Warner medical examiner on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit but she also was Jessica Griffin, the go to lawyer in Oakdale. She defended Paul Ryan when he was accused of murdering his father, Caleb Snyder of murdering a child abuser, and pretty much all of Oakdale one time of another. Tunie has mentioned Marland as a mentor/influence in her life (In an interview with Patrick Erwin) showing her by example to try everything: produce, direct, write. Tunie produced Spring Awakening in 2007 and won a Tony. Yes! Another Tony to the list! Plus she won an Obie award and a Drama Desk award too. Below is Jessica’s wedding to Duncan McKechnie:
Emma Walton-Hamilton: Not only a writer and producer, Walton-Hamilton was an actress. She should know how to multi-task since she learned from her own mother, Julie Andrews. On ATWT she played Lenore, a friend of Barbara’s in prison (I think Barbara was accused of doing something to her ex James Steinbeck. Everyone wanted to hurt James; he was the Mr. Burns on the show) It’s too bad Lenore didn’t stay long on the show; we could’ve had her mom sing at the Mona Lisa “Wouldn’t it Be Loverly” and “My Favorite Things.
Ming Na Wen: In February 1988, Tom Hughes opened the door and found a beautiful girl standing in front of him. Her name was Lien, and she had documentation that she was Tom’s daughter. Tom had done a tour of duty in Vietnam, so it was a perfect use of history. It also celebrated the end of Lisa’s (Eileen Fulton) reign of not being a grandmother (Eileen Fulton insisted years before that she wouldn’t become a grandmother because she was positive it would affect her storylines) After accumulating to Oakdale, Lien was kidnapped, got in a car accident with her step-cousin Andy Dixon, faced racism in her high school, yet fell in love and had a happy ending. Wen ended up doing several seasons on ER, was one of the stars in The Joy Luck Club, but is best known as the voice of Mulan, the heroine who decided not to be a geisha but to impersonate a man and fight a Hun invasion in China.
Okay I think we’ve been updated. If I missed someone, please let me know in the comments. I’m only one woman, I can make mistakes. If there’s more than two, I’ll do a follow-up the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, let us remember the WKRP Turkey Drop of 1978
Happy Thursday to all this week. Go eat Hubbard Squash.
Tune in next week….
