Is Nancy Addison Carrying
Her Independence Too Far?
Rona Barrett's Daytimers Magazine, November 1977
by Amanda Smith
Article Provided By Wanda
There's something very honest and forthright about Nancy Addison. So much so that when she felt uncomfortable not long ago in the part of Jillian Coleridge on Ryan's Hope, she went straight to headwriter Claire Labine and said so.
"I usually play the character as it's written," she explained, "but when Jill wasn't being straight with Frank and Seneca, lying to one and then the other...."
"I woke up one morning and decided it was all wrong," she declared firmly. "Jillian wouldn't be manipulative! She wasn't being true to herself - and that was out of character."
She was right and the powers-that-be at Ryan's Hope agreed with her. Jillian isn't deceiving anyone any more.
And neither is Nancy.
Her honesty is as refreshing as it is unusual. When she doesn't wish to discuss something, she'll say so - and while you may wish she weren't quite so reticent about her personal life, at least you can be thankful she doesn't 'beat around the bush'!
"I consider myself a feminist," she explained "I have a group of women friends who all studied acting together and somehow the four of us evolved. We all had the same basic interests, we're all basically from the same generation, with the same kind of views about the feminist movement, and we really started to step back and take a look at our lives and our roles in society.
"We started meeting on a regular basis and we'd talk for hours. It's so nice because everyone has someone to bounce off. Female relationships are very important. Too many women think only in terms of male-female relationships - and they're missing a great deal."
When her friends meet, they take turns cooking dinner and bringing dessert, so it's natural to ask Nancy how she rates as a cook.
She laughs, "well, everybody knows how much I like to eat! When I was married, we did a lot of entertaining. I do like to cook, but only when I want to. I don't like having to do it. But then, I enjoy eating alone in a restaurant, too. I love the theater and movies, and I often go alone."
A graduate of one of those self-awareness programs sweeping the country lately, Nancy is still in therapy and feels that she's grown by leaps-and-bounds in the attempt to 'find herself'. "Part of it was learning to express and show my anger and not feel guilty about it...."
"What do you think headaches come from? And stomach aches? Asthma in children? It's all nerves. It's very bad to hold it in, but it's hard to accept anger for what it is. It's hard to risk turning people against you. But you learn that people won't stop liking you because you were angry."
One of the things that brings out that anger quicker than anything is when people put down soap operas.
"I'm getting bored with the whole topic!" she declared, tossing her head defiantly." People have no conception of what it's like to do a soap opera! The work is very difficult and I'm tired of people putting it down when they don't know what they're talking about!
"Those situations that happen on daytime series - they're not so far out. You just go out there to middle America and you'll see.
"People don't realize the pressure we're under. We don't take four hours to work on four sentences like they do in nighttime television. We have one shot - the taping - that's it, and it offends me when people put that down.
I think Ryan's Hope is wonderful. The concept, the New York setting, the ethnic backgrounds, the contrast of character. It's very different. No other soap is like ours. And the people are superb."
But she does have one complaint about soaps - and she wouldn't be Nancy if she weren't honest enough to verbalize it....
"I have almost two years left on my contract, but the option is always up to them. You know, they can fire you every 13 weeks, every cycle. It's very one-sided. I think that's something the union should really fight. I really object to that!"
Although time is at a premium for her, Nancy manages to fill her life with books, music, antique hunting, karate lessons, movies, theater, tennis, plants, horseback riding, and her two dogs.
She has a zest for living, an appreciation of sunshine and rain and spring and fall and everything that makes life beautiful.
One of those things is Nancy herself.
