DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '02 II => Topic started by: Accomplice_To_Cass on November 02, 2002, 01:40:46 AM
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I heard that Jaclyn Smith was one of the actresses who auditioned to replace Alexandra Moltke for the role of Victoria Winters. If she got the part would you like Victoria more, less, at all? Thanks.
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I think she would've fit into the role. Much better then Betsy Durkin and maybe Carolyn Groves, IMO.
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Yeah, baby! I've had this conversation before with a friend of mine who is a fellow DS fan. We've always thought Jaclyn Smith would have been a worthy replacement for Alexandra Moltke. Was she actually considered? I've always wondered if this was true.
Have also sort of wondered if when they cast Kate Jackson, were trying to make her (as Daphne) the new Victoria Winters character?
Can you imagine what DS would have been like with two of Charlie's future angels? The mind boggles. ;)
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I heard that Jaclyn Smith was one of the actresses who auditioned to replace Alexandra Moltke for the role of Victoria Winters. If she got the part would you like Victoria more, less, at all? Thanks.
Jaclyn is and was a very beautiful lady, although I have always felt there could be no one who can utter those immortal words "I don't' understand" the same way that Alexandra could... of course had Jaclyn replaced Vickie she would have been the better choice, I believe I would have liked her just as well.
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I'm one of those people who thinks that AM was irreplaceable as Viki. BUT I do think that J. Smith would have been able to take over the role without much audience protest. It would be great to see a picture of JS during that time frame to see what she looked like. It would help to get a visual image of JS as VW.
You know, a few weeks ago when they did the Sabrina meets the werewolf flashback, I played with the thought that Lisa Richards might have made a good AM ( as Victoria Winters) replacement. She had all that hair & sweetness going on.
Dom
PS - I do think Kate Jackson could have taken over the role as well, in fact I have no doubt that she could have pulled it off better than either B. Durkin or C. groves.
PPS - Can you imagine poor JS having to play opposite her hubby R. Davis? Being mauled 24/7? Maybe she purposely blew the audition! ;)
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We've always thought Jaclyn Smith would have been a worthy replacement for Alexandra Moltke. Was she actually considered? I've always wondered if this was true.
From what I've read, Jaclyn Smith (who at the time was still using the name "Ellen") was dating Roger Davis at the time, and was asked if she would be interested in the role. She said "No."
Have also sort of wondered if when they cast Kate Jackson, were trying to make her (as Daphne) the new Victoria Winters character?
It would seem so, given that she was cast as the new governess. On the other hand, she could just as easily have been filling in for Maggie Evans, who had also just left the show. Curtis "discovered" Jackson while she was still in acting school in 1970, so she wouldn't have been around yet at the time Moltke left the series. Jackson does have a passing resemblance to Moltke - it seems like Curtis liked this "type" (ingenue, long dark hair.)
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I am neither a Jaclyn Smith nor a Kate Jackson fan (sorry). Maybe it's because they were both on that insipid "Charlie's Angels". I don't think either of them are impressive actresses. I liked Alexandra Moltke--I believe she gets short shrift from some. She may not have been in the same league as, say, Grayson Hall or Nancy Barrett who had great range, but she had a certain understated quality and class. Better writing for her character might have improved the perception of her as an actress. However, Jacklyn Smith would have been a better replacement than Betsy Durkin.[sun]
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Hmm...
I can't see Jaclyn Smith as Victoria at all. I can see Kate Jackson though -- quite well. (How about Farrah Fawcett? LOL) Nah...not the type. Great hair though!
Actually, I can't remember what kind of actress Jaclyn Smith is. I was always too busy just staring at her beautiful face. I always thought she was a flawless beauty. Even MORE beautiful without make-up.
I like Kate as Daphne though. I'm a sucker for Daphne. Always thought she was very beautiful as well. Very sweet.
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Thanks for all your replies. Who else do you guys think would make a good Victoria Winters?
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From the same time period (sixties)? I think Mia Farrow could have played Vicky--she played an ingenue on "Peyton Place." I could imagine Geraldine Chaplin in the part--don't think she would have done a soap though. [coolb]
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Connie Wrote:
I can see Kate Jackson though -- quite well.
Me too, I think Kate Jackson would have made a very good replacement for Vicky on the show.
She sort of had the same disposition and demeanor as the original Vicky did. Plus she got along well with the kids which is a big plus and the fact that she had long dark hair didn't hurt either.
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Hmmm maybe if they had come back from 1841PT they could've had Kate Jackson play Victoria, since her character of Daphne would no longer be able to be in 1971 (I think)? She could return from the 1700s or raised from the dead or something.
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Apparently Jaclyn did read for the role of Victoria, but still had a very strong Texan accent that ruled her out.
Carolyn Groves was a very worthy replacement, I think. She really nails the best qualities of the character in her few episodes and beats out AM by actually saying "I don't understand" with conviction ;)
I'm certain that had she been cast initially, rather than Betsy Durkin, that the character of Victoria would have continued long-term without any problems.
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I think Kate Jackson would have been a highly successful replacement for AM as Vicki. Betsy Durkin was awful, IMHO, and while Carolyn Groves was much better, I believe the fans had already decided if AM couldn't play Vicki, no one else should attempt to.
As for Jaclyn Smith, she was undoubtedly stunning, but if she did have a heavy Southern accent, I understand why she wouldn't have worked out as Vicki.
Speaking of CHARLIE'S ANGELS, I sometimes watch that show in reruns now and can't believe I ever liked it. The acting was awful, the plots big enough to drive a Mack truck through, and the way the actresses deliberately dressed sexily seemed more the point of the show than solving the crime of the week. Yuck!
Love, Robin
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Is it known why Bestsy Durkin was replaced by Carolyn Groves? The only thing (IMHO) that kept C. Groves from being a perfect replacement was the tone of her voice - too much "street" and not enough "orphanage".
Dom
PS - I love Maria_Merriweather's suggestion of Mia Farrow, as a contemporary of A.M., being capable of playing Victoria Winters.
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Betsy Durkin obviously wasn't well received by the production team -- given the lag between writing, taping and airing, it's very unlikely it was a decision based on viewer reaction, even though that's often the reason cited. Poor girl -- she was hopelessly miscast and was never going to overcome that.
Groves was ideal -- she looked and sounded like the character outline already established, with a more intelligent, measured performance than Alexandra Moltke. Too bad that her stint was an effective tying up of loose ends and that there was never a question of her staying on in the role :(
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i think either would have been a fine replacement
for Vicki and i'm with you Robin can't even watch Charlie's angels unless it is the one with John Karlen!
jennifer
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Such a fun thread!
Although I am a fan of both Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson, I feel that Kate would have made the better Vicki, as her persona is more down-to-earth than Jaclyn's. (BTW, I must take a moment to defend "Charlie's Angels." IMHO, it is one of the all-time great TV series.)
I was also intrigued by Maria Merriweather's suggestions of Mia Farrow and, especially, Geraldine Chaplin. I have long been a fan of GC, thanks to her performances in such films as NASHVILLE and REMEMBER MY NAME. I don't know if I see her as Vicki, but she definitely would have made a strong contribution to DS in any role she played.
<LOL> Now I'm imagining GC in her NASHVILLE role (Opal, the BBC reporter) on DS: "Hello! Mrs. Stoddard? I'm Opal from the BBC! I'm doing a documentary on Collinsport!"
Regards,
John (who, with all due respect to Joan Bennett, still fantasizes about Joan Crawford being cast as La Liz...)
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PS - I love Maria_Merriweather's suggestion of Mia Farrow, as a contemporary of A.M., being capable of playing Victoria Winters.
I really like that suggestion, too! As an added plus, there was a certain resemblance in their facial features.
However, I also think Jaclyn Smith would have played the role capably -- she displayed the same quiet charm as Moltke and she didn't overact the way Betsy Durkin did. I absolutely loathed Durkin from the moment she opened her mouth. I don't remember A.M. ever wailing to excess as Vicki, and yet shrieking, wailing, and hand-wringing were the staples of Durkin's performances.
Blech!
Cheers,
Linda
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The Icky Vicki was pretty bad ! still trying to picture Mia as Vicki!
jennifer
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Actually, what I think is that Dan Curtis was holding out hope of getting Alexandra Moltke back as Victoria Winters, following her pregnacy. She has stated that she was approached about returning, but she did not want to return as Victoria. She felt the character was too boxed in and she wanted to stretch as an actress. My feeling is that they were never truely looking for a replacement for Alexandra, only a stand in. When it couldn't work out for Alexandra to return, then they decided it was best to just end the Victoria Winters character, but in a way that truely always left the door open to bring her back if Alexandra changed her mind.
Dark Shadows is one of those soaps that never had alot of luck with replacing original actors in roles, once the show got going. Yes, Sam Evans was replaced after only a couple of weeks with the man who most people know as Sam and the character of Willie was replaced after only a few episodes with John Karlen, but in both cases the characters were replaced before they were established. The replacement of Burke Devlin by Anthony George is an example of it just not working. While I like George in the role, perhaps better than Mitch Ryan, he just did not click and was soon written out. The only other character that I can think of that was replaced after a short stint anyway was the Harry Johnson character and that was only for a show or two and then that character was gone. Fans of the show related very strongly to the same actors playing the same parts. They would buy them playing other roles in other time periods but not other actors playing the same roles. They were as devoted to the actors as their characters and thus they were not as interchangable as was the case in other soaps.
Raholt