Suzanne Marshall, who left the acting career in 1997, has grant an exclusive interview to the Santa Barbara Blog, remembering her beginnings, "Santa Barbara" of course and sharing her current life with us. Enjoy!
How acting came to you?
Well
it was always in my blood I suppose. My mother was a professional singer and
both of my sisters were actors. I guess you can say I started as in infant as
my older sister put on plays and I was always the baby in them LOL. Acting was
always one of my great passions, even when I was young. Horses and singing were
the other two (although I did toy with
the idea of being an astronaut!). I got my first pro job while still in
college at UCLA on the soap Capitol. I was classically trained, focusing on
Shakespeare (oh the hours spent
rehearsing with a cork between my teeth for enunciation LOL). To me it was
always about taking people to places they had never been before - making them
feel things - making them see things differently. So acting was very much a family affair.
I didn’t know you were
on CAPITOL. Do you remember what was your character name and what was the plot?
I
played the young Clarissa McCandless...Constance Towers...In her flashbacks.
How SB came to you? Do
you remember your audition? Was it with John Allen Nelson?
I
was visiting my folks in CA. I lived in NYC at the time. My LA agent called me
to audition. It was with a John Allen... what a sweetheart! Such a nice guy! We
had a lot of fun.
And... you got the role
of Maggie Gillis, a police officer who fails her first mission: to kill the
Carnation Killer. Do you remember your first day on set, starring with A
Martinez?
Actually
I remember it very clearly. I was pretty nervous having been mostly on stage. A
Martinez was fabulous and funny and put me totally at ease. Its hard coming
into a show where everyone knows each other and you are the "new kid"
but A made sure I felt welcome. He talked to me about Shakespeare and made
subtle jokes to me throughout the day.
Did you have any time to
rehearse on set or was it like rush rush rush?
Well
A had a classical background too so he and I liked to rehearse. Se we would
meet in his dressing room to run our lines and talk about the scenes. Most of
my scenes were with A or John Allen - John Allen would also rehearse with
me. The first day there really wasn't
much rehearsing but John Allen was there that day - even though we had no scenes
and he made sure to make me feel comfortable. I was very fortunate.
Bridget and Jerome
Dobson - the creators of the show - were known for taking risks with their
storylines and Maggie story was definitely a powerful and risky one: she was
married with a tetraplegic husband and suddenly she began to feel sexually
attracted by Warren, feeling guilty soon after. I think that it was kinda of
minefield to explore on daytime back then. How was the audience reaction to
that story and your feelings about it?
The
audience was upset with me at first for not shooting LOL - Joe died because of
me. But as they got to know Maggie I got some lovely feedback. Personally I
thought the story was interesting and there was certainly enough to sink my
teeth into. Also being raised by a woman in a wheelchair (she had had polio as a child but was a very active mom - still is at
85!) did perhaps give me a different take than others. I don't think I
thought of it as being a risky storyline - I was used to Shakespeare - now talk
about risky storylines LOL. It was just my story to tell and was a great chance
to make people think about things.
When I said “risky”, I
thought to the typical daytime audience: exploring the sexual life of a married
woman “unfaithful” to her tetraplegic husband was not so common on soaps. Let’s
talk about the 2 different actors who played Ben Gillis, your husband. I can
imagine the director saying them “don’t talk, don’t move”. Poor actors LOL Any memory of them?
Oh
looking back I agree the story was "risky" for the audience. I just
didn't really think about it at the time.
Gosh - for the life of me I can't remember the actors names - isn't that
terrible of me! Well it has been 34 years LOL. The first actor to play Ben was
a super guy. He used to make jokes about moving his finger or something when he
wasn't supposed to. The second actor was only there for a couple shows if I
remember correctly. But - yea - it was pretty frustrating for them. The first
actor kept hoping they would let him "come it of it". I remember that it was the first actors
birthday and a friend of mine (actually
Mike Pniewski who does a lot of TV work in GA) and I went and found a
street sign that had his name on it and we took it and I gave it to him for his
birthday LOL. Do you have their names?
Ahahah. What a nice
anecdote!! No, there is no trace of their names, but I get their pic for you. Let
me make an appeal to both of them: if you are reading this interview and you
recognize in these pics, please contact me!
But Maggie's main love
interest was of course John Allen Nelson's Warren Lockridge and I have to say
that I felt a lot of chemistry between the both of you. Was it just my
projection?
Aah
John Allen... he was a sweetheart! There was definitely chemistry. But we were
just friends. He had a lovely girlfriend that he ended up marrying. Turns out he grew up with a good friend of
mine from NYC. Can’t think of anything
funny off the top of my head...just was a lovely person he was. He was always
making little jokes and making me less nervous.
Oh I remember the first day... he wasn’t in my first scene but was there
to support me. Well the director’s voice came booming out from above our
heads... I was startled as I had always had the director on set and so I looked
up at the sky/ceiling. John came up to me and told me not to worry that it was
just God putting his two cents in. That got me laughing and my nervousness went
away. He was always there for me ... and the other actors too. He was just terrific. Gosh I hadn’t thought about all of this for so
long.
Did you ever meet the
creators/head writers of the show, Bridget and Jerome Dobson?
Yes...
I met them before they cast me and once briefly after I left the show they came
up to say how much they enjoyed my work.
They were very nice.
Toward the end you also
had several scenes with Lane Davies and Joel Crothers, who died soon later...
Lane
was very funny. Really laid back and had a really sharp wit. Don’t remember Joel as well ... just that he
was very down to earth and professional.
Then your storyline was
suddenly dropped after just few months. Maggie backtracks and goes with Ben to
New York. The 10 million dollars she finally wins in her fight against the
Capwell Enterprises would be used to treat Ben and try to give him a better life.
What really happened? Was it your decision to leave the show?
It
was not my decision. Im not sure how accurate this is but I was told that a new
producer entered into the picture and he wanted a friend of his in the Maggie
role so they let me go. However A and John Allen didn’t want to work with the
new actress so the role was cancelled. I
was understandably disappointed. Maggie and Warren were just making headlines
and magazine covers. At first I thought
I had done something wrong, then it was explained to me. I believe that is why
the Dobson’s searches me out at a party to tell me they enjoyed my work. I
enjoyed the cast and crew of the show and was sorry to see it end but I moved
back to NYC and moved on.
You worked both on
Capitol (briefly) and SB. Did you notice any difference in the production?
Which?
Not
really as I only did a few shows on Capitol ... it was all so new as I had only
done stage that it all seemed foreign to me.
What did you do after
SB?
Mostly
stage... off broadway, regional theater etc. Did a few days on General Hospital
as they were exploring a new character but they decided against it. Lots of
industrial films... but mostly stage. But I left the industry 20 something
years ago. Was singing in a rock band for about 8 years and then left that too.
Returned to my greatest love... horses. I own a training, breeding horse farm
in NJ where I teach and train classical dressage, travel the east cost
performing on horseback and teaching. I also breed Lusitano horses and Great
Pyrenees dogs. It’s a fun life! And when
I miss the stage I just book a performance on one of my horses.
What would you like to
say to all the people who still loves SB all around the world?
As
with all performing, it is the audience that makes a show. SB is fortunate to
have such a great group of fans.
