Sarah Felder:
“Well, Here I Go Saying
the Wrong Thing Again!”
Daytime TV Magazine, 1980
Jason Bonderoff
Article Provided By SabrinaSarah Felder admits life would be easier if she learned to keep silent
Ever since she was a little girl in St. Paul, Minnesota, Sarah Felder has been getting in trouble for speaking frankly. All through school, she argued with her teachers. When she came to New York, she argued with her landlord.
It’s not that Sarah enjoys making enjoys making waves. It’s just that she refuses to be pushed, shoved or manipulated in any way. In fact, she’s a lot like Siobhan Novak, the outspoken young rebel she plays on Ryan’s Hope.
Recently, for example, a magazine asked Sarah to pen a monthly advice column. Another actress, seeing it as a good public-relations chance, might have jumped at the offer. But Sarah didn’t exactly endear herself to the editor when she said, “Listen, I’m not just going to do a recipe column. It’s not my style. Now if you want me to do a column about my life as a single woman struggling to get by, then you’ve got a deal. Otherwise, forget it.”
Back stage at Ryan’s Hope, Sarah isn’t exactly silent, either. When something happens in a storyline that irks her, she’s sure to raise a howl. Take the time the script called for Siobhan to get mugged—a typical New York story, right? Well, not according to Sarah. “I was very unhappy with that storyline,” Sarah says. “I just don’t think Siobhan’s the kind of girl who’d get mugged. She’s a survivor, not a victim.”
When Sarah first came on the show, she used to get so upset by last-minute script changes that Michael Levin (Jack) took her aside one day and urged her to relax. “Listen,” he said, “don’t take it to heart so much. Tomorrow’s a new show.”
But she’s grateful that Siobhan isn’t weighed down by a halo and angel’s wings, like so many soap opera heroines. “Thank God, I wasn’t a virgin when I came on the show,” Sarah says (referring to Siobhan!) “And that doesn’t mean I’m immoral, either. There’s a difference between dating two men at the same time—and being promiscuous!”
And what is romance like for Sarah herself? “I’m friends with the guys I’ve dated,” she says. “Not all of them, but some. Of course, if someone’s hurt or angry that the relationship had to end, staying friends is impossible. But it’s great when you’re both mature enough to leave with no hard feelings.”
Sarah and her current beau have withstood a great deal of change. A few summers ago, when she was working as a cocktail waitress back in St. Paul, Minnesota, she met this very nice guy. But there was a slight hitch. At summer’s end, Sarah had to return to New York to resume her acting classes at the Juilliard School, while he had to stay in Minnesota, studying architecture.
But they kept in touch as best they could. In fact, Last year Sarah claimed that long-distance was the main reason they hadn’t thought about marriage, confiding, “I’m on a soap here and he’s in school there. I’d never ask him to give school up, and he’d never ask me to stop working. He knows, if he did, he’d have to give me up, too.”
Recently, however, Sarah’s beau finished school and moved to New York. Does that mean marriage might be a possibility now?
She declines to say anything more. “Listen,” she grins impishly, “considering my track record, I’d probably just say the wrong thing, anyway, and blow the whole relationship!”