Lunch And More With The Spaulding Family of 'Guiding Light' - Part 1

What a treat it was to meet GUIDING LIGHT's Ron Raines (Alan) yesterday and ride over to Puttanesca for lunch with the other actors in the show's Spaulding family.

Soon after we arrived, Grant Aleksander showed up, and looks exactly the same as when he left the show as Phillip four years ago. Marcy Rylan (Lizzie) arrived as stunning as ever and Marj Dusay (Alexandra) made a fashionably late entrance and lit up the room.

Having these four "Spauldings" all together and sometimes talking at the same time was really fascinating and entertaining. What was nice was that not everyone had seen Aleksander in a while so we were witnessing their reunions in person.

Aleksander will be returning to the airwaves in early February. He begins taping next week and there is a lot of excitement on set about his return and this group was especially thrilled. Aleksander told us that he spoke with one of the head writers, Jill Lorie Hurst, several months ago about the possibility of returning but didn't want the information to be "out there" in case it didn't happen.

We all tried to get spoilers out of him and the publicists, but no such luck. Aleksander said, "I'm not allowed to say anything. Aside from some early conversations about general things, I really wanted to stay out of that part of it. Once we talked and I had the sense of, in general, what they were looking for, I thought, 'this will be okay,' so there's a lot more I have to find out."

He added that story was important to him but not the only thing, "[Story] was part of a larger picture. In general, I was hoping it would be a positive thing for the show as a whole. Jill [Lorie Hurst, head writer] was the one that called me over the summer. The things she was saying were all things that made sense to me, because I've known Jill for her a long time, and I know her sensibilities. So I thought whatever she going to come up with will make sense for me, and be good for the show. I hope it turns out that way. I'm going to have fun."

Aleksander is happy that fans are excited about his return and said, "[It's] incredibly gratifying. I always felt that there would be a time when it was the right time for the show and the right time for me and it happened."

On the new production model, Aleksander said, "I haven't been out to Peapack, but I have been to the studio. I think as an actor, it will feel a lot more natural because you'll have the sense you're in a real space."


I wouldn't be me without a dry sense of humor so I very seriously told Aleksander I was a huge fan of his directing, especially the most recent Kettlebell workout video (from the incredibly gorgeous and hotter than ever Beth Chamberlin). Marcy Rylan howled and Ron Raines claimed that I weighed 300 pounds before buying that video. I would later talk to Chamberlin about it at the photo shoot that followed lunch, and even someone as encouraging and pro-fitness as she is had to agree that I was hopeless.

One of the funnest moments during the lunch was when Rylan began to tell Aleksander about everything thas has happened in Springfield the past few years. She was very detailed and that conversation went on for a while.

I spoke to Rylan about the new sets at the CBS studio and she beamed, "When we came back from Christmas break and saw everything, it was incredible. It completed the picture." In a small world twist, Rylan's boyfriend was actually an actor for a year on one of my radio soaps, playing a really serious plastic surgeon and we shared a laugh about that.

I had a wonderful conversation with Ron Raines at lunch and later at the photo shoot. He grew up in a small town in Texas and the way he described his upbringing in the south and his return visits reminded me so much of my own life. In some cases, he said almost word for word what I've told others about myself.

Improve queen Marj Dusay was brilliantly funny. Some people are just are naturally funny and entertaining and she's one of them. I asked if she crossed paths with Aleksander while they were both on CAPITOL in the mid-1980s and they hadn't. She did have a cute story about being on that show, her first soap, and having to learn so many lines. She said, "They started me at five days a week for five or six weeks and I was walking into the walls. John Conboy told me, 'I love you, I love everything about you, but get these damned lines down.' He said, 'can I send someone to help you?' and I said, 'yes you could.'" After things didn't work out with the intern assigned to help her she decided that "going to bed with them, getting up with them" was the only way to go. Obviously she mastered the art of daytime and has continued on soaps for another 25 years.

Aleksander and Dusay had a funny exchange when he told her he knew when "it was my turn to work with you." Apparently with her improv background, she's drifted off the script a time or two which he told her makes it "fresh and different and interesting." Aleksander compared her to the wonderful Elizabeth Hubbard of AS THE WORLD TURNS, who he directed on AS THE WORLDS earlier this year (he would "throw the script away" for her scenes) and who he shared a scene with recently on LIFE ON MARS. When I brought up that recent prime time guest appareance and his 1970s pornstache, he chuckled, and took out a picture to show the rest of the cast, who laughed at his getup. I asked if he might return to that soap within a show in the future, and he said it was possible but nothing was imminent.

On the new production model, Dusay told us, "I'm used to shooting on locations for night time. There's a sense of freedom outdoors. You can't place yourself like you would in the old way with three cameras, and you can't find things in the same way, which is okay."

Aleksander then told a story about a 2002 Raines singing appearances: "Ron took me to the NBA finals when the Nets were playing the Lakers. He got tickets because he was doing the national anthem. He did the 'Star Spangled Banner' and Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal], who was playing for the Lakers at the time, when Ron got to his big finish, turned around and was like, 'Damn'" Apparently it was a bigger story for Aleksander since Raines isn't a huge sports fan.

Raines chimed in with a story of his own: "I teach voice on the side. I have five students. One of the students I had is having a nice career. She just got back from Madision, Wisconsin where she did 'Madame Butterfly.' She did the role of Suzuki. She went up to the conductor who is Italian and he asked her, 'who do you study with?' And she said, 'Ron Raines', and he said, 'You study with Alan Spaulding!' He watches SENTIERI [what GUIDING LIGHT is known as in Italy]."

The stories continued as we ate lunch. We were basically observing old friends having lunch, with a newer friend in Rylan, and got to ask questions along the way.

In Part 2 of my afternoon with the Spauldings, I'll have more details from the lunch and photo shoot that followed in which Beth Chamerlin, Tina Sloane and Daniel Cosgrove joined the group.