Monday, January 18, 2010

50 Greatest Soap Actresses: #22 Charita Bauer

NAME: Charita Bauer
RANK: 22
SOAP ROLES: Bert Bauer, GUIDING LIGHT (1950-1985); TO HAVE AND TO HOLD (1975-1976); Sarah, ROSE OF MY DREAMS; Fran Cummings, SECOND HUSBAND (1945); YOUNG WIDDER BROWN (1945); Judy, DAVID HARUM (1942); FRONT PAGE FARRELL; Gail Carver Macdonald, LORA LAWTON; ORPHANS OF DIVORCE; Lanette, OUR GAL SUNDAY; Susan Wakefield, THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS; STELLA DALLAS

AWARDS:
1985 Daytime Emmy Special Recognition Award for over 34 years of service

COMMENTS FROM THE PANEL:
Alan Carter: Talk about someone melded to their character...viewers actually thought Charita was Bert...and the similarities in last names didn't hurt. Playing out her own amputation story...which could not have been easy, easily lands her on the list for courage and honesty.

Lynn Liccardo: Two scenes are seared in my memory: Bert defending her alcoholic, philandering husband, Bill, to her son, Ed, whose drinking, if I recall correctly, was already a problem. The other scene was with Robert Newman. Josh was paralyzed and Bert (and Charita) had had a leg amputated. Both scenes were raw and powerful.

Connie Passalacqua Hayman (Marlena De Lacroix): Charita Bauer and Mary Stewart. Mom and home for decades. The shoulder you still want to rest your head on. How we miss them.

Roger Newcomb: I loved the Bauer family growing up, particulary Charita Bauer, Don Stewart and Mart Hulswit. Despite all the craziness in Springfield there was something calming about Bert Bauer and Charita's performances. The scene I'll never forget though was of Bert helping Josh at physical therapy when he was venting his frustration at being paralyzed.

COMMENTS FROM CO-STARS/CO-WORKERS/INDUSTRY:
Robert Newman: (worked with Bauer on GL) Charita was one of the last of the great legends of daytime. I was in awe of her. She was there at the birth of soaps and carried with her great stature and power. She was honest and tough and smart and strong and all those things that make one an icon. She was very protective of all of us off-camera and would fight to the finish for our workers rights. Her work on-camera was true and pure. She was no-nonsense both on and off camera. She always treated everyone, even a newcomer like me, with respect. I loved her for that.

6 comments:

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  2. I, too, thought of Charita Bauer as a mother. I, vicariously, leaned on her after my own mother's death in 1981. When Charita was going through her difficulties, with her leg amputation, it was comforting for me to know that she was just a few miles away from me, at the Burke Rehabilitation Center, here in Westchester. Coincidentally, 9 years later, my wife (at that time 62 years of age) graduated from the Burke Rehabilitation Center's program for Certified Home Health Aides, receiving special commendations from the Governor and County Executive. I felt Charita's spirit, walking through the halls of the hospital, and felt her smiling down on my wife and me.
    Losing Charita in 1985, had been like losing my mother all over again.

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  3. Thank you, WLS. I was hoping Charita would not go ignored in this list. She was such a integral part of "Guiding Light". The show certainly suffered from her passing. I'm so glad YouTube exists for us to view some of the classic clips of her from the 1950's and 1960's.

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  4. I totally agree, Roger. All the other comments I agree with completely about Charita. Thanks Again! :)

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  5. Wow! What can you say about one the greatest icons in daytime history. She was there at the beginning of the genre. While growing up watching GL, Charita/Bert was the tv version of my grandmother - caring, comforting, compassionate, wise, sharp as a tack, funny, sassy, no-nonsense. What an amazing human being and role model.

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  6. I am shocked that she is #22. She was the Erica Kane of her heydey, then she became St. Bert later on the show. Then again, look where Erica is on this list and look where the other saint, Jo from Search for Tomorrow, is as well.

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