Are you an All My Children Expert?  How many of these bits of trivia about the show
did you already know?   (Thanks to Vanessa and Karen for their contributions)

 

If you happen to catch (read: stalk) Cameron Mathison (Ryan) at the gym, you might also spot actor Matt Dillon whose locker is right beside that of Cameron.  

ABC has two Rebeccas who were childhood figure skaters - AMC's Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) and GH's Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth).  

Contrary to her on-screen character, Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) is far from an only child.  In fact she has seven older siblings.  

Pine Valley lost its young vixen Liza Colby back in 1984 partly because portrayer Marcy Walker feared being typecast.  Lucky for viewers, Marcy brought back Liza a decade later.  

For those who pick up on everything, you may have noticed that Esta TerBlanche (Gillian) looked extra slender in the wedding dress worn for Ryan and Gillian's second nups.  That is because she had to wear a boned corset to get the perfect S-curve shape.  Ouch!  

It is a stroke of luck when on-screen siblings resemble one another but it is even more remarkable when the sibs look more alike than they do with real life brothers and sisters.  Such is the case with Tad (Michael E. Knight) and Jake (J. Eddie Peck), according to J. Eddie. 

AMC's connection to Married…With Children? Amanda Bearse, who played Bundy neighbour Marcy Rhodes D’Arcy, was Amanda Cousins from 1982-84.

For those truly appreciative of the comic relief that Tad Martin provides, send your thanks to his portrayer Michael E. Knight.  It would seem that the writers did not have a humorous side in mind when they created Thaddeus Gardner Martin.  Michael asked then-Executive Producer Jackie Babbin to let him inject some humour into Tad's personality and she agreed.  Yuk, yuk.

Susan Lucci's (Erica) involvement with The March of Dimes stems from a real-life experience that hit close to home.  Following his birth, her son Andreas encountered some health problems.  Today he is a strapping young man.  

Josh Duhamel (Leo) made the 2000 Super Soap Weekend a family affair.  He brought along his mother Bonny, sisters Ashlee, McKenzee, and Kassidy, and lastly his grandmother.  

If Gillian's "grandmama" Eugenia looks familiar, you might remember Meg Mundy from her previous soap roles as Mona Aldrich Croft on The Doctors and Isabelle Alden on Loving.  

Despite her British upbringing, Finola Hughes (Alex) is of Irish descent.  Shades of her former GH character, Anna Devane, who was born in England but raised mostly in Canada.  

When she met older man Helmut Huber, Susan Lucci (Erica) was a young and engaged ingenue.  Eventually she and her fiancé parted ways and her heart led her to Helmut, her husband of thirty one years and counting.   

J. Eddie Peck (Jake) paid his way through college by hosting a Country and Western radio show in Missouri.

Former ER star Julianna Margulies auditioned for the role of Dr. Maria Santos, which eventually went to Eva LaRue.  I'm sure John Callahan (Edmund) is thankful for that casting decision now, seeing as Eva became his wife.

Brendan Fraser of Encino Man fame read for the part of Brian Bodine, Hayley's first love.

This last one has to hurt.  The Pretty Woman herself - Julia Roberts - auditioned for the role of Cliff Warner's sister Linda.  The actress admits that she blew the screen test but she still has ties to daytime as a fan of NBC's Days Of Our Lives.

Fore!  Cameron Mathison (Ryan) and Josh Duhamel (Leo) like to spend their downtime on the golf course together.  

Ever catch yourself gazing at Vincent Irizarry's (David) handsome mug, wondering where those good looks came from?  He has Italian, Puerto Rican, and Ukrainian ancestors to thank.  

If you love watching reruns of classic TV shows, odds are good that Marj Dusay (Vanessa) will pop up in a few of them.  She played Blair's mom on Facts of Life and stole Spock's brain on the original Star Trek, to name two.  

Kelly Ripa (Hayley) was urged (read forced) to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and read an Al-Anon book by then AMC producer Felicia Minei-Behr in order to more fully grasp her character's descent into alcoholism.  At the time the then 19-year old was very daunted by the whole experience but she is now thankful for it.  

There may be only one of David Canary (Adam/Stuart) but he sees double whenever his father and uncle are in the same room.  They are identical twins. 

David Canary (Adam/Stuart) won a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati for football.  

Watch the 1999 teen smash American Pie and you'll spy Eden Riegel (Bianca)   

Jerry McGuire actress Renee Zellweger used to have a crush on Pine Valley's own Tad the cad!  Renee was hooked on AMC as a teen.  

Cameron Mathison has a thing for KISS.  By his own admission, he just loves Gene Simmons.

When Jill Larson (Opal) lived in Paris she took up the modeling profession. The statuesque red-head graced the pages of such magazines as Mademoiselle and Marie Claire.

He coulda been a contender...er, a lawyer that is. John Callahan (Edmund) was once pre-law at the University of California.

He's an army man. David Canary (Adam/Stuart) wowed the troops and won the All Army Entertainment Contest for best
popular singer.

Halloween and the police didn't mix well for Cameron Mathison (Ryan) when he and some friends egged his neighbour's house. Parents were called and the kids were scared, though not by the spookiness of the holiday.

~ Rebecca Budig (Greenlee) played Natalie Wood in 1997's James Dean: Race with Destiny. She also made an appearance in 1995's Batman Forever.

~ When Mark Consuelos (Mateo) joined AMC in 1995, co-star Kelly Ripa (Hayley) was smitten. However when Mark escorted Eva LaRue (ex-Maria) to a public function, Kelly’s hopes were momentarily dashed. Mark and Kelly married secretly in Las Vegas in June 1996 and they share a son, Michael Joseph born in 1997. As for Eva, she ended up with John Callahan (Edmund).

~ In the bible for All My Children, Agnes Nixon gave her young vixen the name of Susan. By the time that a fresh-faced actress named Susan Lucci auditioned for the role, Agnes had decided to name the character Erica.

~ Here is a dramatic case of life imitating art, or perhaps art imitating life. When Susan Lucci was a young woman, she was involved in a car accident in which her face was damaged. Luckily she was able to afford medication attention and the doctors restored her beautiful face. When Agnes penned the story of Erica’s car accident and subsequent facial disfigurement, she had no idea of Susan’s own experience.

~ Gillian Spencer (ex-Daisy) is now an accomplished soap writer, having penned scripts for OLTL and most currently GH.

  • In 1996, AMC became the first soap to begin with a recap of the previous day’s events and to end with a teaser. OLTL and GH followed suit a few months later.

  • David Canary and brother John are descended from the legendary cowgirl Calamity Jane (aka Martha Jane Canary).

  • Elizabeth Taylor began watching AMC while living in Washington DC as the wife of Senator John Warner. She did a guest spot on the show as a surprise for friend and fellow guest Carol Burnett (playing Verla). Burnett was so surprised to see Taylor that she let out an expletive, forcing the scene to be re-shot.

  • Mark Consuelos, born in Spain, learned to speak English partly by watching American soaps, including AMC.

  • Christopher Lawford, the most recent Charlie Brent, is a Kennedy clan member. His father, British actor Peter Lawford, married JFK’s sister Patricia in 1954.

  • Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos (Hayley and Mateo) picked on-screen sister Eva LaRue Callahan (Maria) to be the godmother to their son Michael.

  • Maurice Benard (Nico Kelly, now Sonny Corinthos on GH) changed his name from Mauricio Morales because he felt that he was continually being typecast. Benard was his grandmother’s maiden name.

  • Cady McClain (Dixie) didn’t get her driver’s license until she needed it for a scene in which Dixie hits Billy Clyde Tuggle with her car.

  • In 1994, the Martin house was destroyed by an on-screen tornado. A giant engine was used to generate seventy-five mph winds for the scene, which also required ten cameras instead of the usual three. Until it’s destruction in those scenes, the Martin house was AMC’s oldest set still in use.

  • Michael E. Knight (Tad) is married to Catherine Hickland (currently Lindsay on OLTL).

  • James Patrick Stuart, who played Will Cortlandt, is the son of Chad Stuart, who found fame as half of Chad and Jeremy in the 1960’s.

  • Like Phoebe Tyler Wallingford, Ruth Warrick can trace her ancestry back to the Mayflower. She also has legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone in her family history.

    Can’t remember what happened with some storylines or who some of the denizens of Pine Valley were?  No wonder: All My Children has taped close to eight thousand episodes!

·    Pine Valley is located near Llanview (home of One Life to Live), in Pennsylvania.  Most of the outside scenes for All My Children, though, were shot in Connecticut.  Cortlandt Manor is actually the Waveny Mansion in New Canaan, and deceased Martins are “buried” in a small Connecticut cemetery.  Seldom seen anymore, Pine Valley University exteriors were shot on the Princeton University campus, in New Jersey.  In 1978, AMC became the first soap to film outside the United States, when Erica and Tom Cudahy went to Saint Croix for their honeymoon.

·    Speaking of Tom and Erica, let’s talk marriages: 

·    Erica has been married ten times: Jeff Martin, Phil Brent, Tom Cudahy, Adam Chandler, Mike Roy, Travis Montgomery, Travis again, Adam, and Dimitri Marick (twice). Not all these have been legal marriages, but we’ll ignore that for the time being.

      ·    Adam has been married eight times: Althea Chandler,  Erica Kane, Brooke English, Dixie Cooney, Natalie Hunter, Erica again, Gloria Marsh and Liza Colby.  Brooke, Dixie and Natalie don’t count, though, as he was still married to Erica at the time (same reason her ten trips down the aisle don’t all count).

      ·    Palmer Cortlandt is no slouch in the marriage department, either.  While Adam has made more total trips down the aisle, at least all of Palmer’s seven weddings were legitimate: Daisy Cortlandt, Donna Beck, Daisy again, Cynthia Preston, Natalie Hunter, Opal Gardner Purdy and Vanessa Bennett.

      ·    Oh, yes, Tom.  For a devout Catholic who at one time had been considering the priesthood, Tom is pretty familiar with the sacrament of matrimony: Erica Kane, Brooke English, Skye Chandler, Barbara Montgomery, and Livia Frye.

 ·    Interesting tidbit, speaking of marriages: Jill Larson, who plays Opal Cortlandt, is legally ordained to perform wedding ceremonies.  When her sister and brother-in-law were married, she performed the ceremony for them.

 ·    Let’s clear up the Bobby Martin problem once and for all: Bobby, played (albeit briefly) by Mike Bersell, did not go upstairs to polish his skis, never to be seen again.  He in fact went off to summer camp, where he apparently slipped everyone’s mind forever after.  Almost twenty years later, the writers did get a little comedy mileage out of the situation, though:  Opal Purdy, who was staying with the Martins for a while, accidentally got locked in the attic.  While rooting around up there, she stumbled over a skeleton sitting next to a pair of skis, on its head a baseball cap with the name Bobby on it.