January 28, 2025 • 60 mins
Get ready for an electrifying conversation with two of daytime’s most legendary villains are making their way into the spotlight.
Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Colleen Zenk (As the World Turns) recently reprised their roles on The Young and the Restless, stirring up trouble in Genoa City. Colleen’s Aunt Jourdan hasn’t been seen since June 2024, and Ray’s Ian Ward has been MIA since 2016—until now. Together, they’ve formed a dangerous alliance that’s guaranteed to keep viewers on edge.
Join me us we dive into their thrilling return, their experiences playing iconic villains, and the incredible highlights from their acclaimed TV careers. This is one conversation you won’t want to miss.
Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Colleen Zenk (As the World Turns) recently reprised their roles on The Young and the Restless, stirring up trouble in Genoa City. Colleen’s Aunt Jourdan hasn’t been seen since June 2024, and Ray’s Ian Ward has been MIA since 2016—until now. Together, they’ve formed a dangerous alliance that’s guaranteed to keep viewers on edge.
Join me us we dive into their thrilling return, their experiences playing iconic villains, and the incredible highlights from their acclaimed TV careers. This is one conversation you won’t want to miss.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Music]
(00:07):
Hi everybody, happy to have you here on Villain Madness Day in the locker room.
I'm Alan Locker.
Genoa City has no idea what's coming as Ian Ward and Antwerd and team up to
cause some havoc.
Ray Wise and Colleen Zink recently made their dramatic and unexpected return to
the young and the restless to continue their revenge tour.
(00:28):
Colleen Zink and Jordan hasn't been seen since June and Ray's in Ward has been
MIA since 2016.
Ray won the daytime Emmy Award for outstanding guest performer for his work on YNR in 2015.
These two have formed a dangerous alliance that's guaranteed to keep us the viewer on the
(00:49):
edge of our seats for the foreseeable future.
It is my pleasure to welcome Ray Wise and Colleen Zink to the locker room.
How are you?
How are you?
How are you?
I am well, how are you?
Very good, thank you Alan.
Pleasure to meet you, Ray.
Why don't we start with you?
How did the show approach you about bringing Ian Ward back to the canvas?
(01:14):
Well, I got an email from Josh, our executive producer head writer and he said, "Would you
be open to letting Ian Ward out of jail in the Black Lives Matter City?"
And I had secretly hoped for the last seven or eight years that they would let me out of
(01:35):
jail and I could come back and reestablish my relationships in the city.
Did you have that much fun the first time around?
I had a great amount of fun the first time around and we're having even more fun now.
I think so.
These last few days, Colleen, when you left in June, you and I talked, you knew you'd be returning
(01:59):
at some point.
Did you have any idea this is what Josh had in mind back then?
I only knew that Josh said to me, "You need an accomplice."
And then my brain started working.
I know the history of the show and I went, "Oh my God, could it be?
(02:27):
Could it be?"
And there it is.
I know you watched the show, Colleen.
Did you, as the things were unfolding with Sharon, were you wondering if you had anything
to do with all of that?
I mean, before we came back.
(02:49):
Yeah, before you started?
No.
I didn't really think about that being a part of where it was coming from because we were
off camera for so long during the summer and then all of a sudden things started happening
with her and I went, "Oh my God, we've been in the background for months and in general
(03:16):
in the city and not even knowing that we were there."
Yes, I had no idea about anything.
Well, I'm so impressed with Matt Kane and everybody at Y&R, Colleen, a year ago when you
came to the canvas, nobody knew what was happening and nobody knew this time around.
(03:41):
What was that like for both of you?
I know you couldn't even attend the 13,000 celebration.
No, they kept, I mean, I was so upset about that.
Frankly, I thought, you know, it was a 13,000 show and world turns.
We were on for 13,000 and almost 14,000.
And so it was a very, very big deal, but we couldn't be a part of it because we were, you
(04:08):
know, backstage.
And that made me very sad.
Here we are.
And I think it was well worth it.
I didn't even know there was a celebration.
See that's how much in the dark I was.
That is so funny.
By the way, the little thing I used at the intro of villain madness came from one of our fans,
(04:33):
Gabriel.
He had written that earlier on the chat here and I was like, "I'm going to use that."
Yeah, I'm talking now.
Villan Madness.
Villan Madness.
I think you just spoke to Michael Maloney, contributor for TV Insider.
(04:54):
And you talked about the fact you two had never met and you met in the makeup department
for the first time.
Both of you, what was that meeting when you first met?
Well, Ray was sitting in the makeup chair and I walked over and I said, "Hi, I'm Colleen
and I'm playing Jordan."
(05:15):
And he looked at me like, "Okay, who?"
I had no idea.
Unfortunately, I hadn't watched that much of as the world terms, but I did.
I researched her a little bit when I found out who was playing the part and I saw her
history and she's the dancer that she is.
(05:40):
Oh, we got it.
Yes, yes.
And then she sent me a legs commercial, which I thought was...
I played that last year, I think, while we...
That was outstanding.
Outstanding.
She had beautiful legs.
Oh, we've been blessed.
I haven't seen them lately, but she's always wearing pants.
(06:04):
And covering them up.
So I don't get to see them.
Well, in a soap digest interview, Josh Griffith discussed his love of Hitchcock films.
Did he share his thoughts on that with both of you and tied to this idea?
Did he with you?
Yeah, he did.
(06:24):
He mentioned Hitchcock.
He also mentioned David Lynch, you know?
Oh, yeah.
Because I'm an old...
Yeah.
Twin Peaks.
So, yeah, I think, you know, he...
Quart, you know, and matched up with his story idea, this whole Alfred Hitchcock approach.
Yeah.
But I...
(06:45):
What I remember, which Josh told me about you, is the whole connection with David Lynch
and how he revered David Lynch's work.
Yeah.
And the whole Twin Peaks saga.
(07:07):
And even when I started to go back, because I mean, I remember Twin Peaks, but in the day,
but I was working.
Yeah, so...
Right.
I was up at 345 every morning and going to World Tour, and so...
Sure.
...wasn't watching...
(07:27):
You can't pay much attention to anything, really, except...
As the World Tourns.
And learning lines.
Yeah.
Learning lines and commuting and commuting and children.
And...
But what Josh told me, because I told him, this is a couple months ago, after we started working
(07:51):
together, I said, you know, I've been looking, I...
I've almost screamed the entire first season of Twin Peaks.
And then I said, and then I went to the 2017 version, and Josh said, me, no, no, go back.
Go back.
(08:11):
You have to go back to Fire Walks With Me.
Right.
And watch the film, which I did.
And this man, I can't, as an actor, I can't believe the bravery that you had with that character.
I mean, Ray?
(08:33):
Well, Colleen, you also told Michael Molloney that you have found an acting partner in Ray
that you never expected to have at this point in your life.
Right.
Alibrate on that.
I mean, look, we both have been around for a long time.
(08:57):
You know, we both got...
You got your first time at the rodeo?
No.
No, no, no.
We both went from the theater.
57 years for me, 57.
I've been a pro actor.
I can go back further than that.
Because I've been a member of SAG since 1967.
(09:21):
That's when I became a member of actors' equity.
Right.
Yeah.
So, I mean, as actors, we have a lot in common, and then we have never met before.
But we have so many people in common.
And that's kind of the stories that we've been telling to each other.
(09:43):
Yeah, we discover new ones every day.
I know.
Yeah.
I know.
But to be my age, I'm going to be 72 in a few weeks, to find somebody that I can work with
(10:04):
at this level in my life and be asked to work as an actor, as a female actor.
At this point is remarkable.
72.
Oh, you're just a baby.
Oh, shut up.
Well, I'm not seeing you two yet, you know, Monday and Tuesday.
(10:28):
I mean, it doesn't look like you're having fun at all.
You can.
We're just nonstop laughs.
And then of course, we get serious when the cameras are rolling.
I for three, five for three.
One of the viewers, Ray, said, "I want to thank Mr. Wise for the joy he brings me when
(10:49):
this crazy world gets to be too much.
His voice and smile soothes me.
He is an amazing actor."
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Well, thank her very much for what you would please.
I will.
I don't know.
R.R.G.
Light is their screen name, but yeah.
(11:10):
That's wonderful.
Yeah, yesterday and today saw a wrinkle begin in this beautiful alliance as you, Ian, Ray,
as Ian may not be holding up your end of the bargain to help get revenge against Jordan's
enemies.
How would you describe their agenda?
(11:31):
Well, I don't know where she gets that.
Why am I holding up my end of the bargain?
I always hold up my end of the bargain.
I always do.
But you have to sometimes you have to dig down to find the actual agenda that I'm working
(11:53):
on, but I'm always holding up my end.
Really?
Yes.
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Who contradicts me at every turn?
Every turn?
She's giving you a run for your money.
That's for sure.
The goodness she is.
She certainly is.
(12:14):
I said, you know, that Coleen is actually female, Ray, wise.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
And then vice versa.
And vice versa.
There we go.
I love that.
I love that.
I love that.
That's fabulous.
That is fabulous.
I like it when everyone around the studio saw both of you return.
(12:34):
Oh my god.
Um, I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(12:56):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(13:22):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(13:44):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I was so impressed at how Ann Jordan was connected to Eve Howard in the past.
Ann Eain Ray, I understand Eain as well when you joined in 2014 or so,
(14:10):
you had a past with Melody Thomas' character, Nikki.
Yeah, all the way back into the '60s.
I was a cult leader and I had my own group of disciples and followers.
You know, and she was one of them.
And Paul, the old...
Yeah, Doug Davidson.
(14:32):
He was one of them too.
And I guess I had a great effect on their early lives.
Oh, oh.
Yep.
That's amazing.
How did the role first come about back then?
How did the role...
How did they approach you?
Do you remember?
The question.
(14:53):
Yeah, let me think now.
So that would be after Twin Peaks.
It was 2014, I believe, 10 years ago, I think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 2014.
It was way after Twin Peaks.
It was after I did a series called Reaper,
where I played the devil on television on the CW network for a couple of years.
And then I was doing how I met your mother.
(15:18):
And then I think I just got a call from my agent out of the blue saying,
"Would you be interested in playing this character on a soap opera?
Why an R?"
And I said, "But, for sure.
What's the character? What's it all about?"
So he's a cult leader.
(15:39):
I said, "Stop right there."
You got me.
You got me.
Oh, there you go.
And so I agreed to it.
And the rest of this history, I think I did some 65 or 70 episodes.
Yeah, I watched that then.
As Ian, yeah.
I watched.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, at that point, world turns with off the air.
(16:02):
Right.
So I was in Florida, caring for my mom.
And would turn on the show every day and see my friends.
Right, yeah.
And you, who I never knew.
And you didn't know me at all?
No.
No.
No. I only knew your work.
Right.
(16:23):
I only knew your work.
I never knew you.
Right.
And you know, Ray, a fan Tony was asking, I mean, you had seven years on love of life.
And then you really hadn't had a long soap gig in total, young and the restless in 2014.
How different from love of life to when you did why and all the first time around?
(16:44):
Like night and day.
Yeah.
No comparison.
Love of life was a half hour show.
And we did it like it was a stage play.
We started with the first act and kept right on going until the fifth act.
And some 23 or 24 minutes later, we were done.
But you also had a table read at the end of the day, correct?
(17:07):
And we had a rehearsal at the end of the day.
Right.
The end day for the following day.
We were done shooting the show at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Right.
And then we come back at 2 in rehearsal for the next day.
So the next day.
Yeah.
I mean, that's how things were done back then.
Yeah, I remember I think like search might have even had that or something back in the day.
Back in the day.
Gerard said, Ray was wonderful and heartbreaking in Twin Peaks in both the Jelsing and the scene with Alicia Witt playing the piano.
(17:33):
Oh, yes.
Oh, my God.
Come on.
Get happy.
I said.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Colleen, you know, going back to world turns, you were quite the victim of one of daytime's most notorious villains, James Stenbach, before turning Barbara into one herself many years later.
Of course, James was played by the incredible Anthony Herrera.
(17:59):
Do you ever think what Anthony would say watching you having this delicious fun?
You know, I'm going to cry.
He was a very, very dear friend.
And we went through a lot together over all of our decades on the show and cancer.
(18:24):
And I'm sorry.
Thank you for that.
Thank you.
So he's not that bad.
I mean, Anthony would be so happy for me right now and the fact that I'm here with Ray and the fact that I have turned this character into like a
(18:48):
the female bitch from hell.
Like a few little games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, always returning.
We'll see.
Yeah.
Ray, talk about working with Melody Thomas and I think Steve Burton played your son.
(19:09):
Yes.
Steve Burton was my son or at least we thought he was.
Steve was your son.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
It's great work with Mel.
She's been on this show forever and we had a great time working together and I did many nasty things to her in my time.
(19:32):
Oh, yeah.
I believe I could get that to her also.
Really?
And I shot Victor that time.
I had a lot of terrible things and set fire to a building where everybody was having a party and.
Or are you the one who set fire to the farm to their house?
No.
No, she did that.
She did.
(19:53):
No, but you did that to the original house or to the building.
The one that Victor just revealed.
Is that what you did?
I set fire to this office building where they were having some sort of an office party and.
And that's when that's when Justin Hartley was playing.
(20:16):
And yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we had a knockdown dragout fight and and then the building was burning around us and everything was falling down on us and you thought maybe I was dead because the big.
A big chunk of the building fell on me.
And died.
No, can't kill you that easy.
No, that's that's one great thing about the soaps.
(20:40):
You don't die that easily.
It's a great thing.
It's a good thing.
You know, after doing love of life, I know I think you did days very shortly, right?
Was it?
Yeah, yeah.
Do you ever think you do soaps again?
You know, thinking after love of life?
No, I never figured I would ever do soaps again.
And then this days thing came along and the previous little character called hell, rumbling.
(21:05):
I think his name was and I did like eight or nine or ten episodes.
I said something like that and and ran his course and I never thought I would do that, but they caught me a good time.
You know, I was out of work and I needed a paycheck.
I don't I don't like to go work or to go one week without a paycheck of some kind.
You know what?
(21:28):
We are both such like lucky actors to have worked our entire careers all this time.
I mean, there are that many people in this industry who can say that.
(21:49):
And it's such a privilege to be able to keep working.
I mean, talk about gratitude.
I mean, I'm so grateful.
Oh my God.
I am I am I always have said in the luckiest actress.
I don't use that word very often.
(22:12):
The luckiest actor around at my age to have been given this opportunity to keep working.
And now I got him.
And she's dynamite.
I mean, I mean, I look at her in awe when we do our scenes.
(22:34):
She comes up with this stuff that I never anticipated.
And that's the beauty of it.
It keeps me it keeps me revved up and it's on my toes and everything she does is just joy to watch her.
That's the fun of it, I would say.
I would think.
(22:55):
Yeah, challenging each other where you least expect it.
Colleen, I wanted to mention Cassandra said three time cancer survivor here.
I know all about those feelings, Colleen.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it's got to be in the way, you know, just, you know, because you do have two different agendas of those characters and the, you know, coming from two different.
(23:24):
Two different agendas really.
And so like you're, you know, there's so much to I can't wait to see where they take it.
I think there's a great possibility that our agendas may merge.
And at least I hope so.
And, and, and we're not so much, we're not so much.
(23:48):
Unlike where we're alike in many ways.
And I think I think there is a great love between Ian and.
Well, I definitely heard that, um, Mariah and Claire should be very afraid.
So.
So, you know, excited to see that.
(24:10):
That's a good.
It should be very free.
I just shared the soap opera digest cover 17 years ago.
When you shared your cancer journey with everybody, the fans are, we're all asking how you're feeling.
I'm, I'm, you know, I'm remarkably good.
(24:35):
I had great care.
I had great surgeons.
I'm, I'm, I'm very grateful.
I'm healthy.
I'm healthy and been cancer free for, uh, 15 years.
(24:57):
And yeah, excellent.
Yeah.
I mean, I can't complain about that.
That's, that's awesome.
Lisa says you are my idol, Colleen.
Terry says it's a blessing to be able to watch two very talented actors.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
We're having no, we're having no fun.
(25:19):
Yeah, you know, like I said, it doesn't look like it.
You are at all.
At all.
Any, anytime you can get the two of us together is fine by me.
And Ellen, you've known me a long time.
I have Colleen Jonathan Reiner is asking what was tougher the bull ring or the Brussels sprouts?
(25:42):
Okay, that's very, very funny.
We had a couple nights ago on his birthday.
No, he told me we were texting him on his birthday.
He told me.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
The Brussels.
The Brussels sprouts.
You don't even know what that.
The bull ring.
He made her fed her Brussels sprouts, which she hates.
(26:04):
Antwerden hates.
I told you about that.
Yes, you did.
I mean, I mean, through the dungeon wall.
I'm a god.
Yeah.
Somebody's going to have to teach him a lesson one of the days.
And I don't know.
Go ahead.
No.
You know, the bull ring, the bull ring was real.
(26:28):
I mean, we were in Spain.
And we were in Ronda, which was the smallest bull ring in Spain with a real bull.
It was terrifying.
And I was old.
I was 28, maybe 29.
(26:50):
And it was real.
And they, I don't know if you know people know the real story about what happened.
Because when a bull enters the bull ring and sees a human being,
they become terrified.
But then they realize, oh, okay, we got the upper hand.
(27:14):
And what happened was that bull had to be killed.
I never loved that.
And yeah, in the bull ring.
And it was because it no longer was menacing because it realized that the human beings were not the threat.
(27:42):
It was incredible.
Doesn't every bull that enters the bull ring end up being.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so that's, that's what happened.
And so that's what happened.
(28:06):
There was little Danny Pintaro, who was like five or six years old at that point.
Did you see that Danny just was in the hospital?
I just saw it.
Really?
You saw it.
I know.
You know, I think you might be out.
I'm not sure.
I think you guys.
He was doing much, much better.
Yes.
I think I was back to 2015 and winning the daytime memory.
(28:28):
What do you remember about that right and then calling your name?
Well, whatever remember most is that it was a three-way tie.
Yeah.
Donna Mills, right?
Mills, Fred Willard.
Oh, my God.
So there's company.
So that's pretty good company.
Yeah.
Fred Willard, a bull in the beautiful.
(28:49):
He got it for Bowden Beautiful.
He got it first and he went up and exited.
I mean, he called it one at a time.
One at a time.
It was excruciating.
Are you two?
Donna Mills got it second.
And she went up and accepted it and gave her a little speech.
And I'm two out of three gone.
(29:14):
And then they said, Ray Wise.
And then, wow, okay.
Then I went up and I accepted mine.
And I couldn't remember my executive producer's name.
I just at all flew on in my head.
And they still invited you back?
Yes.
Isn't that something?
(29:35):
Well, you know, there's been a big turnover since then.
So it's --
I'm here now.
She's here.
She's here taking very good care of me.
She won't allow them to do anything against my person.
(29:57):
She's your protector.
Yeah, she's my protector.
And I appreciate it very much.
Grant says, really enjoying this conversation.
Colleen's passion and love for this genre is beautiful.
Colleen, did you ever -- I don't know if I asked -- did you pride of world turns?
Did you watch a soap?
(30:19):
No.
Never did.
No.
No.
As a child, my grandmother watched edge of night.
But I never really watched.
I would show up at her house after school and go, "Eh."
But I never watched.
(30:42):
And even in college, I had -- I had girlfriends on my floor in college who were addicted to all my children.
I did not watch.
I was a drama major.
And all of my friends on my floor were not drama majors.
And I said, "I did not want to partake in what I felt was something that I didn't want to do."
(31:12):
And here I am.
Here I am.
Here you are.
I know.
Many, many, many.
And having the time of your life, right?
You never should say, "You just don't know.
You have to be open to all."
I have said this.
We've discussed this.
We've discussed this.
We've discussed this.
(31:33):
We've discussed this with many of my friends in the business.
I love this genre so much.
I love the way we have to work.
I love what we have to do from day to day.
If I were doing a film and doing a page a day or three pages a day, I'd go out of my mind.
(31:57):
Because it's so immediate.
It's more like theater here with what we do.
And I so appreciated.
And I love the fact that the fans are still with us after all these years.
And I'm thrilled that there's a new show coming on behind the gates.
(32:21):
CBS.
Oh my god.
We have a block.
And which is amazing.
It's unbelievable.
And your dear friend is this one of the cars?
I'm so happy for her.
Oh, hello, my phone.
But I so appreciate the fact that the fans have been with us all these years.
(32:51):
And I've been able to work in this medium that I love.
And the fact that I have been able to watch a character first by barbeurine grow and change through all the years.
And now have the opportunity to play this psychotic.
(33:16):
Villain.
Greg, do you agree about the work?
Do you appreciate the.
Oh, yes, yes, because.
Well, we're, you know, we're both.
I guess you could say New York actors.
And that's where we got our beginnings.
And I remember on love of life, you know, the entire cast were.
(33:42):
They were all New York trained stage actors.
They're wonderful actors.
And, and so.
Yeah, well, I remember.
It's a story that they wrote about love of life a long time ago of some of the actors that had been on the show.
(34:05):
Like Warren Beatty and Peter Falk and Roy Scheider.
And just the list goes on and on.
I mean, all of them went on to do great things.
And they got, they got their early training on love of life.
And so.
I think, you know, working in front of those three cameras, whenever we had, it was a three camera show.
(34:27):
No, we have five.
You have five.
We have five.
Oh, five.
No, this is, yeah, this is so cool.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
Wow.
And then.
Love of life.
We had.
We had scrolls on the side of each camera that had all the lines on a rolling scroll.
And so we became very adept at.
(34:51):
If we went up, which means we forgot the next line at checking out what the line is on a camera that wasn't really on us.
And to make it part of the acting performance, if indeed you had to use that scroll.
And so they didn't like to stop ever on love of life.
(35:12):
But that's why you got out at one o'clock every day.
Yeah.
Right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Wow.
But now, now today, you know, they can, you can, you miss up a line.
You can stop immediately and go right back and redo it.
You know, and so it's a wonderful, a wonderful process.
Yeah.
(35:33):
And you worked with Christopher Reeve on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were buds.
He had just got out of a jewelry art.
He was in the same classes, Robin Williams and, you know, he was wonderful.
And I remember I, I would do plays at night, do the soap during the day and do theater at night.
(35:58):
And I did a couple of Broadway shows.
And I remember I got a part in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway playing Ben Volio.
And Chris had already left the show.
His character, it was all, I forget what happened to his character, but he had left the show.
And I got a call from him that night.
After I got cast in Romeo and Juliet and he wanted to know if there were any parts still available.
(36:23):
Well, I don't know.
I don't know if there are any parts of it, but I'll find out.
I'll check for you and see whether there were any parts available, but about a week later Liz Camp,
who was also, she was an actress on Love of Life.
We met for drinks at Joe Allens and she told me, guess what happened to Chris?
(36:49):
And I said, what?
He just signed to play Superman.
Or yeah, and for whoever the producer was, whether this salt's winter, maybe Covey Brock Adam, I forget who the producer was.
But he signed, he signed a three-picture deal.
And he's looking for a bit part in Romeo and Juliet.
(37:14):
He got Superman.
You needed to call him and say, do you have a part in Superman?
I think that's the phone call you needed to make.
I wasn't thinking.
Before that, before he signed when he was actually testing for Superman, he and I, Chris and I, did a commercial for a head and shoulders champ food.
(37:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the business is funny.
That is wild.
Very lucky to be here and be working.
Yes.
And getting a phone call.
Forever grateful.
I think you know, getting a phone call.
(38:06):
I think sometimes, you know, the young actors don't really appreciate it like they should.
You know, at all.
I always say to them, save your money.
Save your money.
Have a bank account and put some money into it because it's not always going to be like this.
Right.
(38:27):
Or maybe it will be.
Maybe it'll be fortunate enough that it will be.
But chances are, it won't be.
So.
And the business.
Where are you when you look back on love of life in those seven years, are you happy you had them at that time for what it helped teach you?
Yes.
Absolutely.
(38:48):
Yes.
Yeah.
It gave me the confidence and also the training that I needed to stand in front of the camera.
I thought I was James Dean at that time.
You know, I was walking around New York with a white t-shirt and jeans.
Stigger, I've rolled up.
Yeah, well, rolled up.
Yes.
(39:09):
And from the acronym, Ohio.
From the acronym, Ohio.
The rubber capitol of the world.
Yeah, there we go.
At that time.
And so, yeah, I thought I thought I was pretty hot stuff on a stage.
But then I started doing this open.
It taught me a whole new ballgame.
And so that early training, I give my later career a lot of credit for that.
(39:33):
Early training.
It was just exactly what I needed at that time.
I was like, I was like, 2021, you're a zold, I think, the time.
Yeah.
Wow.
It's what I needed.
You had a college.
Just out of college.
Yeah, just just graduated.
And I went to New York with a suitcase and $300 in my pocket that I had managed to save up.
Why'd you choose New York over in Los Angeles?
(39:56):
Oh.
I was a stage actor.
I mean, come on.
You're an after what I thought you were going to say.
Yeah, theater.
I was a, I was the king of the theater department.
It can't, can't state the university.
Yeah.
And yeah, it never even crossed my mind that I'd want to do episodic television.
(40:17):
So anyway, I went to New York because I knew that that's where James Dean and Marlon Brando all started.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had all the great ones.
And Paul Newman, Montgomery Clifft, all of your boys.
So I went there and with a suitcase and $300 in my pocket and and a date to meet with an agent.
(40:42):
And I met with an agent and he sent me out on two things.
One was a production of fortune and men's eyes that sell many of what was directing.
And he opened casting call at CBS and was 57th Street.
And I walked into that casting call and Gene Arley was the casting director at that time who later she later became executive producer of Love of Life.
(41:10):
And she had me a few pages and she said, go out the hall.
You know, look this over and then come back in and read it for me.
I went out in the hall, looked it over and came back in and and and I read it like.
On the waterfront.
Okay.
And she looked at me.
She was.
Yeah.
And she looked at me and she thought, well, this.
(41:32):
I don't know what this guy's doing, but he has some potential.
And so I got a call two or three days later to come down to the studio on West 53rd Street, which was the Love of Life studio at that time.
And do a camera test.
I did the camera test for a very fine director that I love very much. Larry, our back.
(41:56):
And you know, I love Larry.
Oh, my God.
He taught me so much that I'm very.
I don't think so.
Okay.
The name sounds familiar.
Ray, did you have to do that screen test opposite anybody?
No, because it was a scene where I was.
(42:17):
I was going through somebody's purse.
I was replacing a guy in the show.
A guy by the name of the character's name was Jamie Rollins.
And he was a.
He was kind of a hippie college radical.
And that's that's how I started as a hippie college radical.
And then in seven short years, I was an attorney in the district attorneys office.
(42:39):
Of course you were.
I was a reporter for the local newspaper and working.
Or Dal, Dal Pal on the newspaper, Marsha Mason, you know, that the actress, Marsha Mason.
Yeah.
You're, you know, Mary Neal Simon and.
That's a not long story.
(43:01):
Anyway, yes.
And.
And that's.
That's the way it happened.
Were you like surprised how quickly you had a role on a television show?
Yes.
Yes.
And I never expected it.
And so I started doing it.
And really got into the group.
(43:22):
I really, I really enjoyed it and loved all the people on the show.
And I had a mother and a father on the show.
Larry Weber and Louise Troy.
Louise Troy was my mother.
She was married to Werner Clemperer.
You know, that actor, the actor, a Werner Clemperer.
And Larry Weber, a wonderful actor.
It's so many.
(43:43):
Yeah, just wonderful people.
And.
And I started doing a show.
And I think I did somewhere around in between eight or 900 shows.
That's incredible.
That's incredible.
Colleen Jason says.
Colleen has entered in perfectly blends camp and terror equally.
It's perfectly okay.
(44:04):
And I think that's the best.
Sometimes I'm over her top.
And then we even out.
Mysterio says I hope why an arc can make sure they don't go to jail.
Just have the power to call.
The new man grief.
(44:35):
Well, we'll see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a nice idea.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
I was curious what led you, you know, you wanted to be a theater actor, but what led you into acting?
Where did your love of the arts begin?
(44:57):
This is always I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about ten years old.
Really.
I did the fourth grade Christmas play.
And the part that I got was playing a Christmas tree.
I got a Christmas tree in the background.
These pine branches on my arms and they had lights on me.
(45:22):
And there was a guy and a girl who were the leads in the play.
And they were skating on a pond in front of me.
And I thought to myself as I was playing the tree.
Someday I want to be that skater.
Wow.
So I don't like being back here.
I'm not saying the tree.
(45:45):
Fourth grade.
I'd already, you know, I've been a little dancer.
I already made my TV debut at five years old.
NBC Chicago.
Thank you.
Yeah.
But in fourth grade, I made my first production playing Christopher Columbus.
(46:10):
You were Christopher Columbus.
What kind of an outfit did you have?
I got pants and, you know, you had a wig for a Christmas.
I was Christopher Columbus.
Yeah.
I played a guy for the first time.
My first play I ever did.
I played a guy.
There we go.
(46:33):
For both of you, what's your favorite stage role?
I've never told this story.
Who was that?
Who are your favorite stage roles that you've played?
Oh.
Oh, wow.
That's a good question.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, really.
I think I'm playing Timmy Cleary and the subject was Roses.
I think playing Francisco Pizarro and Royal Hunter the Sun.
(46:59):
Playing Don Coyote and Man of La Mancha.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, that's what I can do.
The ones I can think of on the top of my head.
Playing Haas and Sam Shepard's The Tooth of Crime.
That I won the OB Award for New York.
(47:20):
That's the off Broadway Tony.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's that.
Those are the ones I can think of the top of my head.
How about you?
Okay.
Well, Jolly.
I'm going to do that in New Hope.
I saw you do that in New Hope.
I know you did.
Oh, I know.
(47:41):
Thank you.
Oh, I know.
Thank you.
Um, Phil is stone.
Sometimes follies.
Probably one of my favorite roles I've ever done.
Oh, wow.
Such a brilliant, brilliant piece of theater, brilliant role.
It suited me perfectly.
(48:08):
And then more recently, um, other desert cities, which I've done twice now, which I love.
And then there's love letters, which, um, did you ever see?
I never saw love letters.
I don't think.
No.
You too.
Uh-huh.
(48:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're talking about it.
Are you good?
I think fans would come out and droves.
Oh my god, that'd be so great.
Yeah.
It would be a good piece for us.
Totally.
Totally.
Is there anybody out there who has a little theater somewhere?
And they would like to have the two of us there just make make an offer, you know?
(48:53):
Make an offer.
Absolutely.
Do you still at the stage have a dream role?
Well, I see.
I played, uh, I played Hamlet and Hamlet.
That that's sort of got me, uh, you know, into into the soap opera groove, learning 35 pages a day.
I learned the entire text of Hamlet in four weeks.
(49:16):
And at playmakers rep down at the University of North Carolina.
They had a professional repertoire company there.
And that was one of, also one of my favorite roles, but a bear to do.
It's just, uh, uh, it's the longest role, a role in, uh, history of theater.
It's the Rolls Rice of Rolls.
(49:38):
And if you can pull that one off.
And they, I think they, uh, they called mine the club Easter would hamlet.
Because you knew when I came on stage that somebody was going to die.
Well, does that scare you taking on such a challenging role?
(50:00):
Yeah, it did, you know, and any any time I feel scared, I feel good.
That's something worth doing and, uh, the challenges to do it well.
And so if it frightens me, that's what I want.
Okay, I have a question for you.
Um, about a week ago, I had a classic actor's nightmare.
(50:26):
What?
The actor's nightmare.
Like, waking up.
Not knowing your lines.
Not knowing my lines, not knowing my choreography, not knowing what I'm going to be doing.
And, um, I hadn't had one of those for a long time.
Oh, see?
Yeah.
You get those creative juices out again.
Yeah, I know.
Absolutely.
(50:47):
I know.
Yeah.
So, um, on my...
The inter-talk talk shop sort of all day, because I could see like the enthusiasm from all of you.
We do.
We do.
That's what we do.
You know, well, we have, uh, seven decades to talk about.
So there's quite a bit.
(51:08):
Michael was asking you, Colleen, when I mentioned the over the top that the other Jason mentioned,
who are you over the top actor inspirations?
Hmm.
Whoa.
Uh.
Uh.
I don't know.
Here it is.
Carobornat?
What's a volumatrice?
Carobornat.
(51:29):
Yep.
Um.
That's about it.
I mean.
I mean.
I...
You don't get much more than that.
My idol, when I was growing up, I wanted to be Carobornat.
(51:50):
I wanted to be Carobornat and Liza Bernelli.
Could have flied.
I'll pack your shop together.
Yeah.
What are you so far?
I mean, that's...
Yeah.
I mean, and talk about she's still killing it.
Yeah.
Or Liza.
Carobornat.
(52:11):
Carobornat.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
I love her.
Yeah.
What a talent.
I'm unbelievable.
But going back to your question about characters that I would want to play.
Yeah.
Sense of Boulevard?
Yeah.
(52:33):
Norman Bezman.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Swini Todd.
Right.
Okay.
That's about it.
If I could do those two characters, I'd say I'm a happy girl.
Uh-huh.
Wow.
Yeah.
That Anjana Landsberg character.
There we go.
Correct.
Yep.
Yep.
(52:54):
I'd love to be a fly with you two.
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
I was doing, yeah, go ahead, right?
Where are you?
Well, one time I was invited to an AARP, a bank, what?
Movies for old people.
I think.
And.
I was going to accept it and award for David Strathrin for good night and good luck.
(53:17):
I was in the movie Good Night and Good Luck.
It's the George Clooney directed.
And so David couldn't pick up his award.
So I, they sent me in his stead.
And, uh, and I received the award from Shelley Burman and Anjana Landsberg.
Really?
So that when you say, when you mentioned Anjana Landsberg, and I thought about that.
(53:42):
And then I took the award from their hands and then thanked them for David.
And then Shelley Burman was kind enough to say, uh, he complimented my performance in Good Night and Good Luck.
I don't have.
Well, I played Don Holland back and, uh, and, um, I commit suicide in that, in that.
(54:03):
I can't see that.
You did not see that film.
Yeah, I haven't either.
That's a George Clooney one, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, you have, you have to see it.
It's really, it's wonderful.
It's a wonderful, and everybody's in it.
You know, Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Daniels and Patricia Clarkson.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
And, um, incredible cast.
(54:25):
Frank Langella.
Yeah, just incredible cast.
Yeah.
And I started frank to Dracula, I think.
Huh?
Didn't Frank do Dracula on Broadway?
They played Dracula on Broadway.
Yeah.
A character that I always wanted to play.
You should have done that.
Yeah.
I always.
You should have done that.
(54:46):
I, I, when I was 12, I know.
I know that.
You need to be each other's agent.
And I.
When I was old, someone gave me a first edition of Dracula.
No, perhaps Stoker's book.
1897.
Two thousand?
Yeah.
First, uh, US, US edition.
(55:07):
Not the European one.
1897.
And I became a Dracula file.
Really.
I must have read that book.
That.
I have to read it for a long time.
Yeah.
That explains a lot.
Yeah.
I love that.
(55:29):
I love that.
I'm a fan of all the Dracula movies, you know, the Hammer ones with Christopher Lee and all of them.
But the definitive Dracula's never been done.
Gary Oldman's was okay, you know.
I think that was the first time I've ever seen a Dracula.
(55:50):
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
(56:12):
And of course, and of course, now they have the technical capability of making me younger when I have to be younger.
There you go.
Yes, they do.
You're right.
Let's move out all my wrinkles.
They can, you know, firm up my chin and, you know, and so I can go from being an old man to being a young Dracula.
(56:36):
A young Dracula.
Ray, I wanted to read what Mel wrote. She said, Mr. Ray Wise is so brilliant.
His portrayal of Leland Polymer scared me silly for years.
I love Mr. Ray Wise.
You know, you have done so many episodic.
I actually, when I was looking at IMDB today and I saw Charlie's Angels, that was my show growing up.
(56:59):
I went back and saw your big hair today.
What is your, you know, so many episodics do you have a favorite?
Well, you know, it's the Charlie's Angels was actually my first job out here in California when I left New York.
Oh, my God.
Jamie Lee Curtis and then with all of the angels.
(57:21):
That was her second job.
Oh, my God.
The first one was a film called Halloween.
Oh, yeah.
But we have a Halloween to do Charlie's Angels with me.
And I put this ex-Army guy who was stalking her and she was a, he was a female professional golfer.
(57:43):
Yeah.
And I think I got eaten by an alligator.
Oh, good God.
Yeah. On a golf course.
In Florida.
Probably.
It would have to be.
That is amazing that that was your first.
Me, Nana too, I guess, but yeah, your first gig in California.
(58:04):
Huh?
That that was your first gig in California.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, Charlie's Angels.
Yeah.
And then right after that Barnaby Jones.
Remember Barnaby Jones.
I do, of course.
Did you do it?
I, he didn't like to do that.
I don't know.
He was, he was a sweet, sweet guy.
(58:26):
A wonderful man.
But I think it's that he.
He was passed his dancing days.
Well, the fans have just eaten this up with a spoon.
They could watch you both for hours.
They want you to, you know, stay out of jail.
They want you to take over Newman Enterprises.
(58:51):
I love that.
I like that.
Yeah.
Before I let you go, the holidays are approaching.
Colleen, will you be back in Florida or still?
I'm going home for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What?
Yeah.
Will you be traveling both of you for the holidays?
(59:14):
What are the holidays like?
No, go ahead.
No, I, I was both my daughters were here for Thanksgiving.
I was in a beautiful week together.
And now I'm going back home to all of my friends in Florida.
And, and then we'll see what happens.
Yeah.
I'm going to be staying put in spending most of my time in my own backyard.
(59:35):
I love that.
With all of my fruit trees and, and, and, and I like to swim in my pool.
And, and I don't need anything more than my own backyard.
I hope to have a pool in my backyard one day for the same purpose.
For the same purpose.
I, I don't need to leave.
Such a delight to meet you, Ray, Colleen.
(59:56):
I love you.
Thank you so much.
Enjoy, enjoy all of this.
The fans are totally enjoying every second of it.
And one of them, Mark and just said, can I be and Jordan's henchman?
It couldn't be better.
Enjoy it.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thanks, everybody, for watching.
(01:00:20):
Thank you to Colleen and Ray Wise for joining me today.
And Mariah and Claire should be very afraid of the in and in Jordan.
So stay tuned to the Young and the Restless weekdays at CBS.
If you haven't yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do so down below.
Turn on the notifications for reminders of all upcoming shows.
And if you'd like to stream audio versions, just search the locker room on your favorite podcast app.
(01:00:44):
[Music]
[Music]
(00:07):
Hi everybody, happy to have you here on Villain Madness Day in the locker room.
I'm Alan Locker.
Genoa City has no idea what's coming as Ian Ward and Antwerd and team up to
cause some havoc.
Ray Wise and Colleen Zink recently made their dramatic and unexpected return to
the young and the restless to continue their revenge tour.
(00:28):
Colleen Zink and Jordan hasn't been seen since June and Ray's in Ward has been
MIA since 2016.
Ray won the daytime Emmy Award for outstanding guest performer for his work on YNR in 2015.
These two have formed a dangerous alliance that's guaranteed to keep us the viewer on the
(00:49):
edge of our seats for the foreseeable future.
It is my pleasure to welcome Ray Wise and Colleen Zink to the locker room.
How are you?
How are you?
How are you?
I am well, how are you?
Very good, thank you Alan.
Pleasure to meet you, Ray.
Why don't we start with you?
How did the show approach you about bringing Ian Ward back to the canvas?
(01:14):
Well, I got an email from Josh, our executive producer head writer and he said, "Would you
be open to letting Ian Ward out of jail in the Black Lives Matter City?"
And I had secretly hoped for the last seven or eight years that they would let me out of
(01:35):
jail and I could come back and reestablish my relationships in the city.
Did you have that much fun the first time around?
I had a great amount of fun the first time around and we're having even more fun now.
I think so.
These last few days, Colleen, when you left in June, you and I talked, you knew you'd be returning
(01:59):
at some point.
Did you have any idea this is what Josh had in mind back then?
I only knew that Josh said to me, "You need an accomplice."
And then my brain started working.
I know the history of the show and I went, "Oh my God, could it be?
(02:27):
Could it be?"
And there it is.
I know you watched the show, Colleen.
Did you, as the things were unfolding with Sharon, were you wondering if you had anything
to do with all of that?
I mean, before we came back.
(02:49):
Yeah, before you started?
No.
I didn't really think about that being a part of where it was coming from because we were
off camera for so long during the summer and then all of a sudden things started happening
with her and I went, "Oh my God, we've been in the background for months and in general
(03:16):
in the city and not even knowing that we were there."
Yes, I had no idea about anything.
Well, I'm so impressed with Matt Kane and everybody at Y&R, Colleen, a year ago when you
came to the canvas, nobody knew what was happening and nobody knew this time around.
(03:41):
What was that like for both of you?
I know you couldn't even attend the 13,000 celebration.
No, they kept, I mean, I was so upset about that.
Frankly, I thought, you know, it was a 13,000 show and world turns.
We were on for 13,000 and almost 14,000.
And so it was a very, very big deal, but we couldn't be a part of it because we were, you
(04:08):
know, backstage.
And that made me very sad.
Here we are.
And I think it was well worth it.
I didn't even know there was a celebration.
See that's how much in the dark I was.
That is so funny.
By the way, the little thing I used at the intro of villain madness came from one of our fans,
(04:33):
Gabriel.
He had written that earlier on the chat here and I was like, "I'm going to use that."
Yeah, I'm talking now.
Villan Madness.
Villan Madness.
I think you just spoke to Michael Maloney, contributor for TV Insider.
(04:54):
And you talked about the fact you two had never met and you met in the makeup department
for the first time.
Both of you, what was that meeting when you first met?
Well, Ray was sitting in the makeup chair and I walked over and I said, "Hi, I'm Colleen
and I'm playing Jordan."
(05:15):
And he looked at me like, "Okay, who?"
I had no idea.
Unfortunately, I hadn't watched that much of as the world terms, but I did.
I researched her a little bit when I found out who was playing the part and I saw her
history and she's the dancer that she is.
(05:40):
Oh, we got it.
Yes, yes.
And then she sent me a legs commercial, which I thought was...
I played that last year, I think, while we...
That was outstanding.
Outstanding.
She had beautiful legs.
Oh, we've been blessed.
I haven't seen them lately, but she's always wearing pants.
(06:04):
And covering them up.
So I don't get to see them.
Well, in a soap digest interview, Josh Griffith discussed his love of Hitchcock films.
Did he share his thoughts on that with both of you and tied to this idea?
Did he with you?
Yeah, he did.
(06:24):
He mentioned Hitchcock.
He also mentioned David Lynch, you know?
Oh, yeah.
Because I'm an old...
Yeah.
Twin Peaks.
So, yeah, I think, you know, he...
Quart, you know, and matched up with his story idea, this whole Alfred Hitchcock approach.
Yeah.
But I...
(06:45):
What I remember, which Josh told me about you, is the whole connection with David Lynch
and how he revered David Lynch's work.
Yeah.
And the whole Twin Peaks saga.
(07:07):
And even when I started to go back, because I mean, I remember Twin Peaks, but in the day,
but I was working.
Yeah, so...
Right.
I was up at 345 every morning and going to World Tour, and so...
Sure.
...wasn't watching...
(07:27):
You can't pay much attention to anything, really, except...
As the World Tourns.
And learning lines.
Yeah.
Learning lines and commuting and commuting and children.
And...
But what Josh told me, because I told him, this is a couple months ago, after we started working
(07:51):
together, I said, you know, I've been looking, I...
I've almost screamed the entire first season of Twin Peaks.
And then I said, and then I went to the 2017 version, and Josh said, me, no, no, go back.
Go back.
(08:11):
You have to go back to Fire Walks With Me.
Right.
And watch the film, which I did.
And this man, I can't, as an actor, I can't believe the bravery that you had with that character.
I mean, Ray?
(08:33):
Well, Colleen, you also told Michael Molloney that you have found an acting partner in Ray
that you never expected to have at this point in your life.
Right.
Alibrate on that.
I mean, look, we both have been around for a long time.
(08:57):
You know, we both got...
You got your first time at the rodeo?
No.
No, no, no.
We both went from the theater.
57 years for me, 57.
I've been a pro actor.
I can go back further than that.
Because I've been a member of SAG since 1967.
(09:21):
That's when I became a member of actors' equity.
Right.
Yeah.
So, I mean, as actors, we have a lot in common, and then we have never met before.
But we have so many people in common.
And that's kind of the stories that we've been telling to each other.
(09:43):
Yeah, we discover new ones every day.
I know.
Yeah.
I know.
But to be my age, I'm going to be 72 in a few weeks, to find somebody that I can work with
(10:04):
at this level in my life and be asked to work as an actor, as a female actor.
At this point is remarkable.
72.
Oh, you're just a baby.
Oh, shut up.
Well, I'm not seeing you two yet, you know, Monday and Tuesday.
(10:28):
I mean, it doesn't look like you're having fun at all.
You can.
We're just nonstop laughs.
And then of course, we get serious when the cameras are rolling.
I for three, five for three.
One of the viewers, Ray, said, "I want to thank Mr. Wise for the joy he brings me when
(10:49):
this crazy world gets to be too much.
His voice and smile soothes me.
He is an amazing actor."
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Well, thank her very much for what you would please.
I will.
I don't know.
R.R.G.
Light is their screen name, but yeah.
(11:10):
That's wonderful.
Yeah, yesterday and today saw a wrinkle begin in this beautiful alliance as you, Ian, Ray,
as Ian may not be holding up your end of the bargain to help get revenge against Jordan's
enemies.
How would you describe their agenda?
(11:31):
Well, I don't know where she gets that.
Why am I holding up my end of the bargain?
I always hold up my end of the bargain.
I always do.
But you have to sometimes you have to dig down to find the actual agenda that I'm working
(11:53):
on, but I'm always holding up my end.
Really?
Yes.
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Who contradicts me at every turn?
Every turn?
She's giving you a run for your money.
That's for sure.
The goodness she is.
She certainly is.
(12:14):
I said, you know, that Coleen is actually female, Ray, wise.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
And then vice versa.
And vice versa.
There we go.
I love that.
I love that.
I love that.
That's fabulous.
That is fabulous.
I like it when everyone around the studio saw both of you return.
(12:34):
Oh my god.
Um, I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(12:56):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(13:22):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
(13:44):
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I don't think people are going to be able to do that.
I was so impressed at how Ann Jordan was connected to Eve Howard in the past.
Ann Eain Ray, I understand Eain as well when you joined in 2014 or so,
(14:10):
you had a past with Melody Thomas' character, Nikki.
Yeah, all the way back into the '60s.
I was a cult leader and I had my own group of disciples and followers.
You know, and she was one of them.
And Paul, the old...
Yeah, Doug Davidson.
(14:32):
He was one of them too.
And I guess I had a great effect on their early lives.
Oh, oh.
Yep.
That's amazing.
How did the role first come about back then?
How did the role...
How did they approach you?
Do you remember?
The question.
(14:53):
Yeah, let me think now.
So that would be after Twin Peaks.
It was 2014, I believe, 10 years ago, I think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, 2014.
It was way after Twin Peaks.
It was after I did a series called Reaper,
where I played the devil on television on the CW network for a couple of years.
And then I was doing how I met your mother.
(15:18):
And then I think I just got a call from my agent out of the blue saying,
"Would you be interested in playing this character on a soap opera?
Why an R?"
And I said, "But, for sure.
What's the character? What's it all about?"
So he's a cult leader.
(15:39):
I said, "Stop right there."
You got me.
You got me.
Oh, there you go.
And so I agreed to it.
And the rest of this history, I think I did some 65 or 70 episodes.
Yeah, I watched that then.
As Ian, yeah.
I watched.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, at that point, world turns with off the air.
(16:02):
Right.
So I was in Florida, caring for my mom.
And would turn on the show every day and see my friends.
Right, yeah.
And you, who I never knew.
And you didn't know me at all?
No.
No.
No. I only knew your work.
Right.
(16:23):
I only knew your work.
I never knew you.
Right.
And you know, Ray, a fan Tony was asking, I mean, you had seven years on love of life.
And then you really hadn't had a long soap gig in total, young and the restless in 2014.
How different from love of life to when you did why and all the first time around?
(16:44):
Like night and day.
Yeah.
No comparison.
Love of life was a half hour show.
And we did it like it was a stage play.
We started with the first act and kept right on going until the fifth act.
And some 23 or 24 minutes later, we were done.
But you also had a table read at the end of the day, correct?
(17:07):
And we had a rehearsal at the end of the day.
Right.
The end day for the following day.
We were done shooting the show at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Right.
And then we come back at 2 in rehearsal for the next day.
So the next day.
Yeah.
I mean, that's how things were done back then.
Yeah, I remember I think like search might have even had that or something back in the day.
Back in the day.
Gerard said, Ray was wonderful and heartbreaking in Twin Peaks in both the Jelsing and the scene with Alicia Witt playing the piano.
(17:33):
Oh, yes.
Oh, my God.
Come on.
Get happy.
I said.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Colleen, you know, going back to world turns, you were quite the victim of one of daytime's most notorious villains, James Stenbach, before turning Barbara into one herself many years later.
Of course, James was played by the incredible Anthony Herrera.
(17:59):
Do you ever think what Anthony would say watching you having this delicious fun?
You know, I'm going to cry.
He was a very, very dear friend.
And we went through a lot together over all of our decades on the show and cancer.
(18:24):
And I'm sorry.
Thank you for that.
Thank you.
So he's not that bad.
I mean, Anthony would be so happy for me right now and the fact that I'm here with Ray and the fact that I have turned this character into like a
(18:48):
the female bitch from hell.
Like a few little games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, always returning.
We'll see.
Yeah.
Ray, talk about working with Melody Thomas and I think Steve Burton played your son.
(19:09):
Yes.
Steve Burton was my son or at least we thought he was.
Steve was your son.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
It's great work with Mel.
She's been on this show forever and we had a great time working together and I did many nasty things to her in my time.
(19:32):
Oh, yeah.
I believe I could get that to her also.
Really?
And I shot Victor that time.
I had a lot of terrible things and set fire to a building where everybody was having a party and.
Or are you the one who set fire to the farm to their house?
No.
No, she did that.
She did.
(19:53):
No, but you did that to the original house or to the building.
The one that Victor just revealed.
Is that what you did?
I set fire to this office building where they were having some sort of an office party and.
And that's when that's when Justin Hartley was playing.
(20:16):
And yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we had a knockdown dragout fight and and then the building was burning around us and everything was falling down on us and you thought maybe I was dead because the big.
A big chunk of the building fell on me.
And died.
No, can't kill you that easy.
No, that's that's one great thing about the soaps.
(20:40):
You don't die that easily.
It's a great thing.
It's a good thing.
You know, after doing love of life, I know I think you did days very shortly, right?
Was it?
Yeah, yeah.
Do you ever think you do soaps again?
You know, thinking after love of life?
No, I never figured I would ever do soaps again.
And then this days thing came along and the previous little character called hell, rumbling.
(21:05):
I think his name was and I did like eight or nine or ten episodes.
I said something like that and and ran his course and I never thought I would do that, but they caught me a good time.
You know, I was out of work and I needed a paycheck.
I don't I don't like to go work or to go one week without a paycheck of some kind.
You know what?
(21:28):
We are both such like lucky actors to have worked our entire careers all this time.
I mean, there are that many people in this industry who can say that.
(21:49):
And it's such a privilege to be able to keep working.
I mean, talk about gratitude.
I mean, I'm so grateful.
Oh my God.
I am I am I always have said in the luckiest actress.
I don't use that word very often.
(22:12):
The luckiest actor around at my age to have been given this opportunity to keep working.
And now I got him.
And she's dynamite.
I mean, I mean, I look at her in awe when we do our scenes.
(22:34):
She comes up with this stuff that I never anticipated.
And that's the beauty of it.
It keeps me it keeps me revved up and it's on my toes and everything she does is just joy to watch her.
That's the fun of it, I would say.
I would think.
(22:55):
Yeah, challenging each other where you least expect it.
Colleen, I wanted to mention Cassandra said three time cancer survivor here.
I know all about those feelings, Colleen.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it's got to be in the way, you know, just, you know, because you do have two different agendas of those characters and the, you know, coming from two different.
(23:24):
Two different agendas really.
And so like you're, you know, there's so much to I can't wait to see where they take it.
I think there's a great possibility that our agendas may merge.
And at least I hope so.
And, and, and we're not so much, we're not so much.
(23:48):
Unlike where we're alike in many ways.
And I think I think there is a great love between Ian and.
Well, I definitely heard that, um, Mariah and Claire should be very afraid.
So.
So, you know, excited to see that.
(24:10):
That's a good.
It should be very free.
I just shared the soap opera digest cover 17 years ago.
When you shared your cancer journey with everybody, the fans are, we're all asking how you're feeling.
I'm, I'm, you know, I'm remarkably good.
(24:35):
I had great care.
I had great surgeons.
I'm, I'm, I'm very grateful.
I'm healthy.
I'm healthy and been cancer free for, uh, 15 years.
(24:57):
And yeah, excellent.
Yeah.
I mean, I can't complain about that.
That's, that's awesome.
Lisa says you are my idol, Colleen.
Terry says it's a blessing to be able to watch two very talented actors.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
We're having no, we're having no fun.
(25:19):
Yeah, you know, like I said, it doesn't look like it.
You are at all.
At all.
Any, anytime you can get the two of us together is fine by me.
And Ellen, you've known me a long time.
I have Colleen Jonathan Reiner is asking what was tougher the bull ring or the Brussels sprouts?
(25:42):
Okay, that's very, very funny.
We had a couple nights ago on his birthday.
No, he told me we were texting him on his birthday.
He told me.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
The Brussels.
The Brussels sprouts.
You don't even know what that.
The bull ring.
He made her fed her Brussels sprouts, which she hates.
(26:04):
Antwerden hates.
I told you about that.
Yes, you did.
I mean, I mean, through the dungeon wall.
I'm a god.
Yeah.
Somebody's going to have to teach him a lesson one of the days.
And I don't know.
Go ahead.
No.
You know, the bull ring, the bull ring was real.
(26:28):
I mean, we were in Spain.
And we were in Ronda, which was the smallest bull ring in Spain with a real bull.
It was terrifying.
And I was old.
I was 28, maybe 29.
(26:50):
And it was real.
And they, I don't know if you know people know the real story about what happened.
Because when a bull enters the bull ring and sees a human being,
they become terrified.
But then they realize, oh, okay, we got the upper hand.
(27:14):
And what happened was that bull had to be killed.
I never loved that.
And yeah, in the bull ring.
And it was because it no longer was menacing because it realized that the human beings were not the threat.
(27:42):
It was incredible.
Doesn't every bull that enters the bull ring end up being.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so that's, that's what happened.
And so that's what happened.
(28:06):
There was little Danny Pintaro, who was like five or six years old at that point.
Did you see that Danny just was in the hospital?
I just saw it.
Really?
You saw it.
I know.
You know, I think you might be out.
I'm not sure.
I think you guys.
He was doing much, much better.
Yes.
I think I was back to 2015 and winning the daytime memory.
(28:28):
What do you remember about that right and then calling your name?
Well, whatever remember most is that it was a three-way tie.
Yeah.
Donna Mills, right?
Mills, Fred Willard.
Oh, my God.
So there's company.
So that's pretty good company.
Yeah.
Fred Willard, a bull in the beautiful.
(28:49):
He got it for Bowden Beautiful.
He got it first and he went up and exited.
I mean, he called it one at a time.
One at a time.
It was excruciating.
Are you two?
Donna Mills got it second.
And she went up and accepted it and gave her a little speech.
And I'm two out of three gone.
(29:14):
And then they said, Ray Wise.
And then, wow, okay.
Then I went up and I accepted mine.
And I couldn't remember my executive producer's name.
I just at all flew on in my head.
And they still invited you back?
Yes.
Isn't that something?
(29:35):
Well, you know, there's been a big turnover since then.
So it's --
I'm here now.
She's here.
She's here taking very good care of me.
She won't allow them to do anything against my person.
(29:57):
She's your protector.
Yeah, she's my protector.
And I appreciate it very much.
Grant says, really enjoying this conversation.
Colleen's passion and love for this genre is beautiful.
Colleen, did you ever -- I don't know if I asked -- did you pride of world turns?
Did you watch a soap?
(30:19):
No.
Never did.
No.
No.
As a child, my grandmother watched edge of night.
But I never really watched.
I would show up at her house after school and go, "Eh."
But I never watched.
(30:42):
And even in college, I had -- I had girlfriends on my floor in college who were addicted to all my children.
I did not watch.
I was a drama major.
And all of my friends on my floor were not drama majors.
And I said, "I did not want to partake in what I felt was something that I didn't want to do."
(31:12):
And here I am.
Here I am.
Here you are.
I know.
Many, many, many.
And having the time of your life, right?
You never should say, "You just don't know.
You have to be open to all."
I have said this.
We've discussed this.
We've discussed this.
We've discussed this.
(31:33):
We've discussed this with many of my friends in the business.
I love this genre so much.
I love the way we have to work.
I love what we have to do from day to day.
If I were doing a film and doing a page a day or three pages a day, I'd go out of my mind.
(31:57):
Because it's so immediate.
It's more like theater here with what we do.
And I so appreciated.
And I love the fact that the fans are still with us after all these years.
And I'm thrilled that there's a new show coming on behind the gates.
(32:21):
CBS.
Oh my god.
We have a block.
And which is amazing.
It's unbelievable.
And your dear friend is this one of the cars?
I'm so happy for her.
Oh, hello, my phone.
But I so appreciate the fact that the fans have been with us all these years.
(32:51):
And I've been able to work in this medium that I love.
And the fact that I have been able to watch a character first by barbeurine grow and change through all the years.
And now have the opportunity to play this psychotic.
(33:16):
Villain.
Greg, do you agree about the work?
Do you appreciate the.
Oh, yes, yes, because.
Well, we're, you know, we're both.
I guess you could say New York actors.
And that's where we got our beginnings.
And I remember on love of life, you know, the entire cast were.
(33:42):
They were all New York trained stage actors.
They're wonderful actors.
And, and so.
Yeah, well, I remember.
It's a story that they wrote about love of life a long time ago of some of the actors that had been on the show.
(34:05):
Like Warren Beatty and Peter Falk and Roy Scheider.
And just the list goes on and on.
I mean, all of them went on to do great things.
And they got, they got their early training on love of life.
And so.
I think, you know, working in front of those three cameras, whenever we had, it was a three camera show.
(34:27):
No, we have five.
You have five.
We have five.
Oh, five.
No, this is, yeah, this is so cool.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
Wow.
And then.
Love of life.
We had.
We had scrolls on the side of each camera that had all the lines on a rolling scroll.
And so we became very adept at.
(34:51):
If we went up, which means we forgot the next line at checking out what the line is on a camera that wasn't really on us.
And to make it part of the acting performance, if indeed you had to use that scroll.
And so they didn't like to stop ever on love of life.
(35:12):
But that's why you got out at one o'clock every day.
Yeah.
Right.
That's right.
Yeah.
Wow.
But now, now today, you know, they can, you can, you miss up a line.
You can stop immediately and go right back and redo it.
You know, and so it's a wonderful, a wonderful process.
Yeah.
(35:33):
And you worked with Christopher Reeve on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were buds.
He had just got out of a jewelry art.
He was in the same classes, Robin Williams and, you know, he was wonderful.
And I remember I, I would do plays at night, do the soap during the day and do theater at night.
(35:58):
And I did a couple of Broadway shows.
And I remember I got a part in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway playing Ben Volio.
And Chris had already left the show.
His character, it was all, I forget what happened to his character, but he had left the show.
And I got a call from him that night.
After I got cast in Romeo and Juliet and he wanted to know if there were any parts still available.
(36:23):
Well, I don't know.
I don't know if there are any parts of it, but I'll find out.
I'll check for you and see whether there were any parts available, but about a week later Liz Camp,
who was also, she was an actress on Love of Life.
We met for drinks at Joe Allens and she told me, guess what happened to Chris?
(36:49):
And I said, what?
He just signed to play Superman.
Or yeah, and for whoever the producer was, whether this salt's winter, maybe Covey Brock Adam, I forget who the producer was.
But he signed, he signed a three-picture deal.
And he's looking for a bit part in Romeo and Juliet.
(37:14):
He got Superman.
You needed to call him and say, do you have a part in Superman?
I think that's the phone call you needed to make.
I wasn't thinking.
Before that, before he signed when he was actually testing for Superman, he and I, Chris and I, did a commercial for a head and shoulders champ food.
(37:44):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, the business is funny.
That is wild.
Very lucky to be here and be working.
Yes.
And getting a phone call.
Forever grateful.
I think you know, getting a phone call.
(38:06):
I think sometimes, you know, the young actors don't really appreciate it like they should.
You know, at all.
I always say to them, save your money.
Save your money.
Have a bank account and put some money into it because it's not always going to be like this.
Right.
(38:27):
Or maybe it will be.
Maybe it'll be fortunate enough that it will be.
But chances are, it won't be.
So.
And the business.
Where are you when you look back on love of life in those seven years, are you happy you had them at that time for what it helped teach you?
Yes.
Absolutely.
(38:48):
Yes.
Yeah.
It gave me the confidence and also the training that I needed to stand in front of the camera.
I thought I was James Dean at that time.
You know, I was walking around New York with a white t-shirt and jeans.
Stigger, I've rolled up.
Yeah, well, rolled up.
Yes.
(39:09):
And from the acronym, Ohio.
From the acronym, Ohio.
The rubber capitol of the world.
Yeah, there we go.
At that time.
And so, yeah, I thought I thought I was pretty hot stuff on a stage.
But then I started doing this open.
It taught me a whole new ballgame.
And so that early training, I give my later career a lot of credit for that.
(39:33):
Early training.
It was just exactly what I needed at that time.
I was like, I was like, 2021, you're a zold, I think, the time.
Yeah.
Wow.
It's what I needed.
You had a college.
Just out of college.
Yeah, just just graduated.
And I went to New York with a suitcase and $300 in my pocket that I had managed to save up.
Why'd you choose New York over in Los Angeles?
(39:56):
Oh.
I was a stage actor.
I mean, come on.
You're an after what I thought you were going to say.
Yeah, theater.
I was a, I was the king of the theater department.
It can't, can't state the university.
Yeah.
And yeah, it never even crossed my mind that I'd want to do episodic television.
(40:17):
So anyway, I went to New York because I knew that that's where James Dean and Marlon Brando all started.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had all the great ones.
And Paul Newman, Montgomery Clifft, all of your boys.
So I went there and with a suitcase and $300 in my pocket and and a date to meet with an agent.
(40:42):
And I met with an agent and he sent me out on two things.
One was a production of fortune and men's eyes that sell many of what was directing.
And he opened casting call at CBS and was 57th Street.
And I walked into that casting call and Gene Arley was the casting director at that time who later she later became executive producer of Love of Life.
(41:10):
And she had me a few pages and she said, go out the hall.
You know, look this over and then come back in and read it for me.
I went out in the hall, looked it over and came back in and and and I read it like.
On the waterfront.
Okay.
And she looked at me.
She was.
Yeah.
And she looked at me and she thought, well, this.
(41:32):
I don't know what this guy's doing, but he has some potential.
And so I got a call two or three days later to come down to the studio on West 53rd Street, which was the Love of Life studio at that time.
And do a camera test.
I did the camera test for a very fine director that I love very much. Larry, our back.
(41:56):
And you know, I love Larry.
Oh, my God.
He taught me so much that I'm very.
I don't think so.
Okay.
The name sounds familiar.
Ray, did you have to do that screen test opposite anybody?
No, because it was a scene where I was.
(42:17):
I was going through somebody's purse.
I was replacing a guy in the show.
A guy by the name of the character's name was Jamie Rollins.
And he was a.
He was kind of a hippie college radical.
And that's that's how I started as a hippie college radical.
And then in seven short years, I was an attorney in the district attorneys office.
(42:39):
Of course you were.
I was a reporter for the local newspaper and working.
Or Dal, Dal Pal on the newspaper, Marsha Mason, you know, that the actress, Marsha Mason.
Yeah.
You're, you know, Mary Neal Simon and.
That's a not long story.
(43:01):
Anyway, yes.
And.
And that's.
That's the way it happened.
Were you like surprised how quickly you had a role on a television show?
Yes.
Yes.
And I never expected it.
And so I started doing it.
And really got into the group.
(43:22):
I really, I really enjoyed it and loved all the people on the show.
And I had a mother and a father on the show.
Larry Weber and Louise Troy.
Louise Troy was my mother.
She was married to Werner Clemperer.
You know, that actor, the actor, a Werner Clemperer.
And Larry Weber, a wonderful actor.
It's so many.
(43:43):
Yeah, just wonderful people.
And.
And I started doing a show.
And I think I did somewhere around in between eight or 900 shows.
That's incredible.
That's incredible.
Colleen Jason says.
Colleen has entered in perfectly blends camp and terror equally.
It's perfectly okay.
(44:04):
And I think that's the best.
Sometimes I'm over her top.
And then we even out.
Mysterio says I hope why an arc can make sure they don't go to jail.
Just have the power to call.
The new man grief.
(44:35):
Well, we'll see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a nice idea.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
I was curious what led you, you know, you wanted to be a theater actor, but what led you into acting?
Where did your love of the arts begin?
(44:57):
This is always I wanted to be an actor from the time I was about ten years old.
Really.
I did the fourth grade Christmas play.
And the part that I got was playing a Christmas tree.
I got a Christmas tree in the background.
These pine branches on my arms and they had lights on me.
(45:22):
And there was a guy and a girl who were the leads in the play.
And they were skating on a pond in front of me.
And I thought to myself as I was playing the tree.
Someday I want to be that skater.
Wow.
So I don't like being back here.
I'm not saying the tree.
(45:45):
Fourth grade.
I'd already, you know, I've been a little dancer.
I already made my TV debut at five years old.
NBC Chicago.
Thank you.
Yeah.
But in fourth grade, I made my first production playing Christopher Columbus.
(46:10):
You were Christopher Columbus.
What kind of an outfit did you have?
I got pants and, you know, you had a wig for a Christmas.
I was Christopher Columbus.
Yeah.
I played a guy for the first time.
My first play I ever did.
I played a guy.
There we go.
(46:33):
For both of you, what's your favorite stage role?
I've never told this story.
Who was that?
Who are your favorite stage roles that you've played?
Oh.
Oh, wow.
That's a good question.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, really.
I think I'm playing Timmy Cleary and the subject was Roses.
I think playing Francisco Pizarro and Royal Hunter the Sun.
(46:59):
Playing Don Coyote and Man of La Mancha.
Wow.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, that's what I can do.
The ones I can think of on the top of my head.
Playing Haas and Sam Shepard's The Tooth of Crime.
That I won the OB Award for New York.
(47:20):
That's the off Broadway Tony.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's that.
Those are the ones I can think of the top of my head.
How about you?
Okay.
Well, Jolly.
I'm going to do that in New Hope.
I saw you do that in New Hope.
I know you did.
Oh, I know.
(47:41):
Thank you.
Oh, I know.
Thank you.
Um, Phil is stone.
Sometimes follies.
Probably one of my favorite roles I've ever done.
Oh, wow.
Such a brilliant, brilliant piece of theater, brilliant role.
It suited me perfectly.
(48:08):
And then more recently, um, other desert cities, which I've done twice now, which I love.
And then there's love letters, which, um, did you ever see?
I never saw love letters.
I don't think.
No.
You too.
Uh-huh.
(48:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're talking about it.
Are you good?
I think fans would come out and droves.
Oh my god, that'd be so great.
Yeah.
It would be a good piece for us.
Totally.
Totally.
Is there anybody out there who has a little theater somewhere?
And they would like to have the two of us there just make make an offer, you know?
(48:53):
Make an offer.
Absolutely.
Do you still at the stage have a dream role?
Well, I see.
I played, uh, I played Hamlet and Hamlet.
That that's sort of got me, uh, you know, into into the soap opera groove, learning 35 pages a day.
I learned the entire text of Hamlet in four weeks.
(49:16):
And at playmakers rep down at the University of North Carolina.
They had a professional repertoire company there.
And that was one of, also one of my favorite roles, but a bear to do.
It's just, uh, uh, it's the longest role, a role in, uh, history of theater.
It's the Rolls Rice of Rolls.
(49:38):
And if you can pull that one off.
And they, I think they, uh, they called mine the club Easter would hamlet.
Because you knew when I came on stage that somebody was going to die.
Well, does that scare you taking on such a challenging role?
(50:00):
Yeah, it did, you know, and any any time I feel scared, I feel good.
That's something worth doing and, uh, the challenges to do it well.
And so if it frightens me, that's what I want.
Okay, I have a question for you.
Um, about a week ago, I had a classic actor's nightmare.
(50:26):
What?
The actor's nightmare.
Like, waking up.
Not knowing your lines.
Not knowing my lines, not knowing my choreography, not knowing what I'm going to be doing.
And, um, I hadn't had one of those for a long time.
Oh, see?
Yeah.
You get those creative juices out again.
Yeah, I know.
Absolutely.
(50:47):
I know.
Yeah.
So, um, on my...
The inter-talk talk shop sort of all day, because I could see like the enthusiasm from all of you.
We do.
We do.
That's what we do.
You know, well, we have, uh, seven decades to talk about.
So there's quite a bit.
(51:08):
Michael was asking you, Colleen, when I mentioned the over the top that the other Jason mentioned,
who are you over the top actor inspirations?
Hmm.
Whoa.
Uh.
Uh.
I don't know.
Here it is.
Carobornat?
What's a volumatrice?
Carobornat.
(51:29):
Yep.
Um.
That's about it.
I mean.
I mean.
I...
You don't get much more than that.
My idol, when I was growing up, I wanted to be Carobornat.
(51:50):
I wanted to be Carobornat and Liza Bernelli.
Could have flied.
I'll pack your shop together.
Yeah.
What are you so far?
I mean, that's...
Yeah.
I mean, and talk about she's still killing it.
Yeah.
Or Liza.
Carobornat.
(52:11):
Carobornat.
Yeah.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
I love her.
Yeah.
What a talent.
I'm unbelievable.
But going back to your question about characters that I would want to play.
Yeah.
Sense of Boulevard?
Yeah.
(52:33):
Norman Bezman.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
Swini Todd.
Right.
Okay.
That's about it.
If I could do those two characters, I'd say I'm a happy girl.
Uh-huh.
Wow.
Yeah.
That Anjana Landsberg character.
There we go.
Correct.
Yep.
Yep.
(52:54):
I'd love to be a fly with you two.
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
I was doing, yeah, go ahead, right?
Where are you?
Well, one time I was invited to an AARP, a bank, what?
Movies for old people.
I think.
And.
I was going to accept it and award for David Strathrin for good night and good luck.
(53:17):
I was in the movie Good Night and Good Luck.
It's the George Clooney directed.
And so David couldn't pick up his award.
So I, they sent me in his stead.
And, uh, and I received the award from Shelley Burman and Anjana Landsberg.
Really?
So that when you say, when you mentioned Anjana Landsberg, and I thought about that.
(53:42):
And then I took the award from their hands and then thanked them for David.
And then Shelley Burman was kind enough to say, uh, he complimented my performance in Good Night and Good Luck.
I don't have.
Well, I played Don Holland back and, uh, and, um, I commit suicide in that, in that.
(54:03):
I can't see that.
You did not see that film.
Yeah, I haven't either.
That's a George Clooney one, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, you have, you have to see it.
It's really, it's wonderful.
It's a wonderful, and everybody's in it.
You know, Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Daniels and Patricia Clarkson.
Oh, my God.
Yeah.
And, um, incredible cast.
(54:25):
Frank Langella.
Yeah, just incredible cast.
Yeah.
And I started frank to Dracula, I think.
Huh?
Didn't Frank do Dracula on Broadway?
They played Dracula on Broadway.
Yeah.
A character that I always wanted to play.
You should have done that.
Yeah.
I always.
You should have done that.
(54:46):
I, I, when I was 12, I know.
I know that.
You need to be each other's agent.
And I.
When I was old, someone gave me a first edition of Dracula.
No, perhaps Stoker's book.
1897.
Two thousand?
Yeah.
First, uh, US, US edition.
(55:07):
Not the European one.
1897.
And I became a Dracula file.
Really.
I must have read that book.
That.
I have to read it for a long time.
Yeah.
That explains a lot.
Yeah.
I love that.
(55:29):
I love that.
I'm a fan of all the Dracula movies, you know, the Hammer ones with Christopher Lee and all of them.
But the definitive Dracula's never been done.
Gary Oldman's was okay, you know.
I think that was the first time I've ever seen a Dracula.
(55:50):
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
I think that was the first time I've seen a Dracula.
(56:12):
And of course, and of course, now they have the technical capability of making me younger when I have to be younger.
There you go.
Yes, they do.
You're right.
Let's move out all my wrinkles.
They can, you know, firm up my chin and, you know, and so I can go from being an old man to being a young Dracula.
(56:36):
A young Dracula.
Ray, I wanted to read what Mel wrote. She said, Mr. Ray Wise is so brilliant.
His portrayal of Leland Polymer scared me silly for years.
I love Mr. Ray Wise.
You know, you have done so many episodic.
I actually, when I was looking at IMDB today and I saw Charlie's Angels, that was my show growing up.
(56:59):
I went back and saw your big hair today.
What is your, you know, so many episodics do you have a favorite?
Well, you know, it's the Charlie's Angels was actually my first job out here in California when I left New York.
Oh, my God.
Jamie Lee Curtis and then with all of the angels.
(57:21):
That was her second job.
Oh, my God.
The first one was a film called Halloween.
Oh, yeah.
But we have a Halloween to do Charlie's Angels with me.
And I put this ex-Army guy who was stalking her and she was a, he was a female professional golfer.
(57:43):
Yeah.
And I think I got eaten by an alligator.
Oh, good God.
Yeah. On a golf course.
In Florida.
Probably.
It would have to be.
That is amazing that that was your first.
Me, Nana too, I guess, but yeah, your first gig in California.
(58:04):
Huh?
That that was your first gig in California.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, Charlie's Angels.
Yeah.
And then right after that Barnaby Jones.
Remember Barnaby Jones.
I do, of course.
Did you do it?
I, he didn't like to do that.
I don't know.
He was, he was a sweet, sweet guy.
(58:26):
A wonderful man.
But I think it's that he.
He was passed his dancing days.
Well, the fans have just eaten this up with a spoon.
They could watch you both for hours.
They want you to, you know, stay out of jail.
They want you to take over Newman Enterprises.
(58:51):
I love that.
I like that.
Yeah.
Before I let you go, the holidays are approaching.
Colleen, will you be back in Florida or still?
I'm going home for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What?
Yeah.
Will you be traveling both of you for the holidays?
(59:14):
What are the holidays like?
No, go ahead.
No, I, I was both my daughters were here for Thanksgiving.
I was in a beautiful week together.
And now I'm going back home to all of my friends in Florida.
And, and then we'll see what happens.
Yeah.
I'm going to be staying put in spending most of my time in my own backyard.
(59:35):
I love that.
With all of my fruit trees and, and, and, and I like to swim in my pool.
And, and I don't need anything more than my own backyard.
I hope to have a pool in my backyard one day for the same purpose.
For the same purpose.
I, I don't need to leave.
Such a delight to meet you, Ray, Colleen.
(59:56):
I love you.
Thank you so much.
Enjoy, enjoy all of this.
The fans are totally enjoying every second of it.
And one of them, Mark and just said, can I be and Jordan's henchman?
It couldn't be better.
Enjoy it.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thanks, everybody, for watching.
(01:00:20):
Thank you to Colleen and Ray Wise for joining me today.
And Mariah and Claire should be very afraid of the in and in Jordan.
So stay tuned to the Young and the Restless weekdays at CBS.
If you haven't yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, you can do so down below.
Turn on the notifications for reminders of all upcoming shows.
And if you'd like to stream audio versions, just search the locker room on your favorite podcast app.
(01:00:44):
[Music]
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