Michael O'Leary Reflects On His Two-Decade Ride with GL
By Melissa Scardaville
Soap Opera Digest
September 16, 2003
Back in May of 1983, Michael O'Leary stepped into the shoes of GUIDING LIGHT's Rick Bauer and liked them so much that he stayed until 1991. After a four-year absence, the actor returned and has called GL home ever since. Here is O'Leary's look at what has made the last 20 years (on and off) in Springfield so memorable.
The First Year:
"They paid me $400 to audition 10 Mindys and eight Beths, and that was it. Two or three days later, I got a call to come back to New York [to play Rick]. I got this small, Upper East Side apartment right next to Ray's Pizza, which I indulged in. We did a lot of Speedo shots at Cross Creek in those days, and [former] Executive Producer Bob Calhoun would say to me, 'We have the Speedo stuff coming up, kiddo. No more Ray's Pizza. It would take a full tank of gas to ride around you right now; we're talking Honda Civic.'"
First Birthday In The Big Apple (Picture of him smiling down at his cake. Krista Tesreau is handing it to him, but smiling at the camera):
""World Tennis" magazine threw O'Leary a party for his 24th birthday. "Could those shorts have been any tighter? That's frightening. Obviously, this was my Greg Brady stage. As you can see, Krista [Tesreau, ex-Mindy] is fully open to the camera. She was a pro even then. Me? My head's down; I'm totally oblivious. Krista is already doing the Miss America smile."
All In The Family:
"Grant [Aleksander, Phillip] and [wife] Sherry basically adopted me. Grant is an extremely loyal person. Once you become his friend, you're there. I realized right away that even though I'm older than Grant, I was greener than him. Susie Pratt [ex-Claire] was another one who took me in when I started the show. She would have me over to the house and cook for me. Tina Sloan [Lillian] did the same thing. I had a lot of people adopting me. It took a village to raise this actor."
Mentors:
"It sounds like I am giving a lot of them, but there was Peter Simon [Ed], Jerry verDorn [Ross], Chris Bernau [ex-Alan], Larry Gates [ex-HB], Maeve Kinkaid [ex-Vanessa], Bill Roerick [ex-Henry], Beverlee McKinsey [ex-Alexandra], Michael Zaslow [ex-Roger]. I looked up to all of them. Anytime you had a scene with them, you were nervous, but it was a good nervous."
Four Musketeers:
"This was magical. [Pointing at the prom picture]. As you can see, Phillip is already thinking of taking Beth [then Judi Evans] away from Rick, who doesn't know it yet, but he's about to be dumped five or six times because of that [points at Aleksander]. Look-if that's not a Jeffrey Dahmer look. [Points at himself] Look at that innocent, I'm-just-here-to-see-the-world look. All I had was the four of us because you didn't have time for anything else. It was a whirlwind. It was a ball. It is my fondest memory of the show, but I wouldn't want to do it all over again because I was so physically exhausted."
First Appearances:
"Krista and I went to Indianapolis, and there were 8,000 people. The fire marshall had to close the place down. That's when I had an idea of how popular the four of us were. It was total pandemonium."
Bauer Family:
"I shared a dressing room with Peter Simon in the beginning. My immediate mentor was Peter because I worked with him so much. I thought he was spectacular. Then, there was the remote for Quint and Nola's wedding. It must have been during my first couple of weeks. We were at the little, quaint, empty church. Charita [Bauer, ex-Bert] took me aside when we had a break, and for two or three housrs, she talked to me about the business. She was so gracious, and I adored her. Peter was like my surrogate father, Charita my surrogate grandmother. How lucky can you get? Ellen Dolan [ex-Maureen], Don Stewart [ex-Mike], Elvera Roussel [ex-Hope]-all you had to do was walk on the set and that was the Bauers. There was a real sense of community."
Favorite Storylines:
"The one that involved Bert's amputation because Charita was going through it in real life, too. That was really powerful. The stuff with Abby and the whole courtroom was really powerful, and the Phillip/Rick confrontation when Phillip slept with Meredith. Then, when [Rick slept with Blake], that was one of my favorites. Liz [Keifer, Blake], Jerry and I had a ball with that. You couldn't wait to see what they were going to write next."
Favorite Love Interest:
"If I was to say which one worked the best, I think it was Rick and Mindy. It was a love story that just happened; they weren't planning it. After that, I'd say Rick and Roxie, who was that wild girl. I loved Kristi [Ferrell]."
Favorite Prank:
"With Ricky Paull Goldin [Gus], it's like shooting fish in a barrel. I wrote a fake fan letter to him [which went]: 'Dear Ricky Paull Goldin, You are a sexy, sexy man.I work at Dairy Queen in North Carolina. I got a young picture of Ricky Paull Goldin from 1989 sitting on my malt machine. Every time I go the malt machine, you're smiling at me, Ricky Paull. How old are you? You look to be 47 or 48? Are you 47 or 48? Do you know Tony Danza? You look exactly like Tony Danza. Are you Tony Danza? You are the best doctor in daytime history. Where is Ricky Paull Goldin? Please bring Ricky Paull Golden back to GUIDING LIGHT. I like ice fishing. Do you like ice fishing?' Ricky reads it aloud [in front of O'Leary and others in the make-up room], and he's appalled. An hour later, [a still clueless Goldin] asks me, 'Do you think I look 47?'"
Home Front:
"My wife [Joni] changed my life in so many positive ways. I was raised in a small town in California, so when I cam out here, I really didn't know anybody. I always was on, always trying to make people laugh. I still do that, but [back then] that was my way of defining myself. So, she turned to me one time when we were dating and said, 'Michael, you don't have to make me laugh. I like you just the way you are.' She made me feel like I was enough; I didn't have to be something I wasn't."
Father's Day:
"Best thing in the world, being a father. I'm using Justin Deas [Buzz] as an example, but I really admire him because he will sacrifice everything for his children. I remember thinking before I had kids, 'Oh, this is a real dedicated father. This is what I would like to be.' So, that is sort of how I modeled myself. I don't want to do anything that is going to take me away from my children [Katie and Caroline]. Spending a week away is as far as I can go. They were at Laguna Beach for a week, and my youngest one, who is 5, would tell me on the phone, 'Daddy, please, please get on a plane. I cannot stand this. Daddy, I can't stand being away from you.'"
Favorite Casualty:
"Gosh, there so many. Rick's had 25; Jenna was my 25th victim. You know, [the CBS affiliate] in the Twin Cities did a montage of all the times Rick said, 'If only I could have stopped the bleeding.' They did 20 years of Rick's death calls. You see me when I'm a young guy [high-pitched voice cracking], 'I'm sorry. I did everything I could,' or 'That was the worst strep throat I had ever seen,' to the middle-aged guy I am today."
