Interview: Actress Bonnie Bartlett Reflects on Her Soap Opera Era

There aren’t many performers left from the earliest days of television soap operas, which makes a conversation with Bonnie Bartlett especially meaningful. Before winning Emmy Awards and delighting sitcom audiences, Bartlett played the noble heroine Vanessa Dale on the classic daytime drama Love of Life. She inherited the role from Peggy McCay in the fall of 1955.

Bonnie Bartlett in a 1955 episode of CBS daytime soap opera Love of Life.

Getting the chance to speak with her about that era of television was a thrill. Bartlett was warm, funny, and remarkably candid about the pressures of early live television.

"I was Vanessa for four years on Love of Life," she recalled.

When asked about the challenge of performing live five days a week, Bartlett didn’t hesitate.

"Yes, it was difficult," she explained. "You really had to get used to it. It created a lot of tension because you made mistakes and you only had one chance."

Like many soaps of the era, Love of Life eventually expanded in length. Bartlett remembered the transition fondly.

"Then it went to 30 minutes, which was lovely because we got an increase in salary and we also got a teleprompter," she said with a laugh. "I never really used the teleprompter except for telephone conversations. You could look right at it and it looked perfectly natural."

Her departure from the show...

Continue reading this Michael Poirier interview on the We Love Soaps "Insider" page.