Wednesday, August 29, 2012

50 Greatest Soap Couples: #5 Steve & Alice From ANOTHER WORLD

COUPLE: Steve Frame & Alice Matthews
SHOW: ANOTHER WORLD
RANK: 5
PLAYED BY:
Steve: George Reinholt, David Canary
Alice: Jacqueline Courtney, Linda Borgeson
YEARS: 1968-1975; 1981-1982; 1989

STORY:
Alice was a young nurse when she met construction businessman Steve at Walter and Lenore Curtin's wedding reception on July 2, 1968.  Alice's sister-in-law, Rachel (Robin Strasser), was just as impressed as Alice with the handsome young Mr. Frame, who had bought into the Bay City Bengals football team and seemed to be going places.  Alice and Steve began spending time together and it wasn't long before they became engaged.    When the couple had a minor argument and called off their engagement, Rachel made her move.  She seduced the brooding Steve and became pregnant.  She tried to pass the baby (Jamie) off as Russ's child but when the truth came out, Alice fled to Paris and Russ dumped Rachel.  Rachel tried to convince Steve to get married but he was still in love with Alice eventually marrying her on September 24, 1971.  Rachel then married Ted Clark but he was sent to prison and she began to lean on Steve for assistance.   Alice felt insecure about Steve's growing bond with Jamie and those feelings only escalated when she miscarried their own child.

Rachel enlisted the help of her father, Gerald, who helped manipulate Alice into thinking Steve and Rachel were having an affair.   Alice fled town again, this time to New York City. Using the name Alice Talbot, she became a governess to young Dennis Carrington, son of Eliot and Iris.   When Alice finally returned to Bay City, Steve and Rachel were having a real affair so Alice filed for divorce.  Steve married Rachel (now Victoria Wyndham) and even moved her into the house he had built for Alice.  The evil Rachel went as far as wrapping and sending Alice a baby bunting she had bought for her miscarried baby.  Alice's sister, Pat, and best friend, Lenore, discovered the reason Steve and Alice broke up and arranged for the two of them to meet.   Steve and Alice talked things out and reunited.  Steve had to bribe Gerald to lie about Rachel's involvement in the plan to break up his marriage to Alice in order to be granted a divorce.  Steve married Alice a second time but was sent to prison immediately after because of his bribery.   While Steve was away Alice became emotionally unstable and was hospitalized.  Then she found out she was barren.  Despite all this, Steve and Alice eventually reconciled and planned to live happily ever after until he was killed in a helicopter crash in Australia in 1975.  In 1981 Steve (now played by David Canary) turned up alive having suffered from amnesia all those years away.  Alice (now played by Linda Borgeson) had just become engaged to Rachel's ex-husband, Mac Cory.  Steve reunited with Alice and became engaged to her once again.  But Rachel's constant involvement frustrated Alice who left Bay City for Boston.  Steve was later killed in a car crash.

IMPACT:
The romance of Steve and Alice, and the triangle with Rachel, helped establish ANOTHER WORLD firmly near the top of the ratings for years.   Reinholt and Courtney were two of the biggest stars in Daytime regularly winning magazine polls as fan favorites.

The second wedding of Alice and Steve was ANOTHER WORLD's first hourlong episode.  The show finished at No. 1 in the ratings that week which convinced NBC to make AW the first permanent hourlong soap in January 1975.

When Reinholt was fired from the show in 1975 he immediately moved over to ONE LIFE TO LIVE.   ANOTHER WORLD fans were outraged.  Courtney soon followed him to OLTL as ABC was trying to capitalize on the popularity the duo had achieved on NBC.

Courtney returned to ANOTHER WORLD in 1984 but was written out the following year.  Both Courtney and Reinholt returned in 1989 for AW's 25th anniversary (Steve was a ghost).   Courtney returned a month later for Mac Cory's funeral.

In 1994 Courtney and Reinholt were reunited on a primetime special celebrating 50 years of soap operas.

Jacqueline Courtney passed away in 2010 at age 64.

CLASSIC CLIPS:
- Steve meets Alice, and Rachel (1968)
Steve and Alice work toward reconciliation (1974)
ANOTHER WORLD's 25th Anniversary (1989)
Jacqueline Courtney and George Reinholt reunited (1994)

Share your thoughts on Steve and Alice in our Comments section below or on our message board.

RELATED:
- 50 Greatest Soap Opera Actors: The Complete List
- 50 Greatest Soap Opera Actresses: The Complete List
- THE COMPLETE LIST: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History

5 comments:

  1. This so great Steve & Alice was my 1st super couple on soaps!!

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  2. Steve and Alice were, without doubt, my absolute favorite couple EVER. Their story captivated me and kept me glued to my TV every day after school. It was their story that made me a forever fan of soaps.

    When Reinholt and Courtney were dismissed I was DEVASTATED. To this day I still think fondly of the two of them and the impact they had on me.

    So sad that they never really got the recognition they deserve. It is a true testament to their endurance that they are still so well remembered, and I have been especially touched by Robin Strasser's kind words about them both.

    I'm sure Luke and Laura are in the top 4, but for my money, Steve and Alice will always be number 1.

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  3. Wow…I would not have guessed Steve and Alice to rank higher than Mac and Rachel….

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  4. I was in grade school but remember them so well like yesterday because I was so into AW then and the writing of none other Anges Nixon which created the triangle.

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  5. In the late 1960s through mid-1970s, Steve & Alice were THE reason to watch soaps. Jacquie Courtney -- with her smoky voice, dynamic on-screen presence, and expressive eyes -- played Alice's emotional fragility to the hilt. Reinholt was smoldering as the dynamic Steve. And Rachel went from bitchy to plain ol' scary with the Strasser/Wyndham change-over. Borgeson was simply AWFUL as Alice, and the complex Steve went from complex (played by Reinholt) to pompous and cartoon-like under Canary.

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