Grant Show
She's a Fabulous Wife!"
Daytime TV Magazine, November 1986
by Jason Bonderoff
Article Provided By WandaLast fall Grant Show was getting bored and frustrated playing Rick Hyde on Ryan's Hope, so he decided to do something about it.
"I wasn't really happy on the soap," he recalls. "I didn't feel good about my work. I felt I was getting stale as an actor. I needed something to give me a lift."
In short order, Grant won the role of Matt Dillon's understudy in the new Broadway play, The Boys of Winter. It was exciting - and enlightening - to be working with major young talents like Matt Dillon and Andrew McCarthy.
"They're great guys and nothing at all like their Brat Pack reputations," Grant says. "I learned a lot just watching them. Andrew's a fine actor; he's a nice guy, too. But hard to get to know."
"When I first read the script, I loved that play. It deals with Vietnam, a subject people my age don't know much about. Before, I used to be afraid to talk to someone who was a Vietnam vet. This show educated me."
But despite its serious intentions, The Boys of Winter didn't last on Broadway. "There were script problems," Grant admits, "but at least the wrap party was great. Closing night everybody was down, so the producer wisely waited and held the party (at Sardi's) six days after we closed. By that time, everybody was up again!"
Fortunately, The Boys of Winter had one fringe benefit for Grant--it had made film and theater producers sit up and take notice. "It's really not fair, but that's the way this business works," he says. "I think Ryan's Hope has taught me a lot more about acting, but doing Boys of Winter is the kind of credit that casting directors notice. Somebody actually said to me, "You're a serious actor now." What did he mean by that? My work on Ryan's Hope is just as serious. I almost wanted to slug him!"
Actually, Grant's new Broadway show ought to be a new edition of The Odd Couple, since he shares his Manhattan apartment with another soap actor, As The World Turns' Jon Hensley (Holden). But it's hardly a Felix/Oscar relationship. "Let's say we're both semi-neat." laughs Grant.
They're also very noncompetitive. "We never go out for the same roles or try to date the same girls." says Grant. "In fact, sometimes I forget I even have a roommate. I tape Ryan's Hope in the morning, and Jon tapes World Turns late in the day. Even when we're home, his room's over there - my room's over here. We only meet when we raid the refrigerator."