In honor of my fascinating interview with actor RUSSELL TODD (Episodes 49 & 50) who is best known for playing the role of Jamie Frame on the popular daytime soap opera “Another World” - from 1990 to 1993 - I put together this entertaining trivia list fearturing fun facts about this classic serialized drama for you to test your knowledge with. Enjoy!
“Another World” was an American television soap opera that aired on NBC from May 4, 1964, to June 25, 1999. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J. Bell, and was produced by Procter & Gamble Productions at NBC Studios, 1268 East 14th Street in Brooklyn.
The series original story premise began with the death of William Matthews and its effect on his wife, children and his brother's family.
In its first year the serial dramatized an illegitimate pregnancy, an illegal abortion, a murder and subsequent trial - all revolving around a single character: Pat Matthews.
The show was one of the last daytime soap operas to cease its use of a live organist; it is believed that it did so by 1973.
Originally, Mac and Rachel were not planned to have a romantic coupling. Writer Head writer Harding Lemay noticed the chemistry between actors Douglass Watson and Victoria Wyndham, and wrote a slow-developing love story for them. Fearing backlash from viewers who may have found an older man-younger woman relationship tasteless, Lemay penned chance encounters for the two characters, which led to innocent yet intimate conversations. By the time the characters had their first kiss, the story had gone on for six months.
Beverlee McKinsey played a short run as Steve Frame's plain-jane older sister Emma Ordway, a farmer's wife. Headwriter Harding Lemay loved McKinsey so much that he created a whole new character for her: glamorous jet setting villainess Iris Cory Carrington.
On January 6, 1975, “Another World” became the first daytime soap opera to expand to an hour.
The character of Pat Randolph went on trial two times for murder. in 1964, she was charged with killing Tom Baxter, the young man who forced her to have an abortion. In 1979, she was charged with killing Greg Barnard, her daughter's lover.
Esther and Richard Shapiro, the creators of “DYNASTY”, were friends of former head writer Harding Lemay. They not only named their family after Lemay's super bitch Iris Carrington, but the Krystle-Blake-Fallon triangle was borrowed heavily from the Rachel-Mac-Iris story. The Shapiros have also claimed they modeled Joan Collins' Alexis after the super glamorous Iris.
It was the first soap opera to do a crossover, with the character of Mike Bauer from “Guiding Light”, which was also created by Irna Phillips, coming from Springfield to Bay City.
In the late 1970s, Harding Lemay penned a story that would introduce the first gay character to daytime. He planned to have Michael Randolph, son of show stalwarts John and Pat Randolph, return home from college and announce his homosexuality, which would in turn contribute to his parent's marital breakup. Procter and Gamble, the show's owner, axed the story days before the first scene of the story was to be filmed.
Actor Ray Liotta played Joey Perrini on “Another World” for nearly 40 episodes in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. While the actor was best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in “Goodfellas“ and Shoeless Joe Jackson, it was his turn on “Another World” that became his first steady role in the industry.
Anne Heche's acting debut as twins Vicky and Marley, which she won an Emmy and a Soap Opera Digest award during her four years on the show. She went on to an impressive film and TV career like so many others who started out on soaps.
After Anne Heche left the show actress Jensen Buchanan replaced her on the show until its cancellation in 1999.
On August 5, 2022, Heche was involved in a sequence of three motor vehicle collisions in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, the final collision being the most serious, inflicting critical injuries on Heche and destroying a house. She died on August 14 at the age of 53.
Following Heche’s passing her “Another World” co-star Russell Todd posted on Instagram, writing “I’m incredibly saddened and and pained by this tragedy. Annie was my ex-wife and girlfriend on the NBC soap opera, ‘Another World’ for a year and a half while playing identical twins Vicky and Marley to my character Dr. Jamie Frame. We worked together almost every day, sharing laughs, love scenes, preposterous stories, long hours, drama and triumphs, including a remote shoot we did in Nice, France where our characters fell in love. She was a force of nature. A beautiful and wonderfully talented actress. She was a guide and mentor to me, always there with advice and support. God bless you Annie. I am eternally grateful for our time together and will never forget your talent, devilish smile, indomitable spirit and endless energy. God’s speed my friend. My condolences as well to the family and friends. Love, your Jamie..Russell.”
In an unusual experiment, the show expanded from 60 to 90 minutes on Monday, 5 March 1979. This hurt the ratings, and the show went back to an hour on Monday, 4 August 1980. The show never recovered in the ratings.
The show covered many social issue storylines, including sexual assault, mental disorder, and alcoholism.
It was the first soap opera to launch two spin-offs, “Somerset” and “Texas”, as well as an indirect one, “Lovers and Friends”, which would be renamed “For Richer, For Poorer”.
"Another World" was also the second soap opera with a theme song to chart on the Billboard record charts, "(You Take Me Away To) Another World" by Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris, in 1987.
The character of Doctor Jamie Frame was played by Seth Holzlein, 1970; Aiden McNulty, 1972–1973; Tyler Mead, 1973; Brad Bedford, 1973; Robert Doran, 1973–1978; Tim Holcomb, 1978–1979; Richard Bekins, 1979–1983; Stephen Yates, 1983–1985; Laurence Lau, 1986–1990; Russell Todd, 1990–1993.
In 1987, a young Brad Pitt played Chris, a high school basketball student who appeared on two episodes. It was his first speaking role on TV. Other celebrities who appeared in walk-on parts before they were famous: Anne Heche, Billy Dee Williams, Henry Winkler, Kelsey Grammer, Chris Noth, Ed O'Neill, Scott Bakula, Marcia Cross, Jackee Harry, Thomas Gibson, Matt Lauer, and Marla Maples.
Two years before scoring his most well-known role as bad boy Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills, 90210”, Luke Perry played Kenny on a handful of “Another World” episodes from 1988 to 1989.
Before becoming the most recognizable voice in all of Hollywood, Morgan Freeman starred in eight episodes of “Another World” in 1983 as Dr. Roy Bingham. While he had already gotten his start in entertainment decades prior, the Invictus actor went on to score leading roles in such iconic films as “Driving Miss Daisy”, “The Shawshank Redemption”, “Bruce Almighty”, “The Dark Knight”, and countless others. He scored five acting Oscar nominations, winning the 2005 Academy Award for best supporting actor.
Despite low ratings, the show was renewed in 1993. The lower rated “Santa Barbara” was given the axe instead. But “Another World’s” ratings still were not performing well, becoming the second-lowest rated soap opera on U.S. television at the time (ahead of only ABC's “Loving”) after “Santa Barbara’s” cancellation.
In 1993, Russell Todd last appeared as “Jamie Frame”, ending a 3 year run. He would return for a guest appearance in December 1993
In early 1995, “Another World” was the first daytime soap to eliminate the full-screen closing credits crawl in favor of the one-third screen credits/promo combination. This was implemented by NBC to allow network news and local news outlets to break in with hourly updates on the O. J. Simpson murder case alongside the closing credits
Lindsay Lohan appeared as the character “Alli Fowler” from 1996-1997.
Country music singer Chely Wright appeared in one of the final episodes as a musical guest, singing her hit song "Single White Female". Wright was the last musician to appear on the show.
Between 1974 and 1999, “Another World” won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series only once (in 1976), a stark contrast to five wins for “The Young and the Restless” and six for “General Hospital” within that time frame.
On April 12, 1999, NBC announced it was canceling “Another World” with its final episode on the network airing on June 25, 1999. The episode revolved around the wedding of Cass and Lila. In the show's final scene, Rachel and Carl happily embraced in the Cory living room, she remarked "All's well that ends well," and, after looking at the pictures of all her loved ones, Rachel went upstairs with Carl. The final image was a still frame of Mac raising a champagne glass in a celebratory toast, before the episode faded to black.
NBC replaced “Another World” with another soap opera, “Passions”, on July 5, 1999.
This was NBC's second-longest running soap opera. “Days of Our Lives” overtook “Another World” as NBC's longest-running soap opera in December 2000.
Trivia items from IMDB
To listen to my fascinating conversation with “Another World” star RUSSELL TODD about playing the role of Jamie Frame from 1990 to 1993 on my podcast click on the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 49 - HERE
Episode 50 - HERE
