Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Jaime Lyn Bauer On Leaving Y&R, Returning in 2002 and Being Approached To Return In 2013

In the conclusion of her in-depth, emotional interview, actress Jaime Lyn Bauer opens up to REIMAGINE THAT! host and Retroality.TV editor Chris Mann about her at times complicated working relationship with late THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS creator William J. Bell, her 2002 return to the CBS soap and the possibility of reprising her iconic role of prolific author Lorie Brooks during the show's 40th anniversary season (and beyond). And while she considers writing her own long-awaited autobiography, she shares her experiences reinventing herself following the 2008 stock market crash as a financial services planner for the organization People Helping People.

While admitting in part one of her interview that Bill Bell "hated" her during her first six months on the show in late 1973/early 1974, Bauer explains that their relationship soon improved and was always professional.

"Bill and I were on very warm terms," she says. "But with Bill I was never quite certain. You know, you have to have boundaries with people that are your employers, your producer, your director. You become friendly with them but only to a certain degree ..."

By the early 1980s, when Y&R expanded to an hour, Bauer was one of the only cast members from the series' first few seasons to remain. In 1982, following the birth of her second child and often working six days a week, she told Bell she had had enough and would exercise an out in her contract with CBS.

"I was so exhausted. When I was doing contract negotiations, they had refused to put a ceiling of three shows a week in my contract -- without my permission. And I couldn't continue working the way I was working ... I wanted to limit it; they wouldn't agree to it. That's why I ended up leaving. As Bill and I were talking, I said, 'Bill, whatever you do, I'm just telling you I feel I'm going to break. And if you lay anything on me about "It's going to ruin this person's career, it's going to ruin this for so-and-so"' -- all this stuff that had happened over the years with my producer or the network telling me this or that," she recalls.

"Bill was so amazing because he had already decided that if I left he was going to fire my entire family and make a new show under the name YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS -- and he did not tell me that. If he had told me that I would've stayed because I loved the other actors. They were my family, too. I would've protected them. But he didn't. He let me go. And I thanked him, with tears in my eyes ... Several years later I went back to see him and (wife) Lee (Phillip Bell) and sat and told them some of the personal stuff that had been going on, and she had tears in her eyes, rolling down her face. They were so lovely. It's like, real life goes on."

Bauer also discusses her brief 2002 return to Y&R and reveals how much she enjoyed working with Peter Bergman, who took over the role of Jack Abbott from the late Terry Lester in 1989. She also discloses that show producers approached her agent in January, asking if she was available to film during a specific week in February (apparently for the show's special 40th anniversary programming this spring).

"So I stayed in town -- because I'd been planning to leave town -- and I waited for the call and never got it. So I have no idea what happened or what the thinking process was. But I was disappointed."

She is still open to the invitation to return as Lorie.

"I'd love (returning). I'd love it. It would be great if she just moved back to town."

With Michelle Stafford leaving the show next month, would Bauer enjoy rekindling Lorie's old romantic ties to Bergman's Jack Abbott?

"That would be fun. That would be a blast," she says. "Because he was lovely to work with. It was so natural and so easy -- and just so fun, too, (especially) the stuff with Nikki. And I'd never worked with him before. I thought those were some of the best scenes" during Lorie's 2002 return.

"Gee," Bauer adds, "if only you could put it in (producers') ear."

Listen to this must-hear interview below:



RELATED:
- Jaime Lyn Bauer on Y&R's Lorie Brooks, Returning To DAYS and Jeanne Cooper (Audio)
- 50 Greatest Soap Couples: #35 Lance & Lorie From THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

2 comments:

  1. I would love JLB to return to Y&R as Lorie. Or go to B&B to reunite with John McCook.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please Bring Back Jaime As Lorie, Y&R!

    Brian :-)

    ReplyDelete