Kiss But Don't Tell

Don't send Lane Davies chocolates or musk cologne or tickets to a Dodgers game. All he really wants is a week's worth of sleep. Lately he's been pushing himself to the brink. In less than a year he's done two feature films, starred on stage in Hamlet, and stayed front and center as Santa Barbara's rakish Mason Capwell. How does he survive? "I try to eat right and rest whenever I can," he reveals. "My real therapy, though, is escaping to my cabin in the mountains. There I'm totally isolated. I unplug my phone and shut myself off from the outside world. That's how I recharge my batteries." (Actually, he's not totally isolated. There's a very special lady who sometimes shares that cabin with him, but Lane prefers not to mention her name.)

Why are you so reluctant to discuss your personal life?

Lane: It has very little to do with me. It has to do with her. My personal life involves another person, and I don't know what she wants told. It's just a matter of discretion. A gentleman doesn't discuss such things.

Let's talk about Mason. He seems to be getting nicer.

Lane: He'll never get too nice. Right now he and Mary are getting closer. Harley Kozak (Mary) and I have been playing the idea that they're born to be together, which means they'll be kept apart. That tension is more interesting than two happy people in love.

Mason also seems to be getting along better with his father, the ever difficult C.C. Capwell.

Lane: Jed Allan and I have established a funny truce. You know C.C. and Mason care about each other, but they don't know how to express it. So there's an odd tension that occasionally flares into ugliness.

Jed is your fifth father. Was it hard adjusting to all those actors?

Lane: Yes. Jed is a lot of fun to work with. I knew him from Days (where Lane played Evan Whyland and Jed played Don Craig), and at first couldn't relate to him as my father - and I'm sure he wasn't wild about relating to me as a son (laughs). But we got right into it. My character irritated him in just the right way. And Jed is a father, and has a son (Mitch Brown, who plays Dylan Ross on Capitol) not that much younger than Mason.

Is it true that Mason's mother may soon reappear?

Lane: There's always a rumor that Pamela might pop up. No one knows where she is. She left because C.C. was impossible. I imagine her to be well-bred and well-spoken, but they'll probably cast someone radically different from that (laughs).

Mason had a troubled childhood, which sounds very different than your own.

Lane: Mine is a solid close family. Three brothers, two parents who didn't fight and cared a lot about us.

Were your parents supportive of your career?

Lane: Not at first. My mother still worries if I'm eating right. Now she's afraid that I'm overworked. She worries just as much as when I was a starving actor and lived on peanut butter.

Do you prefer your current character on Santa Barbara to Evan on Days?

Lane: I was never happy with Evan. The writers and I could never agree on what he was. I can't deal with inconsistency, when they want a character to do something for plot reasons that has nothing to do with his real personality.

What do you value in the people who are close to you?

Lane: Loyalty. I have a small circle of close friends, who understand when I don't return a call. They call back. I'm pretty good about making time for them, and when I can't, they understand. And I've tried to help them. Ten friends have gotten jobs on the show because of me.

Are there people who've been helpful to your career over the years?

Lane: A man named Henry Townes. We worked together at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Later, he gave me a place to stay out here until I found a place. He's an ordained priest, and has always been there with help and advice. When I first got to town Bill Conti, who wrote the Rocky theme, gave me encouragement and advice. I realized that acting jobs just don't last forever. Even though you have one job, sooner or later you'll have to go out and find another. A lot of kids get lucky early on and think they'll always get work. It's not that way. It's cyclical. I spent a lot of time out of work. It's hard psychologically. The weaker ones go under.

Have those days made you financially prudent?

Lane: Pretty much, but I tend to be generous to family and friends. I'm not really into toys. I have two cars, a '74 Land Cruiser that I use in the mountains, and a '71 MG that I got soon after college. They both run, so why trade 'em?

Do you have a wild and crazy side?

Lane: Yes, but I can't talk about it in print.