My Exclusive Interview with FORRY SMITH

Forry Smith is a former professional athlete who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1976 as a wide receiver. After a short stint with the Bills and the Seattle Seahawks, Forry returned to his hometown in Waterloo, Iowa, and began his second career as a high school English teacher and varsity football coach. After seven rewarding years in the teaching profession, he decided to make a career change. Lured to Hollywood with a passion for acting, Forry spent the next twenty years in pursuit of the often elusive dream. During that time, he booked dozens of guest-starring roles on nighttime television, countless commercials, a handful of major motion pictures, and in 1992 a two-year contract on Santa Barbara as Reese Walker. He fulfilled one of his dreams a short time later, writing and co-starring in his own movie Paparazzi… a film he was asked to write by Mel Gibson. Forry and Mel worked together on the film We Were Soldiers and experienced several run-ins with the paparazzi that inspired the film.

You came to Santa Barbara in March 1992 and you remaines with the show until its end. Can you tell us how you got there? Even the audition. All you can remember, please.

The producers had done a nationwide search for my character and couldn't find the right Reese Walker. When I came into the room, the head writer, Pamela Long, said I was exactly what she was looking for...

The Walkers

In the USA “Santa Barbara” always remained in the bottom of the rankings ratings. Together with Kim Zimmer, Sydney Penny and Eric Close you were part of the last-ditch effort to save the show.  Maybe they think that some new blood could be good for the show. Do You felt this kind of responsibility? Do you have some pressures? Which was the atmosphere around you?

SB revolved around two rich families and the producers thought bringing in a blue-collar family (not rich) would strengthen the audience. They were right. I never felt any pressure to save the show, and the Walker family became very popular with the fans. It's too bad NBC gave up on us when our show won the EMMY 4 out of the 8 years it was on the air. They were cheap!

Reese came to Santa Barbara and stealed (as a joke) the vintage car that Kelly has given to Cruz. Then slowly the Walker family came together. Despite being close friends, soon the rivalry between Cruz and Reese explodes. Reese was jealous of the relationship between Cruz and Jody. In reality, however, what about the relationships between you and A?

A and I were instant friends. We hung out together... loved rehearsing together. He's a great guy who is very talented and I will always cherish our friendship. I also continue to have a great relationship with all the members of my Santa Barbara family... Eric Close probably is the closest to me. I miss them all very much and wish them nothing but happiness.

Eric Close and Sydney Penny

Reese had two children: BJ (actually Cruz' daughter ) and Sawyer. BJ was the daddy's girl. Reese was always very protective of her. Instead, the relationship between Reese and Sawyer was much more conflicting. Both of them have a passion for boxing. Is box also your passion? Can you give us a professional and human portrait of Sydney Penny and Eric Close?

Boxing was NOT my passion. I was a professional football player (American football). Sawyer loved his father very much and was always competing with him (me) to show him (me) he was better. In real life, Eric and I don't compete over anything. We're very different and have tremendous respect for each other's talents. Sydney Penny loved horses...loved to ride. I'm sure she still does. She's very athletic and one of the sweetest women you'll ever meet. I LOVED working with her.

Kim Zimmer played your wife, Jodie. Reese was extremely jealous of her. And we can not blame him. Kim Zimmer seems to be a true force of nature. How was it working with her? 

I loved Kim. It was my first experience at doing daytime television, and she had already won a couple Emmy's as Best Actress on Guiding Light. She taught me so much. She IS a force of nature, but they hired me because I wasn't afraid to stand up to her! Kim and I had great chemistry together, but I was always very respectful of her real-life husband. The intimate scenes can be very awkward. I think you truly have to care about the person you're acting with to make it work. I love Kim and miss her very much. We were all very sad to see the show cancelled because we were all so close.

Kim Zimmer and Forry Smith

Jealousy erupted to the point of separating Reese and Jodie. So Reese has an affair with Andy Klein. But during the last episode of the soap, Jodie and Reese came back together. It seemed like a happy ending a bit 'rushed. If the soap had not been canceled, do you think that Pam Long would have break the couple Reese and Jodie?

Are you familiar with the expression "star-crossed lovers"? Reese and Jodie would have tried to get back together, but there would always be something in the way that would prevent it. I think they were a great couple, but it was always more fun to watch them struggle. In daytime television, when a couple finally gets together, it tends to get very boring. As an actor it's much more fun to play a character who is in conflict than a character who has an easy time.

In 2004 you wrote and co-starred in your own movie “Paparazzi”, a movie you was asked to write by Mel Gibson. How did you find yourself in the shoes of the writer? In the film you play Deputy Walker. Is it a tribute to SB or was a coincidence?

I was in a movie called "We Were Soldiers" with Mel, and we were filming near Atlanta, Georgia. Everywhere Mel went, the paparazzi were all over him to the point of him wanting to chase them away. I told him I would write a movie where the star gets to kill a few of them, and he laughed and thought it was a good idea. I named my character Deputy Walker as a tribute to my character on Santa Barbara. Several people noticed that I had done that! I thought no one would really notice.

In 1992 Paul Rauch was the executive producer of the show and Pam Long was the Head Writer. Which are your memories of them?

Paul Rauch was a very hard man to please at first. Every actor he hired had to prove himself for a few months before he would move on to the next actor. He yelled at me one day for having my hands in my pockets, and I yelled back at him. He never bothered me again. When the show ended, he confided in me that I was one of his favorites. Pam Long was a great writer. She knew exactly what every actor's strengths were, and she would write material that best suited those strengths. I would work with either of them again in a minute!