News Brief

Interview: 10 questions: ATWT's Marnie Schulenburg (Pt. 1)
Q: What were some of the early things you did (acting-wise)?
Marnie Schulenburg: "I always knew I wanted to be a performer. I started dancing when I was in kindergarten and singing in elementary school. I didn’t begin vocal lessons until seventh grade, but I was always in my school choirs, participating in shows and dancing before then. I was mainly focused on singing and musical theater until I went to college, and I fell in love with Shakespeare, Moliere, Euripides, Tennessee Williams and many other amazing playwrights."

Q: How did you get the part of Alison on “As the World Turns”?

MS. I went in for a general meeting with Mary Clay Boland (“ATWT” casting director), and we talked about how I just moved to Astoria, Queens, a couple months before and that it was about an hour and half subway ride away from the studio. So, she was nice enough to let me read something since I had come all the way out there. I then did a cold read of a scene she had, and I guess she liked it, because she then called Executive Producer Chris Goutman down to see me do the scene. Well, the rest is history! I started full time about two months later. But first I shot an episode on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and a series of Web episodes to reintroduce the character of Alison to the ATWT audience.

Q: What do you like most about playing Alison? What can you relate to about her?

MS: I like how lovable she is. She has such endearing qualities, and the writers have been doing a great job creating little quirks for me to play. And I love her silly sarcasm! I think that is what I relate to the most. I can be very sarcastic, as a matter of fact, and Alison can be very similar to the point of being blunt, but never maliciously mean.

ATWT's Park hosts charity acution
Michael Park, Jack Snyder on the daytime drama AS THE WORLD TURNS, hosted the eighth annual Arc Silent Auction today at the Yahnundasis Golf Club on Saturday night.

ESPN turns to the soaps to sell fantasy baseball
Did you know that baseball players are big-time soap opera fans? It's true. All that time they spend hanging out in the clubhouse during the day, they have the soaps playing in the background. Not all, but a lot. That said, it'll be interesting to see if the same things that sell soaps -- the drama, the relationships, the never-ending stories -- work for ESPN in selling their Fantasy Baseball League. They're calling the series of commercials "Endless Drama."

Rick Springfield coming to Morongo
The inspiration of relationships has never been lost on Rick Springfield. The trials and tribulations of couples have spawned some of the GENERAL HOSPITAL star's biggest hits, such as the Grammy-winning ditty "Jessie's Girl," an iconic song from 1981 about coveting a friend's main squeeze. The pop star, who is playing Morongo Casino today, said his new album, due out later this spring, continues to delve into the emotional territory.

Legendary Actor Charlton Heston Dead At 84
Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing Ben-Hur and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84. He starred as a tycoon in the prime-time soap opera, THE COLBYS, a two-season spinoff of DYNASTY.

HOLLYOAKS' Chris Fountain impresses on ICE tour
HOLLYOAKS hunk Chris Fountain, who was better than Suzanne Shaw and should have won last month's DANCING ON ICE final, owns the rink. The crowd go wild. They know he was robbed.