Exclusive interview with Stephen Meadows

("Peter Flint" on Santa Barbara)

Stephen Meadows now

Stephen Meadows just granted me an interview about his work on “Santa Barbara” as Peter Flint.He played the first villain and psychopath of the show and became very popular thanks to the “Carnation Killer” storyline. He also had a role on “One life to live” and several TV movies since he left “Santa Barbara”. He left the acting career in 1999. I highly recommend you to read this interview because Stephen has been very generous and he has shared with us a lot of memories and anecdotes. You’re gonna enjoy it!

Reading your biography, I see you are a poliedric artist: architect, actor, musical composer, painter, photographer and sculpturist. But could you tell me something about your childhood and your passions back then?

I grew up in Atlanta and was exposed to a great deal of bigotry and prejudice, both in my family and schools. At a young age, I always wanted to experience a more accepting society. As a result, I think my 'crutch' as a kid was drawing and painting. I remember removing myself from very conservative discussions with my parents and heading to a closet I converted to a mini-art studio. God provides all of us with gifts, some help us make a living, and others, not so much. I was very lucky, and as a child felt that drawing/design was a tool that could carry me forward.

Since then, I have been able to utilize that gift when needed to 'service the debts' in life.

Music and other interests were also important to me, but the talent gift was most identifiable in my drawing ability, as I saw many friends quickly surpass me in their understanding and mastery of music.

As for other passions at the time, it was girls and football. So in that regard, I was a typical 'good-ol-boy.

How the acting career came to you?

I was teaching a design course at San Francisco State University when a student, that was also a casting director for commercials, convinced me to try out for an 'Almaden Wine' commercial.

Eve Marie Saint & Jeffrey Hayden

I landed the spot (beginner's luck) and made enough money that it convinced me to jump in. The commercial also allowed me to get a SAG union card, as I would never have ventured into Los Angeles without it.

At the time, (1984), the film and TV business was fairly well controlled by the unions. This is not so much the case any longer due to the Internet.

My time line of six months was just around the corner, and I had not landed any significant roles. I had a guest-starring role on Night Rider and a few day’s work on another episodic I can’t remember, but the feedback from my auditions was holding up, so I held out.

My agents sent me to NBC for a new soap: Santa Barbara. I did not have a high opinion of soaps.  The performances appeared forced, and the high-contrast look of videotape in 1984 made all the characters look plastic. But I was told this was going to be a ‘different’ soap.

Jeffrey Hayden was producing and directing. He had directed Peyton Place and was married to Eva Marie Saint, the Oscar-winning actress.

After multiple auditions and meetings with Jeffrey and the producers, the final day came. I waited in the lobby to be called—and waited. After an hour, I put my feet up on the couch and dozed off. Producers walked by in bewilderment. Finally, I was called and aced the reading. The role was mine.

Being cast on SB was really my first foray into serious acting, and didn't happen until I was 34. That year that I decided to take a leap and switch directions happened really fast, and again, I was extremely lucky. There is no other word for it.

Do you remember something about your audition on SB? Robin Wright was there? Do you remember if you signed for a long term or short contract?

Sure, I recall the SB audition. Robin was not there, as I don't know if she was cast at that point. The contract was for 3 years, but I stood firm and asked my agents to get me out after one year.

I didn’t let my family know I was one of the main characters on the show. I figured they would find out soon enough and didn’t want to advertise I had left architecture to do the TV gig.

Santa Barbara was a brandnew show and you were part of it since episode #1. Which were the biggest challenges of being part of a newborn show?

The early days of the show are still a blur. Time stood still as I struggled to grasp as much as possible as quickly as I could. I had no experience and was flying by the seat of my pants. My assumption that because of my inexperience the writers would initially go easy on me was the exact opposite of reality.

Robin Wright, my ‘love interest’ on the show, along with Dane Witherspoon, the third member of our ‘love triangle,’ were worked to the breaking point.

We waited hour upon hour in our dressing rooms, running page after page of stiff dialogue from a rapidly revolving door of hired and fired writers.

When we were finally called to the set in the middle of the night, we would shoot back-to-back scenes with no rehearsal. It was complete madness due to the show being behind schedule. Robin, Dane, and I were the focus of the show at the beginning, and I was clearly in new and incredibly challenging territory.

At the onset, the line producers of the show were constantly pushing me to ‘emote’ more. I resisted, as it felt phony to push their one-dimensional dialog to levels that felt embarrassing.

The story line was that my character, ‘Peter Flint,’ was growing jealous of ‘Joe’ (Dane), as he sought to reunite with his lost love, ‘Kelly’ (Robin).

My instincts were to work against the dialog, as jealousy only ends in defeat. As an actor, I wanted to respect the character. But this is not what the producers desired. They wanted visible torment to consume my character. In other words, be a loser.

A Martinez as "Cruz"

Some of the greatest roles written in theatre and film are of ‘losers,’ but this was not one of them. I also questioned the idea of playing this kind of character every day, and how it would affect me personally.

There was a choice—I decided if they were going to push me, I was going to push back.

A Martinez, an actor on the show I respected, had years of experience and knew how to make the absurd, plebian dialog flow naturally. After we became friends, he explained that he rewrote almost every word of his dialog and presented it to the producers at 7AM on the day of shooting to get approval for the changes. I had no idea this was possible.

From then on, each night before shooting, I spent hours finding ways to change the words on the page to something that was more intelligent and fitting of the character.

‘Peter’ was, after all, a college professor—like me.

Each day I worked became a battle. But I did not give in. Finally, after several months, the producers relented and let me write and say whatever I wanted as long as it was consistent with the story line. I was actually enjoying myself and my performances complemented by many. Soap mags said ‘Peter’ was one of the most interesting characters on the show.

At one point, Dame Judith Anderson, the Oscar nominated actress and matriarch of the series, came up and we giggled about the odd ‘tick’ I did with my mouth when ‘Peter’ was going nuts.

Eva Marie Saint told me to never stop acting.

That first year, the other actors on the show nominated me for an Emmy. It felt good to be accepted by my peers in a profession I had just begun.

Robin Wright's Kelly & Stephen Meadows' Peter

“Santa Barbara” was a newborn show so, as you said somehow, it took a few months to find the right way: I mean there is a character on paper, then comes the actor and they need to discover each other until the writer find out how the character could fit the actor and viceversa. Definitely it takes time and a lot of failed attempts, but when the right balance is found, wow you all made a great job and Peter Flint is one of the most loved villain still today! I personally think the character’s peak has been the shocking “Carnation Killer” storyline: Peter got crazy and so obsessed with Kelly than he can’t stop to kill every single blond girl he sees around. When it first aired in Italy I was 10 years old and I remember I was really scared by it, but excited at the same time (you have been the firt one to give me the pleasure to be scared, thanks for this!). When I asked to Bridget Dobson how that storyline was conceived, she told me that they had accidentally cast too many blondes on the show. They were too beautiful and similar.  It was almost hard to distinguish between them. So they found a solution (and had a few laughs) as they devised the Carnation Killer storyline to get rid of them. Did you know? By the way, my question is: it was so easy to get obsessed with Robin Wright? She is my fav actress since then, could you tell me everything you remember about her, your relationship, her attitude with others, please?

Robin is an amazing girl. We had great fun and laughed a lot after the crazy 'stalking' scenes. When I started the show, Robin was 18 and I was 34, so I was somewhat of an 'older brother' off camera. Of course, the audience did not know our real age difference. She and Dane were also very involved at the time and I had a live-in girlfriend. Robin's personality is that of an effervescent, friendly and outgoing woman. When I see her performances as an 'ice queen' today, I laugh because I know she is not at all like those characters and imagine her belly-laughing after shooting some of the stuff that is very serious. She's a great actor.

I ran into her and Sean Penn a few years ago in Santa Monica. She ran across the lobby of the hotel and jumped in my arms. That's the Robin I know.

One fact about the old daytime soaps, a different writer writes each show. There are not separate writers for each character. Therefore, an actor's task is to make words from different writers 'real.' Very challenging, which is why I started rewriting all my lines.

You left the show on February 1985. One year later you were asked to come back for a few episodes as Peter “ghost”. Then you starred on many tv series and movie till 1999, when you seem to have left the acting career. Why? Would you reconsider your choice, if a good role come to you?

In the mid-90’s, I worked on a TV movie series in the Virgin Islands. The production company was cutting corners, and as a result, the cast and crew were subjected to dangerous safety conditions. In one incident, three people received gunshot wounds due to improperly handled ammunition.

Without getting too detailed, another member of the cast and myself reported the violations to the proper union officials. It took a few years to get around that I was a “whistleblower”, but eventually, the badge of ‘difficult’ was obtained.

I think being fortunate enough to focus my life in different directions provided the courage to stand up for what is right.

I will always love acting and have been offered a few roles since. But as life is shorter, my time is better devoted to my kids and ventures I am passionate about. I would love to play and old redneck-moonshiner or disturbed drifter, but those fun character roles seem to elude me.