YOUNG AND RESTLESS LAURALEE BELL CONFRONTS ACTOR'S SILVER-SPOON
By Lynda Hirsch
Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
October 22, 1989
For two months, YOUNG AND RESTLESS actress Lauralee Bell (Cricket) has read interviews with former cast member Terry Lester (Jack, now Mason on SANTA BARBARA) that quoted Lester's discontent with the amount of air time Bell has been given, alluding to her limited acting experience and the fact that her father, Bill Bell, produces the show and is the head writer.
For the past two months, Bell has refused opportunities to write an open letter in fan magazines and to give interviews. She has even declined to answer questions about it.
But the actress has changed her mind because, as she said, "it has dragged on for so long. After the first two articles I thought, 'OK.' Now I am thinking, 'Enough already.' "
Bell is quick to point out that she has always "admired Terry. He taught me so much. At a point when he and my dad were having contract difficulties, he took me aside and told me that I had nothing to do with the problems and if he ever took it out on me, he was sorry. I went to his production of 'Kiss Me Kate' and thought he was wonderful. A few months ago, he wrote me the nicest letter.
"A lot of the younger cast members were really impressed with Terry. After they would do a scene with him, they would be awed. I often wished I could have gotten some tips from Terry. He was always pleasant to me, but I never felt I could knock on his dressing room door and ask his advice. He was always busy with other projects, which I understood."
What of Lester's charges that the entire story has revolved around her for months?
"It has. But for the past four summers the show has had a teen story. One year, it dealt with Phillip's problem with alcohol. Thom Bierdz (who plays Phillip) worked a lot. Yes, I was involved in it, but it was Thom's story. We did teen-age pregnancy, and it was Nina's plot, and while, again, I was involved, since the characters are friends, it was Tricia Cast's story.
"In the summer, we deal with social issues that will affect teens. We have three months to do a beginning, middle and end. Of course, that means a lot of airplay for the younger cast members. There were weeks that I worked five days. I am sorry if that pushed other characters or cast members aside, but it was needed so we could do the story. Summer's over, and I am working two, three days a week, which is fine with me. That is a great schedule, which gives me time to take my singing and dancing lessons. I don't even know what my next story will be."
Bell said she was amazed at the support she received after the initial articles were published. "I received at least 30 messages on my machine; producers, writers, cast mates, actors from other shows. They were very supportive. They didn't say I was a great actress. They mostly said they knew how hard I worked, and that I was always prepared and I really cared."
Is her father playing favorites? "When I first joined the show, it was with the condition if I could not handle it, then I would be off the show. My father is a very smart businessman; he would not jeopardize the show for me. The ratings have been very high during the date-rape story. I am not saying I'm the reason, but the show has not lost ratings because of me."
DAYTIME SOAP OPERAS
