AN ECLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT THALER (PEARL)

How did you come to "Santa Barbara"? Tell us about your audition…

I was asked to audition for Santa Barbara after the Dobsons came by chance to a stage show I was doing in Los Angeles at the time. The show was "Tamara", it was a huge hit in L.A. in 1984 and I was fortunate to be in the original cast playing a romantic and a 'double' character with a secret past. The plot was centered around fascist Italy of the early 30s and the character of Gabrielle D'Annunzio the dreamer, poet and novelist who was famous in Europe at the time. A terrific idea and time for the play to set itself. In the audience that evening were Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson I believe and the Dobsons love the show and gave my agent a call as I remember it. My first two auditions were flat for Santa Barbara and I really didn't want to do a soap opera but then they decided just to offer me the part of Pearl along with a short term contract so I could not refuse. It was a very lucky decision since working on Santa Barbara was much fun and the family there was always supportive and enthusiastic for those first years. A. Martinez was immediately warm, present and helpful. The directors and producers were all there to make the best show they could and the writers all of a sudden took a liking to Pearl. The Dobsons wanted and were looking for stage trained actors at that particular time and that is how they happened upon me.

You played Pearl in "Santa Barbara", a character very difficult to contain in a definition. Maybe I'd use the word "unsettling". Pearl has never been predictable. He is introduced as a bit 'rough and coarse, with a madness shining in His Eyes. None of us viewers would have never imagined that he hide a past full of bourgeois culture. What would you like to add about Pearl?

Pearl was pretty much always a work-in-progress. Sometimes one does not know or have concrete ideas about the character they are playing on t.v. and goes by feeling instead. I sensed that Pearl was like a kind of wild house pet who came and went as he pleased, said what may have been on his mind but also at times spoke in riddles to befuddle or amuse people. I wanted Pearl to enjoy being alive because so much of American soap opera I had seen up until then had seemed to me to be stiff and many of the characters were heavy,angry or conniving on some of the other shows I glanced at. Acting on soaps is difficult technically because you have to remember many,many lines everyday. This can constipate an actor in his interpretation and delivery and make him appear depressed or one-note or uncreative. Often its just the actor trying to perfectly remember the next line he has to deliver. This is the trap in soap acting. In seeing this I demphasized line readings and used cue cards a lot and placed them all over the set so I could be free in interpretation and movement. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it was aggravating for some of the more traditional actors in the scenes. Some actors are more mental and can remember and photograph large numbers of words and lines. They work from there. I was more physical and did not have the ability at all to remember lines exactly. I apologize to those people who were thrown off by my approach. When I was a kid I suffered a concussion that to this day has made my short term memory more difficult though my long term memory is quite good. So I had to work with that handicap and not let anyone know about it on the set, but sometimes handicaps can come in 'handy' and lead to better things.

Before having to deal with Kelly, Pearl came into contact with two other Capwell: Madeleine and Courtney. The first is bourgeois and snob so as to be hateful and unbearable even for Pearl. Perhaps because she remembered to Pearl the past from which he was running away. What do you think? But then Madeleine was brutally murdered (in my opinion too early) and soon Pearl begins an affair with Courtney (Julia Campbell). What are your memories about these two actresses?

Madeline as I remember was played by a good actress who had comic ability. Its too bad they killed her off so quickly, probably it was because she had only signed a short term contract, I don't know. Sometimes these decisions are strictly business. Courtney was a character chosen at a series of auditions and they wanted my feedback so I chose the girl that played the part.

 I was quite new to all this soap stuff and t.v. so I may have approached that relationship differently had I to do it all over again. I think it was around that time that the Dobson's via their producer took me out to lunch and wanted to know if I wanted to be a more prominent lead on the show. But I said no. There were too many lines to learn and I was underestimating my ability to do all of the work. I did not want to hold them back or slow down production. So then they never fully wrote for or developed that story line or the dual character thing and I always had my eye on moving on to film and stage acting and doing some traveling as soon as my contract was up.

 …and then Kelly (Robin Wright) comes to you, fragile and totally lost in that moment of her life. She was in a psychiatric hospital. From the beginning I was struck by the delicacy with which Pearl has been taking care of her. And this is the first significant turning point for your character. Rough in the beginning, and now delicate and full of grace. How was it working with Robin Wright? She is now a movie star and an actress appreciated. "Santa Barbara" was her springboard. Can you tell me everything you remember about her? Just as you tell it to a big fan of her, curious of the details, please.

Well about Robin.... To me she was like a Tom-boy which means in American slang that she liked to goof around and was boyish. In real life she seemed to enjoy playing against her image which is not uncommon for uncommonly beautiful girls to do. She had a three-legged dog that was a Sharpe, that followed her all around backstage. It was pretty ugly with deep wrinkles all over its face and bad gas. I used to bring my greyhound to the dressing room to counteract this. She was large and shiny black and a very beautiful dog. As I remember Robin was serious about becoming a good actress and she would study people on set and how they approached the work. She was always asking me who I studied with and if she should go to New York city to study. I would tell her that she was a natural camera talent and that she didn't need to worry so much about the other stuff. Working in front of a camera in close-up is totally different than working on stage and it involves a different set of sensibilities. Sometimes stage training can interfere with that and certainly you have to learn to work in front of a camera. But Robin had been a model and she was very comfortable being filmed so it was not a problem for her. I was the beginner in that respect since I had done very little film or t.v. work before and needed to learn this new approach. In truth you can take a novice who has good sensibilities and they can become quite good at film acting in a very short time with the proper introductions. This is generally not the case for stage acting.

Then Robin left temporarily Santa Barbara to filming "The Princess Bride." So Kelly was sent to Switzerland to hide from police. Thus Gina began the long blackmail with videotape that exonerated Kelly. This is one of my favorite storylines. You know if it was planned or whether it was written only to justify the absence of Robin?

I don't remember anything about the blackmail stuff, I think I had started to tune out parts of the show by then and maybe lose interest.

Then Kelly comes home, but the writers had chosen for her Jeffrey and not Pearl. Why? Your character was created by Dobsons. I miss them both and I would love to know them. What kind of people they were, professionally and personally? Tell us some anecdote, if you want. IN 1988 they were fired by NBC because they wanted to dismiss the Head Writer of this time. Do You remember having experienced internal tensions?

 I think they chose Jeffrey because they wanted a more traditional love story or something and also guys with foreign accents were just starting to break into American t.v. and it was the choice of the day. Pierce Brosnam was a big hit and there was guy from Australia on General Hospital who was hugely successful. Jeffrey was a very nice guy by the way. And also from what little I remember, I never sent sexual signals out to Kelly in any of those scenes. I think I was constantly guarding against that because I didn't want the character of Pearl to become like so many of the other soap characters, entangled in a love story. But this was probably not a good decision on my part since it would have been good ground to explore for me at the time as an actor. It was around this time that I started having trouble with the new writers and the new head writer they were bringing on to the show. As I recall they wanted basically a more conventional soap opera presentation and I did not like at all the stuff they were writing for me. I was bored with it. It was repetitive and unfunny and I put less work into all of it knowing that I would be leaving within a year or so. I think it was around that time that the Dobson's lost control of the show and it became a more conventional version of its old self. I hardly remember at all leaving the show. One day I was just gone. There was no fanfare because they did not want to promote a character that was leaving. They wanted me to sign a contract extension and continue but I was completely bored by that time and unhappy with my work and the writing and the character.

You left the soap in 1988, shortly after the marriage of Eden and Cruz. The character of Cain tried to take the place of Pearl in the life of Eden and Cruz, but I don’t think it was successful. Pearl was much more complete and complex of Cain. What do you think? Do you was sad leaving Santa Barbara?

 The Cain guy I have little or no memory of, only that he was an actor from Chicago and I did not follow or watch the show at all after I left so I have no idea how they developed his character.

 Robin Wright has left the soap soon after you. She was forced to extend her contract to filming The Princess Bride. In fact at the end she seemed very bored and tired. You have noticed a change after her return? It 'true that she was on bad terms with the Dobsons and Marcy Walker? Someone was jealous for the success of Robin? In a recent interview Robin seems ashamed if they asked about SB. According to you, she really ashamed of that period? Robin hated Kelly to this point?I wonder: was it really so terrible the set of SB?

Regarding Robin I really don't know about all that stuff. What you have to understand is the Hollywood has a hierarchy of prestige. At the bottom of the working totem pole of acting is soap opera. At the top is film acting. Everyone wants to be a well known film actor whether they admit it or not because that is where the real money and freedom lie and all the benefits and the real artistic influence and expression. If your singing at La Scala as a star tenor you don't want all kinds of people remembering you as a choir singer in some Church in Roma before you made it big. That’s just human nature. Stars and potential stars cultivate intentionally or unintentionally a myth of specialness which becomes their calling card. This is how consumer culture works. The more special you are perceived to be, the higher the price and the reputation in the business you can command. In the end its all about business. The more mythic your persona becomes the more money and fame and freedom you can command. Its that way in all pursuits in America. Its a game and everyone plays it well on each rung of the social ladder. By the way it was always supportive and fun on the set for me at Santa Barbara and most of it I'm sure was the same for Robin. She was easy to work with. You have to consider that any young person at 20 years of age will feel entitled to the gifts given them in life, it is just human nature. Its only when you grow older that you look back and are astounded by the course that life takes and the surprises and gifts it may have offered up. This is the best I can say about that subject. I did not really know Robin all that well but I was always supportive of her and understood some of her motivations. The jealousy that she may have aroused was all natural and unavoidable and one cannot judge any of the parties.

Returning to Pearl, do you think he ever really made peace with his bourgeois past? And now where do you think he is?

Pearl was undeveloped at the end so there is no saying what would or should have really happened to him. One day he just dropped off the show without mention and this was because I did not want to sign a contract extension and so the head writer was not going to celebrate my 'ending' with a story or event.

 I've noticed you in some episodes of V: The Series. Why you did not kill Diana?

I have little to no recollection of any work I did on primetime t.v. back in the 80s, it was a long time ago and I just don't remember any of it as having been very important or interesting.

And now what do you do? What are your interests? What do you think of President Obama and about the USA political situation? This interview is directed particularly to the Italian public that has so much loved Santa Barbara. I don’t know if you know the political and social situation of Italy. Unfortunately on some aspects we are still backward, for example gay rights. In Italy the true freedom of the press is almost a distant memory. Berlusconi, our Prime Minister, has control of most Italian newspapers and televisions. What do you think?

 I continued to act on stage quite a bit in the 90s after leaving Santa Barbara. Also I directed some plays and play readings but I lost interest in acting and theatre by the late 90s and I rarely go out to theatre or to movies anymore at all, I find most Hollywood film to be over-produced and uninteresting and the stars are selected for their look and not for their talent or experience. This is the world we live in today. I am not a fan of Berlusconi. There is corruption thruout most Western governments today. Large, monolithic international corporations have taken over and own most governments. Obama is a sad and weak and disengenuous figure. He manages to fool many guilible people who are not paying attention. Most Americans are poorly informed, misinformed by massive amounts of mainstream propaganda or just disinterested and suffocating from large amounts of debt. 

I make my living now as a commodities trader which I enjoy and which is a pursuit based in merit and experience that is independent of directors,agents,producers and all the things in Hollywood I had earlier learned to distrust. I read a great deal these days and I have not owned a television for over ten years. My hobbies now are weightlifting, hiking, and lots of meditation among some other things.

And now I leave you with one of the best memories I have of Pearl: after freeing Kelly, he was back to the hospital to try to escape with Alice. Alice, traumatized to the point of not even being able to speak, was “closed” in her inability to communicate, like in the best movies by Antonioni. Then Pearl caresses her hair and, after giving her a new dress to escape, he combs it and puts a ribbon on it. Pearl takes care of Alice's hair and, in that way, of her soul. And the lost relationship now becomes possible. Remember this scene?

I want to say hello to all the good people of Italy and wish you all of the best in life and joy and peace and happiness. May you all be very well indeed!

Hello Pier and thank you for the intelligent questions.