The "Lost" Carolyn Stoddard

[Nelson Collins]

I curious as to what the circumstances were that led to Diane Walker playing Carolyn for one episode (578).  Nancy Barrett was in ep 577 and back again in ep 581.

[Midnite]

The explanation I've heard is that Nancy Barrett was ill that day.

[Patti Feinberg]

OT, but, I haven't heard, "The part of _______ will be played by...." in sooooooooooo long; just the other day on OLTL they did that...and it took me back to my youth.

Memories,

Patti

[The Ghost of Sarah Collins]

I read somewhere Nancy was in a mishap with her car that hurt her wrist and could not work that day.  :-

[michael c]

OT, but, I haven't heard, "The part of _______ will be played by...." in sooooooooooo long; just the other day on OLTL they did that...and it took me back to my youth.

the first time i remember hearing "the part of....will be played by...." on d.s. was with the burke devlin re-casting.did they do it with sam evans,matthew morgan or willie loomis in earlier re-casts?i forget.did they do it when betsy durkin took over as v.?

[murph]

I'm curious.....................

Unless they know days in advance, and in this case I doubt they did, how do they find someone in a moments notice that somewhat resembles the character and has many lines to learn.  I remember this episode and the character of Carolyn had many lines and was in most of the scenes.

Does anyone know how they happened upon this actress in a moments notice.  Under the circumstances I think she did a good job.  She was no Nancy Barrett but I believe Nancy was consistantly one of the best actors/actresses on the show.  I don't remember her ever flubbing a line.  She was great at giving each of her characters a distinct personality.

Murph

[michael c]

perhaps some of the main characters had understudies like they do in the theater.or maybe the actress who played carolyn in that ep. understudied for all the youge,female characters(it looks like she's wearing a wig).
in at least one case one character substituted for another.during the liz/jason story vicki was supposed to have had a scene with burke at the blue whale but mitch ryan never showed up and his lines were given to joel crothers.it's a slightly odd scene since vicki and joe never "hung out" but makes more sense when you know why.mitch never appeared on the show again and...."the part of....".

[DStoDA]

Unless they know days in advance, and in this case I doubt they did, how do they find someone in a moments notice that somewhat resembles the character and has many lines to learn.

I believe the actress, Diana walker, was an understudy. However, it did say she was on As The World Turns in 1967. The following year, she became a lead character on another soap Where the Heart Is.

[Midnite]

DStoDA, it's good to see you back! 

[Joeytrom]

the first time i remember hearing "the part of....will be played by...." on d.s. was with the burke devlin re-casting.did they do it with sam evans,matthew morgan or willie loomis in earlier re-casts?i forget.did they do it when betsy durkin took over as v.?

They didn't annouce the Matthew Morgan recast, probably because the first actor only appeared three times in the first 2 weeks and then the character didn't appear for a couple of months.

Sam Evans' recast was announced.

One recast character that oddly didn't get any announcement was Lt. Riley from the 1967 Laura story.  They changed actors after the character appeared twice and in the next episode.  The actors couldn't have been more different as the first had a New York look and accent and the second (Vince O'Brien) was more New England.

They did announce the recasting of Dr. Woodard the first time (from Richard Woods to Robert Gerringher) as well as the second (Robert Gerringher to Peter Turgeon).

Burke Devlins' recast from Mitchell Ryan to Anthony George was announced in about five episodes.

Sheriff Patterson's one episode recast from Dana Elcar to Vince O'Brien did get an announcement.  Elcar appeared only once more after that, in the next episode.  There was no announcement when Angus Cairns took over the role two weeks later.

No announcement was made when the Cemetary Caretaker was recast from Daniel Keyes to Peter Murphy.

The next recast occurs when Vince O'Brien returned as Sheriff Patterson in 1968, probably because so much time had passed since the character last appeared and he was not as relevant as he used to be.  The same thing when Alfred Sandor temporarily played him in one episode.

Victoria Winters got an announcement from Alexandra Moltke to Betsy Durkin over three episodes and from Betsey Durkin to Carolyn Groves.  That was the last announced recast.

Strangely though, no announcement was made when Edward Marshall replaced Craig Slocum as Harry Johnson, even though the character appeared quite a lot prior to that. EM was in one episode and the character disappeared.

No recasts were made after that.

[VictoriaWintersRox]

I'm curious.....................

Unless they know days in advance, and in this case I doubt they did, how do they find someone in a moments notice that somewhat resembles the character and has many lines to learn.  I remember this episode and the character of Carolyn had many lines and was in most of the scenes. 

Looking at the tape dates, it would appear that the show had been taping around Nancy Barrett at that time, so maybe they knew ahead of time that they wouldn't be able to get Nancy, thus giving them enough time to cast Diana Walker:

07/26/68: #555 (last taped episode with Nancy Barrett before DW comes in)
. . . . . . . . . .
08/27/68: #572
08/28/68: #573
08/29/68: #574
08/30/68: #578 (with Diana Walker)
09/02/68: #580
09/03/68: #577 (with Nancy Barrett)
09/04/68: #575
09/05/68: #576 (with Nancy Barrett)
09/06/68: #579

Even if the decision to get a temporary recast was sudden, soaps tend to deal with that quickly and find a person to take over. For instance, on Ryan's Hope in 1976, one of the leading women, Kate Mulgrew, had her back injured while riding a horse, so they had to find a replacement immediately.

As for Diana Walker, I thought she did a fine job, although I agree that she's no Nancy Barrett.