Thursday, April 15, 2010

50 Greatest Soap Actors: #25 Terry Lester

NAME: Terry Lester
RANK: 25
SOAP ROLES: Royce Keller, AS THE WORLD TURNS (1992-1994); Mason Capwell, SANTA BARBARA (1989-1990); Jack Abbott, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS (1980-1989); Rudy Millington, DALLAS (1979)

AWARDS:
1988 Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role: Daytime
1987 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1986 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1986 Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role on a Daytime Serial
1986 Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Outstanding Villain on a Daytime Serial
1985 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
1984 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series

COMMENTS FROM THE PANEL:
Roger Newcomb: I adored Lester's Jack Abbott. His scenes with the entire Abbott family were wonderful and his dynamic with Brenda Dickson's Jill was electric. He is very missed.

Nelson Aspen: Terry proved that he was more than just Jack Abbott through his other roles, particularly with his emotional turn on ATWT. Immensely gifted on stage and off, he was surprisingly funny, musical and warm. While Peter Bergman deserves his praise and fans, IMO his interpretation of "Jack" still remains a pale imitation of the original. The current "Billy" shows a great deal of Lester-esque promise if he's given the right material to play. That's a big legacy!

Alan Carter: When he left [Y&R], I thought, they'll never replace him! Okay, so sometimes I'm not so bright....but even though he might have been "replaced" there is no arguing what a gifted actor Terry was.

6 comments:

  1. It's amazing how much he looks like Billy Miller in that photo...or really the other way around.

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  2. I had not thought about that, but you're right! He does. :)

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  3. You can read my comments on Terry's work in the original post. But I must add that I'm surprised he didn't rank higher: he was in my Top 5! That's the fun of these lists...seeing how the panel dynamic affects the ranking.

    In addition to enjoying his work onscreen, I had the pleasure of knowing this talented man offscreen as well. Gifted musician, funny as hell...sorely missed.

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  4. Amazing how much Billy Miller I see in him...the sexy eyes and charming smirk...

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  5. Here's a bit of trivia.

    In the 1985 book, Soap Stars by Dianna Whitley and Ray Manzella, Terry Lester revealed that he'd originally gone into Y&R to audition for the role of Snapper Foster, then being vacated by the great William Gray Espy (ca. 1975). He said he really thought he had the part, and became rather angry when David Hasselhoff got the role. So he convinced himself that he really didn't want to be on a soap opera anyway, and every time they'd call, he'd refuse. In hindsight, he laughingly referred to himself as ''Mr. Maturity.''

    About four years later, Bill Bell created the role of Jack Abbott and Terry finally accepted.

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  6. Interesting. I wish the character of Snapper had continued longer and wonder how the rest of Y&R might have changed if Lester got that part and the Foster family stayed prominent. Perhaps there would be no Abbotts today?

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