Interview (ATWT): Marnie Schulenburg Says Goodbye to Oakdale

After 54 years and more than 13,000 episodes, the “World” will stop spinning for cast, crew and fans of the longest-running soap opera on television today. As the World Turns will air its final episode on Sept. 17. I caught up with Marnie Schulenburg (who has played Alison Stewart since March 2007) recently to discuss the show, those last days on the set and her plans for the future.

Daytime Dial: When you heard the news that the show was going to be canceled, how did you react, and what was the general consensus around the set?

Marnie Schulenburg: I found out, I think it was right before Christmas, and I think it was solidified in January. That’s an awful time in general for people to find out, just because that’s supposed to be the happiest, giving time of year, and to know that your job and source of income is coming to an end is difficult for everybody. I’m younger, and I have less responsibility. I have a lot more freedom to be allowed to be out of a job. But a lot of the people on the show have lots of kids, or they have families, or it’s been their life. So, for me it was just sad watching people who had pretty much become my family for the past three and a half years go through that and the many different levels of what that means. From anger to sadness, feeling nostalgia to being sentimental — everybody has a different way of coping and dealing, and to watch people you love go through that is really difficult and sad.

DD: And like you said, you all really are like a family, so it’s like your family is being broken up.

MS: It really is, especially for the people like Don Hastings, Kathryn Hays and Eileen Fulton — the people who have been on the show since almost the beginning. Some people have pursued careers outside of the soap more than others. Some have kept busy with other projects, but those who really mainly focused on the soap and just had their families, it’s like the possibility of a career outside of that, they wonder, is that something that they even want to pursue? Is it time to retire? So, that is really difficult, too.

DD: A lot of actors, like those from Guiding Light, are finding work on remaining soaps. The cancellation of ATWT could give some actors new opportunities, and might even compel ATWT viewers to watch a new soap to follow that actor, creating higher numbers for the shows that do remain on the air.

MS: I feel like a lot of us are very versatile actors. I just read an article that quoted, I believe it was Les Moonves of CBS, saying that he wasn’t sure if there was a place for daytime anymore. The medium is changing. But since there are soaps leaving, then those viewers could then go over to another network and watch another show. That is very probable. But even with that being said, the viewership isn’t what it was even three years ago. We aren’t losing all the viewers; there are just different ways that they are watching our show, and it’s really difficult to monitor that and then prove to the networks that we are still maintaining popularity. I can tell them that half of my family and friends are TiVoing it and DVRing it or watching it online, but until we are able to monitor this source of how people are watching our show, what can we do?

DD: So, take me back to that final day of shooting. What was it like on the set?

MS: Once we found out, everybody went through different phases of coping: sadness to anxiety to anger to relief to whatever. But the last couple of days it was like, whatever stress people had, including myself, about where are we going and how were we going to make a living, that kind of melted away. Everything was relished. Everything was given respect, and it wasn’t rushed; it was honored. The last day, everybody clapped after everybody’s scene. Anytime anyone was done, we would all clap, and that was a wrap for them. That we were given that respect, that was really great.

There were an insane amount of pictures taken and a lot of crying. We did the last scene of the day with Don Hastings, Marie Masters and Kathy Hayes — three of the best, three really great people who started the show. When they were done, everybody came out and took pictures. Everybody on the show stayed, across the board, and we all made toasts for two hours — everybody toasting to one another and saying things that they made sure they wanted said. It was really beautiful.

DD: I know you can’t tell me how the show will end, but can you give me a little hint?

MS: It’s definitely going to be, I’d say for most of the people, a happy ending. For any character who doesn’t get one, I think they have pretty much already wrapped that up. Our fans are really in tune with the story lines and where they think characters are going to go. They are normally pretty much right on the nose with how stuff ends up. We want people to leave the show with a good feeling. It’s resolved and happy, and they can leave remembering the characters in a positive light. You won’t see anything extreme. They really want to keep it grounded, honest, compelling and resolved. A resolution for everybody to leave so they feel it has a poignant finish.

DD: Would you consider a role on another soap, or do you want to go in a different direction?

MS: If I got a job, I wouldn’t turn it down. I don’t think I’m going to go out of my way to pursue another job on another soap. I just don’t think it would be the same. I don’t think any show would ever be the same. ATWT changed my life. It changed how I am as an actor. I learned so much from it. I don’t think that anything could ever really give me that type of satisfaction.

Win a Piece of ATWT

Every week (for the next six weeks) leading up to the finale, CBS.com will host a contest for fans to win memorable pieces of the As the World Turns wardrobe. Fans can answer a question of the week, which then automatically enters them to win prizes such as Henry’s button-down shirt and tie. For more information, please visit http://www.cbs.com/daytime/as_the_world_turns/.

Y&R: Such a Tease!

· As Adam’s trial approaches, will Sharon (Sharon Case, pictured) be able to take the stand against Adam?

· Unaware of the danger he is in, Chance sets out to expose who is behind the drug
ring in prison, which could end up getting him killed.

· Neil and Malcolm face-off when Neil goes out of his way to create tension with
Sofia.

· Meggie finds herself a new ally when she is attacked unexpectedly.

· When Victoria learns the truth from Jill about her deal with Tucker, will
Victoria be able to forgive and forget with Billy or is it already too late?

Tune in to QVC on Tuesday, August 10 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time for the debut of Sharon
Case’s new fashion jewelry line, Pomp.


CASTING NEWS:

Signy Coleman appears as “Hope Wilson” on August 13.

Eric Roberts appears as “Vance Abrams” on August 9, 10 and 13.

Lauralee Bell appears as “Christine Blair” on August 12.

Sean Young appears as “Meggie McClaine” on August 10 and 12.

Don Swayze appears as “Shaw Roberts” on August 10.

B&B: Such a Tease!

· A power struggle at Forrester Creations is imminent when two unexpected forces set forward their personal agendas.

· A matriarch does battle to protect her children and grandchildren.

· An odd trio comes to terms with the joys and the heartaches of their current situation.

· A lover scorned receives a heartfelt apology gift.

· Liam meets Stephanie (Susan Flannery, pictured) and Steffy for the first time.

Interview Y&R: Sharon Case Is a Designing Woman

Sharon Newman definitely does not have time to spare in her emotionally busy life in Genoa City to even think about creating a jewelry line. However, her alter ego, Sharon Case, has managed to squeeze the title of “businesswoman” into her already busy schedule by deciding to create her own line of jewelry, called Pomp. Sharon will be debuting her line of jewelry on QVC Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET, and I caught up with her recently so she could tell me all about it.

Daytime Dial: Most women, like me and you, love jewelry and probably have thought about creating our own jewelry at one time or another. What gave you that final push to say, “Hey, I am going to produce my own line of jewelry and sell it on QVC”?

Sharon Case: Yeah, I think that we women all think about having our own line of something. Whether we are into clothes or skin care. I’ve always loved costume jewelry, but for years and years it just wasn’t in style the way it is now. When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me all of her costume jewelry. It was really in style then and I just loved it. And I wore it all the time playing dress-up as a little girl, but for years and years it really hasn’t quite been in style. We had sort of a costume-jewelry style that was popular in the ’80s, but then that left and we sort of went into a more delicate, fine-jewelry style for years. Now we are really into these chunky necklaces and bracelets.

There was a manufacturer who worked at QVC and approached me about it, so it just worked out that way. Nowadays, everything that we wear and anything that you see in the stores, the whole outfit is made on the jewelry. It’s really the jewelry that pulls every outfit together.

DD: What inspires your jewelry creations?

SC: It just kind of comes together somehow. It’s not one particular thing that inspires me — like with anything, you are inspired by everything you see. A lot of my inspirations come from the jewelry that my grandmother gave me when I was 10. I love chunky rhinestone necklaces. I love beads and pearls — layers and layers and layers of beads, and I just love them.

DD: What is Elif Inanc’s role in Pomp; is she your co-designer?

SC: Elif is really the designer. She is a stylist; that’s what she does by trade. She is the stylist of “The Young and the Restless.” She is a great designer — clothes, jewelry and handbags, everything. She has done a lot of the work, and I had a few things that I had always loved and wanted to make for years, so I put in a few of my things. Then we put them all together and decided what would go in the line.

DD: What kind of consumer are you hoping to attract with your QVC program?

SC: QVC has a wide variety of people who watch it. That is partly why we made such a wide variety of jewelry, so there would be something for everyone. We have mostly sort of chunky, funky fashion jewelry, but we made one or two very dainty more-minimalistic pieces that look a little bit more like fine jewelry. We speak to the whole audience.

DD: That’s a good choice, because some people wear more dainty, muted items at work, then at night they bring out the funky stuff.

SC: That was what we hoped to do. Some people will wear different day jewelry than night, and I will too, but others, they have their one thing they like to stick to. We had to make sure that we made something for everyone. We wanted to show the appeal to as many people as possible. We love so many different kinds of jewelry, Elif and I both. We are fond of all of it. I wear all of it.

DD: How do you juggle having a demanding daytime job with starting up your own jewelry line?

SC: Having a partner is key. I couldn’t have done it just by myself. If it weren’t for Elif, I wouldn’t have found the time. It really takes two or more people to put this together when the people involved already otherwise have full-time jobs. That was why it worked out.

DD: Is there a website where fans can purchase your jewelry?

SC: Yes, QVC does sell all of its pieces at qvc.com. After our show airs on Aug. 10, they will be available on qvc.com for purchase.

Interview: Mariette Hartley Reflects on Her Acting Career, Part 2

Mariette Hartley has done and been through it all. She details how she survived abuse, mental illness and familial suicide in her memoir, “Breaking the Silence.” But it isn’t all calamity and heartbreak. Mariette has wonderful memories of just starting out in the business, of wonderful times with family and friends, and especially of those infamous series of Polaroid commercials she made with “The Rockford Files” star James Garner.

“I started acting when I was 10,” Mariette tells me. “It was so exciting, so fulfilling. I came to Hollywood and met Sam Peckinpah (legendary Western writer, director and producer who directed her in “Ride the High Country”) — it was terrifying, yet exciting. Back then, television was new and powerful. Robert Redford was doing episodics; Leo Penn, Sean Penn’s father, was a terrific director.”

Mariette credits her agent with keeping her on the Hollywood map: “I had a very good agent, and I just kept working. I was very much a character actress. But I’ve never stopped doing theater. I did four plays with John Houseman’s theater group. Theater has always been my less-fickle friend.”

On those famous Polaroid commercials — where Mariette and James Garner were a playful, bickering husband-and-wife team — Mariette has fond memories. “Jack Dillon, who was one of the great advertising men, came up with the commercials. He wrote about 250 of them. I loved working with Jimmy; he was wonderful.”



In fact, Mariette and Garner were so convincing as husband and wife that people thought they were married in real life. They were also early victims of the now ubiquitous paparazzi: While filming a kissing scene for “The Rockford Files,” which she was co-starring in with James, a photog snapped a pic of the kiss and passed it off as a “real” kiss, insinuating that the actors were cheating on their spouses with one another.

Mariette remembers hearing that the picture was going to be in the next day’s newspaper. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me. I’d never been a great sex symbol, but I was flattered.”

Lately, Mariette has been doing a lot of series work, including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Law and Order: SVU.” She tells me, “I loved my part on ‘Grey’s.’ I had just come out of the hospital with a scare, so I could really relate to that fear. I love those kinds of parts that don’t seem to be huge, but they really strike a chord with the audience. I wanted to bring my experience to it, the terror of not knowing where your life is going to go. I hope I brought that to the role for the audience to see.

“I also love the character I did on ‘SVU.’ I would like to do it more; I’m greedy, I know. I just really love them at the show. Mariska (Hargitay) is terrific, and Chris (Meloni) is just nuts — I adore them both.”

Acting seems to run in the family: Her daughter, Justine, played a rape victim on an episode of “SVU.” Mariette recalls: “I’m watching her film her scene, and I see Chris coming on to her. I said, ‘Chris, I am that beautiful young woman’s mother!’ The look on his face — I laughed so hard.”

As for her future in acting, Mariette doesn’t plan to slow down. “My dream is to do my own series again. I just love to work, and I am always interested to see how an ensemble works together. I also love hosting shows. I love to be the host and make people feel comfortable. So, we’ll see!”

Interview: Mariette Hartley on Surviving, Understanding and Forgiving, Part 1

Mariette Hartley has been the comedic darling of television and movies for decades. She has starred in “Ride the High Country,” “Marnie,” “Peyton Place,” “One Life to Live” and the uber-popular series of Polaroid commercials with “Maverick” actor James Garner. Behind the smiles, she was hiding devastating secrets: familial suicide, bipolar disorder, physical abuse. It all came out when she wrote her autobiography, “Breaking the Silence,” which was initially released in 1990 and has been re-released to reach a whole new audience.

Mariette was kind enough to open up with me about her life.

Daytime Dial: What made you decide to put your life story out there in a book for all to read?

Mariette Hartley: Putnam Publishing called me in. This is when I was very, very actively involved in a career, although I still am, but people are not that sure of it anymore. And Putnam called me in, and nobody knew my life because I had been sworn to secrecy by my mother about my dad’s suicide. I was sitting there with all these big, big agents, and I didn’t have a clue about who these people were. And there was my publisher, Neil Nyren, and a couple of other people and my manager all in a small room in New York. I told them my story, and they all about fell off their chairs. And they decided they wanted to do it.

DD: Tell me about the different organizations you are involved with that help other people who are dealing with familial suicide.

MH: I co-founded the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in 1987 and am the national spokesperson, although they don’t really use me enough. So, I don’t really do it through them; I kind of do it on my own. I have survivor groups. That has had a profound affect on my life. I’ve met the most extraordinary people. Some people I have no idea, honest to God, how they’re walking on this earth still — people who have had multiple suicides in their lives. I’ve learned a great deal about it. I don’t know if the right word is “healing,” but certainly listening and sharing my experiences and strength and hope with others about it. That has kind of become my life now, and I love it. It’s wonderful when you have a book out that kind of really supports that. And I love speaking to young people too about it. Secrets don’t work; you have to talk about it. For all that, and that’s kind of what it’s become. Who knew, you know? All I wanted to do was be Ingrid Bergman.

DD: You are still doing a lot of incredible acting work too. Tell me about your one-woman show, “If You Get to Bethlehem, You’ve Gone Too Far,” which you put on a few years ago to rave reviews and sold-out audiences.

MH: What I tried to do with my one-woman show is to have people pulled into a life so profoundly that they could not shake it loose. That they could not say, “Oh well, that’s an interesting play,” and go home and go to sleep. People were so pulled in by the short hairs because I really took people into my world as a 4-year-old. I became that 4-year-old girl, and I was looking up to these two parents who were played by me. I think it is extremely healing, not just for me but for others. There was one person in the audience who came to see it twice, and he was ready to die. That was the main reason why I did everything ... to show people the effect it has on one’s life, one who’s still alive and well, and had been deeply enlightened by the experience.

But even so, when you go through that experience, it’s excruciating. It’s something in which you can hardly explain to anybody unless they’ve gone through it. The problem is that there is such a sense of isolation with it that you don’t know who to talk to. You really begin to feel that there is nobody there. And of course, when my mother swore me to secrecy, there was nobody there but me. And I had no answers for it. So that is one of the reasons why I am so deeply committed to the groups, because of the people who I call my daily survivors, who have experienced it three months ago, five months ago, six months ago. I really wanted the show to be a lifesaver if it could be. And I do know it was for at least one person.

DD: Because you are opening up about your struggles with suicide and mental illness, it really lets others know that it’s OK for them to be open as well.

MH: It’s more than OK; it’s lifesaving. And I think that’s what people have to know. You can’t keep quiet about this stuff — especially mental illness. I go up and down the countryside trying to erase the stigma of mental illness, because that’s basically what my family had. My parents were not just alcoholics, they were both profoundly mentally ill. And they were covering it up because they didn’t know it, bless their hearts. They had no concept of mental illness in those days, although my father was painting a picture of manic depression. He was trying to tell us, but even then we weren’t educated. My mission now is to educate. And what the ASFP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) does, which is quite wonderful, is to support research. We support grants for college graduates or students who are studying the brain. There is a young woman at Johns Hopkins who received one of our research grants, and she is studying the suicide gene.

DD: And if they can find a physical cause, maybe they won’t have to prescribe all these drugs left and right, especially if you are misdiagnosed, like you were.

MH: Yes, and it’s very dangerous because it happens with many people. As you know, I was one of them, and that will probably be my next book. During my divorce — which was just awful, and it brought back so many memories — I ended up being diagnosed as depressed. I was given Prozac and I was given Zoloft, and this is what happens also to young people. Now they have the warning on the box, because those straight depression medicines can be extremely dangerous for bipolar. It can also show you if you are bipolar, but you don’t want to go through that. So what I tell people is that if you need to, find a psychiatrist who’s really good and give an entire family history — no holds barred. My diagnosis was absolutely by accident. But I kept after it, and it took me a good year to find out what was going on.

DD: Your grandfather, Dr. John B. Watson, the founder of Behaviorism, was of the school of thought that children should receive minimal affection. How has that affected you and how you look at parenting?

MH: I think it has affected whole eras, whole decades of childrearing, and we’ve swung back and forth and back and forth, and I really went the opposite way. I nursed my kids until they were 2 or 3, and I loved that. It was the most wonderful and nourishing experience for me and for them. And it has held all of us in good stead, I’ll tell you.

When Dad died, I was in such a state of shock about all of it. The book actually gave me a sense of perspective. I realized I did blame my mother; I did blame Big John for that. I felt that on some level Dad was really misrepresented in that household. He was also so deeply ill. And my mother just didn’t have a chance. It makes me so sad today. I was so grateful that when she did pass, our relationship had completely healed. And I was so grateful for that. She died in my arms, and my brother came down, and people were around her. It was a totally inclusive passing.

When I let myself, I can get pretty angry at the son of a gun (Dr. Watson). But I also realize that he was sick. I’ve seen his lab experiments since then with “Little Albert,” which was the famous one, all of these kids were orphans basically. When he made them afraid of these things in the experiments, he never unconditioned them. They went back to the orphanage scared to death of dogs or whatever the hell he was conditioning them to be afraid of. That was the cruelty to me. It was along with the books about not touching and not holding and all that. That must have come from his own background; I always tried to understand it with him. This strange background that he had with his Baptist fanatic mother and this father who had all these Native-American mistresses. Very strange. I have a very colorful background.

Tune in next week for Part 2 of my interview where Mariette discusses the wonderful change in her life now, the projects she is working on and those infamous series of Polaroid commercials with James Garner.

Interview: Catching Up With Leven Rambin

“All My Children” fans will remember Leven Rambin, who juggled the roles of half sisters Lily Montgomery and Ava Benton on the show. Now Leven plays the scatterbrained aspiring actress/model daughter of David James Elliott and Virginia Madsen on the new ABC show “Scoundrels” (airing Sunday nights at 9/8c). I caught up with her recently to discuss “AMC,” “Scoundrels” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Daytime Dial: Your big break was as Lily/Ava on “All My Children.” What was that experience like for you?

Leven Rambin: They taught me everything I know. I’ll always be so grateful for that opportunity and that experience. It’s a lot different than prime time or any other show that I’ve done, but I’ve definitely learned everything I know from there — from working those hours and working with those people and learning all of those lines and being those two different characters. Everything else seems kind of different and easier — the hours are also pretty grueling and demanding here on “Scoundrels” and on “Grey,” but it’s just different. I think that soaps are a really good place to start, and I’m really grateful to have been there.

DD: “AMC” is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. That is quite an accomplishment — you must be proud to have come from that.

LR: I was so honored that they wanted me to be a part of the 40th anniversary of the soap. Some people have been watching it from the very beginning, so for people to have liked me enough to want me to be a part of a big episode like that was really cool, and I’ll always remember that.

DD: You played Eric Dane’s daughter, Sloan, on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Tell me about that experience.

LR: It was crazy being on “Grey’s Anatomy” and working with those people who are movie stars. That show is just so successful. It was definitely the most high-profile thing I’ve ever done, and it really taught me a lot. I’m just so grateful to have been there and to have learned from all of those people, and to have worked with Shonda (Rhimes) and Eric (Dane) and Ellen Pompeo. That was just the experience of a lifetime.

DD: Tell me about your new show, “Scoundrels.” Is that a fun show to work on? How is your new cast to work with?

LR: Yeah, totally. The cast is amazing, and Virginia, obviously, is a legend. She is so inspiring and so creative and so nurturing, and she really took care of all of us while we were there in Albuquerque shooting. I had a great time just talking and getting to know everyone and being a part of something like that. The material was awesome and the producers were great. It was the best time that I’ve had on a show. I’m really grateful to have been a part of it.


The show has a really awesome blend of comedy and drama and intrigue and kind of a different family dynamic than what you’re used to seeing on TV. I just thought it was kind of edgy for ABC, and I thought that the characters were so distinct and so different. I was really drawn to the writing, too. When I saw everyone together, it was perfect.

DD: Jason Priestley joined the cast, and he becomes smitten with your character, Heather. Were you excited to learn that Jason was joining the show, and what is he like to work with?

LR: He was so fun. He just came in and really embraced it, and really got the joke of the character. The character is an ’80s washed-up TV star who is now doing a reality-hosting-type show. He came in and was such a pro, and I got along with him really well.

Days: Such a Tease!

NEXT WEEK

Stephanie and Nathan plan to move in together.

Chloe (Nadia Bjorlin, pictured) thinks telling the truth may be her only answer.

Arianna tells EJ she trusts him with her life.

Kate urges Chad to speak to his father.

Vivian interferes in Victor and Maggie’s relationship.

Thursday – Daniel discovers Bo lying unconscious.

Friday – Rafe breaks into Nicole’s apartment.

Summer Vacay!!

I am on summer vacay until after the Fourth of July weekend. Then I'll be coming back atcha with all the soap news and interviews!