Actor Frank Grillo

Full frontal photo from his younger days:

Another:

Beast 💪🏾

He was great while taunting Captain America

He’s hot in this new Netflix movie. His arms are like pythons

I always say how hot I find him on here and everyone ignores it or is mean about it.

HOT HOT HOT. First saw him in The Purge sequel. Didn't he have some kind gay scene (no sex) with Nick Jonas in Kingdom?

Frank played Nick's dad, so I don't think they had a gay scene, R8.

Lol

He looks like a fit hobo in OP’s photo.

A hot hobo

What do you think of his younger full frontal photos?

I posted them at R1 & R2.

Nice bush

Thanks for posting r13

How old is Frank? 55?

He just turned 54 last month, R14.

Born in New York City in June 1965. Italian heritage.

A Native NYer? God Bless Him.

He is aging in only that way that actors and gay men do.

More of young Frank:

he cheated on his wife, while she was pregnant

I’m shocked he didn’t do gay porn

Jesus, he’s was a hottie. He’s just as hot now, only aged.

Any gay rumors?

Yeah. THAT HES NOT GAY LIKE 97% OF MEN ON THE PLANET

He is blazing hot with Anthony Mackie in Point Blank

No, R21.

As R19 said, he's known to be a pussy hound.

He's been married to 2 women, including his former Guiding Light co-star. They have 3 boys.

well the person he was cheated with was his Guiding Light co-star Wendy Moniz and both were married at the time

The facts that Grillo and Moniz are still together just says #LoveIsLove

That’s a rough 54.

The Black shoe polish hair coloring doesn’t help.

....

Nice one, R29.

Showing some cock bulge.

....

I love this man.

But he seems like a handful in interviews. A real spazz/ attention whore.

He needs a sandwich.

His bod is goals

I love him. I loved him on Guiding Light. He’s gotta be older than 54.

He is hot asf. Who here wouldn't want their husband to look that hot at 54? He oozes sex appeal.

I'm surprised he and his Guiding Light co-star wife are still together. That is a long time to keep a known p-hound but maybe he settled down or they are open.

Quite big tits.

Hot hot

This one is the rear view of the photo at R1 by the window:

He's very hot, but is looking older than his age due to the very low body fat.

[quote]That’s a rough 54.

No. It really isn't.

Yeah, R44, I'd like to see what some of the bitches here look like.

Grillo looks above average for his age.

He is a client of my company. I saw his name and contact information on some stuff earlier last year. I knew his name and that he was an actor but couldn't place him without internet research.

He looks way above average for what we consider 54. I get he is an actor and can afford to maintain himself but so can most of us. I'm 34 and would almost kill to look like that when I am 54 or have a lover who looked like that at 54. He is going to be hot well into his 60's. Heck, maybe into his 70's.

Age really is a number, now. Gen Xers look wayyyy younger than their parents did at a similar age. Millennials( most of whom have more in common with mid to young Gen Xers) are aging as well as most Gen Xers. Gen Z will have so many products, procedures invented by the time they hit 30 they will look forever young.

[quote]I always say how hot I find him on here and everyone ignores it or is mean about it.

We had a thread about him last year or so. The most negative thing I remember from it was someone who went to the same gym as Grillo before the stardom saying he was a bit of a stuck up cunt.

Can u bottoms imagine being under him why he pounds? I bet he can throw a mean pounding!

r48 Not surprised. He looks like a typical type A gym personality.

Worked with him. Alcoholic homophobic jerk.

Details please, R52.

What homophobic stuff did he say?

He’s an old school NYC Italian. They’re all homophobic. But you wouldn’t know that since DL claims only black people are homophobic lmao

He was pretty in his youth. I remember his Men’s Workout days well. The pic at R31 was from a hot pictorial I used to...spend a lot of time with.

I guess he has a different appeal now.

Flat buttocks

Where are the nudes from?

Nice arms bro

He is HOT. Aged very well. I wish all 50 somethings looked like that.

Most can't afford it. R59.

Bro doesn’t skip arm and chest day

Is R60 implying he’s had a face lift?

Yes r62

r60 Oh puhleeeeeeze

A shame about the mutilation.

Fuck nasty ass foreskin. Cheese dicks.

[quote] He looks like a typical type A gym personality.

That's what makes him so hot!!!

I have always had a crush on Frank. He is such a good looking man, and he looks great for his age.

It made me wonder if he might be gay, just because he takes SUCH good care of himself for a "straight" guy, but whatever the case, he's a fucking stud.

I would suck him and let him fuck me ... for DAYS.

[quote] He looks like a typical type A gym personality.

That's what makes him so hot!!!

I have always had a crush on Frank. He is such a good looking man, and he looks great for his age.

It made me wonder if he might be gay, just because he takes SUCH good care of himself for a "straight" guy, but whatever the case, he's a fucking stud.

I would suck him and let him fuck me ... for DAYS.

That's a beautifully perfect sized dick, and I would service him until he couldn't take it anymore.

Thanks for the photo, R1 and R2!

Frank Grillo is 100% my type of guy.

Even in his 50's, he's still sexy as fuck!

R68 he takes such good care of himself because in the world of acting (and modeling in his case) looks matter, especially when the talent is mediocre.

Stupid ass

Damn, daddy!

Frank's 22 year old son Remy isn't nearly as hot as his daddy.

Maybe he takes after his mother, R73.

What do his other sons look like?

Frank looks what he is, Italian. Aka Ethnic White.

His sons mom isn’t Italian.

He would be a HOT fuck.

If you think that's hot, go to Staten Island, Brooklyn or Long Island--Italian American guys like him are all over the place. (Except for the ones who stayed home with Mama and got fat) And he is a rough 54 for an Italian American guy.

Bullshit R77.

Frank Grillo is WAY hotter than your average 54 year old.

Like a lot of sexy Italian guys, Grillo has that blank,flat dumb as rocks look about his face. Next door to a tard face, but still kind of hot. I can imagine he is convinced he's God's gift to all.

As if any of you would turn down a 54 year old who looked like THAT?????? If even 30% of 54 year olds looked like that they would be THE desirable demo.

Kinda charming here.

Naked ass in motion in "Deadly Charades" (1996):

One of the hottest 54 year olds EVER.

R82 I cold touch that ass for days and NEVER tire of it.

He's hot as fuck. Smouldering. He looks like the type of guy that would make you cum so hard you practically pass out.

My type bro

Nudes from?

Nudes from what, R87?

They've been on the male celebrity sites for years. They're nudes from the 1990's from his younger days. Not sure which publication originally.

I would let him do absolutely anything he wanted to me.

Alpha boss

Not afraid to do a guy on the side...like most guidos.

Most guidos dont fuck dudes.

r92 hahahahah...you must not be from Staten Island.

[quote]That’s a rough 54.

Not really. 54 is supposed to look rough. He looks good for his age.

Everyone can tell that someone in their 50's who is male is in their 50's.

I think he may shave 2 years off his age. The U.S. Public Records Database in Ancestry.com lists his year of birth as 1963, not 1965.

R95, if he's 2 years older, I guess that means he looks even better for his age.

He’s 56

Bump for Grillo

Pose from his younger days:

From 'Kingdom':

R52, somehow that seems unlikely:

I really didn't recognize him, but damn, he's one of the busiest actors working today. He obviously can get the job done or he wouldn't have so many projects and offers year after year.

....

Isn't this guy a homophobe or something?

Frank Grillo is what I imagine Protop1 looks like, the nasty talking amateur porn daddy.

Hot as fuck.

Hs is actually 1963 born . Don't trust Wikipedia

Hs is actually 1963 born . Don't trust Wikipedia

Watching Captain America: Winter Soldier I was like Chris who? Sebastian who?

He's jacked like a beast. If he topped Jason Momoa he'd be whimpering like a bitch.

I've never heard of anything homophobic coming from Grillo, and the vibe in this would tend to dispute any discomfort with the subject:

He used to live on my block in NYC. I'd see he and his wife (now ex) at Whole Foods in Tribeca.

😂 In R4 he looks like he’s about to get up inside Chris Evans whether Chris wants it or not.

He might not be gay -but I have it on good authority he ain't exactly 100% strictly pussy either.

I wonder what Wendy Moniz had that Frank’s ex-wife was missing? Was the pussy just tighter/better? Was she more sexually adventurous? Whatever it is, it helped her hold onto him for 20 years.

I chatted him up at an industry event; he seemed bothered to be there. She made an attempt to be nice.

I thought he was miscast as Hart. Poor Leonard Staub - he was beautiful and he did a great job in the part.

He likes to switch between cool, nice, best friend dude and threateningly unfriendly guy who is too good for stuff. Guy's a dud actor, so you would think he'd be grateful for the work and kind about it. He's in a really lucky position in Hollywood considering his age. Usually it's all downhill after 30 years old but because of his hair, bone structure, and fitness regimen (basically works out ALL THE TIME and has no body fat) he's lasting in the industry a lot longer than most.

[QUOTE] He likes to switch between cool, nice, best friend dude and threateningly unfriendly guy who is too good for stuff.

Sounds like most men.

He was very good in the TV series Kingdom.

R113, please elaborate.

Hot in his youth but just not that interesting as an actor. Pure daytime soap.

and even that not so great, R120; he was miscast as Hart.

Leonard Staub was the best one. What a tragic thing. If I looked like him I wouldn't go on a ride on Magic Mountain let alone go hang-gliding.

So beautiful.

Dinah killing Hart ruewhened them both. She became unforgivable and he was just gone.

Yeah, that accident turned me off hang gliding forever. He was beautiful. Still with us?

As a viewer from his soap days, I think he's very limited as an actor. Works his butt off both literally and figuratively, sure, but there's something very off about him.

He tries to seem/act nice but I get the feeling he's not. I know he started on Wall Street, and you don't find a more cut-throat type than the guys on Wall Street. He cheated on his first wife (his high school sweetheart) repeatedly, including when she was pregnant with their kid. That's how he and Wendy got together, so color me shocked that it didn't last. I'm just suprised that it took this long.

For such a masculine guy, there's also something very feminine about him. If you've seen him in interviews there are almost gay-like mannerisms going on and comments about clothes, hair, etc. that only a gay person would even notice let alone talk about. He's mid-50's and works out harder than people half his age, and he's still obsessed with his hair, even at this age. I've often wondered if he bats for both teams.

She's pretty for her age; but at this point she could be had for the price of a salted peanut.

I am jealous of his hair.

Life's not fair!

I KNEW Wendy Moniz abruptly bailed out of instagram because something went awry in the marriage. Up until the day she shut it it was mom goals in her presentation - great marriage, great kids, just enough career, new house. They had just upgraded to a new house a year before the split. Her instagram was all about life and promoted the hell out of his projects. His instagram was 99% his career and almost never her. I figured that was strategic between them.

I met him a few times back in his soap days; he had better overall social skills than she did but he wasnt trustworthy. Lies like a rug. Not just the two years about his age, but he'll drop a casual reference to his salary from his soap days as if it were peanuts and he thought it was so much, but the salary he dropped was never his - it was someone bigger on the show. That's just typical of him. He's never genuine.

I never thought he was 100% straight and neither does anyone else - no evidence, just his demeanor, where he puts his focus, and for me it was a confrontation scene on GL where he was more worked up vis a vis the hot dude his character was confronting than he was opposite any woman. He sucked his damn teeth for God's sake.

Something happened there. It wasn't just the marriage running out of steam because until it wasn't, she was all in.

Thanks r126. Have never met Frank, but what your wrote matches my impressions of him.

While certainly very hot, I never thought he was right for Hart. I came to hate the Hart-Cassie pairing, especially the mile high hair each sported.

r53, for a certain show where everyone had at least 3 tattoos, he NEVER wanted a man applying them. And for the final episode after he was wrapped, he hung around, getting drunk off his ass, then yelling stuff, which would ruin takes.

Yes she was a mess in the soap days. I remember that dark early time when she joined GL and started going after every married guy on the cast, even though she was married herself. I was amazed it lasted with Grillo when you think about how much they fought and disrespected each other. I was also shocked she was able to get another job after GL, considering how badly she acted (more like screeched) the part of Dinah. Horrid, horrid stuff that still makes me shudder over 20 years later. He's gone up and up the acting chain although I still don't think he's any better than a B actor, and she's had smaller parts and even gone back to some soap stuff (OLTL I believe before it was cancelled).

I thought her Instagram is still up and running (link below). For a long, long time it's been mainly about the kids. She seems almost human and normal now, unlike the GL days. They haven't posted about each other in years. They lived in NYC and then moved to LA since he was often filming there, and they rented a house in Santa Monica for a few years, then moved to Pacific Palisades about 3 years ago. Yes I wonder what happened there, as he seems to have moved our right before V-Day with no warning.

There's something very eerie and dark about him, no? Hart the farm boy my ass. He looked like a mafiaso who'd arrived to kill everyone with his lisp.

r 129. Yes. Lots of anger. People have to tiptoe around him.

R123, you nailed. I have worked in the soap press on and off and met him a few times over the years.

NASTY energy. I met him once with Moniz and asked a simple question about GL and SHE was nice in that way wives cover for their asshole husbands, but he just went 'back up against the wall' and I was like, 'geez. Okay. you're a NOBODY in the grand scheme of things.'

This was at a press event where smart actors know to come ready to play; they put on a smile and promote the hell out of whatever they're promoting and talk about their careers. I get it if someone asks a personal question, then, yes, they have a right to get prissy.

But I just got the nastiest energy vibe. I think his brother or uncle or some male relative is a PRODUCER on those Captain America movies, which is how he got the part.

Not that there isn't loads of nepotism in the business.

I can't imagine what it's like to be with someone who could be so nasty to other people. They just turn that off when they get home? Doubtful.

I haven't noticed him much on facebook but a few years ago I remember he posted something along the lines of "Don't ask me about my soap work"!

Yes I get the sense that he wants to play in the big leagues even though he has neither the talent nor the resume to put him there. The ONLY thing people gravitate back to is the soap stuff, and he doesn't even want it brought up. There's no generous spirit or graciousness AT ALL even with the fans that actually liked him or the insipid DIRT pairing.

Everyone starts somewhere and he doesn't seem to get that, even though he's still a nobody.

R129 = KIM ZIMMER

Moniz and Grillo were incredibly compatible if you'd seen them together in the early days, when he was still married to someone else. They could just riff off each other forever. Both had the kind of sense of humor where they got off making fun of each other and other people instead of being self-deprecating but they definitely entertained each other and had that family vibe. I wasn't around when he was divorced and they made it hell for everyone on the show (IOW, the Cassie days).

She was a fucking mess on GL - not only went after all the look alike married men of thirtysomething (Rick Hearst, Grillo, Kurt McKinney) but they all had heavily pregnant wives. On her instagram she posted a picture from high school. VERY short, very muscular legs (it's like her upper body is elegant and her lower body is a gymnast) in a sort of masculine way, and the worst is super curly hair and almost a unibrow. NOT good looking, particularly with the shortness. Straighten the hair, get the brows done, here comes the bone structure and she had a career. To be catty her bone structure is mostly full frontal. She almost doesn't HAVE a profile. So maybe going from that in high school to getting commercial work as an actress and then being a femme fatale on GL made her go crazy but she was one stalker lying bitch. I was surprised about 3 years ago when I saw her instagram and she seemed a whole lot more normal and relaxed. She DID post about Grillo all the time. Their anniversary, throw back wedding pictures, lots of Remy stuff, promoting his career. He's the one who never posted about her. Her lifestyle seemed really good and she seemed really organized, dedicated to the kids including her stepson, but she definitely was very rah rah Frank and liked to say things like "It's a Grillo thing" about the family, and his mom was up her ass praising every syllable she posted. I want to know! Was she fronting this whole time - put up with an asshole for 20 years? Grew out of being an asshole herself? Discovered a double life? Funny business with money? With men? With another woman/women?

yeah, Michael Grillo, a producer on several Marvel flicks.

Must be nice.

If I had a relative producing those, I'd have asked him to cast me in a part too,

But there's tons of nepotism in the biz.

Let's bring this back to what we really care about. His 1980s bod and pubes.

As I recall, his GL contract negotiations broke down and that's why Hart was killed off suddenly. Apparently Frank and Wendy had been playing hard ball in negotiations and Paul Rauch was pissed.

If you recall, Dinah shot Hart. And then Hart lay in a coma for about six weeks before finally dying. Day after day, there were scenes of a shirtless Hart in a coma in a hospital bed. At the time, it was speculated that Rauch extended Hart's time in a coma as revenge/punishment -- made Frank play all those comatose scenes that he hated.

The Hart and Cassie pairing was beyond ridiculous, if not in substance then for sure in physical appearance. With DIRT he's not very tall (5'8" maybe) and she's like 2', so even from that standpoint, it worked. Then in comes this blonde amazon woman where with giant hair factored in she was actually taller and bigger than him, which was weird for such a built, muscular guy. As disgusting as they were together, at least DIRT looked and acted like they fit.

It was then that Dinah went back to being a psycho character after a year of saintness, complete with some facial disfigurement that ended up with her wearing a napkin on her face to hide the scarring. I swear at one point the glue or whatever was holding it in place came loose and it was flapping on camera as Moniz said her lines. The jokes just wrote themselves.

Even though I haven't followed their acting or personal lives in years I'd still love to know what happened. When Grillo and Moniz first got together no one expected it to last. He was basically a rebound from one of the other married GL guys she'd been obsessing over. And yet 20+ years later it was still on, until it suddenly wasn't.

It seemed like she'd fully integrated into his life, including the step kid, and I never pictured her as mommy material, step or biological, at least from how self-absorbed and completely nasty she was during the GL days. I get people change, though, but I guess I never considered her capable of maturing, especially when she continued to be in Grillo's orbit. He's like a frat boy who never grew up.

More on him—the dark vibe just gets me. It completely overshadows him, which is weird for an actor, since by definition, they can turn things on/off and be who they want, including for their public persona. You have people like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, etc. who may be great people in their private lives, or they may be assholes. We'll never know, because publicly, they SEEM nice. Grillo goes for the same all American boy and friend next door buddy buddy schtick, but you pick up easily that it's not real.

That's also why the casting as Hart always amazed me, because he'd say stuff like 'the farm in Kansas' (or wherever the hell it was) and yet he looked like he'd been bodybuilding in the Bronx his whole life. WHICH HE HAD. At least the previous guys had a softer look, if still a little overly coiffed and manufactured.

"That's also why the casting as Hart always amazed me, because he'd say stuff like 'the farm in Kansas' (or wherever the hell it was) and yet he looked like he'd been bodybuilding in the Bronx his whole life. WHICH HE HAD. At least the previous guys had a softer look, if still a little overly coiffed and manufactured."

Seriously!

he looks like the guy who gave wedgies to smaller kids in jr. high school.

And probably college too.

Someone here - R140 - REALLY hates Wendy Moniz. Kim? Laura?

R142, either that or Moniz did TOO good a job of playing Dinah as an insufferable bitch who would never get over having been given up for adoption.

Paige Turco sure moved past it.

I think Moniz was on the limited side. Screeching and smirking were her go-to's. I think the latter is a personal habit, since if you watch any of the videos in her Instagram, she thinks that slapping a big smirk on her face is the way to smile. Between what was on camera and the antics I heard about behind the scenes with her, that time of GL was a very distressing one for me.

Getta load of Barbara Thornedyke at R144.

Serious question, if you could please humor me. Is that middle finger pose supposed to be sexy? I can see 7th and 8th grade boys doing it. But why do adult and over-the-hill men do it? TIA.

R138, an actor said once: If you want to hear an actor complain, give him a job.

Frank's all cocky on the surface, but he's a little too rage-y for my tastes. And he's got a small dick.

I couldn't agree more; met him twice in WORK situations and got the sense he was 'ragey' indeed.

You've seen it hard, R148?

Did Kim ZImmer and Laura Wright hate Wendy Moniz?

[quote]he looks like the guy who gave wedgies to smaller kids in jr. high school.

Funny that.

He used to walk around Gold’s with tights that went completely up his ass. You could see the complete roundness of each cheek - not complaining, he looked spectacular.

But it was just that - a spectacle. And right above his rump was his weight belt with his last named scrawled across it.

I don’t know how this figures into his work history, but he looked like he was desperate for someone to hire him, whether a producer for a job or a John for a night.

This was decades ago.

Rumor was he was into bi swinger parties with his wife or gf.

I think the rage thing might be genuine fear of being outed.

The homophobic nonsense is probably over compensation.

He is a hack after all.

R152, I got the feeling in the 90s all those young men who became soap hunks (and never did much after) were [italic] this [/italic] close to becoming gay for pay escorts had they not landed their roles.

And the ones who didn't get the roles became escorts.

No R142 Moniz was a true piece of work during her time on GL. Some actors who were her allies initially hated her at the end. Grillo was about the only one who could work with her without giving her palpable hate vibes on screen. I met them both and knew other people who worked on Guiding Light at the time (mid-late 1990s). But she and Grillo were so well-matched. He kind of treated her like someone he had to cajole, humor and whose buttons he had to push and I think there was just some sort of natural connection even though he was a rebound. I think he started out working hard on their relationship because it was a big job for him at the time - even though he downplays it now - and the previous Hart they'd hired for her got fired.

FF to watching her as the mayor on OLTL. Saw one scene with Hillary Bailey Smith and Bob Woods. They were throwing intense hate vibes at her - OTT and unnecessary to the scene. It's something about her line delivery .When she plays sweet, or normal, she's kind of low key and "quiet" and small in her acting, which a lot of casting people look for in the sort of supporting parts she plays. But when she has to have an argument there is no subtext, she makes totally personal choices and it's just hateful.

BUT then years after that I saw her instagram and checked in. She appeared to have grown up a lot, gotten a sense of humor about herself, totally integrated into Grillo's family, tight with the stepson and the stepson was tight with her brothers. They had a little fan club among their family and friend that referred to them as a "power couple" and cheered them on every time they booked work. She had a little vulnerability and would ask advice such as should she get pokeman for her youngest. She had real friends.

That insta is closed (hers). Unless someone can link to current. The last post was her touting her then-project, "Yellowstone" and someone coming in and saying they love when the power couple gears up to work. Then nothing after that. I think she was in this for life, but something happened. He's been an asshole the whole time she's known him - she wouldn't last 20 years if that mattered to her. She found out something or he blindsided her and walked. He's crazy if he did - she really ran the show at home, scheduled everything and was a huge supporter of his while he worked out constantly and spent time drinking.

He's very attractive--he had a sizable but still not major role in the second Captain America movie, and right away he took my attention because of his charisma and looks. When they promoted him to be a villain for the third movie i was not surprised.

He does come across, though, as a hot-bodied hack--sort of like Rusty Joiner, but with an edgier vibe.

R152 although she was totally hateful when she was on GL (and going by how Hillary Bailey Smith and Bob Woods (who didn't even like EACH OTHER) performed opposite her on OLTL, hateful on OLTL, I would bet a million dollars she never threesomed or had scenes with multiple partners and Grillo. Him, sure. She's basically kind of prissy and not imaginative, despite her stalking history.

P.S., as awful as Moniz was, she was kind of basic. She was not attractive as I mentioned in another post - it was the shortness, the bad legs, the bad eyebrows, and the curly hair cut straight across her forehead. Then as I said she cleaned that up and wore heels 24/7 and became a successful commercial actress. I think GL were her first "legit" job. She was born in Kansas City and married a high school or college sweetheart who was nothing in particular to write home about. So I think she was limited in experience and so self-involved that Grillo's extremely gay-adjacent behavior (like those shorts in Gold's gym) didn't trigger her. Also he comes from a very strong Italian background - another reason he would stay in the closet - and she was a great straight credential for him and his family may have kissed her ass (they sure did on instagram) for that reason.

He's beautiful and has aged super well.

[quote]He does come across, though, as a hot-bodied hack

He's good at it too. There are so many dudes in his lane that'd love the lines he gets. Scott Atkins is one of them, who's known in action cult circles, and had the tiniest role in Doctor Strange, but hasn't managed to transcend. I've seen him in action and he's super talented. He's super hot too.

I've seen a couple of you mention Wendy was on the rebound from another GL actor when she landed Grillo. Who else did she fuck?

"he cheated on his wife, while she was pregnant"

Of course he did. You don't expect someone to work so hard to look like that and not fuck around now do you?

He might be hot but the rumor is he a Majorly homophobic asshole.

Yes I remember she was all about McKinney and obsessed with him (as in, not going away, even after he tried repeatedly to dump her) until Grillo came along. She's mentioned in interviews that he (Grillo) was 'an angel who just dropped into her life.' Even though Grillo was a rebound, they were just so much better suited where that becomes almost a technicality (weird to say).

Speaking of Moniz' odd build, since we're already being catty, the way she walked drove me crazy. Trolloped like a horse, which was funny, especially when she had to walk fast. She's built really, really weird, like others have said, and has odd mannerisms.

He did mention in a recent Instagram post--basically a tribute to his mom one year after her death--that her passing had been hard and had changed his family. It was then that I figured something was wrong. I wonder if he had been keeping it together (a family) basically to project that all-American image, and with his mom gone, he had no fucks left to give?

It was interesting how well she integrated into his family, including the step kid and the rest of the family. I've even seen pictures of the two of them with his ex-wife and her new husband/kids from that marriage. There were happy vibes, despite the beginnings of it all. Maybe ultimately they all ended up with people who were better matches for each other anyways.

Oh forgot to ask--the Hart before Grillo (Marshall Hilliard) was only on for like 6 months and left on really bad terms. I always heard about the 3 (or maybe it was 4) actors who worked with him who basically made it hell for him. I've assumed this to be Moniz, Zaslow, and McKinney OR Hayden, since those were the folks he regularly worked with in that stupid triangle (Bridget/Hart/Dinah which ran parallel with the Hart/Roger feuding over the kid plot).

Anybody know what happened there?

Hilliard left so abruptly and then has done little acting since, and he's hardly ever mentioned his time on GL, at least in print/web. They recast him with Grillo who looked nothing like a farm boy from the midwest, but as someone mentioned, he worked hard to make it work, since he needed the job even though he basically spits on his soap past (and the fans) now.

Hilliard was screamingly gay...which didnt fit the role.

Gina Tognoni was so much better as Dinah. (I don't remember the first two). Very sad she never got even a shot at primetime TV like Moniz did.

R164 if we want to talk gay vibes look no further than Frank Grillo. He generated more heat with the guy who played Cassie's husband than with any leading lady. There were scenes between the two where they acted like frat boys (true to life) with their spiked hair, blond tips, and tighty whitey t-shirts.

R159 Kurt McKinney (Matt). It was on/off for about a year, probably less. I think it was a weird time in his life and he was majorly depressed about personal/professional stuff going on. His co-star with whom he was in a majorly popular pairing had decided to take a leave of absence. His real-life wife was pregnant at the time. He drank like a fish at events and was basically trying to escape. McKinney was married (still is) to his high school sweetheart so he and his wife went way back. I'm not sure that Moniz ever got that he wasn't going to leave his wife for her, although she was successful in getting an affair that sputtered on and off. Afterward there was not even a working friendship between the two, so it was murder when Matt/Dinah would cross paths on camera.

Before this she set her sights on Rick Hearst, whose wife was also pregnant, and then when she got together with Grillo eventually, HIS wife was pregnant. It would have been comical if it wasn't so sad.

Before this, as someone mentioned, she didn't have much experience, was all about HER husband and then it's like she went crazy when she got to GL. To get there and be a vixen after being a huge nobody your whole life really seemed to screw with her head.

R154 thanks for the dish!

R162

Your info about Grillow/Moniz posting pics of his first wife & her 2nd husband just chaps my ass. If you watch the video upthread with Chelsea he's talking about his new TV show. He asks her if she knows what a succubus is. He says it's someone who sucks away at your soul. Then he cattily says "Like my first wife". What a dick thing to say about the woman YOU wronged. The woman you walked out on with a 5 week old baby. The mother of your kid who can watch the interview. It seeemed to me he said it to tell a narrative that made him look better at her expense.

If his ex-wife eventually forgave him & moved past it for her son then that shows more about her than Franck. The last year of Kingdom some magazine (can't remember) did a profile of him. The interview was at a bar he frequents. It concluded with them walking down the street in NYC. He came off so bad in that article.it was beyond the pale. He let his jerk flag fly. If he's like that even 25% of the time I couldn't be around him.

R169, yeah, I work in the press and met them once at an ABC thing I want to say; not sure who had the series? him or her?

I asked ONE GL q and damn if his back didn't go up against the wall.

I just politely excused myself; she tried to smooth it over, but I was like, nah, there's like the whole ABC lineup of actors at this thing. I can talk to others and I did.

Moniz was absolutely obsessed with Kurt McKinney, who was married, and played Maeve Kinkead's love interest. Maeve Kinkead played Moniz's mother. From what I understand they hooked up and made a spectacle of themselves at the L.A. daytime Emmys the first year she was on GL. McKinney was quickly over it, particularly after the soap press caught on. Her stalker behavior was more about continuing to campaign in the media and with TPTB but there must have been an added element because McKinney had a come to Jesus confrontation with her, and after that she was with Grillo for good. But continued to campaign with TPTB for McKinney - maybe out of spite. At that point he, Kinkead, and other GL actors just basically shat on her in all their scenes, which she complained about.

Grillo was too slick by half in his interviews - Moniz was the first female friend he'd ever had where there was nothing sexual, they were like brother and sister, his wife wanted their scenes to be hotter so they would be successful and make money. BUT. There was an outlier interview where he talked about how hard his mom had been on his wife (the one before Moniz). Kept trying to fix him up, get him to move on, wanted to get him girls. He said - and it was kind of sweet, "I told her, I HAVE a girl, and she's great." Bt let's just say his mom thought he was too good for his wife. Not in character, but status, looks. His mom was 100% up Moniz's ass on instagram - her biggest fan. Thought she was a tremendous beauty. Definitely Grillo's first wife was basic - attractive at the most - not a soap star in looks. So maybe when his mother died he bailed? Not Wendy's fault, IMO. Whatever she was like at around 28-30, she grew up and gave her all to Grillo.

Funny story - the Star tabloid busted Grillo and Moniz's affair when he was still married. The way it happened was she lived in midtown east, a few blocks from the studio (a bit downtown from there). As it happened, a photographer who freelanced for the Star also lived in Moniz's building, and the doorman tipped him off. Otherwise he wouldn't have known either one from a hole in the wall. So he stood across the street and got shots of Grillo and Moniz coming and going, got quotes from neighbors, and got quotes from GL. The quotes from the building were very pedestrian - maybe they were from the doorman. He was always there, holed up on weekends, they brought in tons of take-out, she'd yell out the window for him to be careful crossing the street. The quotes from the studio mentioned her "thing" for McKinney.

Oh yes they do R92. I had a a hairdresser tell me all about it. He had a lot of trannie clientele and apparently your Staten Island Guidos were a core customer base of the trannies who sidelined.

I used to think the BTS stuff was more interesting than the show. Funny how this little nobody came on the show and tried to bend it to her will. McKinney was in a hugely popular story with Kinkead and Moniz petitioned hard for her character to get paired with his character instead. They never did it (only teased it) but what a little shit to want what she wanted and to hell with fans, or what the other actors wanted (McKinney was happy with his storyline). Had she even done a successful commercial before this job? There's BTS drama all the time on these shows but her campaigning was relentless and the fallout of her/their behavior had repercussions that you'd notice on camera.

The first wife was definitely more 'basic' looking. No television or film background so unlike Moniz, there was never a transformation from plain jane to vixen. Makes sense if the family thought she was a better match simply because should could be in his league when he made it big (i.e. red carpet material). Judging by how much of a mama's boy he was (self-proclaimed) maybe he stayed married to project that perfect family image and keep his mom happy. Now with her dead no need to keep up the charade. It's not like he hadn't cheated on Moniz before.

I swear to God no daytime soap had more behind the scenes drama than GL.There was always shit going down

I was thrilled when they brought on Gina Tognoni to play Dinah. She has more talent in an eye lash than Moniz did in her whole body. Plus, Gina was loved on set.

Speaking of GL, does anyone have a link to the P&G thread? I think the last one is pay walled.

[quote] That’s a rough 54. -No. It really isn't.

Yeah, it really is.

Grillo's body is amazing. His face still looks good for 55 but it would look better if he lightened up on his extreme diet. To be as cut as he is his diet must be harsh & that makes his face a bit too gaunt.

Don't know what happened to my post. Any, I'm guessing Grillo had his buccal fat pads removed to heighten the hollows underneath his cheekbones and emphasize the lean and hungry look. And mitigate the Deputy Dog cartoon face.

About Hilliard; it wasn't four actors, it was one actor. Moniz. He wasn't very experienced (or very sexy), she hated him on sight and resisted it because she still was hell bent on the story with Matt (McKinney). The quote I was told was she complained he wasn't her "calibre" - that she was too much better than he was. I imagine TPTB had their own doubts and didn't just fire him on her say so. But they brought on a different Hart, who was Grillo. Grillo made Moniz his mission in life. He knew what had happened to Hilliard. He's such a dick everybody was surprised they stuck together even after his job was secure, but as some have said there ended up being something natural about the match. I also think he was smart enough to divert her frustrations when she hit a wall with McKinney, and so they were off and running.

All these Moniz stories remind me of Beth Ehlers' behavior on GL. & AMC. They seem to be cut from the same cloth.

I had my reasons for inflicting such pain on them all.

Based on the timing, with it already known that Kinkead was leaving (1996 was it?) she must have thought a story with McKinney (Matt/Dinah) was a sure thing. Makes sense that the introduction of a new guy for the character would make her go ballistic. Cracks me up that they still didn’t go there, probably because the McKinney/Kinkead (Matt/Vanessa) pairing was so popular. His character cheating with her troll sorry excuse of a kid would have sank GL even further into the toilet than it already was.

Hilliard wasn’t the greatest actor, no, but he was better than a lot of the male models with good bone structure that these soaps try to pass off as leading men. So to go from Hilliard to this thug-looking guy in a lumberjack woodsy shirt (attire that a farm boy would wear, I guess?) was HILARIOUS. She had only been on the show just over a year herself at that point. Did she think she ran the place?

Moniz’ one aspiration in life was this role. She watched GL growing up and when the Dinah part came up for casting she was running to the audition and her foot got run over by a passing car. She was in the street blabbering “GL!!! GL!!!” like this was her one chance in life.

Also what guy is okay being somebody else’s rebound? Grillo/Moniz were a match made in heaven, yes, but ew that she was sleeping with a guy he worked with daily and he probably heard a ton of obsessive talk about and then like a week later she’s in the sack with him after guy #1 tells her, once and for all, to fuck off. I’ve often wondered if McKinney basically owed his freedom to Grillo, since up to that point she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Probably made the rejection a little easier having another warm bed to jump right into. She was absolutely OBSESSED with McKinney for the longest time—I’d hear crazy stories from studio sources, stuff like she’d show up to the studio even when she wasn’t scheduled to work just to ‘nonchalantly’ bump into him, but it was more like stalking him in the halls. For him it had been a mistake/fling and for her it was like she was going to end up with him for life, so she continued to corner him. Sometimes he’d respond, sometimes he wouldn’t.

I’d run the other way if I saw that much psycho but Grillo viewed her almost like a project.

For all those big dramatic showdowns Moniz had as Dinah with Ross and Vanessa and Roger and Hart and Cassie - not a single Emmy nomination in either Younger Leading Actress or Supporting.

Huh.

It was tough watching GL fade away. There were a couple of bright spots the last 15 years or so...all of Phillip's ex-wives gathering at once; Roger's death was handled well, initially, at least. But San Cristobella and the Santos Corinthos family were nails in the coffin.

WTF?

Do these actresses look upon soap operas as a dating service?

They insist on this leading man but not that leading man.

I've heard Stafford insists on working with Josh Morrow on Y&R and sure enough, they're together now.

Sharon and Nick are the end game though. That's clear.

It's all about ego and the fans can eat dirt. I felt that way about Moniz in the 90's, although in her case she didn't get what she wanted despite relentless (and I mean relentless) campaigning. The fanbase and the chemistry among the actors just wasn't on her side to take McKinney away from one of the biggest soap stories that GL had happening at the time. So at worst we just had to watch her shrill attempt at acting and those TEETH. She made it hell behind the scenes, between the drama and the chronic rudeness including toward veteran actors like Jerry Ver Dorn and Maeve Kinkead who played her parents. Rumors were that she was part of the reason/stress than led to Kinkead taking time off that year.

As a current viewer of Y&R, I hate Phick, although to be fair they have their group of fans, otherwise TPTB wouldn't blindly listen to what one actor wants. I would much rather have him with Sharon, and the storyline right now would naturally lend itself to them reconnecting (she's ill). But instead he's having desk sex at Newman Enterprises with the red-haired lizard. Just yuck.

Grillo wears lifts in his shoes. I know for a fact. I used to know the Moniz family.

Grillo's not tall; He's eye level with me when I've met him and I'm short; 5'6 and 3/4ths" (I lie and say 5'7")

Dear Lord, Jerry and Maeve are two of daytime's (were) nicest people, professional; What a young actor could learn from them!

R182

Please tell me you're making up the part about her foot being run over. LMAO!

Interesting about Hilliard. He had a similar background to Moniz, where he watched the show prior to joining it. Campaigned really hard for the part of Hart as far as I recall—couldn’t get an audition so he sent in a tape and that’s how he got noticed. A bunch of the actors from that time period had grown up watching the show. Liz Keifer too. Of those I think Moniz was the only one who went psycho and spit on everybody there to get what she wanted.

All the guys she set her obsessive sights on were all the same height (about 5'7" or 5'8"), worked out, dark hair, similar builds, just slightly older. A lot of that is soaps--they go for cookie cutter, but she definitely zeroed in on that type. All married, of course, including herself when she got there.

I want to know what it was like for the vets working with her, especially Kinkead. To have this little nobody trying to take your co-star must have been interesting, even for someone as seasoned as Kinkead (that is, she could separate personal/professional and had a life outside of the job).

Is that a real name? It sounds like the fictional name of a hardboiled, cynical tv detective who works the dirty streets of NY and mingles with its seedy underbelly.

"Get Grillo on the case".....

Very Statue of David-esque.

Somewhere I have polaroids of Hiliard in tighty undies -- when he auditioned to be a Body Double in a ,movie (that's how it was legitimately done). You folks may not find him sexy but he had an amazing body for sure. Nice guy too.

Was weird seeing him on an episode of one of those "Love Connection" shows back then. The one with two guys and three girls on the couch opposite him. One of his things was that he put on Janet Jackson before they got into bed. Uh huh.

Didn't he try to launch a big write-in campaign to get him his Hart job back? I remember other actors in an interview saying "Dude, give it up."

Hilliard was an odd one. Why would he want the job back if Moniz was a cow to him? It's not like she was in another storyline and their paths rarely crossed. He was supposed to be playing 'in love' and spent most of his screen time with her.

He reached out and befriended Leonard Stabb--the first Hart who had to leave suddenly due to some sort of accident. They didn't know each other before, he just reached out because they had a connection in the form of having played the same part.

I always thought the earring was weird. And yet he claims to be straight.

Hilliard can still be seen on soaps; he plays a cop extra on, I think, DAYS, Y&R and GH?

Occasionally, he'll get a line.

the four actresses to play Blake/Chrissy on GL -- Dennehy, Stringfield, Keifer and the cute little redhead who first played her in the late 70s - were assembled by People magazine for a group photo. It was adorable.

Ultimately, Stringfield was the best. Blake saying 'oops' after spilling ink on Beth's drawings, bedding Alan-Michael, bedding Ross, forgetting the words to the Our Father as she prayed for A-M to recover from a gunshot wound...she was fantastic.

Dennehy, a fine actress, was simply miscast; she didn't look like Zaslow and Garrett's child the way Stringfield did. Trivia buffs: Dennehy also played the warden's secretary (daughter?) who helped Lujack escape from prison.

Keifer had daytime experience, but played five years too old for the part and came on at a time when GL started to go down, down, down.

Once GL lost McKinsey, Parker, and Simms circa 92/93, it was over. The show never really recovered.

R82 you are not lying about the obsession. I also don't know why she thought constantly pitching it to the soap press would achieve anything but she steered every single interview towards it. An interviewer would ask the basic tease questions about other possible love interests and she'd shut it down and friend zone that character and then talk about how much she liked working with Kurt McKinney. Everything probably went to her head because you're right - she was obsessed with GL AND being cast as Dinah even before they cast Dinah. She also told a story about hearing (falsely) it had been recast without her being seen for it and she had a meltdown.

When McKinney told her to fuck off, she knew it was coming. He actually scheduled it at the studio and she ducked it, procrastinated, etc. I actually don't really believe in stalking if it's "Sometimes he'd respond sometimes he wouldn't". It's stalking if it's a make no mistake, hard no. When he reached that point he basically never even spoke to her.

IMO she caused so much drama because she was messing with such a popular couple that already had the vulnerability, in soap terms, of the woman being older, so her zeal seemed callous, because it was so freaking weird her wanting that pairing SO much when for her first year they did work together a whole lot and had the on and off afffair - so why was she so obsessed about what the characters they played did on screen?

Around the time Kinkead came back my "sources" were people who worked for the soap rags.They all had opinions. One was that the Matt/anessa storyline was populated by basically nice people who weren't the type to stoop to her level. If she'd gotten put into a story with Zimmer when Zimmer came back and she'd tried that stuff, Moni would have ended up a grease stain on the studio floor. Wouldn't have mattered if, unlike McKinney, Zimmer's leading man was gung ho. Zimmer's attitude would have been this is my story and wrecked her with the press as well as made her life hell.

R183 your cast has to vote for you to get a daytime Emmy nomination and despite a shit ton of publicity Moniz was one note and not liked.

Grillo's the kind of guy that will see the benefits in taking on a project like Moniz. I think early days it put him on up, and clearly this guy is not 100% - he's slick and shady. I think it set up well for him to be with her - he had the upper hand which is how he likes it, is one theory.

Kind of OT but another thing about her - she has small boobs. So sure in the 1990s if you didn't want implants your show was probably going to bolt on a wonderbra and stuff your chest. And they did it with her. But then she'd be in a camisole or something and there's nothing there. She still has the same boobs, and every time she's on the red carpet she bolts on something 3 sizes bigger that sits somewhere near her ribcage. every time. When she gets one of her featured prime time jobs like on House of Cards they don't do that with her, but she does it to herself.

this such amazing dish on this thread

GL was tough to watch after early 1993 for the most part; more and more actors came from Santa Barbara to GL -- Marcy Walker, Justin Deas, Marj Dusay -- that guy who played Bunny, Sherilynn Wolter as a hit woman named George, and Christopher Norris as a DA, I think.

Did Betty Rea even need to go out and find gems when all the day players were all FOJ's?

Megan's return wasn't perfect, but she had been on staff with the writers in the 80s and she knew stuff. Little things like Reva asking Fletcher for a dance 'in honor of Kyle and Maeve' at the NY's Eve bash at the country club was music to my ears.

THAT's a use of history. Forgive me but Holly having Meg was dead end; where do you go once you hit the beats ? Also, if Fletch had sired Meg then his vasectomy might have been reversed when Michelle was conceived; the show could have brought Susan Pratt back and played out Michelle' s paternity and a Holly/Ed/Claire/Fletcher triangle.

Pratt was Hammer's BEST co-star.

Marj initially was good as Alex, but then it was like watching Myrna Clegg Conrad Capwell play the part. I would have phased her out, brought back Kathleen Cullen as Amanda, her son (adopted/half brother) Matthew as the new hunk, and India to strengthen the Spauldings.

The genre had great writers Irna, Bill, Aggie (tho I didn't care for southern comedy schtick), DOUG (!!!), Pam, Reilly (at least at DAYS -- NOT Passions nor really his return to DAYS).

Can't say much for the writers for the last 20 years or so.

R197 How does one procrastinate a fuck off speech?

Great thread, although I do suspect someone here is bigly consumed with Frank Grillo and Wendy Moniz.

Should be said that Wendy Moniz was actually signed to do a test deal for the role of Dinah in 1993 - before she could screentest with Leonard Stabbm he had his accident and they were forced to adjust the storyline and write him out. With the rejigging, GL was forced to withdraw their offer. But told Moniz they "might" re-offer her a test deal down the line if they were going to re-introduce the part

Two years later they did.

Leonard Stabb (Hart #2) today (middle) with Marshall Hilliard (Hart #4 - left)

Leonard is doing great and living in California with his caretaker. He is able to walk and talk, but unfortunately, the brain damage will always be there. Leonard faces some challenges, but he is doing very good and is very happy!

The campaigning to change the course of the ON SCREEN stuff is what amazed me. Sure the dish about affairs and BTS is interesting, but that's usually all it is. Why did this chick want so badly for the CHARACTER to be paired with somebody, when the fans didn't want it? Like she wasn't already despised enough.

Others have mentioned that she grew up watching the show. So did Liz Keifer. The stories about their experiences are stark by contrast. Keifer talked about arriving to the studio and seeing Ross and Vanessa and HB and playing with actors she had idolized for years. Here she was 'one of them' now. There was none of that from Moniz. She got tons of press her first year because Dinah was this long, lost rejected daughter coming back and they really wanted the actor to work. But nothing respectful or 'how cool is it that I get to work here' type stuff from her. I think it all went to her head, especially when she started to use the show as her own personal dating service, like someone said.

This thread should have been re-titled "Why We Hate Wendy Moniz"

She made it so public. Even soap fans in other countries knew what she was up to when every other word out of her mouth IN THE PRESS was either "Matt/Dinah" or "Kurt McKinney."

In the 80s, GL had such a sense of FAMILY.

Christmas 79, 80 and 81 were all written by Doug Marland. The Bauer house was where you wanted to be.

Pam -- for all the crap she took about phasing out the Bauers -- still had Ed, Michelle, and Rick and added Michelle.

The Spauldings, the Chamberlains, the Reardons...Doug created towns in which people want to live, families people wanted to be a part of.

We were lucky to have those years that we did.

Ugh. This is so not about Frank Grillo anymore.

Frank Grillo checks a few boxes for me but the height and his anger issues are deal-breakers.

Horribly miscast as Hart.

I think Zaslow was gone when Hart was killed off.

When they cut back to him at the end of one of the Marvel movies showing he was injured but alive, I thought, oh, I forgot about him.

Yeah, he really got that part b/c of his relative producer named Grillo.

R208 = Frank Grillo.

Wendy Moniz got on the radar of casting directors of the NY based soaps after she was finalist in an ABC talent search in 1991. She was almost cast as Staige Prince on Loving. They untimely went with Eden Atwood, who was intersex and had more success a musician.

R200, by showing up at the studio because she'd agreed to have the conversation. She wasn't working that day but McKinney was - at least she wasn't working the afternoon shift - remember at that time they had split shooting days. And by being VERY BUSY. McKinney was working and they were supposed to have their come to Jesus when his items were done. But she drags the green room landline (remember, no mobiles) into her dressing room and shuts the door, comes out and camps in the green room (where crew, cast, sometimes production (and others) hang out) being on the phone, instead of meeting him at the exit where scheduled, so he has to come and get her off the phone.

An important note, IMO: Kinkead was pretty much coming back at that time, and had started filming sporadic dream sequences of Matt's. One had been filmed the day before. Kinkead was a dream to work with and she and McKinney were good friends. The opinion of some in the soap press was she took her LOA because of Moniz, and without saying it as much the implication was "I won't come back til you fix this.. I'm not gonna cat fight." McKinney giving Moniz the permanent fuck off was a step in the right direction and an added incentive for him to get his leading lady back.

BTW, NOBODY is "obsessed" with Moniz and Grillo or their post-GL life would attract more attention. All of the attention always centers around that one year when she came on board and gunned for McKinney, above and beyond, and outrageously, and the fallout was observable on camera. I'm sorry, for gossip fiends, that's catnip. She was extra before extra was invented.

Just to explain a few of the elements at play that triggered GL fans and had the press gossiping like mad due to Moniz's behavior.

1. Jill Farren Phelps was the producer of GL at the time - a hellfire, stone cold woman-hating misogynist bitch who hated fans. Fans were rightly afraid she'd torch Matt and Vanessa just to fuck with fans. And Moniz was her baby, just like Sonia Satra was (there's Satra gossip but it pales in comparison to Moniz). And like Robin Christopher was (different show though). 2. Everybody was youth obsessed in the 1990s and as a soap reporter explained to me, show runners were always trying to create two supercouples out of one via "triangle" storylines. As popular as Matt and Vanessa were, it's a fact that CBS would have loved it if Dinah/Matt caught fire so they could sideline the 40 something (Kinkead) and promote the late 20s, pretend 20something (really 30something for McKinney) Dinah and Matt. As said upthread, it was really the absence of chemistry and fan following that kept it in check. NOT creative direction or TPTB putting their foot down.

So, ,Moniz was emboldened by demographic politics and the PR investment P&G made in her, and by Phelps living up her ass. . And there were some pathetic attempts by C string actors at GL to pitch their way into a story with her as every newcomer young vixen female on GL got tons of story for at least a year, and everybody wants to work.

After the Matt and Vanessa thing was done there was a whole Cassie/Hart/Dinah thing where Moniz lost her shit on the regular as to scenes between Grillo and Wright. Considering Wright couldn't stand either one of them and I'll never be convinced that at the time Moniz was as bone marrow obsessed with Grillo as with McKinney, wonder what actually went down.

Bitch is LUCKY. 20 plus years with a guy who made more money and got more work than his looks or acting could really justify. She herself gigged around. She had her Guardian gig, her House of Cards sting, stuff like that. Tribeca loft, travel, series of nice L.A. houses, a life at a comfy home with comfy vacations when not on set or doing photoshoots. If she'd ended up with McKinney she'd be stuck in Pleasantville, NY, and he ended up as the VP of a local home improvement concern with the occasional acting gig. Maronda (his wife) LOVES Pleasantville and would never have moved, and he'd never have moved as far as L.A. away from his kids. Even if Grillo and Moniz are kaput now, and I want to know what happened, she would have lost her mind in Pleasantville and he would have thrown her onto the railroad track that run through his backyard.

I remember how the on-set tension could be spotted on camera. Characters would be in groups or it would be Kinkead/McKinney in a scene and Moniz would say her lines and the other actors would just keep talking and not pay attention and just leave her swinging in the breeze. Like giggling and ad-libbing and it's supposed to be her line. They didn't do that with anybody else. It was beautiful to watch. I also remember before Kinkead came back and Matt/Dinah were friends (which must have been horrendous for McKinney to play, btw, considering the situation) and Dinah's got this 'poignant' monologue about life and dreams and blah blah and there McKinney is, off to the side but still in the shot, not paying attention and slowly applying lip balm.

R213 Btw you are right about lifestyle. The house in Santa Monica that they were renting before the move to Pacific Palisades was $16K a month. They were living the high life and had their VIP friends (Chelsea Handler, Liam Neeson—their older kid is named after him). She was so bad on GL I honestly never thought she'd work again after she and Grillo left. McKinney by contrast has a suburban life, kids have either graduated from college or are almost done, they've cared for elderly parents, and he's done a few acting things (back to GL (dumb the way they had Matt riding around on a bike through 'Springfield' those last few years), OLTL, he was recently filming a coveted part for Gabriel's Inferno), but otherwise he's worked the handiman gig and been out of the spotlight.

Enough about that fish Wendy. More about Grillo's frankfurter.

Frank Grillo is quite the model father figure and devoted daddy now, but back when he was first with Moniz and his ex-wife was pregnant, he'd refer to the unborn kid in the press as 'it.'

The kid from that marriage (Remy) is out of college and is starting to look more and more like him, especially the chiseled features and the hair. But he's lighter and softer on account of his mother's genes. Both of the younger sons are the spitting image of Moniz, down to the curly hair and the unibrow. The younger one, in particular, could be her mini me. They all box, of course.

R217

I seriously just gasped at the "it" comment.

[quote] Speaking of GL, does anyone have a link to the P&G thread? I think the last one is pay walled.

[quote] More about Grillo's frankfurter.

It's more of a Vienna Sausage. Thus the overcompensation.

GL has had its share of big swingers, but Frankie ain't one of 'em.

All this GL gossip!

I've never heard some of this before, and I lived with someone who worked there!!

R200

His nudes are posted upthread. He is not a Vienna sausage.

Yeah, his dick is fine. Maybe slightly disappointing in comparison to the rest of the package (face and body) but not small by any means.

GL teetered on getting hot in the mid to late 90's but something always fucked it up- cast leaving, changing writers.

The show had a shit ton of future stars- Frank, Wendy, Tammy Blanchard, Jesse Lee Soffer, Brittany Snow and many others. Such a shame because the talent was there.

Frank may have been an odd choice as Hart but he brought fire to the role.No I did not buy him as a farm boy but who cared. He was (and still is) hot ASF. Wendy was a great Dinah. She replaced another future star, Paige Turco, but Wendy brought something exotic. I don't care how nuts she was IRL, she was great as Dinah. They should have paired her with Frank because their chemistry as off the charts and it was palatable on screen. Wendy was a huge, huge GL fan (as was Sherry Stringfield before she got the role) so it was nice she was a devoted fan before actually joining the role.

Kurt McKinney must've had either a really nice cock or he threw a great fuck.

Both wanted to stay on GL. I heard it wasn't so much they played hard ball, everybody did to an extent, it was that they played hardball while being a distraction which ultimately was their undoing on the show.

it's such short-term thinking then they'll have a character who has years and years ahead of them commit cold-blooded murder.

I was thrilled when Tognoni got the part of Dinah, but thought, well, she's a killer. She shot Hart. He died.

It's hard to get behind them when they do shit like that.

^^^

Gina made me love & empathize with Dinah. I just adored her in that role.

R224 And Hayden Pannetierre.

Of all the big mistakes GL made in the late 90s and early 2000s (the Corinthosantos invasion; all the action shifting to San Cristobel) I had even more of a problem with Phillip falling for Harley, and how the writers didn't get Beth.

Beth reached out to Mallet once to get him to come back to town. She should have called India for advice. The better person to have come back was Alan-Michael. Phillip would have had a problem being with his ex-sister-in-law with his brother/her ex right under their nose.

At that point, the show could have lured back Carl T. Evans. Sure, Hearst is the superior actor, but those battle scenes between Phillip and Alan-Michael in the late 80s and into 1990 were rich.

Can somone post the People Mag pick of all the Blakes? I cannot find it.

R228 Phillip being with Harley was such a stupid move. They were like bro/sis that lovers. It didn't work but all the ugly girls loved it and imprinted on the couple because the ugly girl got the hot guy.

Boy the writers did not get Beth. That has to go down as one of the worst character assassinations of all time. Either an A-M/Beth pairing would have worked or Beth/Nick.

In Kim Zimmer's book, was it Wendy or Beth Ehlers who was the dark energy she spoke of? Whoever it was, the entire cast was glad when they were gone.

R231 Beth

R232 I figured. I've heard she was such a drain to be around and always had a dark cloud over her.

Jr Martinez wrote in his memoir after he kissed Ehlers she said "EWWW the new guy had onions for lunch."

There are so many nasty women like her in soaps (men, too); boy, did she fall HARD when AMC was like eh...we're not interested anymore.'

She seemed to be OK the first time around, I don't know if there were any issues then - I think Ehlers' issues started on the second go round.

It was an almost exact repeat of the Moniz/Grillo/McKinney et al business. Beth had an affair with married Rob Bogue (nu Mallet, and strange in itself since she'd been with Mark Derwin, original Mallet, years before) and she left her husband to be with him, but Bogue stayed - at least for a while, until he hooked up with Mandy Bruno (Marina) who is now his wife.

I think Bogue tipped a few apple carts over at GL, so to speak. And he was known for his, uh, physical attributes on set.

Between that and her dislike at having to play a lot of the stuff with Phillip and Rick, I think BE just became sullen and uncooperative. That's part of why Harley was pushed into her own corner with Gus. They were both dark spirits so they could feed off one another.

As much sleeping around that happens on-camera on these shows, there's probably more BTS. Especially the younger actors are unable to separate real and reel life. Beth Ehlers, Vincent Irizarry, Cady McClain, etc. At least Frank and Wendy were pretty steady once she jumped directly from McKinney's bed into his, but some of these folks soulmate every one of their co-stars. Only the vets come to work, want to do their job, and go home without playing musical beds.

^^^^^

In Cady's defense she was battling mental health issues & a truly harrowing childhood. If you want to read a good memoir I suggest Cady's. She is brutally honest about everything & it was ugly and horrific.

Thankfully she got good therapy & found a loving & devoted relationship with Jon Lindstrom.

What's the Sonia Satra dish? I know she was a JFP darling but a pretty limited actor IMO and the virginal I can't even get a date whining was utterly annoying. Related to some of the upthread talk (non-Frank Grillo, sorry), McKinney did his screen test with her before he was cast as Matt, since they intended to pair Matt/Lucy and show Alan-Michael that maybe she wouldn't just wait around for him. Then the Matt/Vanessa pairing took off and that never happened, thus leaving Lucy to flail around on the show until the Brent/Marian storyline started and she was raped and subsequently stalked. Satra now does motivational speaking and has left acting, I believe (thank god).

Jeanne Cooper walked to Josh Morrow after he started at Y&R and she look at him; said, 'oh, the girls are going to love you.'

and then she playfully squeezed his (facial) cheeks with her hand said: "Don't be stupid."

He recalled that story and laughed about it; it would be so easy for a hottie like was then (and is now) to just screw everything in sight.

I'd heard that story before -- Lucy was intended for Matt -- but even before that point, the writers had written weeks of Matt and Vanessa on location getting to know each other, building a relationship...

Was that just going to be dropped? Seems odd to do that after investing so much of it in the beginning.

[quote] His nudes are posted upthread. He is not a Vienna sausage.

If all one has is a hallway, every hot dog begins to look like a cocktail weenie...

McKinney's hatred for Moniz exceeded Kinkead's. After Kinkead returned, there was a short-term storyline where Matt almost hooked up with Beth Chamberlain because Vanessa kept making Diana a priority when she should have cut her loose. Some of Moniz's acting vis a vis Mckinney was Ott spiteful, although the really strange part was even when she was chasing him off camera she was still a bitch on camera even to him. Only Grillo could handle that. BUT, I remember a scene when McKinney got to tell her off. He was like , you've fucked up. Your mother is all you have. She's the only person in the world who loves you no matter what. And she goes, "Nno, my father does." And Matt/McKinney goes, no he doesn't.

McKinney was so good in that scene. And it was true. Jerry ver dorn played it like he loved being "daddy" to his little giirl, but when things got rough he checked out, acted befuddled, and was no help (kind of on purpose.

The main dish is Sonia Satra's husband fucked a fan. I don't know if that's why they divorced, but that's what happened. She was SO bad, looked like Kristina Wagner (GH) and had a speech impediment (trouble with consonents). After Matt Vanessa wiped her intended story with Matt off the screen they ran some chemistry tests for two days where Moniz/Hearst's characters hung out in view of Satra's Lucy character. It came off like mean girls with Hearst's touch feelyiness on blast.

Did Satra divorce her second husband Stephen?

About Matt/Vanessa, Jill Farren Phelps didn't give a fuck about story. She's often play something for months and never pay it off. Alan Michael/Gilly comes to mind.

R240 Yes they wrote this arc with Vanessa out of town and befriending Matt and DAYS AND DAYS of dialogue between the two just sitting around, in a bar, then on a boat, then in the cave, then afterward, and yes it was supposed to be where they'd see each other back in Springfield eventually and just go their separate ways.

Matt was intended for Lucy and Vanessa I'm not sure—maybe Josh since Billy had left the canvas and they were still living together (as ex-inlaws and running Lewis Oil).

Nowadays on soaps it's just plot points and this was utterly hours of filmed character development and them just getting to know each other. It was riveting, because the chemistry played so strongly. The feedback and snail mail (this was just pre-internet and message board times) was overwhelmingly positive and they went with it. After meeting up again in Springfield (I'll never forget the scene where she turns around at the country club and drops the glass) they carried on their affair. He was just supposed to be a fling that kind of re-awakened her sexual side and instead they were together for years. Aside from Kinkead being a phenomenal actor, McKinney was a stud but also had an endearing quality that made Matt a believable match for Vanessa, so they played well together and became very close friends behind the scenes. To hear studio sources tell it, it was partially her LOA and some personal problems of his coming together all at once (several friend/family deaths), plus escalated drinking issues, that gave the troll Moniz an opening. Unlike Grillo, McKinney was a flirt and popular with the ladies, but he had boundaries (i.e. not a slick lying user with no moral compass).

R243 I think Satra is still married to her second husband. She goes to some of the GL events (the yearly ones where the money goes to a good cause). She still looks exactly the same, based on the last pictures I saw. Others not so much (Jerry Ver Dorn and Kim Zimmer, oh my god).

And Kinkead has aged gracefully, although letting her hair go grey (she was tired of dying it regularly) when she was still playing Vanessa in the late 90's pissed a lot of fans off. Vanessa was supposed to be married to this younger guy and she really dug her heels in about, basically, that "in love" shouldn't have to look a certain way, when of course that's not how the world works.

Moniz's impact on Kinkead may be a bit overstated.

She also didn't care for Paul Rauch. Rumor was that he'd harassed her at AW.

I can confirm IT. I'm always on these Grillo/Moniz threads and heard him call his unborn kid "IT" myself. Ran and reported it to people who posted on internet forums, so it got around. He was not excited about his impending fatherhood.

I'm so curious what happened to prompt the divorce. Two years ago she had no idea of ever divorcing him. I don't think it's the accumulation of years of him being a prick. She had her rationale for that. He's very self-interested, thinks he's smarter than the average bear, and lies like he breathes. Not epic lies, but about his age for example - oh, his driver's license or passport has it wrong for some stupid reason! About his crimes or at least infractions during his Wall street career (just a stupid and incompetent investigation - he was part of the case for no reason), his soap salary, his relationship with Moniz. I remember when the Lewinsky case came out and some soap actors were asked if oral sex counted as sex he was one who said of course oral sex is sex - it's the best sex. Everyone I know who read that was like, ok, he's sucked cock. And been scked by someone with a cock of their own.

He would not exit this marriage on impulse, and I think she was great at not seeing what she didn't want to see. She had a great life. Even in one instagram post said they'd never had one fight in 20 years, which made me snort. I think he plotted this, including the money piece of it. Would love the reasons to hit some of the soap opera gossip boards, if they still exist. Or reddit.

He had posted a happy birthday to her on his Instagram (January 19 - a picture/message, although not sure what it said), and then he took it down. Then by mid-February or right before, he moved out. She filed for divorce February 21st...? Makes me wonder if she was the one who kicked him out and pulled the plug. I know it's just a few pictures and videos, but she seems to be doing fine (cooking, hanging out with the kids, etc.) This is important, though, since in her soap days something like this would have DESTROYED her.

But then the timing with the mom's death (one year later) makes me wonder. Was he just with her to keep up appearances and keep his mom happy, and he used the year to disconnect and ultimately become a free agent again?

R243

Kristina Wagner was one of the most gorgeous women to ever appear on Daytime. Sonia couldn't hold a candle to her.

Great info about the “come to Jesus” with Kurt and Wendy. I had never heard that. Nice that they could use their place of business for hashing out their personal problems. I don’t think I would schedule a fuck off speech at my office, but I’ll keep that in mind in case I’m ever in that position. I suppose her place would have been inappropriate, and it’s not he could do it at his house where his, you know, wife lived. Actors making it so public is how we get these juicy details. Making sure everybody sees it and knows it is half the fun, despite what they would tell you.

Anyone have any links to the scenes where you could see the veiled animosity between Kinkead, McKinney and Moniz?

R24 he came into the green room to find her because she wouldn't get off the phone. He said nothing, just stood there in the door, and she finally got off and I think left the studio . So the actual conversation didn't happen at work. When they returned his face was stone, he was walking head of her, and he walked off, and her chin was so far in the air I think it touched the ceiling. It was comical to see because she wasn't wearing her heels that day, some kind of sneaker, and he had on Matt's boots which I bet included some kind of or at least a cowboy heel kind of thing, so the height difference was something to see with her prissiness and the way she walked and held her head.

I also suspect the dissolution of the marriage has something to do with his mother's death. I was just looking at pictures of them on the "Kingdom" red carpet with his son. Remy is color-coordinated in gray (and blue) with his father, and she's in white so it goes together. I don't know what to call her facial expression, and on her instagram she herself said she had "resting bitch face" but on that red carpet it goes beyond unhappy into another zone. His son looks like him without being really handsome, but has a much nicer vibe than he does. Remy comes across as just a decent guy, ,or that's the vibe.

It does suck for her. She'd just turned 50 (she's 51 now) so what a time for it all to go into the crapper. For all I know she's faking it but her social skills appear to have massively developed in the past 20 years to where she appreciated her life while he never changed.

I'm not underestimating the impact Moniz had on Kinkead; it was a nightmare. Rauch wasn't producer when she left - that happened during her LOA. But as it turned out she kept one foot in the door the whole time with dream sequences.

I didn't know all that McKinney was handling at the time but did know he drank too much at events. He seemed much more cleaned up a year or so later.

I recall Moniz's Dinah just coming off as a SHREW

She didn't bring any 'fun' to Dinah the way Sherry Stringfield did Blake.

In these scenes, yes, Dinah has a point, she wound up in a carnival, but when we met her there in 1986 she didn't seem to have a problem with that.

Moniz brought heat and excitement to Dinah. When Paige Turco played her (and was hooked up with Ian Zeiring's character) she was boring and plain. When Moniz played her, she was exotic. Yes, she was a brat and bitchy but she made Dinah fun.

Wendy Moniz said she made way more money doing commercials than she did working on Soaps.

Kinkead and VerDorn always seemed to relish yelling at Moniz.

R257 Receipts?

R253 I don't have a link (maybe I can search YouTube later) but I remember one in particular in detail. It was the beginning of the Hart/Dinah/Cassie crap. DIRT were having dinner at Matt/Vanessa's house, and Hart suddenly remembers he has to go back to work and get some paperwork. (This set it up for Cassie to still be at the office, of course, and they end up talking the whole night, or something like that.) Anyways, Grillo exits the scene (i.e. leaves the house after Dinah walks him to the door) and then Dinah turns around to start her lines to Matt/Vanessa, and instead of listening for her line ("So what should do now?" or something like that) they're giggling and ad-libbing and basically pay no attention. It continues on like that; when she's talking they just keep talking to each other (like playfully, not outright doing a scene by themselves but it looked like some inside joke that just kept giving). She was a third wheel in the worst sense. They made absolutely no attempt to not make it awkward for her as an actor and as a character.

Trust me, they didn't do this with any other actors. Kinkead and McKinney were very generous and warm to their co-stars. They didn't check out and talk through someone else's dialogue.

Grillo was still semi-human looking at the time. It wasn't until later that he started sporting the emaciated face and overdone bodybuilding physique in order to scream 'action star' I guess, although he's worked out religiously his entire adult life (even when he was on GL).

R260 How would the director even allow that? They wouldn't.

LOL at that description of Kurt and Wendy coming back from the "come to Jesus." I've seen Kurt in person and he's about 5'8" as others have said. I've never seen her but she's got to be no taller than 5'. Even in stilts she looks like she would barely reach a normal human's chin. The really odd thing—like someone said, she has no chest, and I'd go even further and say she basically has no profile. It's like a piece of cardboard from the side.

He and Frank were the same build and same martial arts/exercise background, so I think that guys who are average height want to overcompensate and bulk up, otherwise you end up scrawny like Greg Rikaart. Kurt's wife is short as well and both the kids are really short, which is especially unfortunate for the boy.

Maybe they went out into an alleyway for their "come to Jesus" and someone overheard exactly what happened? Just kidding. Kind of.

R242 "Some of Moniz's acting vis a vis Mckinney was Ott spiteful, although the really strange part was even when she was chasing him off camera she was still a bitch on camera even to him."

But wasn't that the point? Matt/Dinah were not friends, at least for most of their co-existence on the show. He tolerated her because of Vanessa, and often disapproved of how Vanessa would let her blame her for every problem in her life. The feeling was mutual, so I'd expect Dinah to be bitchy at him.

[quote] Receipts?

Wendy Moniz appeared in more than 50 national commercials

R264 That doesn't mean she earned more than on GL. I don't believe that.

[quote] That doesn't mean she earned more than on GL. I don't believe that.

Google "residuals" - if you have four or five airing at the same time, you really pull in the bug money

You can make a lot money on commercials if they run past a certain amount of time.

She probably didn't get a great deal on her first contract since she wasn't well known to command a higher salary.

How did Wendy Moniz win the female lead role in the film "Tuesdays with Morrie" starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria?

I with the poster who said she probably made pretty good money at GL. Her character was a major one so she likely made good money. Commericals maybe decent but not what she made at GL.

Could never understand why after Harley was back in 97 that they didn't have many scenes w/her and Dinah, since they were best friends.

Now I know. Apparently the cunt-o-meter would have broke w/those two

As Dinah NEVER EVER seemed to let up on being a shrill (I was raised as a CARNEEEE) I could see other characters (not just the actors) tuning her out.

it's a choice.

GL certainly had great lighting at this time. I was watching January 1997; a big hospital gala at the country club in honor of presumed dead Vanessa. GL pulled out all the stops bringing back Mike (!), Harley, Jenna, Billy... and so many veteran characters were on at this time: Reva, Rick, Phillip, Alex, Roger, Alan, Amanda, Holly, Fletcher, Alan-Michael, Quint, and Nola.

They got a lot right at this time; Harley and Reva hashing out Josh leaving the former to go look for the latter. Phillip, though, without Beth seemed like a ship without a shore. Mary Stuart was great as Meta. They should have brought her over as Meta right when SEARCH went off in 1986.

The 60th would have been a great time to have brought back others: India, Claire, Johnny... there were so many great big galas in the 80s and into the 90s. This was really the last grand one that I can recall. Soaps probably couldn't do something like this today.

here's a clip from that gala; if you go to 2:05 you can see Alan (Ron Raines) and Mike (Don Stewart) spar -- Hope, of course, comes up and the two men pick up as if it were 1981 all over again.

R261 The director would allow that if the backstage crew hated her as much as the actors. She was disliked by all, except for pretty much Grillo. And as mentioned the behavior was subtle--it's not like they would walk out of the scene. They just wouldn't connect, on purpose. They knew whose line it was, and whenever it was hers, they'd giggle amongst themselves and ad-lib and leave her kind of hanging on her own. If you picked up on it, and then watched them in scenes with other people, there was none of that, so it was on-purpose directed at her.

Please 261, directors were on rotation, had very little clout and in all my time on soap sets I can remember maybe 3 acting notes. Mostly given when there was some tech glitch so the director might take time out to give a newbie a few pointers/refinements. Otherwise it's everybody said their lines? Tapes are clear? Next! They worried about OT, not quality.People on sets had way less respect for the show than even fans, due to the miles and miles of bad writing and terrible politics. Nobody is like - oh geez, McKinney and Kinkead's self-indulgence is hurting Moniz's story point! Depending on clout, and when it came to the vets, the directors did not have authority over vets.

There used to be way more GL on youtube. I can't find a lot of what I used to see. Every single scene of McKinney's vis a vis Moniz in the Roach era (after Maeve came back)) it's like she's erased. =One is when Dinah dresses up in Vanessa's robe on NYE's, and everybody's drinking). Dinah only pretending to drink. Vanessa goes to bed, Matt falls asleep on the couch, Dinah starts kissing him. Not only do the kisses seem to take place on different continents, but when Matt wakes up and tells Dinah off, Moniz is a freak show. Making faces, making kissy faces, OTT bitter. Totally loses sight of her performance, while McKinney looks repulsed.

Of note: During this era, it was like Moniz could feel her stock was dropping. She mentioned to the press how Dinah had this one scene threatening Cassie, but where was the scene with Dinah crying alone later? She seemed put out at that. And you could see how slick Grillo was. While everything that went down with Moniz and her co-stars showed on screen, Grillo was like a saint. On camera with Matt and Vanessa (and everybody else) he was polite, empathetic, understanding, pouring it on. Moniz could not control herself. Grillo shifted gears and at least on camera totally played good cop to her bad cop, while she seemed clueless.

R269 you don't get it. They played new characters as "major" cause they were cheap. Real stars they tried to keep to their 2-3 day guarantee (back in the day big stars had 4-days but think that faded by the 1990s). When a total newbie with no track record comes on with all the story playing 4 days a week, in large part it's because they were young and cheap. It's a win / win if the story is popular because the show hits the jackpot - these actors are signed to 2-3 year contracts they can't quit while the show gets to fire them every six months (if they fire them sooner they have to pay the balance of the six months. The Holy Grail for a soap back then was a hit story with players who barely made above scale. These people are working 2-4 days a week, think they're hot shit, because nobody clues them in. Finally, they're contract is up, it's time to negotiate and they're like, "Give me big money, I'm SO important to this show." And the network is like, "Girl - bye."

One kind of sad thing is when GL reached the story point where Dinah shot Hart, Moniz tapped into something. Real desperation and panic. In the scene where she appears on Vanessa's doorstep, and it transpires that Dinah had shot Hart, Moniz is giving her all - which in this case is actually pretty good because she's tapped into something genuine - but Kinkead is still half-assing it with her. Without the prior history, it would have been a great scene on both parts. But, Kinkead had endured Moniz since 1995 and had a boundary up., which nobody could ever blame her for because Moniz was a vicious little c** It's too bad because if she hadn't burnt her bridges, her co-stars would have stepped up Suddenly and for a few weeks she did actual good work. The only one who matched her was McKinnny, in their few scenes. Matt was supposed to be 100% done, want her ass in jail, and feel nothing but contempt. Needless to say, McKinney had no problem conveying that. His acting was also great. BUT, to be fair, the story backed him up . For Kinkead and others who were supposed to be sympathetic with her character, they hedged. Which was too bad, for it was the one time Moniz was actually good.

I didn't watch much after 1998, when it became the Reva show again, and pretty much all of Springfield moved to San Cristobel and featured some mob-type shit mixed with fairy tales about princesses and some crap like that. McKinney and Kinkead became extras and got dusted off for two things: 1) whenever the show wanted to go another round of 'Dinah's life sucks because of Vanessa' or 2) putting the Vanessa character in a coma and making Kinkead lie in a bed unconscious for months while McKinney sat there. Oh and the countless episodes where she got to have a 30-year-old blonde (Beth Chamerlin who played Beth) call her old were also delightful. After that I tuned in every once in a while, like the time I saw Moniz with a napkin glued to her face for some reason.

I know that Kinkead had been very interested in playing a complicated mother/daughter dynamic with Moniz, going as far as to change her hairstyle when Moniz joined the show so that they could look more alike. But I think she gave up about 6 months into that, when Moniz started to do her batshit crazy show behind the scenes and it was clear she was an immature twit and wasn't going to reciprocate or try to connect.

The difference is how beautifully Tognoni played her scenes with ver Dorn and Kinkead.

Just back to some non-GL Grillo - when he was based in NY and do interviews, he'd talk about how NY is real, LA empty and the people there have no lives. He couldn't just be "I prefer NY. " He took CREDIT for being real enough to live here and can't abide L.A. Then he moves back to Los Angeles. "L.A. all the way baby!" look at that water, beach, feel the warmth. NY is cold, people don't know how to relax, they're always on.

He's always extra and he always tries to play it off like he's just spitballing random thoughts. What he's really doing 24/7 is switching up the narrative and covering his ass.

I had no idea people had both knowledge and pent up feelings about these two.

I was a big GL fan but honestly, I haven't had much of a thought about either since they left.

Moniz's arrival at GL was the bright spot at a time where story was terrible, but as soon as she was paired with Zaslow I sort of lost interest - both Zaslow and Moniz had similar energy and it wasn't that interesting to watch.

R280, Grillo isn't famous and has a niche career. Makes good money for it. A thread for him will attract those with knowledge and opinions about him, particularly GL. Who else would even open the thread? He had no general fame and is of no general interest. He started out in a genre where there were fewer layers between him and the media, regular people, and nobodies. Soaps were a blue collar kind of gig even though some people who got in at the right time and became soap stars milked it for a lot of money. It's not real show business. The actors don't get paid enough to be able to distance themselves. So a lot more people have first hand experiences with them.

Therer's been other datalounge threads that hung around awhile where I have no idea who the person is that's being discussed. I don't go in them unless they're more famous than I realized and I just missed the memo. In those times, I get myself up to speed.

He’s “that guy” to me. I recognize him but I don’t know from where.

R25 BLIND ITEM: March 6

This A-/B+ list mostly movie actor who has been in multiple huge franchises cheated on his wife during a very long marriage which is why she pulled the plug after 19 years. Frank Grillo ("Brock Rumlow" - "Captain America" and "Avengers"/"The Purge: Anarchy" and "The Purge: Election Year"/Wendy Moniz

A minus B plus?

That's rather generous.

But seriously, Wendy and Frank cheated on others to get together.

Why would she be surprised when he cheated again?

I mean, I felt very bad for Colleen Zenk when Mark Pinter cheated on her, but again......a leopard, their spots, etc.

R283

Source of Blind Item?

Grillo an A minus B plus? In his dreams.

He's been an inveterate cheat. He'd come on to women at parties, he'd make a show of himself with someone at a restaurant near where he worked. This is going back to the very start of Frank and Wendy.

Sometimes I thought he was in the closet in plain sight - getting his hound dog credentials validated to hide his bisexuality. There's just no way, IMO, she caught him cheating after 20 years and pulled the plug when he's been cheating all along. He may have made it so she'd feel like she had no choice. Sometimes people do things to make the other person leave. These people are cowards, and Grillo isn't exactly a man of honor.

Oh, back in the day when I soap opera media contacts and show contacts, I was told something. It's not that big a deal and the details may be muddled but Grillo and Wendy were doing some kind of press in L.A. for Guiding Light. Why L.A. when it shot in NY I don't know. Also don't remember if it was live action or a photo shoot, but Wendy was flat and the filmmaker/photog wasn't getting anything from her. Grillo goes, "Watch this." and he went and pressed whatever button he needed to press to get her worked up and her temper going. He must have loved her in his own way but there was also this detachment. Maybe he's like that with everyone.

She worked steadily enough but didn't make his money once he got his franchise work. On one level she made out best due to the lifestyle she enjoyed. On the other level she probably was his human credential, creating this successful blended family, organizing the home situation, building up social capital with family, friends and colleagues. Just making such an appealing package people didn't notice that by himself he was kind of a ragey creep.

Also think if he didn't want her to file she wouldn't have filed. He'd always been able to talk her into whatever.

I'm fascinated by the comparisons between Frank and Kurt. They may have had some similar physical characteristics and almost parallel backgrounds (young marriages, worked out, soon-to-be fathers, etc.) but as people they were completely different. How does she go from someone like McKinney, who was hot but definitely NOT cool, he was genuine, didn't like attention, etc. to somebody like Grillo, who was also hot but slick, an attention whore, a liar, vain beyond belief, etc. Was that just more who she was as well?

I thought about this while watching them on camera sometimes. While they are playing parts, some of their natural characteristics and tendencies come through. Kurt's demeanor was the reason Matt had been a plausible match for Vanessa; if the character had been played by somebody like Frank it would have rung false.

No one expects to be fatal attraction'd, but it had to be uncomfortable as hell for Kurt when she kept showing up. If the same thing had happened with Grillo (fling followed by him trying to walk away and her not taking no for an answer) he would have made her regret it, EASILY.

Kurt really connected with the Matt character the way he didn't in his martial arts movie or as Ned in General Hospital. I think Wendy was just touched in the head at the time. He was in the Matt/Vanessa story which showed him as hugely appealing, and Kinkead experienced a renaissance of popularity. Something about it was magic, and very natural. It was popular because the dynamic mesmerized many fans. I suspect on a base level Moniz was so obsessed because she wanted "it" for herself in some way, wanted to supplant Maeve and get that "thing" for herself, or whatever. In a silly way, it might be how some married men are very appealing and some other woman tries to move in on it, and if it works she finds out that most of his appeal was how he was in his relationship with his wife.

McKinney was happy to be working and thrilled to be in such a hit pairing. I don't know that he expected more than your basic soap treadmill when he was cast. He was genuine, he wasn't slick. Part of the reason for the uproar was the nature of the Matt/Vanessa relationship was unusually heartfelt for a soap, and for Moniz to not get that and basically want to elbow Kinkead out and shove herself in and have HER be the target of those love waves did not go down well. Maybe that's why she wanted the on screen pairing, because off screen he never treated her in any kind of loving, caring Matt fashion. And another reason for the uproar was Kinkead had no intention of slinging backstage cat fighty mud. When the show didn't put Moniz in check, that's when she used her power of leaving. The next time Moniz ran into a conflict with another woman on the show, it was Laura Wright, who would have been happy to pull out every eyelash in Moniz's head. So I think it was Moniz's foot stopping, emotional tone deafness that rankled in the Kinkead/McKinney situation and why people remember it. She was fucking with people who were genuine, however messed up McKinney was his first year on GL. Every other drama was just standard BTS show politi and power trips, nothing to remember. Continued next post.

Yes, Grillo would have put the hurt on Moniz if she'd fatal attractioned him. Instead, he enjoyed her almost vicious hatred of Laura Wright.

The brief time moniz spent flirting with Rick Hearst always intrigues me. He's hyper. SHE's hyper. Although I've met him probably more than any other former GL actor and think he became we more self-serving when he landed on GH, on GL he was one of Jill Phelps babies. He's impossible to talk to . Too much of a closer talker, too touchy feely, can't keep himself contained, doesn't listen. There's no real back and forth, so it's kind of like he uses the close talking, seeming lack of boundaries to block people. Do the opposite of engagement. I could see her thinking oh boy, he's so accessible, he's stroking my hair, we're laughing hysterically, he doesn't seem to care that his wife sees us - he wants me! Meantime he does this trick of failing to notice that she wants him or is taking things the wrong way. It's like missing the last stair on the staircase, Does a pass count if the other person doesn't acknowledge/fails to notice or care you made a pass? I could see that happening. I've read all the rumors about Hearst but don't knowwhat's true or not. I know some people who knew him when (before his soap career) and they were mostly flummoxed that such a hyperactive nerd got a career as a soap hunk.

[quote] The next time Moniz ran into a conflict with another woman on the show, it was Laura Wright, who would have been happy to pull out every eyelash in Moniz's head.

I hate LW but man, I would have cheered her on vs. WM.

Laughing my ass off if he cheated and she thought that this was the first/only time. The guy doesn’t go from being a horn dog when he got with her to having eyes just for her. She is even more self-absorbed than I thought if she ever, ever thought that could happen, even for a second.

Another one I haven’t seen mentioned: One of their GL colleagues (Hunt Block) talked (in the press) about how he could hear them fucking rather loudly in the GL dressing rooms.

R289 Yes you are right that there was something special there with McKinney/Matt but man that is fucked up if she was trying to get in on whatever Matt-esque quality McKinney was bringing to the little screen. It's a good theory. Otherwise nothing else explains why she wanted the on-screen pairing with Matt/Dinah so badly.

As others have mentioned, the Matt/Vanessa pairing was serendipitous and was never supposed to happen (or at least it wasn't supposed to be a long-term thing). It was truly magical, especially from the time they met to about January... 1995? Moniz joined the show that February 1995 and then they started putting her in the middle of their storyline just to get her attention. Never paired Matt/Dinah, but they teased it for sure. They'd move her out of their storyline (after fans would complain) and eventually they'd always move her back, since no one gave a shit about Dinah unless whatever plot or story point involved Vanessa. Whenever Dinah would blow up her life, they'd drop her on Vanessa's doorstep to unload another round of crap about her adoption, and Vanessa would eat dirt and take it. Occasionally she'd grow a backbone and tell her to fuck off, but that would last 3 episodes and then it'd be back to Vanessa the martyr in no time. That went on for pretty much Moniz' entire time on the show until she and Grillo vacated the building in 1999.

I know that first year she'd show up with her husband to the set every once in a while and by the following year they had filed for divorce after she started flirting her way through the cast.

Re Kurt/coolness he was definitely what I'd call a hot dork, and he knew it. Did some things that definitely attracted the opposite sex (worked out, flirted) but generally wasn't comfortable with lots of attention. The opposite of Frank. I think somebody like Wendy (the hot new thing on the show) throwing herself at him flattered him, especially at a low point in his life. Whenever he had to act cool on the show (like those early scenes with Matt/Lucy before the show abandoned that pairing and knew they would putt Matt with Vanessa or even some of the early stuff with Dinah) Matt just came off like an ass, because you could tell it was a front and he was trying too hard to be slick and basically couldn't handle it, even in acting terms. Kurt as Matt (and possibly Kurt/Maeve themselves) could just relax.

R290 Any dirt on how the Wendy/Laura hatred manifested itself? As much as DIRT sucked and was gross, they were kind of meant to be. They spent a year and a half on that pairing only to blow it up on the most unlikely pair-up you'd imagine. I remember one scene in particular where Cassie got in the shower (from the back) and it was really Dinah, as if you couldn't tell immediately, considering one woman was 2 feet taller than the other and had enough hair to cover 45 sheep.

R293 - my conclusion was Wendy wanted Matt, not Kurt. Like if Kurt had to play Matt opposite Wendy the way he played Matt opposite Kinkead, Moniz could turn on the moony eyes and what she thinks is soulful and Kurt would fall in love with her, and the real him (meaning, he was really more like Matt in her eyes) would emerge and connect with her. She did confuse the show with her life at times. One time she and Grillo were re-enacting some Hart Dinah scenes for an evening event with fans and what I was told was even in the scenes he'd forget to say Dinah and say Wendy. So I really think she was after Matt, or thought Kurt really was like Matt if he'd let his guard down and let her get to that part. Really fucked up. Their off screen vibe was very brittle, he was kind of fake off screen with her just as he was forced on screen as the cool guy.

By the time Laura Wright joined the show the Grillo/Moniz offscreen pairing was a lock. I don't know what made Moniz go ballistic. Maybe she was threatened as to status. Wright was getting the hype. Suddenly Moniz was the spoiler. It was so stupid and off key because while Moniz wasn't super popular and neither was Grillo everybody could see on screen that that pairing made sense and the one with Wright didn't. Things I didn't understand: I kept hearing that Moniz was having meltdowns every time Grillo and Wright had a sexual tension scene. She'd attack Grillo, particularly after some pinning-Cassie's hands against the wall scene. Yet she and Grillo made no bones about fucking at the studio. That was a TINY place. Think if a cube farm was converted into rooms but still the same lack of separation and you can imagine everyone heard them. Wright constantly undercut her pairing with Grillo in the press. She said she watched some DIRT scene and said to herself, "That's the couple." She thought they looked wrong together, neer supported it and wanted out. Maybe she was playing a double game - telling the press one thing but enjoying fucking with Wendy bts. Wright also said she and Moniz had to have every centimeter of a catfight choreographed and supervised or they'd kill each other. She told on herself, but with a self-serving spin. Maybe she picked that shit up from Zimmer.

R295 Well that's just sick, if true on any level. As someone who's followed Kurt's career, even after GL (the little he's done) and watched his other stuff before/during, I'm pretty sure it was the dynamic with Maeve that created the magic. He's not like that in anything else, even when he's been a romantic lead, and he's played opposite a fair amount of people to be able to compare. (In fact almost same younger man/older woman storyline/situation on GH before coming to GL.) People always talk about chemistry in casting and storylines and Matt/Vanessa could be a study in the subject, especially when you see the same guy opposite another actor (Sonia Satra - with whom he screen-tested) during the same timeframe, and it was like night and day. Chemistry can't be manufactured no much how badly someone wants it, on screen or off.

Interesting that Moniz had such an impact on Kinkead's LOA that year. I had always heard it was a combination of things—Bill Roerick's death that winter, personal issues (illness in her family, her kids switching schools), plus tension on the set, but I never heard specifics. And even when she did leave, she finished out her contract playing the Vanessa presumed dead storyline, but kept coming back regularly for dream sequence episodes, plus some Roger visiting Vanessa stuff, which were some of her last scenes with the then-ill Michael Zaslow. It was supposed to be a year, but she re-signed a contract by that following spring. By then I take it the Moniz stuff had been handled.

R280 No one gives a shit about Grillo in or re anything other than his GL days. This is ironic, considering he'd like to delete his soap history and just be a huge movie star, which he's not. A-/B+ list my ass, more like C list. I've asked around with some friends who are hugely into the Marvel movies and they had never heard of him.

Source on the blind item above. Frank and Wendy are #70. Seems to make sense other than 1) he's a serial cheater, so to have her pull the plug NOW - what gives? and 2) no one in their right mind would call him A-/B+ level.

There has to be dirt out there on Laura Wright.

I can't stand her acting, but at the same time, she hits her mark and gets the words out just fine. I realize she reminds of Zimmer in that she has technique but she's not like Zimmer in that I can't really feel for her characters.

There's no real heart. Just snark.

I would love to get pounded by Grillo.

Well, one Grillo mystery solved. Wendy Moniz's insta is indeed back and running, so thanks upthread. Must have had a stale link. Anyway, scroll back a bit and there's her own tribute to her recently deceased mother-in-law, with pictures. I did a double take because in one bad snapshot I thought Wendy was Roz Grillo and Roz Grillo was Wendy. Yes, Roz was a senior citizen but the similarities are remarkable. Both short, petite. EXTREMELY similar eyes and expression in the eyes. Same hair. Same shade of skin. Similar vibe.. Moniz looks more like Roz's kid than Grillo does.

If Grillo was the mama's boy he claimed to be, this explains a lot. OTOH in one of the pictures with his wife and mother he has the same "I'm an asshole" facial expression he always wears.

The 1990s had so many bad recasts -- I would have taken Kathleen Cullen over Toby Poser; God rest Marj's soul, but she was never Alex. I never warmed to Keifer. She was a few years too old for the part.

Michael Dietz bombed as Alan-Michael; Moniz delivered every line with a snark and/or a scream... Robert Gentry as Ed was a nice idea, but better to have gone for Hulswit if Simon wasn't around.

Grillo was not Hart; he was an Italian guy from NY; not a farm boy.

I would have approached originals to play their reprise their parts -- for starters, Mary Kay Adams as India. I would have gotten Beth Chamberlin back right away; I know fans loved Phillip and Harley but to never have Alan Michael there to play his reaction was dumb.

The one recast I was warming to was Dennis Parlato as Roger; I know, I know...Zas can't be replaced, but the guy was doing a good job.

R297, Kinkead was no wilting flower - she wouldn't leave GL because Roerick died (he was an old man) , and basic life stuff. But she's not vulgar, not tacky, not trashy, and would never degrade herself, all of which going toe to toe with Moniz would have involved.

She loved her storyline with Matt. As someone said, actors never get to just talk to each other. She exited because she was not going to stopp to Moniz's level, so to speak. It's the show's job to control shit like that. Kinkead wasn't going to be walked all over and exploited either, and she wasn't going to get down and dirty, so she took a breather and let GL figure it out.

All these obscure details about 90s GL are to die for. This is the kind of stuff where you just can't beat the institutional knowledge of the DL.

R304, Keifer was desperate. She did anything and everything to hang onto the role of Blake. She was terrified Stringfield would return, which makes no sense. She saw herself as a young Ann Margret type, which is pretty hilarious. Oviously, she worked hard to become Jerry ver Dorn's best friend. He probably understood and was compassionate, so went along with the Frick and Frack publicity they always did. "We're best friends! You wouldn't recast me!"

Moniz had no interest in Keifer and Keifer had the same opinion of Moniz and her ridiculous mannerisms and behavior everyone else did - eyes rolling down the hallway. But, in order to participate in a soap series on "on set best friends" they pretended to be tight just for that issue. Keifer had already done BFF with ver Dorn to death so this switched it up but it was totally faux.

Apart from Roerick, and McKinney in the 90s era, and some of the obvious onset pals like Peter Simon, Kinkead trusted Hilary Edson (Eve). Sane, smart, not actressy, and funny. Never really in an A story, but beautiful and normal.

I found it odd they killed Eve off; how much grief was Ed supposed to take?

it was SOOO weird bringing parker back as a ghost or whatever; and Gentry was playing Ed at that point.

Didn't Maeve leave to go get a new hip?

I'm just glad she came back and was there for the end; I'd have had no problem with Vanessa staying with Matt. But there was something old school about her marrying Billy again.

I would have had India back for the finale; Alan-Michael and Amanda, too; and Hope; it would have been organic with Alan's funeral.

Today, I imagine Phillip is having dramas with James and Zach (Zack?) and if the show were still on, writers would be scratching their heads trying to make sense out of Phillip being Peyton's stepfather and brother.

All this Wendy and Frank info is delicious!

Wish we had some similar info about the Cynthia Watros-Kim Zimmer rivalry. That was happening concurrent to Wendy's reign of terror, so surely there's some dirt to be spilled. .

[quote]A minus B plus?

[quote]That's rather generous.

Yeah, that's probably how I'd describe Chris Evans, not Grillo. He's really lucky to have been the lead of a couple of those Purge movies, but I don't see Hollywood knocking on his door for male lead roles on a regular basis.

[quote]Grillo was not Hart; he was an Italian guy from NY; not a farm boy.

Hart as played by Jeff Phillips came across as a sweet, innocent guy who was bullied endlessly in junior high.

Hart as played by Frank Grillo came across as a street smart tough guy who was a bully in junior high. Jeff Phillip's Hart would have been one of his favorite targets.

Speaking of Hilary Edson and Liz Keifer, didn't Liz Keifer also try out for the part of Eve?

Liz Keifer teaches acting and does motivational speaking now. As part of this she does some podcast and in a recent episode she brought up GL. As it gets going there's breathy voices, deliberate pauses, and hushed tones—it sounds like a porno when it starts out. The topic was 'getting your power back' or something like that, lots of talk about feeling small at GL when she was taken off contract after years of being treated like a VIP on contract (her own dressing room, messengered scripts, etc.) and what that did to her sense of self. It comes off super whiny, the tales of now having to share a dressing room and have security let her into the rooms because she no longer had access. I guess she would brood and sob uncontrollably in the parking lot some days just to gather enough courage to walk to the door and go to work.

GL taping in parks and in barns in the end was super sad and I couldn't watch. To think that the shrinking sets and budget wardrobe of the late 90's, when I'd rag on the show for being cheap, was still the heyday by comparison.

R305 It's insane that they let Kinkead walk instead of handling the problem more directly (i.e. putting Moniz in her place). By "walk" she had to finish up her contract, which still involved her being around another 6 months to wrap the story and play the Vanessa presumed dreck they came up with. Kurt was left floundering around on the canvas with pretty much no story, since fans wouldn't accept Matt with anyone but Vanessa, so he wasn't working a whole lot in between, other than dream sequences in the beginning, and then eventually that internet story they did for her return which was dumb but was still better than nothing.

I've worked with people I don't like, and had to interact with people I don't like, but I imagine ACTING with people you don't like is a whole different ballgame. But I'm sure they're used to it, considering the business. Back when there were rehearsals and taping you were together for most of the day, which must have been murder for the cast, except for Grillo. I know none of the vets could stand her, even those that didn't really cross story paths with her, since she was generally known to be rude and oblivious to other people.

I remember they announced Keifer as the new Blake a long time before Sherry left.

Believe it or not, for MANY years there was a STRICTLY ENFORCED "NO SOAP THREADS" law on Datalounge!

It did away with the epic, crazed madness you see on this thread!

Sherry was perfect as Blake. I was not surprised she hit so hard in primetime.

Forget the Watros/Zimmer rivalry, I want to know about Michelle Forbes/Kimmer's rivalry.

Kim vs Humanity

I heard Kim mainly likes to ratchet up the tension for the performances with her female rivals. IOW- it isn't real. But I heard she was very unsettled about Michelle Forbes giving one of the most intense performances ( I think ) any soap had seen. Plus she was playing a duel role ( or was she?) which is the real reason Kim was jealous. Michelle was knocking it out of the park with some of the juiciest material on daytime.

Michelle has said in interviews she was exhausted to the point of breakdown a few times on GL so maybe she didn't form a bond with Kim.

Good analysis R318; I'd never seen anything like what Forbes did on GL; she was walking a tightrope every single day.

She looked older than she was, but I think she was quite young when she got GL. Thrown in the deep end with McKinsey, Zimmer, and later Zaslow (both Sonni and Roger survived incredible falls).

Here's a fun bit where Sonni and Reva are going at it just before Josh comes along and Reva says to Sonni "Why you!..." and on the take she blends it with her next line "Why you...must be so happy Will is back" (or whatever); based on Forbes' reaction, (she starts to laugh), I think she and Zimmer got along.

If they didn't, I could see Forbes stopping the scene (though good actors know NEVER to do that and Forbes is certainly a VERY good actor)

Zimmer did not like Forbes. She implied in an interview that Forbes was mentally unstable.

People here seem to know so much about what was going on backstage at GL. Any dope on Frank Dicopolous? He was so hunky. Did any of the actresses (or actors) have him?

Frank D has no dirt. Married to his HS sweetheart.

I don't think Zimmer nor Forbes disliked each other. They both had a very heavy workload. Zimmer said, and Michelle agreed, Michelle had a very difficult time with her very demanding, intense role and her heavy workload. Michelle had the much more emotionally demanding role. Add to that she was on 4-5 days a week. When the story reached its climax, given how intense the story was and how the climax lasted for a good while, I can see how Michelle was going a bit nuts at the end. She needed medical attention after the scene of the bridge if I recall correctly. I think they both respected each other but weren't friends but def not enemies.

Nah, Kim Z was a c**t. Used every narc tactic in the book. Kinkead was fragile. Watros was a drunk (maybe so, but so was Kim). Forbes was so crazy Kim had to drink onset just to cope. Any woman on the show who had any agency instead of being a straight up straw (wo)man for Kim was "duplicating Reva" and had no place on the show. She was jealous of anyone else's A storyline. The soap press printed all her shit despite having her number because access was the name of the game. They took her "candor" for truth, or pretended to, when it was always self-serving b.s. Some of the big names on GL were guarded with the press and it was like pulling teeth to get quotes or an article out of them, meanwhile Kim was verbal diarrhea 24/7. She provided the content so they favored her despite knowing she was full of shit. Which she was. And toxic as hell. And - especially in her final go round - a shitty actress.

You could spend all night in a bar with Frank D. and never get an ounce of GL dirt because he never noticed any. Was on set friends with McKinney and oblivious to the Moniz thing and McKinney drinking too much.. All the time they were paired never noticed Melina Kanakaredes constantly lobbying TPTB to get out of that pairing with him. She wanted to be paired with Rick Hearst or Justin Deas, didn't care which. Don't know if it was enormous, innocent vanity or plain innocence, chronic obliviousness or being dumb.

For someone who wanted to be the eternal 20-something sex goddess with all the young men chasing after her, she certainly did let herself go those last 10 years.

I thought JFP was full of shit with her FOJ's (many of which sucked - Sonia Satra, Marcy Walker, Justin Deas) and her woman/fan-hating views, but I'll always love that she didn't want Zimmer back in the mid-90's, when Zimmer was campaigning to come back. I think she was overruled by the network which is why eventually we got the Amish crap in 1995, but there had been pressure applied and lots of fan letters (i.e. Zimmer's family) writing in long before that.

After that when Paul Rauch came on board and she started eating the show there were rumors that they were sleeping together, since nothing else explained the air time.

Wait, I lied, I have Frank D. dirt. You know how he had that thick head of wavy, dirty blonde hair? There was a silver dollar-sized bald spot at the crown that they had to hide with spray on hair in a can. Messing around? No. It was like he was always in church.

R328cy Walker was a FOJ only by association with A. Martinez, whom she desperately wanted on Guiding Light. As she had made Walker and Martinez the stars of Santa Barbara (even though Q ratings seemed to favor both Mason and Mary and then Mason and Julia). She figured if she got Walker on board, then said to A - I can do it again for you here - it would happen. She also was massively obsessed with Justin Deas, who didn't return her interest but came on board even knowing that Ellen Parker'sfiring helped pay his salary.

Anyway, never happened. JFP didn't like Walker but it was a mutual using type relationship. The reason JFP didn't like Wlaker? Walker used to kiss her ass but never showed for Pehlp father or mother's funeral. Can't recall which parent. On GL Walker used to encourage her co-stars to bitch about Phelps, then run to Phelps with the dish. Didn't help her - the network pulled the plug.

Am I missing something with Justin Deas? Sucked as an actor and NOT physically attractive, even in his younger years, so there was nothing romantic about him as a male lead. The screaming and arm-flailing = acting to him, and it was so out of place with the rest of GL. Every pairing seemed odd, with the exception of Buzz/Nadine.

R329 and they kept giving him Emmys even though he almost never bothered to show up to the ceremony.

Wendy's decent in this scene, although VerDorn blows her out of the water anyway.

Clearly, Deas' snorting and flailing and yelling struck a chord with Emmy voters

I didn't get it.

I can't believe some of GL's best actors -- McKinsey, Mary Kay Adams, Grant Aleksander, Peter Simon, Maureen Garrett -- never got Emmys but Deas has like four from playing Buzz or maybe five?

But I can't fully fault a system that awards gold to verDorn, Kinkead, Zimmer, and Jordan Clarke. Chappell, too.

R324, gee, how do you really feel?

Zimmer didn't get four Emmys by being a shitty actress.

I have seen even the best of the best get threatened, which I don't get.

R331 I don't know, the 'don't hate me daddy' sounds a lot like a mouse squeaking.

All the grow up's and figure it out on your own's in that scene lasted a month. Within that many episodes her mommy and daddy were back to begging for her love and trying to run her life at the expense of theirs. It was after this that she turned to Roger Thorpe, and they did just about anything to keep her out of his clutches, despite the 'you're going to have to learn the hard way' line that both of her parents towed that summer once they found out about her self-kidnapping.

R324

There is no fucking way I believe KZ was an alcoholic during that time. No alcoholic could handle the intense airtime & turn in amazing performances like KZ did & be an alcoholic. Did she like to have a few? Probably but anything more is hogwash. This thread has jumped the shark.

R326

KZ was GL's marquee star. To insinuate letters asking for her to return were written by her family is a bunch of bullshit.

R328

You make me laugh trying to tell me that Mason/Mary and Mason/Julia were more popular with fans than Cruz/Eden. No fucking way.

it becomes opinion after a certain point; People magazine wrote that Marie Curie couldn't find chemistry between Cruz and Eden.

I know a writer who worked on the show for many years who adored Kim. This writer liked the on-set gossip and never had a bad word to say about her so I’m having trouble with this person with their ax to grind.

[quote]it becomes opinion after a certain point; People magazine wrote that Marie Curie couldn't find chemistry between Cruz and Eden.

Of all my years of watching soaps, the couple with the most chemistry was definitely Cruz and Eden. They had it out the wazoo. They had more chemistry than Luke and Laura, Bo and Hope and Greg and Jenny combined. Even Stevie Wonder would know they had chemistry.

Is there a link to this People article saying Cruz and Eden didn't have chemistry?

Frank Grillo Sure Clear Dry Commercial (1997)

Deas won five Emmys which was ridiculous, Zimmer won four and still sucked.

She was not a good ole gal. She never in her life tried to spark tension on set with another actress to "improve a scene." She was a bulldozer and all about turf. She was a backstabber who loved to back door undermining b.s. about female co-stars. You know how you're talking about one thing and in passing as if "oh, everybody knows" you mention something about someone else as if it's a fact? That's her. The thing she says "in passing" that was b.s. was always her true agenda. Very basic.

This is not a unique opinion, it comes from knowledge I got from people who've worked with her and know her.

God Wendy was small and unimpressive in that scene. She's just been called out for staging her own kidnapping and her father is disowning her. A little more investment Good God.

It's funny, remembering the Wendy from those days that I met, watched operate and heard stories about, she is a fucking troll.

But the Wendy who exists now on instagram seems really cool and a decent person. I don't know anything about her now on an insider basis. I hope that's who she is now. It doesn't always happen that someone evolves from what she was to what she seems to be today.

It could just all be a show now, just as it was in the 90's. Look at the description upthread of her and McKinney re-emerging from their convo, chin up and pretending like he hadn't just told her to go fuck herself. Maybe she was just a nightmare at the studio, even in those days, and had a fabric of friends--we'll never know because social media didn't exist to give us those glimpses.

Justin Deas may have eaten GL but he probably deserved ONE of those Emmys.

After that, it was just a case of block voting and the voters being lazy.

R340

Zimmer deserved everyone of her Emmys. I will die on that hill.

Whoever this idiot is who says Zimmer can't act is a moron. When she was on, there was probably no one better. She has some scenes that are captivating. I've never met a non-soap person who has seen the Fountain scene who didn't stop everything and watch with mouth open. The dialogue was great as well. When given great material, Zimmer was someone you could always count on to deliver. Any type of scene. She could handle it. She deserved more than those 4 Emmys.

Justin Deas Emmy Reel spanning 5 wins

Whatever you think of Frank or Wendy, their casting was at least interesting. Both were performers you wanted to watch.

Yes, it is criminal Kim Zimmer did not win an Emmy from 91-05. The real joke was Lucci being nominated every fucking year. What a joke. It was infuriating. She was not a good actress, for starters, and some of her reels were hysterical for all the wrong reasons.

Kim Zimmer 1990 Emmy Reel

Reel 1 - The morning of Reva's wedding - replete w/ poignant moments & small disasters

Reel 2 - Reva's encounter with Pharaoh, who'd almost raped her years earlier.

I won't say Zimmer didn't deserve her Emmys. The first one she won wasn't for the fountain scene, though.

But it still seems so bizarre that KZ has four and Beverlee McK has NONE

Kim Zimmer 2006 Emmy Reel

Reel #1 - Reva finds out she is not pregnant, but instead going through menopause

Reel #2 - Reva tries coping with still being desirable by trying to seduce Josh

R348, you are incorrect. Kim did win her first Emmy for the fountain scene.

R350 Kim Zimmer said it was NOT for the fountain scene, and she has no idea why the Emmy telecast would air the fountain scene, as if it was.

The reason she didn't submit that is because it was only 2 minutes at the end of an episode that was filled with party scenes

You have to understood how the soap press operated in those days, where the magazines were run by losers who liked to think they were hot shit, and anybody with half a brain usually ran the other way. Wouldn't give interviews or talk to them, and if they did, gave non-answers to their questions and prompts. If you were a fan of some of the normal people like Kinkead, McKinney, Ver Dorn, Garrett, etc. you rarely got the satisfaction of an interview, or if you did, it was void of any substance because they didn't want to be talking. Like the only time you saw Ver Dorn in the press was doing the twinsie schtick with Keifer.

So people like Grillo, Moniz, and Zimmer who lived to stir up shit were available 24/7 to these magazine runners. In turn they published all their blind items, storyline preferences and opinions, and kissed their asses to keep them coming. That's the lens you saw the show and other actors through, because those are the only people that would give the magazine people the time of day.

R350 - what R351 said. She did NOT submit that episode.

So eat me.

The other thing people need to remember with interviews is that it's never JUST the actor there.

For any GL/ATWT actor, the P&G PR person was there too. I'm sure the ABC shows had a network rep, same w/DAYS.

Not that those circumstances couldn't still yield a compelling interview, but no one was gonna tell all with a PR rep around.

I've been a part of interviews where even a relatively innocuous question got the PR person to jump in and redirect.

By the time the 2000s rolled around Zimmer was a parody of herself. She should have been put out to pasture.

R355 Emmy voters disagreed in 2006

The clips shown at the Emmys were not always from the actors' reels.

The fountain scene was shown at the1985 Daytime Emmys but it was for the directors -- which I believe GL did indeed win.

Kim submitted her judging the Mr. Springfield contest and also a knockdown fight with Josh right after.

She SHOULD have won Emmy # 4 for these scenes; post ghost, post Amish...Josh and Reva finally reunite on the Spaulding jet.

this was on Zimmer's 1985 Emmy reel, I'm 99% certain.

She and Josh have knock down in the condo that was home, over the years, to Warren Andrews, Reva, Kyle, Alan, Phillip...

Zimmer could do anything and never disappoint. She could handle any material with ease. If she didn't have good material she would ham it up or chew the scenery to attempt to breathe life into the material. However, when she was great, she was GREAT. No one could touch her versatility.

I'm astonished at the wellspring of love for Zimmer in this thread. Usually DL complains that she ate the show, or highlights the later years on the show where she was drinking in her trailer.

R360 No one disputes there was too much Reva and it led to some really bad stories. That doesn't take away from the gifted actress she was. Again, I will concur that you could always count on her. She delivered. She was and will always be the best crier I have ever seen. Had GL had better writers in the later years, I believe Reva would have become a truly important, essential character with a good balance. Same with Beth. They really missed the boat crafting Beth. With all of her history and the character being such an important one with a rich history, it would have been fascinating to see where a competent writer would have done with her.

I never understand when GL is called the Reva show.

Other strong female characters during her times on the show were Alexandra, India, Vanessa, Holly, Maeve (hey, I liked her), Maureen, Annie, Harley...personally, I never cared for LW as Cassie. I was a Roxie Shayne fan; sad that that actress never returned.

Check out this great scene between Reva and India in the power room at the Blue Orchid.

At the tag, India silently acquiesces that Reva has a point, a valid one. That TO ME is why Mary Kay Adams was so brilliant. In India acknowledging Reva had a point, she made the scene stronger.

Justin Deas Emmy Reel

He won his last Emmy (6th) for the break-up scene between Buzz & Reva

It was that good. you can watch it at R345

I thought Zimmer should have won an Emmy for her work in the breakup scenes with Buzz that took place in Reva's house. Jess Walton won that year. Zimmer, Newman and Watros represented it to her.

One question: where did Reva live after these scenes because Deas CHEWED ALL THE SCENERY.

R338, aka Aunt Liz (love the name); no, I don't have the People article; I think in the mid 80s they did reviews of the three best soaps and then the three worst.

I think they went ith GH Y&R andDAYS for best shows; and poor Capitol, SB and probably Loving were the worst.

The Marie Curie line was just a quip; a writer thought they were being funny. Personally, I wasn't an SB fan until its last year when Pam Long took over; I know that's sacrilege to most SB fans.

I found the show went overboard hiring so many recognizable soap faces trying to lure viewers; Mattson, Kristen Meadows, Lenore Kasdorf, Deas -- the show became a mishmash of faces from other shows.

R345

That 1994 Emmy Reel in particular of Justin Deas is stupendous. Not just the acting but the brilliant dialogue penned by Patrick Mucahey. Emmy reels now are about 6-8 minutes. Back then they were 30 minutes. They were cut up either. The viewer could really immerse themselves into the weight of the scenes.

Buzz Cooper was a really wonderful character with an amazing entrance. It was only later that they changed him into a more bombastic/comical character. I blame that on the continuous writing regime changes.

Correction

They WEREN'T cut up.

[quote] That 1994 Emmy Reel in particular of Justin Deas is stupendous.

Agree if people watch the reel at R345 , skip the Santa Barbara episodes - and watch his work on Guiding Light

I'll never forget GL visiting the Vietnam Remembrance Wall. They did such a great job of bringing the character of Buzz onto the show.

I was never particularly a fan of Buzz Cooper. But the first 6-9 months that Buzz was in town showed great potential, including going to the Vietnam Memorial.

But by the end of 1993, the show was beginning to unravel as the writing took a decided turn for the worse, complete with Roger and Holly becoming a couple again (!?!?!?!). Whatever long range plans the show had for Buzz seemed to get sidelined in the process.

Don't get me wrong, I think Justin Deas is a very good actor. But he's also a very hammy actor who needs to be reigned in regularly to get the best performances out of him. I suspect since he is is a Friend of Jill, the directors were scared to do that reigning. Instead, they let him chew scenery and go over the top.

[quote] Roger and Holly becoming a couple again

Mmm, they didn't quite go there.

They did have that night where it looked like they were really going to have a healing reconciliation, and they did spend that night together. But that fell apart rather quickly.

r371 Thanks. You're right, Holly and Roger didn't exactly become a couple again as I phrased. Poor choice of words on my part. But it was more than just a night together too. This was Dec. 1993 and if I recall correctly, they were together for several weeks, at least through the holidays.

Seems like it was the start of the new year that brought Holly to her senses and she ended it with Roger. At the same time, she caught him trying to manipulate Blake somehow and that also factored into her ending it.

Can someone start a fucking Kim Zimmer Emmy reel thread. The last interesting post was R399.

R373 done

Back to Frank Grillo. LOL at his quarantine Instagram videos, as if anyone gives a shit about him watering his plants or waxing his car while bored at home. He looks like a thug in today's post.

I now for a fact that these actors didn't have PR people with them when they gave interviews. And sometimes it's also over the phone. For example, an in person interview then additional coverage in follow up calls. That's real show biz policy not soaps in the 1990s policy. Moniz, Keifer and Zimmer are just three who spoke on one in person and on calls with no PR or network buffer. The thing may have been facilitated by some PR department but nobody showed up to shepherd it through. More often than not it was the rag itself that protected the actor cause it didn't want to alienate the show. Although one interviewer reporter straight up that Ron Moss's then-wife, Shari Shattuck, opened the door to her dressing room naked and conducted the entire interview naked. Can't remember what show she was on, presumably one of the Bell soaps. No PR person around.

Are there ever insiders on these threads? In the mid-90's the internet was just getting started and being accessed by more people via message boards, gossip groups, and email. If I acted the way that Wendy and Frank did with each other and with others, and then someone tipped me off that folks are talking about it all NOW, I'd be shitting my pants. Especially if any of the kids (now grown or getting there) were ever to see or read this stuff.

Of course, there was no way to know that this sort of platform would exist 20+ years later, and that people with the inside knowledge and info would be talking about it.

During Reva's initial run, the show was fairly balanced except it had a lot of Beth. It also had a lot of Lujack. Both were extremely popular but I remember there was a short time it was almost the Beth show. When Beth came back in 1989, Reva was still on the show and the show was fairly balanced at least to me. I think Reva dominated the show once Beth left in 1986.

Talk about backstage drama, Judi Evans getting hell for winning Best Supporting Actress, GL's first acting win ever, was apparently epic. Then she dated one of the producers which didn't help. Though she was not known to cause drama, her producer boyfriend was.

[quote] I now for a fact that these actors didn't have PR people with them when they gave interviews.

No, you don't "now" for a fact. I worked with a few regimes at P&G and unless an actor went off on their own to talk (which could get them fired) it was all arranged by PR.

And yes, those PR folks often sat in or in the case of a phone call, were on the line.

Santa Barbara was the only Soap Opera that had an in-house publicist back in the 1980s

If the soap press wanted to do an interview they either contact the actors publicist or their manager - no other soap in the 1980s had an in-house publicist,

Floyd had India hostage and had planned to kill her to cover his killing Andy Ferris.

Floyd revealed to her he was in love with Beth; he had this long monologue about how great she was. "they don't make 'em like that anymore."

India, hands tied behind her back, scared for her life, simply said to that: "Thank God."

R380, there are network publicists and then there are show publicists; I believe P&G always had a p.r. dept. in addition to there being a CBS or in the case of AW, an NBC rep

Personal pubs for actors are nearly a thing of the past; they can't afford them anymore. Plus, the actors have social media. In fact, younger actors don't get the soap press. It's not a big deal for them to be in the pages of the two remaining soap mags when they can do live chats with their fans on FB and tweet out whatever they want.

Social media was a big game changer in celebrity reporting.

All the news in the mags is so old by the time it comes out. Take John Callahan's passing for example. It happened last Saturday, broke that day, tributes went up over the next few days. Folks are already moving on to the next story, but the two print mags will have their tributes out to him at the earliest next week.

And most of those tributes will be reproduced Instagram and Twitter tributes that are already out there.

r381 India's jealousy of Beth made for some hysterical dialogue. India's barbs towards Beth were always met with obliviousness or a complete DGAF eyerolls from Beth. That made it even better. In the later years, in the 00's, they could have made a great team when battling Phillip or Alan. I always thought they should have ended up the odd couple and become best friends.

R379 no you don't know for a fact because I saw Wendy with my own eyes sitting in the couch in the hall next to the dressing rooms chatting away with a soap reporter, during which she OF COURSE mentioned that Kurt McKinney was her favorite person to work with. Nobody was around. Grillo came by and kissed her on the cheek in passing. This was while she was still chasing McKinney.

Zimmer conducted an entire interview on the green room phone where she, among other things, talked about some of the cost cutting and actor firings with one of her pals in the media (I actually know the person on the other line). No PR person.

AND Keifer called up Soap Digest on her own in the green room to provide an answer to one of those round up features - what's the most important thing in a co-star. She didn't like what she'd said before and decided to change it and was making sure it would be changed.

This was not unusual, so sorry, P&G must have forgotten to send their reps to 44th Street.

Oh, and in addition to this I also know someone who used to have her own regular column in one of the two major rags and while the call would be scheduled by PR she'd be talking on her own with the person. Not conferencing in.

R384 I'm not sure we disagree here in general....Of course some performers went rogue and made calls on their own.

I understood your initial comment was saying that the stars NEVER had PR with them. My experience is that MOST interviews were arranged and handled (and overseen) by Alan Locher or that crazy haired woman who was one of his predecessors (whose name escapes me).

Am I saying your list at R384 is a lie? No. But for you to say that the PR folks **never** oversaw is total bullshit.

A big star like Zimmer could pull that shit and "go rogue". Newbie #3 from the left can't. I seem to remember the actor initially cast as Nola's son on GL was fired because he did this after, like, two months on the show.

Nobody tells Susan Lucci when or if she can do an interview

R386 nonsense. She was an ABC employee.

As someone who works in media, I can tell you that shows prefer for a publicist to sit in on interviews with actors, or be on the call listening. And if you're new on the show, you definitely are required to have that publicist sitting in/listening in.

Once an actor has been established on the show and has proven thathe/she can be trusted to present the show in the best light possible (i.e., not trash the show to the press), then the show may be more relaxed wtih whether the publicist sits in/listens in. Show would still prefer it, but won't chastise the actor for doing an interview without the publicist. That's especially true for those short Soap Digest Roundup questions (who's your favorite costar, etc) that only take a couple of minutes to answer.

Often the actors develop friendships with the soap journalists. They sometimes have coffee just to catch up. Mayb they'll meet for drinks after work or catch a movie because they have hit it off. Hell, Carolyn Hinsey was so chummy with Rena Sofer, she was a maid of honor at Rena's wedding back in 2003.

Someimes in the course of catching up over coffee or drinks, an actor may share info with the journalist that could be used in print. This is the situation the shows most dread. This is often where a lot of backstage gossip or blind items originate from.

Along similar lines, once the show gets to know the journalist and finds he/she can be trusted, then they will relax the reigns a bit more. But the first few times a new journalist covers a soap, interviews a show's actors, etc., the reporter will be under strict supervision by the publicist.

I

[quote] nonsense. She was an ABC employee.

If she is not receiving benefits, she is just a contract employee NOT an ABC employee (her benefits are provided by the actors union)

[quote] nonsense. She was an ABC employee.

If she is not receiving benefits, she is just a contract employee NOT an ABC employee (her benefits are provided by the actors union)

Wendy Moniz is a perfect example of how there should always be a PR person there. Established or not, she couldn't be trusted. She would basically use the press to sway her own personal lunatic fantasy bullshit (a Matt/Dinah story) even though the actor chemistry or fan view didn't support it. She was on a rampage about it for like a year. It made the show's job harder since she basically used the medium to be like--look people are talking about it!!!! Even though she was always the one (only one) stirring it up. Why they didn't just shut her up is beyond me.

The Wendy stalker is a bit much. We get it. But, I maintain, she was a very interesting Dinah. She was exotic looking and brought an element to Dinah that made her interesting unlike Paige Turco's version who was vanilla has can be even hooked up with Ian Zeiring on the show.

Speaking of Ian Zeiring, he so would have come back for the finale of GL if asked. I know his character was all but forgotten but why not?

Any Cynthia Watros/Kim Zimmer dirt? Watros was a newcomer at that point and no one really knew her potential until she started doing amazing things and was given more and more story and visibility.

R393 It is kind of amazing how Zimmer worked with two of the best actresses to grace daytime in intense story lines with great roles- Michelle Forbes and Cynthia Watros. Watching Zimmer interact with them was something to behold. I don't think there has ever been as good as the acting was during those times between those actresses on daytime.

Watros was a huge GL fan growing up and continued to watch the show up until she was cast (and beyond, of course). Even after she hit it big, she continued to show up for some fan events and would praise the show.

Since this is a Grillo thread, any other women he's dated, or did he go from his first ex-wife (Kathy) to his soon-to-be ex-wife (Wendy) exclusively? I've always heard the player rumors and even gay rumors but nothing other than the dude gets around.

Watros did some primetime after GL and then had some personal issues (I heard about a DUI at one point) but now has gone back to daytime. She's been on GH recently taking over for Michelle Stafford, who has returned to Y&R to vamp and fuck against walls and on floors as her Phyllis character. Watros is one performer who truly earned her Emmy (1998).

Cynthia Watros 1998 Daytime Emmy Reel

Reel 1 - Annie goes on a bender, after her miscarriage story is exposed

Reel 2 - Annie's wedding is interrupted when her first husband shows up to stop the wedding.

Watros did Titus and The Drew Carey Show, both were hits. Then she did Lost, of course, and was killed off after a year to fan fury. It is a shame she did not make it further since she was very respected in Hollywood and was known to be a great actress.

She certainly earned her Emmy that year. Again, her only competition was Zimmer. When you look at the other Emmy nominees, their reels pale in comparison to Watros and Zimmer. Lucci is a fucking joke of an actress and never should have be nominated, or won.

R399 Eileen Davidson was the odds on favorite to win that year, Cynthia Watros scored an upset.

R400 That may be but it wasn't based on actual performance but storyline. ED didn't come close to giving the performances CW or KZ gave that year (or any year).

R401 Eileen Davidson played 5 different characters in one show

Watros and Zimmer generally have been, and are currently, on good terms. They'd acted in a off-Broadway play together right before Zimmer returned.

But as the story became the Reva/Josh/Annie triangle there was conflict. Zimmer apparently felt a little Margo Channing-esque when CW would mention in interviews that she'd watched Josh and Reva as a kid. (She was a teenager.) Watros mentioned in interviews she was a bit green and triggered Zimmer several times; once, Zimmer asked her to not be so chipper - "Excuse me, can someone tell this actress not to act so early in the morning?"

Lots of hours + method acting probably led to the worst of it, but there's video out there of them being bitchy to one another (blooper video, not actual show footage).

Zimmer being bitchy about age-related remarks from someone else is rich. That was generally her shtick. She tried to make herself seem younger and others older all the time.

The irony is that in several interviews in GL's last years, Zimmer talked about how sad Beverlee McKinsey was when she looked at Kim and saw Kim's success.

Kim was like "Oh, I get it now. When you're on the other end of it, looking at these young performers just hitting their stride, it feels like shit."

R402 And???????

R405

That's really sad because IDGAF about La Bev's age. I could've watched her 5 days a week over any young thing.

I loved watching Bev and Kim together

In Kim's book she has a page on Bev.

"As much as I respected Beverlee and felt blessed to have had the opportunity to work with her, I always felt that underneath her wit and charm, there was a hurt and angry woman. Maybe angry is too harsh a word. But some years later I realized the origin of that curious aura. She simply knew too much! She well understood the nuts and bolts of daytime television and soap operas. As things changed from year to year and creative decisions were made (sometimes by people who had no right to make them), she didn’t hold her tongue for anyone. If Bev felt the decisions weren’t in the best interest of the show, she would spend her day bitching about them. She knew how things ought to be and how far from the ideal they were."

"Finally, she simply cut the umbilical cord and left, in a manner that, all these years later, makes all of us who were around say, “Damn, that took balls!” I was living in California when it all went down, but this is the story I heard. She had negotiated in her contract to take a month off every year. She took the same month off each year, so there was no surprise in scheduling for the executives or for her. As she was nearing the end of her contract in 1992, no one had come to her to renegotiate. She put in for her month off as usual, except this time, she never came back to work. She had someone come in and clean out her dressing room while she was vacationing. When the suits realized what was happening, they began to panic. No one had talked to her about coming back, so she just up and left. Just like that—she was gone. Her parting comment to TV Guide was “If they’re bent out of shape, it’s because for once someone beat ’em at their own game!” It wasn’t until I lived through the last two years at Guiding Light that I fully got her decision. It was never that Bev was bitter or jealous or bitchy or even diva-esque; she just couldn’t tolerate stupidity or naïveté. I can totally appreciate her inability to embrace those qualities, because I would encounter them in the show years later."

"Sadly, the world lost Beverlee in 2008 due to complications from a kidney transplant. In a different time and place, she would have been a great executive producer! I would have answered to her in a second! She knew what worked and how to “git ’er done.” When I was thinking about titles for this book, I had a conversation with Bev’s son, Scott McKinsey. Scott, who had been a director on Guiding Light for years and is now a multi-Emmy-winning director on General Hospital, told me that Beverlee always wanted to have a certain phrase for her epitaph: “You’re standing in my light!” I laughed incredibly hard when Scott told me that, because Beverlee always knew where her light was, and she was never afraid to let you know if you were standing in it. Scott told me he thought that would be a good title for my book! I told him I was honored but I could never live up to that title. Ask any lighting designer I’ve ever worked with; I never knew where my light was! I was sorely disappointed that the producers of the Emmys didn’t do a tribute to Beverlee the year she died. She surely deserved one. To make matters worse, they actually left her out of the memorial tribute they do each year, which broke my heart. Beverlee McKinsey was a treasure and a legend. I am truly blessed for the years we spent working together and for the friendship we shared offscreen, too."

I didn't agree with Zimmer on much, but I did appreciate her for her fury over what happened to GL in the final years. Like her, I would rather have ended the show sooner than have it filmed outdoors or in dumpy offices remade to look like churches or kitchens. Not that I watched--it was too sad to do so--but I've seen some clips on YouTube. I think she put it like it was 'the equivalent of raping the show.'

Kim's veiled reference to another GL actress (widely assumed to be Beth Ehlers)

"There was one actress who fell in love with all of her costars. Really. She seriously fell hook, line, and sinker on several occasions. And the actors who were the objects of her affection were all too happy to oblige. She fell in love with one costar while she was still married, eventually divorced her husband, and moved in with the costar. For whatever reasons, that relationship didn’t last. Her next conquest was another costar who was married—as was she, having gotten married . . . again . . . but this time to someone outside the business. She ended up leaving her husband for this guy; the two actors had decided they were both going to get out of their relationships so they could be together. Unfortunately for her, he got cold feet and never left his wife. For the first time since I knew her, she was suddenly neither married nor involved. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! This actress was miserable on the set, off the set, on the street, in the movies, at the grocery store, and everywhere she went for a very long time. Her presence on the set was a dark energy until she eventually left the show. I was really sorry to see her go, because the show suffered from the loss of her character—and, to be honest, I really liked her, because she had balls the size of those on the statue of David!"

Moved in with costar = assumed to be Mark Derwin Cold feet = assumed to be Rob Bogue.

Cynthia Watros disputes any friction between her and Kim Zimmer and wants to set the record straight (including a video that shows one them throwing something at the other)

I haven’t talked to her in years, and I just want to set the record straight. I left GL and I was stunned, because there was some article that surfaced that said, “Kim Zimmer and Cynthia Watros had a real fight!” That is so not true, unless Kim remembers something I don’t remember! (Laughs) There was never, ever a fight. We had to bicker so much as our characters on-screen, but I respected Kim. I admired her, and I was in awe of her, and her talent. I have nothing but good feelings for this woman. I was honored to have worked with her, and blessed that she left me do the things I did to her on-camera. She was so patient with me. When I first started at GL, I was a super enthusiastic actress who would go into rehearsal, and would know my lines, and would be screaming at her. It was six o’clock in the morning, and I would be screaming at her as Annie. Kim would just take it (laughs) and I just love her for that. I think I spit on her a couple of times on-camera and she didn’t say anything; because this was about the characters we had to play. Kim was a professional, and she loved me through it. So when I read that stuff, and I see sometimes it randomly appears, I just want to clarify, once and for all … it did not happen.

Cynthia Watros disputes any friction between her and Kim Zimmer and wants to set the record straight (including a video that shows one them throwing something at the other)

I haven’t talked to her in years, and I just want to set the record straight. I left GL and I was stunned, because there was some article that surfaced that said, “Kim Zimmer and Cynthia Watros had a real fight!” That is so not true, unless Kim remembers something I don’t remember! (Laughs) There was never, ever a fight. We had to bicker so much as our characters on-screen, but I respected Kim. I admired her, and I was in awe of her, and her talent. I have nothing but good feelings for this woman. I was honored to have worked with her, and blessed that she left me do the things I did to her on-camera. She was so patient with me. When I first started at GL, I was a super enthusiastic actress who would go into rehearsal, and would know my lines, and would be screaming at her. It was six o’clock in the morning, and I would be screaming at her as Annie. Kim would just take it (laughs) and I just love her for that. I think I spit on her a couple of times on-camera and she didn’t say anything; because this was about the characters we had to play. Kim was a professional, and she loved me through it. So when I read that stuff, and I see sometimes it randomly appears, I just want to clarify, once and for all … it did not happen.

Well, it happened, there's video of it.....but I can see it being a minor clash like all coworkers have, and not this scorched earth feud that everyone made it out to be.

Where is the video of their real fight?

BE's was not that attractive to be getting as those men. Harley was a character that was eating the show, too. I was glad she left. There was nothing more for the character to do. I hated her screechy, shrill voice.

Who were rumored to be the nicest on the GL set? MOL? BethC? KizK? JvD?

I have worked in the soap press on and off over the years. I have a zillion stories and maybe someday I'll post 'em all.

I call tell you Beth C. and Grant were always extremely cordial; Zimmer, too.

The problem with being a celebrity is you have to be nice all the time, you can never have a bad day, which, of course, is impossible.

I grew to be able to tell when someone was putting on an act and when someone was truly being a nice person.

R418 I've met all three and mostly concur.

Grant was known to speak up about things and some actors may not have liked that, but it was never a case of "me me me." Like Beverlee, he wanted things to be done well and was critical when people - especially TPTB - would half ass things.

[quote] Who were rumored to be the nicest on the GL set

Probably Maeve Kinkead

[quote] Probably Maeve Kinkead

Nice to most....except for that little biatch Wendy

Behind the scenes at GL - Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Cynthia Watros, Lisa Brown & Michael O'Leary interviewed

I've heard Beth C was very nice. I heard she just wanted juicy material which is why she did not fight the writers who wrote Beth in the most disgusting way possible given her history. Beth C loved the material. I always felt they could have given her juicy material without writing the character assassination of Beth.

R413

You are correct in guessing Derwin & Bogue. It totally chapped her ass that Bogue eventually left his wife & married the girl who played her niece. He did that after backing out on leaving his wife for Ehlers.

Ehlers was a witch behind the scenes at GL but that was just a warm up for how she behaved behind the scenes at AMC.

She had good taste in men, though. I remember seeing a photo of one of her husbands and he was very hot.

Derwin was sex on two legs, and Bogue was really sexy when he first arrived at GL.

She must also be a size queen......

(Of course, there are also rumors that she and Cunthia Watros played around)

R425, I believe there's straight, gay, bi, even tri, but there's also actor.

Actors will fuck anything and anyone; they're not really with the other person; they're with themselves and they have an audience of one.

R426 Yep.

This is always lost in the greater DL discussions, when people are convinced someone MUST be gay or straight. But many actors (and actresses) have a flexibility. It may or may not be their full time orientation, but I've crossed paths with a number of married male actors who respond to attention.

Not saying every single actor is like this, but many - especially those who either classically trained or have years of theater experience under their belt - seem to have a flexibility. Maybe they think they're researching or playing a role and can keep it at arm's length? Not sure.

Actors are very emotionally needy. They need regular doses of attention.

Beth C. was the weirdest looking chick. Really high curved forehead, pointy nose, and when they flattened her hair and parted it down the middle it did her no favors. Wormy lips and a ton of gasp-emoting, which drove me batty to the point I'd FF her stuff. Just her normal speaking cadence had weird pauses that made no sense.

In the late 90's when Rauch was producer blonde = sex, so they'd put all the blondes including Beth C. in dresses so tight you could see their livers, and then they'd hoist up their chests into their cheekbones. The wardrobe department must have spent about 2 cents per actor, because it was cheap, cheap shit on everyone. It was an especially degrading time for the women in the cast. I remember Watros, Ehlers, Beth C., etc. all got the hooker-look treatment.

Speaking of looking like shit, a clip upthread made me think about hair and makeup. Some of it was the style of the time, but to take some really beautiful women and make them look like crap takes a special skill. When I was watching they'd shear Kinkead like a sheep 'til it looked like she was wearing a hair hat that was a few sizes too small. With Moniz they would slick her hair back sometimes; that plus she was so flat-chested plus the super-thick make-up and she could have easily passed for a transvestite.

Everything about GL in the late 90s looked cheap. Wardrobe was cheap. Lighting was bright, but cheap. Hell, even the writing was cheap. CBS must have really cut what it was willing to pay for the show after those first cancellation threats in 1995.

Anybody know the story of how Melissa Hayden got hired to play Bridget? She's not your typical soap opera looking type and could act, but daytime usually goes for idiots with good bone structure and not toothy smiles and weak chins. I always felt bad for her in the Bridget/Hart/Dinah storyline, since they made Dinah out to be this raven-haired beauty with father/son both after her and Bridget was desperate in overalls and pigtails (I wish I was kidding about this).

R431 I know she was on GH right before she was cast, and apparently was impressive enough from her brief run there to get GL's attention.

Clip of Melissa on GH.

Sound and video quality is terrible

Beth C was not impressive looking in her first go around as Beth Raines but she was gorgeous upon her return in 1997. She got better and better looking as the show went on to where when she was having a romance with the gorgeous young Coop it was very believable he would desire her. Beth C was peak gorgeous from 06-09 IMO.

R434 That was all those kettlebell exercises she was doing - she was promoting the shit out of that those years and is now a trainer.

R431, Melissa Hayden sure looked like she could have been Lisa Brown's niece. The big eyes. She just looked like a Reardon.

Nola, I believe was written as the youngest, but clearly Lisa Brown is older than Kassie DePaiva so, Chelsea was retconned as the youngest.

Betty Rea always thought outside the box in her casting. I read she slid Brown's tape into a bunch of Morgan candidates. Doug was like why send her in? Betty said we should grab her before someone else does.

I have no idea why these stories from Daytime TV from nearly 40 years ago stay in my head yet I can't remember where my car keys are.

Melissa Hayden was a find, as were Nia Long, and Monti Sharp (before he got all queeny). That was a good group of young actors.

Yes there was such a quality difference in the younger actors of that time. They weren't conventional and had more heart.

Then Rauch came in and lit everything like you were on the moon and started to replace people with models. It went downhill when they fired Bryan Buffinton and then got that horrendous guy to play Jay (Nola's kid), who in turn got fired and replaced with someone who could somewhat act but it was still mainly about cheekbones. Then came the various Michelle's, Lizzie's, etc. and all the new kids from the mob story that took over the show.

How was Megan McTavish's stint as headwriter?

Casting was all Betty Rea - she had an eye for talent

She saw Sherry Stringfield at a SUNY acting showcase and was blown away - she went straight to the producers and said they has to hire this actress pronto - if there was no role, create one. Rea felt Stringfield was that good.

Sherry returned the favor years later. During ER heyday (the number one show, pulling in a 40 share) Sherry attended the Soap Opera Digest Awards to present Betty a lifetime achievement award. Saying as an actress with no experience, then getting her first paid acting job right out of school all because of Betty, Sherry just had to express her gratitude.

[quote] How was Megan McTavish's stint as headwriter?

She penned the Brent/Marian storyline from start to finish

But she also killed off Nadine and detective Patrick Cutter,

[quote] How was Megan McTavish's stint as headwriter?

She penned the Brent/Marian storyline from start to finish

But she also killed off Nadine and detective Patrick Cutter,

[quote] How was Megan McTavish's stint as headwriter?

Terrible.

Through the years she definitely earned her nickname Megan McTrash

Except she did give us the magnificent Brent/Marian story.

I did not know the guy who played Neil Everest, the one who found an amnesiac Beth in 1986 and brought her back to SF in 1989, is singer Billie Eilish's father.

Megan McTavish was known for plot driven, lurid, trashy and tabloid type stories-

Sometimes they worked.

R446 She hit the jackpot with Brent/Marian.

Any video of Sherry Stringfield at the SOD awards paying tribute to Betty Rea? I cannot find it.

Anything about what Michael Zaslow was like to work with? He played Hart's father when Frank was at GL and met an unfortunate and sad end with ALS. GL's treatment was another nail in its own coffin, when they called him a wizened old man and fired him. I'll never forget noticing his decline on camera even before the doctors figured out what was wrong; his diction and delivery were always crystal clear and he had begun to slur his words.

R449 Zas was respected. He could be difficult but like Grant A, it was never about ego - more about fighting for the story and his character.

Beverlee and he did NOT get along, but that was, I believe, a carryover from their time on another show. They called a truce and worked better on GL, but they were not each other's favorites.

Would Judi Evans have ever reprised the role that won her an Emmy, Beth? I think pre-2000, absolutely not. After, especially 2005 on, I think she might have.

When did she leave the role on Days she took right after Beth (the poor mans Beth, Adrienne)? If I remember reading something correctly, GL was ready to ask her back but she made it clear she was a hard no.

R452 They had already cast a new Beth by the Judi Evans had left Guiding Light - it is possible that GL made an offer. But at that point Judi was tired of playing the Ingenue and victim. By going back to Beth, it would be like still playing Adrienne (her Days character)

The role of Vicky/Marley on AW came up, and she went for it (because of the Vicky role) - she lost to Jensen Buchanan, however Another World was losing their patience with Cali Timmins playing Paulina. Cali wasn't happy with the character, and the brass were tired of her complaining,

They took another look at Judi screen-test for Vicky, and offered her the recast part of Paulina.

[quote] They had already cast a new Beth by the Judi Evans had left Guiding Light

Ooops it should be They had already cast a new Beth by the Judi Evans had left DAYS OF OUR LIVES

[quote] They had already cast a new Beth by the Judi Evans had left Guiding Light

Ooops it should be They had already cast a new Beth by the Judi Evans had left DAYS OF OUR LIVES

R448 I was looking for that video (cannot find it) but I saw a clip of Sherry on Letterman where she spoke about GL. She was one who was never shy about her soap past.

R453 Thanks for that. I don't know why Judi boiled down the character of Beth as a victim and "crying all the time" First, all the women on soaps cried all the time Reva cried every day. Beth Raines displayed a lot of courage and independence. She went through a horrific family tragedy and violence, came out of it a survivor, stood up to her rapist, moved on quickly from Phillip when he cheated, became independent when she was blinded.....I don't get why Judi downed the character so much. I think she conflated her miserable time on the show when she dated the producer with her character.

I do think GL made her an offer knowing her contract at DAYS was coming to a close but I can see why she said no at the time.

[quote] Any video of Sherry Stringfield at the SOD awards paying tribute to Betty Rea? I cannot find it.

Best I can come up with - the other lady is Cindy Pickett (ex-Jackie) who was also part of the tribute

AND special guest for Betty's lifetime achievement award was Marisa Tomei!

She sent in a video tribute, thanking Betty for her first TV acting job...

R457 Thank you for that! It is a shame there is no video out there.

R450 I can't find it online for some reason, but Grant gave a Q&A to I think TVGuide.com circa 1999 (over 20 years ago!) and he was asked about Beverlee and Chris; he said they could be enormous pains in the ass "as am I" however with them and with me it was always about wanting to make the show better, the scene better.

I'm paraphrasing but mostly I think I have it right.

R457, I must have a copy of it somewhere; I'm such a geek I have all the digest awards and daytime emmys on VHS .

I recall Cindy joking to Betty that her hair was out of her face as Betty always told her to do, but it really wasn't. not fully.

I have to hand it to Digest that year giving the award to Betty Rea who found all that great talent; I think the late 90s, they gave it to Don Hastings and Kathryn Hays. It's nice that they spread the wealth.

R460 Upload it please!!!

Who seriously would not let Grillo pound their sandy ass into glass?

Beth Chamberlain just said she worked with Frank Grillo before lockdown in Billions. Said he is doing great.

The GL thread was Murieled. Can someone start another one?

The last reunion with Cynthia Watros was far better than I expected. They were very breezy and again raved about how great the atmosphere was on GL compared to other shows.

Oh and I thought Wes Ramsey was gay. He's not?

People who work together tend to remember each other more fondly when they're no longer in the thick of whatever drama used to exist with that person. I can think of bozos that I've worked with where back then I couldn't stand them but if I saw them again I'd chat and remember the good ole times.

But what I want to hear about is the sleeping around and backstabbing and stupidity on the set. Speaking of, Frank and Wendy should jump on one of these reunions from their separate homes in LA.

How big do you think Frank is when erect?

Five foot eight, Rose

He is a republican and and jerk. His crew, Bryan Callen, Brendan Schaub, Chris Delia are all cut from the same cloth. All tolerate gay guys and act like they are cool with them, always acting gay with each other, but despise it. They do not want to be known as gay phobic, but have found the gay IG followers sweet spot that allows them to make very gay skits and jokes but really dislike guys.

He is hot, but seriously fucked in the head. Of all of them, Frank and Byron Callen are bisexual with Brendan being less so. Delia is just a fucking damaged comedian with massive mental issues.

R465, he'd give you a 1000 word dissertation on why he's not which would only leave you thinking he is for sure.

Why not save the effort and just substitute one picture instead?

Time for another P&G thread. We've been Muriel'd again.

Well, it looks like Frank isn't the only one in his squad splitting up...

[quote]He is a republican and and jerk.

Grillo is a Republican?

R474 I don't think so.

Wonder if Frank or Wendy will move back to the east coast at some point. She has no family in LA, but will probably have to stay to timeshare the kids with him. It'll be a sad life for her on the days when she's all alone in the huge house-box they (he) bought in Pacific Palisades. Rich life, but sad life.

He'll probably stay since CA is where the work is at, which is why they moved in the first place.

Has Frank let directors/casting directors/producers blow him for acting parts?

Frank Grillo & Johnny Messner TOGETHER

THAT's the guy he'd have the sexual sub-text with. They were bro's both on and off screen. I remember some message board antidotes in those days, the two of them were cruising through the Hamptons, no girlfriends or women around in their frat boy clothes and highlighted hair. He was already with Moniz at that point and in his mid-30's. I always thought Moniz was his beard.

He also told one of the magazines that the character this guy played (Rob? Ron?) was closer to the real Frank Grillo than Hart. I guess he was indirectly saying he was a douche bag and perpetually immature.

Johnny Messner is so hot.

Can someone start a new P&G thread, please? The other one is Muriel'd.

Callen and Grillo have had the man sex. That has to be. They are extremely close. Matter of fact, Callen has probably been more than handsy with Schaub.

Callen gives off a definite swings both way vibe. Grillo is more downlow.

That whole group, Callen Schaub, Delia, and Grillo along with Luke Rockhold and Kevin Mac are very conservative and best buds with insane fuck nut Joe Rogan. They are not liberal by any means, and are hiding in plain sight right wing assholes. They have to do this because they do not want to be seen as the right wingers they are, considering the how many gay jokes people like Callen, Schaub, Delia make. All of them have posted far-right memos about Gavin Newsom.

Frank Grillo catches Johnny Messner in bed with another woman SHIRTLESS!

They have it out, while Messner is SHIRTLESS!

R481 Receipts?

R480 ask and you shall receive

R481

I do not pick up any pinging from Grillo. Never have & you posting like you know all of those guys are on the DL? Wishful thinking.

Frank fucks rough

R486 You bet he does!

P&G thread has been Muriel'd. Could someone please start a new one? TIA!

Here's a new P&G thread for you, r488.

P&G thread is Muriel'd again. Just FYI.

Grillo is on tonight's episode of Billions.

God, that voice of Grillo's; Hart was not born in Brooklyn.

GL was on its way to the end here.

I thought Parlato (sp?) was fine as Roger. But I never got Holly being so fascinated with him b/c you know, he raped her and all.

Frank was great as Hart. He is hot and had charisma.

Frank Grillo & Wendy Moniz Divorce

In this "life imitates art" here are a few of the Dinah / Hart break-up scene on Guiding Light during the Dinah/Hart/Cassie triangle - as their real-life portrayers ( Frank Grillo and Wendy Moniz) announce they are divorcing after almost 20 years together

Cassie Physically Assaults Dinah on Guiding Light

Cassie demonstrates how mentally unstable she is when she

Physically Assaults Dinah

After Dinah discovers her own Fiancee and Cassie in a hotel room together.

Dinah is the aggrieved party, and she is the one who gets beaten up by Cassie (who is trying to steal Dinah's own fiancee?)

I'm not going to click on that R495, that era of GL sucked so bad in my book.

It's really too bad Doug Marland died; I think he was good to have at shows for about 5 to 6 years and then it was time to move on.

I loved his ATWT but by the end with Cabot motors and Rosanna and Hutch and Tess and Kruger Industries and private planes and the Crawfords, there were enough players to go to 90 minutes.

It'd be interesting to see if Doug had returned to GL or even GH or gone to AW.

Why is the P&G thread Muriel'd already? It wasn't even at 200 replies.

Can we please get a new P&G thread? Our latest one has been Murieled.

I never read anything where Maeve Kinkead did anything but praise Wendy Moniz...so all of this IS strange and some nut job's obsession. Kim Zimmer maybe? Nobody pulled more shit on GL. Remember upon her return in late 95 telling the other actresses they didn't have to worry about GL becoming the KZ Show again? The ratings IMPROVED after she left in 1990.

R499 they improved not because she left but because word finally got out the show was great. Late 88 on the show was fantastic but it took the public time to tune back in.

A show will always improve when the writing kicked in.

GH's ratings when up after Jason (Steve Burton) was killed off, I'm pretty sure.

GL kicked into a creative high gear after Zimmer left; the next six months dealt with Josh falling for Harley; Phillip escaping a murder rap, India's return; Alex's falling out with Roger; his affair with Mindy. It was all great soap.

We all know what happened next: Reilly left to go to DAYS; the writing started to get bad: Bev, Sherry and Kimberley all left; Maureen was killed off; then the influx of Santa Barbara stars: Deas, Marj, Marcy, other minor players...thank God Kim came back when she did. It was tough suffering through Ghost Reva and Amish Reva, but by the time Josh and Reva were reunited on the jet things were great again.

I cannot believe the P&G thread is already muriel’d. Ridiculous.

Frank is scorching hot still.

Btw- muriel’d again. It was a great BBQ this year.

Interesting bit re Hart #4 - Marshall Hilliard. Moniz was a factor in his getting fired, but there were definitely other problems on set, including other actors (not in his storyline) trying to get him fired. He says as much himself in a comment posted to the following video.

My take: yes there were problems, and Moniz made life hell for him, but he was an oddball. I think he's one to have opinions and voice them LOUDLY and repetitively, which I'm sure ruffled a few feathers. I've always heard that he didn't get along with Michael Zaslow either - another strong personality on set. Cumulatively, this all led to his ouster and the immediate entrance of thug mafioso-type Hart #5, Frank Grillo. They always say they 'take the character in a different direction' when they recast, and in this case, they really weren't kidding.

P&G Thread muriel’d

Can we get a new P&G thread it’s been muriel’d. Thx!

But how big is Frank's cock when it's erect?

Huge

New P&G thread here

P&G thread muriel’d.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R339: Those pecs!

He has a new movie coming out.

Where is the new P&G thread?

R514

"Nice bush"

Yes. But his balls are shaved. Was that even a thing in the 1980s?

I stopped watching Kingdom because I hated the character he played. Also, Nick Jonas couldn’t act.

Nicky Whelan was compared to Rita Ora and we know Rita's story. So is this a PR move to cover up something about Mr. Grillo?

Super-hot in the Captain America movies, but pretty much a dick with nothing to say.

I didn't think those boots could be more hideous til this picture of her wearing the boots with shorts.

She's the female Frank Grillo. With that haircut I'll bet he thinks he's fucking a dude. For him this is a pro, not a con.

Frank is one fine man. Would love to be DP'd by him and Joe Manganello.

He and Byran Callen are very close. I am not sure how close now since Callen has outed himself as a Joe Rogan Nazi symapthizer.

R24- EVERYTIME someone has to say- HE'S A PUSSY HOUND-it makes me think that said male celebrity is GAY.

[quote] and Joe Manganello.

Oh, dear!

^^ Sorry, 524. I didn't realize I left out the "i."

Unlike most of Grillo films lately that just go to DVD, his latest BOSS LEVEL is on Hulu. It's a surprisingly fun action film.

That woman he's supposed to be with is not attractive.

He use to be trainer in W Hollywood. He is very flirty and I hit a Bi vibe from him. Super nice guy.

He has to be at the very least bi but has been hiding in the closet for years. Look at his background and lifestyle. He comes from a very strong old-school American-Italian family where being anything other than heterosexual simply does not exist. He was with a histrionic twit for 20+ years and then divorces her one year after his over-bearing mother dies. Now he's moved onto a chick that could pass for the female Frank Grillo, abs and all. He’s obsessively macho but there’s something very feminine about him. He sends the weirdest mishmash of testosterone and girly vibes.

Oh FFS. He’s not bi. Totally straight pussy hound.

Are you in Frank's circle, R530?

We need more tea.

Jesus god damn christ. He’s not bi. He fucked Wendy Moniz for decades and is now fucking his current gf. He has great nudes out there but absolutely NO evidence of him being bi. None. Nada.

Sir, who the fuck might you be? Are you his fucking lawyer? What the fuck is it to you? You aren't in his bedroom and you don't what that man does. You're a fanboi just like any other poster on this site. Go eat a dick.

Wendy Moniz is not doing Otezla commercials. Oh my...........

^^^ Is NOW doing

Poor thing

That new movie sucks. Essentially it’s like watching someone who sucks at a video game die for two hours over and over as they progress. Plus it has Mel Gibson. Dude needs to lay off the cigs and liquor.

P&G is M’d. First one in a long time it got into the 500s before Muriel got to it. Thx, M!

What is the new P&G thread?

Saw the episode of Billions with Beth Chamberlin (Beth- GL). She would make a perfect recast of Samantha for the SATC series. She is insanely gorgeous still and speaks in the same manner Samantha Jones did. Plus, they look similar.

Is Billions back on the air? What is that show doing?

I was always pretty good at spotting the homos in the soaps. This one escaped my gaydar.

P&G M’d. Please start a new one and please link it.

He gives off bi in person. I remember during the Clinton Lewinsky thing he was quoted saying of course a blow job is sex. Oral sex is the best sex. Also noted his teeth sucking mannerisms around the guy who played Cassie's hubby in Guiding light.

Pussy hound my ass. The person who said people who insist on someone else's hound dog ways is hiding something is right. Same with Jack Wagner, although I have no first hand observations like I did with Grillo. Just what people who worked in soaps said.

R544 The guy who played Cassie’s husband was HOT. He had a somewhat decent movie career.

He has to be one of the hotter guys to appear in the last few years. And the fact that he's older, buff and masculine: wow. These are things that Tom Cruise will never be.

He was so badass in that Purge movie.

I bet he fucks real hard.

R542 I've always thought I had good gaydar too but when I would do U-5's on GL two actors who didn't ping at all on camera pinged like crazy in person. Jerry ver Dorn (Ross) and Michael Zaslow (Roger). Especially Zaslow. He giggled like a schoolgirl around Grillo. Grillo was super slick but that bi vibe was unmistakable. He's the type who thinks he's the smartest in every room.

Anybody who still thinks the guy is not an asshole needs to check out about 20 seconds of any recent interview he's done. Has an answer for everything and CONSTANTLY disparages his ex-wives even though he fucked around on them before and during marriage. I'll bet they could fill books with the stuff they know, although the second one was an idiot in her own right. He tries to come off like it's all one big joke but he really is a ragey creep. Narcissistic and self-involved beyond belief.

His Guiding Light costars liked him.

As a lady, I must detest this fellow for his palpable carnal heat emanating from his wherever. It is better to linger your eyes on mild-mannered gentlemen, such as Matthew Gaetz or Adam Kinzinger

R552 I know you're joking but if you ever saw him in person carnal heat isn't what he radiates. He's an asshole. He's a huge liar. He's even done the "my age is wrong on my driver's license" or whatever the hell he was talking about. Some kind of mistake was made and he can't fix it poor guy. He also lied about the financial transgressions he committed when he worked in finance AND he lied about what he was paid on GL. He never had a 3 show guarantee and never got paid the 3500 an episode or whatever he claimed. He said that because he was making the point, "On the soap I had a 3 day guarantee and got paid X dollars and I thought that was a lot of money then." When that was nowhere near what he made. He lies just to lie.

Moniz used to have mostly her kids on her insta but she'd hype him a lot. Then one day she posted a little video of him. They were walking down the street. He sounded and acted like he absolutely hated her and she acted like she thought he was being funny,

^ Sounds like someone got their advances rebuffed in the men's room.

Yeah, no first-time unknown soap actor got paid anywhere near that. He was probably getting $950 per show or thereabouts.

Nope R554 don't want any of that and what I sound like is someone who has been around him in person.

He's not cute. He has a Deputy Dawg nose and obviously has had his buccal fat pads taken out too.

That sums him up right there. Why even talk about money? He tries to come off so humble and light-hearted when what he's really doing is pumping himself up either by lying or making jokes at other peoples' expense. I also feel like at this point the guy is beyond obsessive about working out to sickly looking levels (the gauntness). I’d rather see someone like Jamie Dornan who’s ripped without the emaciated hungry homeless look in the face.

R557 he's the type to act in interviews as if he's free-associating and being candid and let the chips fall, but he's pumping out lie after lie.

I don't care what he's pumping, as long as it is deep inside me.

All of these celebs seem super likable but I'll venture to say that if we knew the real people the feeling would be quite different. Take Moniz for example, so funny and personable on her Instagram these days and pretty much the opposite of her GL days. Maybe she's changed or maybe it's just for show? People don't know the real person. I remember a YouTube video of her on a red carpet from years ago. I forget the event but everyone in the comments was going crazy over how pretty she was and how much they loved her as Dinah (because her entire following is still from the GL days) and how great she was. And one person was like "that bitch is a homewrecker." I thought to myself, ah finally someone who knows the score.

Fuck yes.

Well, he's fucking someone in the right spot.

He apparently has the lead in a bio pic about Lamborghini.

Touched by a hobo!!

Will he present hole?

Maybe Moniz got on the right med.

I still can't get over that he spent an entire year of his life obsessively working out for his role in "Captain America: Civil War," and he was in it for all of nine minutes, mostly in shots where they either had or could have used a stunt double.

[quote] It is better to linger your eyes on mild-mannered gentlemen, such as Matthew Gaetz or Adam Kinzinger

Yes, your only choices in life as far as men go are either Frank Grillo OR Matt Gaetz/Adam Kinzinger.

What a wise and profound comment.

R566 he might have shot more than that but it wasn't used.

I don't follow genre films and when I'd follow Moniz's instagram I could never figure out who was hiring him all the time and why.

Unlike her, whose persona has changed at least on sm, any time I'd read an interview of his he was the same douchebag.

Well he's not exactly one to care about quality and depth in the scripts that come his way. He's the first to admit that he'll take on pretty much any project because he's got 'mouths to feed.' He talks as if they'll go homeless unless he works 24/7, when of course he just wants to sustain his frat boy lifestyle and get paid to drink and work out.

And not only was Captain America a blink and you'll miss him affair, but I think a family member (brother?) got him the part. I know people who are huge Marvel fans who had absolutely no idea who he was.

Moniz would need more than meds to fix what was wrong with her 20+ years ago.

Mira Sorvino was on Guiding Light, I think, at the same time Frank was.

Do we have a current P&G thread? Cynthia Watros is M’d.

R571 Ridiculous!!!!!! It wasn’t even at 200 replies. Effing insanity. Then NOBODY links to the new thread. There shouldn’t be multiple PG threads.

Was reading a Lipstick Alley on "How can you tell if a man is dl gay." They named some names but mostly red flags and tells. IMO Eddie Murphy no surprise hits every flag and then some. Grillo also hits a LOT of them, particularly the pussy hound and homophobia.

New P&G thread

I thought he was gay!

Anybody see Grillo's ex, Wendy Moniz, on that online GL special this past weekend? She was a surprise guest and the three in the 'room' with her (Jerry Ver Dorn, Maeve Kinkead, and Liz Keifer) didn't exactly look thrilled to see her. There was no gushing or other warmth at all. The only time Maeve addressed her was right before they logged off and she said something like, "it was a pleasure working with you from the beginning to the end" which isn't how I remember it.

R576 Link?

This link should go directly to when Wendy comes on. Kurt couldn't make it lol?

Link didn’t work

Try this:

Thank you 580!

I must say, it was great seeing Kim Zimmer look like a fat disgusting pig.

Alan still hasn’t gotten Sherry Stringfield or Michelle Forbes? Who else was he working on getting? It sounds like he could have gotten Cicely Tyson before she died since Kelly and Ryan got her talking about Guiding Light literally the day before she died.

Sherry Stringfield was supposed to be on the Michael Zaslow tribute episode but backed out at the last minute.

I’m surprised Kevin Bacon hasn’t agreed to one of the charity events.

Nia Long?

Oh, where is the new P&G thread.

We need a new P&G thread. Halloween in Henderson is Muriel’d. My suggestion is let’s not spend half of the next one complaining about the loon. Just put them on ignore.