Grayson Hall and Gay Men

[Gothick]

Brian,  This must be Shelly Burch, right?  There's an interview tape (actually somebody just tape recording Grayson having lunch with a group of fans and just chatting away about every topic under the sun) which was made on August 31, 1982, where Grayson talks at great length about her work on OLTL.  She mentions about Shelly Burch coming to work as her daughter Delilah and cracks, "Euphemia and Delilah ... we're quite a family!"  She describes Shelly as GORGEOUS and mentions, I believe, that she had been in the musical version of 8 1/2 (entitled 9, if memory serves) and was still sort of figuring things out as an actress.  Good to hear that Shelly has such good memories of working with Grayson.  

Thanks again for sharing this,

Steve

[Brian]

Hi, Steve.

Yes, it is Shelly Burch, and I'd love to find a copy of that tape to share with her.  She "semi-retired" 10 or 12 years ago in order to have a family, but she now does stage and TV work once in a while.  She's very humble, and a delightful lady--and very talented.  I have to admit, during our lunch, she mentioned the "actress who played [her] mother" and could have left it at that, but she went on to name Grayson Hall--and mentioned Grayson's work in THAT DARN CAT for one of our other  luncheon partners who is way too young to know DS or Grayson.  I really felt I was experiencing that idea of "6 Degrees of Separation," and, I think, in Shelly's mind, Grayson represented somewhat of a star to her in her early work on OLTL.  (Yes, she was in NINE, too.)

Brian