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Our Favorite Leading Men [June 10, 1997]
by Carolyn Hinsey and Stephanie Sloane
Their differences? Ex-baseball player Drake Hogestyn expected to last
three months as Days of Our Lives's amnesiac John. Eleven years later, he's
signed through 2001. Eric Braeden joined Young and Restless as Victor in
1980, after an extensive career that included a lead role in the television
series Rat Patrol. Braeden will be featured in the upcoming blockbuster Titanic,
which he filmed simultaneously while doing Y&R. After a moderately successful
stint as All My Children's Nico, Maurice Benard found smashing success playing
Sonny on General Hospital. But he will quit this summer to try his luck in
other venues.
Their similarities? All three are devoted family men who strive to make their
work as believable as possible. All three have won Soap Opera Digest Awards
in the past two years. All three would rather do anything other than sit
for a photo shoot. (Thanks for the cover, guys.) And all three have
gigantic followings.
A successful leading man is made of one thing, according to Drake Hogestyn:
a successful leading lady.
"I say that in all sincerity," he smiles. "I have been blessed to be paired
with some of the strongest women in daytime, like Deidre Hall [Marlena],
Eileen Davidson [Kristen/Susan/Mary], Genie Francis [ex-Diana[ Laura, GH],
even the newcomers, like Staci Greason [ex-Isabella]. There's something special
about each lady. They have this glow unto themselves that you can lock into,
and it makes you perform differently with each one."
GH heavy-hitter Maurice Benard offers up a different perspective. A strong
leading man is... "Someone who can life 250 pounds," he cracks. Seriously.
"It's a hard question. I think it's a matter of somebody having a certain
connection with the audience." It's a question Braeden prefers not to anaswer:
"I leave that definition up to up," he sayas judiciously.
Strangely, both Hogestyn and Benard, who are now considered among daytime's
elite, were not originally hired as long-term players. "I had no idea what
soap operas were about [when] I signed on January 10, 1986," Hogestyn laughs.
"My role was to bridge the time between February sweeps and May sweeps. At
the time, it looked like a three-month deal." Yeah, three months and 11 years.
Is Hogestyn surprised by his astounding success? "Maybe someday, I'd like
to say, 'Wow, I had extraordinary popularity,' but that day hasn't happened,"
he admits. "I think it's a Days thing. Somehow, Days has tapped into an audience
that...even if they say they won't watch again, they're not going to turn
it off. If I walked off the show tomorrow, it wouldn't make a blip on the
screen. I can name fabulous actors who have left our show and the show keeps
going on. It's bigger than the sum of its parts."
Benard had a similar entry into the fanfrenzied world of daytime with his
GH alter ego. "Sonny was a six-month contract," recalls the actor. "He was
supposed to break up Jagger and Karen. Then, they were going to kill him.
I had a lot of fun that first six months; they gave me a lot to do and I
hadn't worked like that in a long time." Sonny survived, of course, and went
on to become half of General Hospital's biggest supercouple since Frisco
and Felicia. "I truly believe it's a matter of writing good storyline," says
Benard. "And the chemistry that an actor and his co-star have. An actor can't
do it on his own; it's the storyline that gets you that popularity."
Hogestyn is also a firm believer in good story, and credits the whole Days
team for his success. "There have always been strong stories," he praises.
"If you don't have the story, you don't have anything."
"I agree with that," nods Eric Braeden. "I think there is a certain mystery
to Victor, an unpredictability. That's in the writing, and it's in the fact
that I really love doing the part." As for his own enormous following, Braeden
demurs: "I would have to say that I'm still surprised by it. ANd I'm grateful
that it has lasted this long. I say the writing has had a lot to do with
it."
Unlike Hogestyn -- who is happy focusing on Days every day -- Eric Braeden
recently split his time between Newman Enterprises and working on the most
expensive film in history. "It was difficult to manage for obvious reasons,"
the actor reports. "We juggled the schedule -- sometimes desperately -- to
make it work. Everyone was most cooperative. They needed to be, because it
was difficult." Did the experience whet Braeden's appetite to do more films?
"To be frank with you, not nessecarily," he responds. "I'm not dying to do
films. I loved doing this film, however. Working on films, you wait around
a lot. I am an actor who likes to go in, do his stuff and get out in a very
concentrated, hard fashion. Boom, boom, boom and out."
When Braeden says "out," he means for the day. When Benard leaves in July,
it will be for good. "My immediate plans are to take a vacation with my family,"
sighs the actor, who has worked virtually nonstop since Sonny hit Port Charles
in 1993. And then? "I'm going to look for work like every other actor. There
are things going on...my managers and agents are talking about things. But
talk is talk. So, I'll just go out and swim in the ocean like everybody
else."
This is the second time that Benard has gone swimming. "When I left All My
Children, I had this snobbish attitude: 'I'm going to show everybody, I'm
going to do this, do that. I'm never going to have to do a soap again.' That
kind of thing. I came out to L.A., things happened right away and then nothing.
I wasn't as smart with my money then as I am now. This time around, General
Hospital has been such a great experience that I wouldn't hesitate for a
second to do another soap [someday]. I would always rather do General Hospital
and play Sonny, because I love the character. But if General Hospital didn't
want me back, I'd do something else, obviously."
The bottom line for Benard is that he just wants to play other roles. "I
would say to Maurice, 'Try it. Otherwise you will never be satisfied,'" asserts
Braeden. "'But don't for one moment think that they are waiting for you,
because they are not. They are not waiting for you in nighttime or films.
They don't give a damn. In fact, it sometimes is deleterious, as far as I'm
concerned, to have done daytime. It's not to your advantage.' I, obviously,
am very proud of what I am doing. I think the condescension that emanates
from those who do films and nighttime television is utterly ludicrous."
Even Hogestyn -- with the ink still wet on his new contract -- admits that
when a leading man has gotta go, he's gotta go. "I still get excited getting
up and going to work," he shares. "But I told [my wife] Victoria that whenever
that drive to work in the morning gets long, I will know that it's time."
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