Contributing Writer, We Love Soaps Insider
The story of Another World is ultimately a story about people—both the characters who lived in Bay City and the talented performers and writers who brought them to life.
For Part 2, we move into the final years of Another World's remarkable 35-year run. The memories are funny, heartfelt, and occasionally bittersweet. They reveal the demanding pace of daytime television, the friendships that endured long after the cameras stopped rolling, and the emotional impact of saying goodbye to a show that meant so much to so many.
Here are a few more memories from the people who called Bay City home.
Michelle Hurd: (Dana Kramer, 1991-1994):
Another World… It does date me a bit though, doesn't it? Wasn't that back in the 1900s horse and buggy days? I really enjoyed playing Dana Kramer. And actually a little odd trivia that you might not know is that Alicia Coppola, who played Lorna, she and I are still dear friends and I'm actually the godmother of her youngest child.
So that's a nice little connection. As well as Christina Tucci [who played Amanda]. We all sort of still hang together and see each other. So that's kind of a beautiful thing because I feel like it's can we actually say is it 20, 25 years ago? Isn't that crazy?!
Kim Rhodes (Cindy Brooke, 1996-1999):
I’m going to tell you something a little weird. I learned to cuss on Another World. Another World would move so fast that if you make a little mistake or even a big mistake, they would just they'd just take it. They'd just keep going. Just keep going. There were actors that would hide their scripts all over. Like if you ever saw an actor open a door at drawer and then just close it again, it's because their script was in there and they were checking their lines, you know, looking at furniture, things like that just to get lines.
I learned to cuss because otherwise they wouldn't cut. But the thing I remember, knocking over a lamp once and they were like, "Cut, print, moving on." I said, "But I knocked over the…."
They're like, "It's okay. It works. It's fine." But the thing is, you can't just swear a little bit because then they would get mad at me. And I was not a fan of having people mad at me. So the thing is, you didn't say that I couldn't say naughty words. What I learned, instead of saying, "Oh, damn it." which would just make people I would flub up and I would go, “Oh f**k me an**ly, running with a toothpick,” or something… That’s when everyone would go, “Okay, all right. We’re going back. We got to take it again!” So that was my takeaway from Another World. That and Linda Dano and her acting advice. She really took good care of me.
Brian Krause (Matthew Cory, 1997-1998):
You know, it's been such a while since I was at Another World. Charles [Keating, who played Carl] and Vicky [Wyndham, who played Rachel] were kind of my mentors. When I first got there and they really taught me so much. You know, I was really nervous about learning 30 pages of dialogue in a day. Here were Charles and Vicky, who were older at the time, they were doing 60, 70, 80 pages in a day. And I remember Charles was very proper and stern. And Vicky kind of took me under her wing and treated me like, I was the son she didn't have. It was a really interesting dynamic between us three.
I just remember them being so gracious especially to me, you know being the new guy coming in. Yeah we had so many people that came in and out of that show that were just incredible actors and actresses. It was such an honor for me to be there and and I learned so much. You know, as I thought, “Oh, it's a soap opera,” but then I saw how hard they all worked. And, you know, what it really took to be on a soap and be able to perform well like Charles and Vicky who were the show.
Really amazing. I wish I could go back to that time. Yeah, the show ended not long after I left, but they had an amazing run and I was very blessed to be a part of it.
Courtney Simon (writer, 1998-1999. District Attorney June Reiner, 1999): Unfortunately I wasn’t with Another World long enough to have anecdotes. My happiest memory there was getting to play a self-serving DA named June Reiner. Closest I ever got to being able to act the role of beeyatch and, after playing all the upstanding shrinks, it was heaven.
Rhonda Ross Kendrick (Toni Burrell, 1997-1999):
Those Another World years are so dear to my heart. I met and worked with some of the most beautiful people, many of whom, I'm still in touch with and still friends with today. But, in answer to your question, the Executive Producer at the time called each of us at home. There had been a lot of rumors that we were going to get canceled, but no one believed them or wanted to believe them.
And then he called each of us at home and gave us the news. It was devastating and terrifying not knowing what was going to happen next. Then the last day of shooting once they said, “Cut,” we all cried. We cried and yeah, it was a great three years, and it was really sad for it to end, but we we've gone on and we all like I said, we're we're still friends and they're great, great people.
No reminiscence about Another World would be complete without a tribute to its legendary head writer, Harding “Pete” Lemay (1971-1979, 1988), whose groundbreaking work helped usher in the show's golden era.
Read the entire We Love Soaps Insider article on Substack.
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