What it was like to work in the days of our lives
In 1977, when I was 9 years old, I was flipping through the channels one weekday afternoon and came across a scene in Days Of Our Lives in which two teenagers were about to have sex for the first time. The house could have burned down and you would have had to get me away from the television. I was hooked and thus began my relationship of more than twenty years with the program. It’s ironic that thirty-odd years later, I wrote a book about sex for the first time.
In high school, I would see him when he was home sick and on vacation. I also invited many of my friends to the show. When we got a VCR, I was able to record it and went back to it every day.
As with most soap operas, many of the characters remained the same for decades. As a viewer, you feel like these characters are part of your family. It doesn’t matter that some of the plots are completely crazy or implausible. Never mind that continuity is often just a theory. Bo, Marlena, John and Maggie were my family. I worried about them and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
When she was 20, she worked at a department store that sold perfume near the NBC studios in Burbank, where the show was taped. Many of the actors from Days entered. I also worked with several fragrance models who were also actors and worked on Days. My mother worked as an extra on the show several times before landing her role as Eliana, the servant of the evil Stefano DiMera.
When I was 21 years old, I decided to pursue an acting career. I studied the Meisner Technique with Wayne Dvorak in Los Angeles. It was important to me that I understood what I was doing before I stood in front of a casting director. If she was horrible, she would surely only be remembered as the six foot blonde who didn’t know what the hell she was doing. So, for two and a half years, I focused on perfecting my craft. When I graduated, my coach decided to create The Professional Level. The actors had to be voted on and we would continue to study and meet with casting directors and agents.
My mother, Ann Werner, also studied at Dvorak & Company. He graduated a year before me. We were both in pro class when we heard that Wayne knew Fran Bascom, the casting director for Days. We both harassed him to take her to the studio. We finally wore it down and Fran came into the studio with her assistant Ron Sperber. They hired almost everyone. I knew the whole backstory of my audition scene and felt like I had an advantage. I could tell that they were impressed and they hired me. I was so excited. Not only had I booked my first national TV show, it was DAYS! And to make it even better, two of my other classmates, Maria Kress and Kevin Molloy appeared on the scene with me. I played Marsha, a bitch model. Maria was also a model and we were doing a photo shoot with Sami, Will, Carrie and Austin. It had several lines, but the one I remember (and my favorite line of all time) was about Will, Sami’s son. I said, “Life is hard enough without being born illegitimate.”
It was in December 1995 when I first walked onto the set, I immediately felt comfortable. Even though they were all strangers to me, I felt like I knew these people. Everyone was friendly and I got to see the sets. I was very surprised at how much smaller everything looks in person, including the stars. Keep in mind that I’m six feet tall, so I’m usually the tallest person in any situation, but in the world of acting, female height is rare, especially in soap operas.
When my episode aired, I was happy with my performance. A few months later, they called me back. This time, I didn’t have the safety net of my classmates and I got really nervous. It was shown on camera and to make matters worse, I looked directly into the camera while they were recording. They aired it. They have such a strict schedule that things like that slip through. I am sure that if I were one of the stars, it would have been used again. I was humiliated.
Time passed and lo and behold, they called me back to be a reporter. Once again, I worked with Sami and Carrie. My acting partner Maria and I did the scene together. Once again I had a great line and pointed at Sami and yelled at the newspaper photographer “Take a picture of her crying!”
About a year and a half after I first worked on the show, I was called back to play a police officer and that was my character until my last day in late 2002. I worked more often and got a chance to really feel like I’m a real part of the show, even if the role I played was small. I was part of the Salem police. Jokes were made about the Salem Police Department’s lack of intelligence, mostly by the actors playing the cops. We called ourselves The Keystone Cops and we had a lot of laughs. In one episode, we were looking for the most important murder weapon. One of the officer’s lines to the police chief after being instructed to keep searching until the wee hours of the morning went something like “But it’s dark.” Oh how I loved being a part of that show!
Another of the most memorable experiences I had was one day when we were filming a gala. I was an undercover cop and had to wear a gown. The day was long and tiring. We were all on set early and tapping until midnight. Deidre Hall aka Marlena (La Diva de los Días) was on stage and after rehearsal, we took a short break. He took me to the side and gave me tips on how to stand for the most flattering light. She made an effort to help me even though she and I didn’t really know each other. I was so moved. Everyone’s mood was wearing down quite a bit and people started to get aggressive. She, like the rest of us, wanted to go home and this wasn’t the time to get sloppy, she scolded the naughty ones, thankful someone took control. We were all very tired. I will never forget the kindness you showed me.
For the most part, I had a wonderful time on the show. Of course, there were some people who weren’t so friendly and I won’t name names. As with any line of work, some people are nice, some are not. There was only one person on the show who was pretty nasty and said things about me behind my back. I was tipped off by someone on the makeup team. This didn’t surprise me because I heard this person bad-mouthing another actor on the show. But that is what happens with human beings. It did not have a negative effect on my experience. Now I can say that a soap opera star talked shit about me!
The last little story I will include is about my police uniform and my hair and makeup. The uniforms were designed for men and never fit me well, especially on the hips. Men tend to have slimmer hips than women and with the holster I used, the pain would often be severe. Add to that the pants were always too short and the day I complained and asked for longer ones I was told they wouldn’t shoot me all over my body. Well guess what? That was one of the episodes where my high water pants were stunning. On top of all that, my hair and makeup were insane! I often had my hair Frenched and I felt like I was wearing a pound of makeup. I certainly didn’t look like your average police officer. I did almost fool Ken Shocknek, an NBC newscaster, though. We were both having lunch at the NBC station and he was sitting next to me. He kept looking at me and finally asked if I was a real cop, to which I replied, “I’m not a cop, but I play one on TV.”
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