Digest invited GUIDING LIGHT's Michael O'Leary (Rick) to catch up with a former castmate of his choice. He chose Krista Tesreau (ex-Mindy), so when she returned to New York to tape a few GL episodes, Digest sat down with both actors-and a surprise guest-to talk about the good ol' days.
Digest:
Do you remember when you met?
Krista Tesreau (smiling):
Yes.
Michael O'Leary:
I don't remember.
Tesreau:
You don't?! Shame on you.
O'Leary (pause):
Oh! The screen-test.
Tesreau:
You told me I was the best one at the audition.
O'Leary:
I thought of the 11 [actresses], you were definitely in the top 10.
Tesreau (playfully hits him):
Stop it! And there were 12.
Digest (to Tesreau):
What do you remember about Michael?
Tesreau:
Michael was as friendly as he could be and put everyone's nerves at ease.
O'Leary:
For me, it was like I was making $450 just to have scenes with 15 women. There was no pressure on me. [O'Leary was not yet playing Rick.]
Tesreau:
And that's when [the show] fell in love with you.
O'Leary:
There were no parts available, so they asked if I could read with these girls. I forgot about it when I walked out. About three days later, they called me [to play Rick].
Tesreau:
And that's when the pressure began. We walked into the casting office and they handed us a stack of scripts more than a foot tall.
O'Leary:
You never know it at the time how lucky you are. You're in a great story, having a good time, doing these appearances-
Tesreau (knowing laugh):
Don't start on the appearances.
O'Leary:
Which one? [Tesreau looks at him.] You mean the one where I humiliated you.
Tesreau:
Maybe we should not bring up my most humiliating moment. [O'Leary begins to tell the story about Tesreau as she both begs him to stop and fills in details. After she finishes, Digest, in an attempt to level the playing field, asks Tesreau to share his most embarrassing moment.]
Tesreau (defiantly):
I bring a camera into work-
O'Leary:
Oh, no! Don't bring up this story. [Tesreau runs down the hallway with Digest's tape recorder. O'Leary follows, and tries to wrestle it away from her as she continues talking into the recorder about O'Leary. She stops, and both actors, who are slightly out of breath, return to where Digest is sitting and ask that both stories not be printed. Digest decides to change the subject.]
Digest:
What were some of you favorite scenes?
O'Leary:
The romantic montage that we had in Central Park.
Tesreau:
Remember when you pointed at the bird doo-doo?
O'Leary:
Oh, yes.
Tesreau:
We had to put our heads together and look romantic and Michael's pointing to a bird poo-pooing in a tree. [O'Leary imitates Mindy's romantic, far-away look. Tesreau laughs.] What I think made that [remote] work was the unscripted stuff. They would do intercuts between us, and he had this look on his face, like "Oh, Mindy, I care about you."
O'Leary:
One of the things you saw with all of us was the great affection [we had] for each other. We all became very good friends. We did everything together. We'd go to John's Pizza in the Village or go bowling. For about two years, it was really magical.
(Grant Aleksander, Phillip, who's heard Tesreau and O'Leary laughing, comes around the corner.)
Grant Aleksander:
I didn't know if you were running lines.
Tesreau:
Hey!
Digest:
Do you want to join us and share your thoughts on the Four Musketeers?
Aleksander:
They were the best of times. It was the first big job for all of us. We figured it was all supposed to be like that. And then the other shoe dropped. [All laugh.] We were young. We didn't know anything. We still don't know anything. But we had a good time. We'd like to have Krista back.
O'Leary:
We have to give a lot of credit to [Former Head Writer] Pam Long. She created a very tight, wonderful story that defined each character. She knew who each character was. She also was insightful enough that after a few months…
Tesreau:
...they tailored it to our personalities.
Aleksander:
It had all the components of good daytime. It was romantic, there was action and jeopardy-Jim Rebhorn [ex-Bradley]. Nobody has ever played a disgusting menacing slime better than Jim.
Tesreau:
Oh, and his voice.
O'Leary and Aleksander (imitating Bradley):
"Shut up, Lillian, it's your fault. Give me a beer."
O'Leary:
One of my other favorite scenes was the day we played-
Aleksander:
Monopoly!
O'Leary:
So, Phillip rolls the dice [and lands on Bradley's property]. And Bradley says, "Okay, Spaulding. Park Place. Looks like I clean you out, kiddo."
Aleksander:
"Not so rich now!"
[O'Leary then mentions that he recounted the embarrassing story about Tesreau.]
Tesreau:
Oh, this again!
O'Leary:
You know, we aren't going to say a word about that…It's our way of saying I love you. [All laugh.]
Tesreau:
Well, we are family.
