Tom Happer News

[Uncle Roger]

Not too long ago, MB and I had a discussion about one of the more elusive DS performers Tom Happer, who played Jeremy Grimes in the 1840 storyline. He left acting some years ago and has proven very difficult to find. MB and I both wondered what had become of him. It looks like we might just find out. Writer Tom Lisanti just announced a book about the short lived NBC soap Friends and Lovers/For Richer For Poorer. He has interviewed Happer for the upcoming book. I read Lisanti's book on Ryan's Hope which was extremely well researched and well worth reading. His next book to be released is about another NBC soap, Texas, which featured Robert Gerringer as Striker Bellman. The Friends are Lovers book will probably be released late in 2025.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Very interesting, Uncle Roger. Thanks for the heads up. And because that soap was so short-lived, it's particularly interesting that Tom Lisanti would write a book about it. The behind the scenes story must be quite interesting to warrant a book...

[Uncle Roger]

He also plans to address the brief expansion of Another World to 90 minutes. Both Texas and Friends and Lovers began on Another World and there were crossovers early on.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Something that I just learned on Wikipedia is that apparently Tom Happer's character was played by three different actors in the short four months that Lovers and Friends ran. Why they kept recasting the character alone could be one of the most interesting behind the scenes stories. And not having ever seen the show, it'll be interesting to learn how long Happer lasted as his character...

[Uncle Roger]

They tried to contact him for one of the Friends of the 1991 DS. I found out that Joanne Dorian was friends with his ex-wife but that's about as far as it got