ARTICLES
- Surprise! She's a Good Girl at Heart!
- Why Marcy Walker Kept Her Wedding A
  Secret
- Marcy Walker's Ecstatic: "I'm having a
  Baby!"
- The Love Story of Santa Barbara's Cruz
  and Eden
- Marcy Walker Mother-To-Be
- How Soap Stars Raise Their Kids
- Marcy Walker: On marriage, motherhood,
  and those sizzling love scenes
- Marcy's Paris Diary
- SB Eden '91 Going Away Party
- Marcy Talking About A Martinez
- Cruz and Eden's Family Ties
- Can Santa Barbara Survive Without
  Eden?
- Out of the Garden of Eden
- GL's Marcy Walker "Love is the Answer"
- Introducing GL’s Marcy Walker
- Kiss and Tell
- Back to the Future
- Liza Woos Tad
- Dixie and Tad's Breakup
- Psychotic role shows WALKER's
  villainous side
- Torn Between Two Loves
- The Juggler
- Liza's Manhunt
- Mother Knows Best
- The Play's the Thing
- AMC Stars Put on the Dog
- More Marcy!
- AMC News Blurb
- Love Letters
- Liza's History
- Have Suitcase, Will Travel
- Marcy Walker: "I'm Really Blessed…"
- Meet Liza Colby Chandler
- Marcy Walker chooses faith over soaps
- The New York Times
- She's found her 'Guiding Light'
- From Soaps to Serving God

INTERVIEWS
- Marcy’s most Memoral Christmas
- Marcy Walker: "I love 'playing' a baddie ...
  but wish people wouldn't hate me! I'm not
  like Liza at all!"
- The Best Days of her Life ... are now!
- "Healthstyles of the fit and famous"
- Marcy on Eden and Cruz, Eden’s Rape
  and Unforgettable Scene
- Getting Intimate with Santa Barbara's A
  Martinez and Marcy Walker
- Interview from Soap Opera Update
- Marcy Walker on Liza Colby
- The Beginning of an Actress
- Walker, Pine Valley Ranger
- AOL 1995 Chat
- AOL 1998 Chat
- Cameron Clicks
- My Mother, Myself
- Marcy Walker Interview with TV Guide
- Liza with a Zing
- Marcy Walker's Serpentine Journey
  Through Life Has Brought Her...Peace &
  Joy
- Beat The Clock
- Walker on the Wild Side
- Character Profile – Liza Colby

SNIPPLETS
- Look Who's In Love...
- Clean up your act!
- Video Vixen
- Moving Madness
- Liza Drops a Bomb
- Sounding Board
- Soap Violence
- What was the Best Present you ever
  gave at christmas?
- Guiding Light
- Runner-Up: Marcy Walker as Liza Colby
- Surprise Twist
- Leaders among Leading Men
- Gown & Out in Santa Barbara
- Between Love And Hate
- FYI
- My 2 Loves
- Rating The Soap Star Hairstyles
- Bye Bye Barbara
- Performer of the Week
- "ROUND UP What is your best or worst
  memory of going back to school?
- Hot Shot
- Will You Marry Me?
- Let's Do Brunch
- SOW names Marcy performer of the
  week for w/o Dec. 2
- Hit ... The ugly truth on AMC
- Performer of the Week
- Applause, Applause - Marcy Walker
  (Liza, All My Children)
- AMC Beauty falls for Younger Guy!
- A Mother's Nature
- Real Life Duos and where they are now
- Beauty Bar - Stars Reveal Their Biggest
  Beauty Blunders
- Hit...Liza's confession on AMC
- Star Talk
- Grand Tribute
- Kicking The Habit
- High and Lau
- Round Up: Which celebrity is most like a
  soap character, and why?
- Beauty Secrets: Personally Speaking
- Soap Talk: Question: Do you have a
  favorite household invention?
- A Big Break
- A Mother’s Love
- Love's First Blush Tad & Liza: All Fired
  Up!
- Hello, Again
- Behind The Scenes at the SOD Awards
- ABC News Blurb
- Picky, Picky
- Best storyline on All My Children-Liza and
  Adam's Romance
- Fowl Play

Liza Woos Tad

Given their tangled romantic history, Tad and Liza seemed destined to renew their love/hate relationship once Ms. Colby returned. The surprise for ALL MY CHILDREN viewers is that a series of brief kisses between adults could ignite so much dramatic tension. As Liza explained with mock innocence, "It was two overstimulated minds having an uncontrollable moment." Retorted the always quotable Tad, "I didn't kiss your mind." Watching Tad, Liza and Dixie engage in their romantic tug-of-war, we can't help but identify with all three of them. On one side is loyal Dixie, standing firm for her family and attempting to serve as her husband's moral compass. Enter Liza, the naughty girl from Tad's youth, back in Pine Valley feeling successful, sexy and very, very available. Experienced at pushing Tad's buttons, she unearthed his ambition and his love of the limelight when he agreed to host the hit talk show THE CUTTING EDGE. The most unique element of this story is its setting: the workplace. Tad and Liza's playful sparring looks familiar to anyone who has ever spent the day in an office filled with self-confident achievers. Even in this era of sensitivity to sexual harassment, many of us have fantasized about -- or even indulged in -- a flirtation with an attractive co-worker. AMC is tapping into that dangerous urge to mix business with pleasure -- and allowing viewers to take sides. (So far, Dixie's supporters are the most vocal.) It's always a joy to see Michael E. Knight (Tad), Cady McClain (Dixie) and Marcy Walker (Liza) sparring, attacking and flirting with each other. By casting Tad as a would-be Geraldo, AMC gives Knight the chance to display his charm while subtly nudging the worst aspects of tabloid TV. After an unsatisfying stint on GUIDING LIGHT, Walker is making the most of every moment as scheming Liza. And in the thankless side of the triangle, Cady McClain remains strong, even as homebody Dixie's every move seems to push her husband closer to his lovely boss. Keep it going, AMC -- you've created a juicy story that has viewers on the edge of their seats.

Dixie and Tad's Breakup

A wife discovers her husband's infidelity and angrily leaves town: This simple plot twist became a feast for ALL MY CHILDREN fans as Dixie Cooney Martin departed for Pigeon Hollow, ending the marriage of one of the show's most beloved couples. Beautifully written and performed, Dixie and Tad's breakup was a textbook example of great soap storytelling and a triumph for the actors involved. After McClain made a personal decision to leave AMC, we watched the scenes leading up to Dixie's exit with a vague feeling of dread. The now-famous tape of Tad confessing his adultery with Liza seemed to dangle for weeks before Marian finally played it over the loudspeaker at WRCW. We expected a few tears and bitter words before Dixie said goodbye. Instead, AMC gave us a complex mini-story that was alternately touching and harrowing. Dixie's goodness and morality were juxtaposed with the ugly spitefulness of Marian, who can't get over her long-ago fling with a teenaged Tad. Caught in the middle were Tad and Liza, the guilty parties who nevertheless managed to draw sympathy from viewers familiar with their complicated relationship. By now, it's almost a cliche to praise a soap's effective use of history. But AMC drew on layer upon layer of backstory in crafting Dixie's emotional farewells. Think of the unselfish love Adam (yes, Adam) expressed in his scene with Junior ... the sadness in Tad's eyes as he admitted that he couldn't promise not to hurt Dixie again ... Dixie's anguished breakdown when Tad left her at Adam's mansion ... Tad numbly reaching out to touch Dixie's pillow on his first night alone. And let's not forget Liza's heartbroken reaction to her mother's treachery. As a reminder of Marian's unsavory past, AMC unearthed a terrific circa-1983 clip showing this Mom-From-Hell treating a youthful Tad and Liza with the casual cruelty that remains her specialty. Though Liza must have dreamed of the day Dixie would be out of Tad's life, she seemed genuinely crushed at the hurt caused by her incriminating tape. This challenging material brought out the best in every actor involved: McClain, Michael E. Knight (Tad), Marcy Walker (Liza), Jennifer Bassey (Marian), David Canary (Adam) and Ray MacDonnell (Joe). We could feel the connections between these actors, even when their characters were being presented in an unflattering light. All in all, it was a fitting sendoff for Dixie and a reminder of what makes AMC such a special show.

Psychotic role shows WALKER's villainous side.

Some might wish it wasn't so, but it's still something of a novelty when daytime-TV stars appear together in prime-time. The latest example is "Terror in the Shadows", airing Oct. 16, which pits two popular soap opera actresses against each other. Marcy Walker plays a psychotic woman who was committed to a mental hospital after killing her child and the baby's foster mother. She escapes, and goes after the child's adoptive father, (Leigh J. McCLOSKY, who plays Damian SMITH on "General Hospital").

The crazed woman secretly moves into the basement of the family's home and terrorizes them, while planing revenge for perceived offenses of the past. The movie also stars Genie FRANCIS (alias "General Hospital's" Laura, and also an alumna of "All My Children" as well as "Days of Our Lives"); "Another World's" Victoria WYNDHAM; and Mark D. ESPINOZA, formerly Jesse on "Beverly Hills, 90210".

"It's been a while since I last played a psycho," Walker said. "I just had to keep remembering that she was coming from a position of believing she was incredibly right. Her sole objective came from a place so dark, the only way she could keep even a shred of sanity was to believe she was unjustifiably accused. The history is that she's killled her own child, so it makes her seem even more crazy that she can't accept her own psychosis." In line with that, Walker was determined to keep her performance subtle, until the inevitable moment-of-truth scene between the central characters at the end. "It would have become too arch if I had played her as a true villain," said Walker, who appears as Liza on "All My Children"? after stints on "Guiding Light" and "Santa Barbara" (which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award).

"There's nothing wrong with playing someone who's that psychotic that way, but I felt people could judge our performances harshly if they wished, because most of us in the cast are from daytime. I thought if one of us made the choice to play a character is a way that might be considered too much if it didn't work, it would be easy to take shots." As that rationale indicates, Walker said there still are pre-conceptions attached to actors who have made names for themselves in the daytime-drama realm, then work with others of that ilk in evening-TV projects. "We open ourselves up to a bit more of a critical eye in some ways"? she said, "especially when we're all paired together in a move-of-the-week. "It's easy (for reviewers) to take advantage of that. I am very proud to be associated with daytime television, but inevitably in any interview I do I'm asked, 'Do you think the daytime stigma is over?'" Walker has tried to break that by doing other prime-time ventures, including the TV-movies "Babies" and "Overexposed"? as well as the short-lived series "Palace Guard" and a "Perry Mason" caper that was filmed in Paris.

"We have come a long way", she said of herself and other daytime stars, "but the reason we always hear that question is that the stigma isn't gone. Otherwise, people wouldn't ask". Someone decided somewhere along the line that we shouldn't be proud of what we do (in daytime), Walker said, "but for the rest of my life, people will stop me on the street and identify me with Liza Colby or ("Santa Barbara's") Eden Capwell. This is our lineage. It's where we came from and what made us (career-wise)." Therefore, Walker doesn't deny the "hook" the networks have in mind when teaming daytime personalities in prime-time, especially at a point of year when counterprogramming major sports events by appealing largely to female viewers is a big consideration.

"We all know why we've been grouped together", Walker said."We weren't offered this movie because we're fabulous actors, but because they can get the daytime audience to watch. Still, if you were to rely just on that, you'd figure you wouldn't have to do a great job. All you'd have to do is show up, Because theyd get their ratings anyway. It wouldn't matter whether it was great... but many people do care about their work, and we were lucky enough to get a lot of them in this movie". Walker herself is concernded with being able to expand beyond the general image she's established in her daytime work, and she thought tackling her "Terror in the Shadows" character "would be good, because it would remind everybody that I can do other stuff, too".

Ironically, that's part of the reason Walker has returned to ABC's "All My Children", since she defines Liza as a 'bad' girl, a manipulative little preppie. "I started playing her when I had just turned 18, and ultimately, you started to feel sorry for her". She had absolutely nothing in her life except her quest to get this guy she thought would become her husband, but he fell in real love with someone else. The audience eded up taking tremendous pity on her, even though they hated her guts because she was so evil. There was something just so sad about her, though she was doing awful things to everybody else, and that was a nice double edge to play.

"Torn Between Two Loves"
 By day, Marcy WALKER plays Adam's wife, and by night, Taylor's mother.

Marcy WALKER isn't home each afternoon to rustle up a batch of chocolate-chip cookies for her 8-year-old son, Taylor. Neither is she about to play homeroom mother any time soon. Her job, playing Liza Colby, the most ambitious TV executive this side of Faye Dunaway's character in Network, keeps her from turning into June Cleaver. But her daytime job isn't about to keep her from being a good parent. "There's more that I'd like to do, but I can't, because I'm in this conundrum of scheduling", she says. "We never know our schedule until two weeks in advance, so it's hard to volunteer for anything with the school, which is something that is important not only to your child's self-esteem, but to your community, too, so that people know you care enough to be a part of it".

Although the actress sometimes feels powerless to satisfy her son's needs, she is encouraged by the fact that she can be an example to him. "You can set a standard and become a healthy role model if you show your child that you live up to your work responsibilities", she explains. "Taylor knows that I'm not going to let anyone down at work, that when I say I'm going to be there and be prepared, I am".

Homecoming Queen

The trust that WALKER has tried to nurture in her son, Taylor, is an essential ingredient in her working relationships as well. This hit home for her when she returned to AMC in 1995, after a 10-year absence during which she had a successful run as Eden Castillo on SANTA BARBARA, and a frustrating stint as Tangie Hill on GUIDING LIGHT. She recalls that the first week back was really weird.

"Michael [E. KNIGHT,Tad] and I looked at each other after all these years", she says, "and it was strange. Now it feels like home, normal again. You never know if the trust is going to be there, and that's a wonderful gift that you give to your acting partners".

"You say, 'I'm not going to steal anything away from you, because we're going to do it together. You can trust me with your emotions, your ideas, your organic moments, and I'm not going to pull the rug out from under you".

"It's sort of like a dance", she continues. "You have to trust that your partner isn't going to drop you when you're doing a dip". Sometimes I'll decide not to say a line a certain way, because I want to show a little vulnerability or defensiveness, and it will affect Michael. It's not something we discuss ; we just know.

"When I was on SB, A MARTINEZ (Cruz) also know those rules and those wonderful joys, and together we were able to create this mind-expanding thing", she says. "Then I had the experience of going to GL, which made me feel that I was lost, that I was missing the great dance, because I was doing a character who wasn't a character. I wasn't working".

She admits that it wasn't a great experience career-wise. "But it made me realize that I wanted all that back again. So, when they asked me to return to AMC, I was like a dying man in the Sahara, searching for water. Because I knew that right where I had learned how to dance is the place they were asking me to come back to and do it all over again. My God, why wouldn't you take the opportunity ? Here I was, stepping back into these scenes with people like Susan [LUCCI, Erica] and Michael and David CANARY [Adam, Stuart], going, 'Wow, I don't even have to thirst for this great dance -- it's just here".

All work and no play...

CANARY is equally enthusiastic about the mutual trust and respect that fuel the relationship between him and his on-screen wife. "Marcy is so articulate", he says. "We have a wonderful rapport, which I think comes through on-screen".

If he were to criticize his costar at all, he wouldn't accuse her of being a slacker, but rather of overanalyzing her performance. "Once in a while, she gets jammed up trying to think her way through a scene", he explains, "and that's certainly what every good actor should do. But sometimes the writing is not on a straight enough track so that logic will take you there. Every so often I feel that I help her by saying, 'Stop thinking. Let's just jump in and see what happens".

I'm the Boss

WALKER cherishes the support that she receives on the set, because when she comes home, no bones about it, she's the grown-up. "There was a time when I thought, 'I have no idea what I'm doing", she recalls, adding that she shared her fears with expectant parents Kelly RIPA [Hayley] and Mark CONSUELOS [Mateo], who welcomed their first child in June. "I told Kelly that the scariest thing is that there's no turning back. Try feeling so lost and being the leader and then dealing with the stress of work. It's very hard. I don't know how people do it".

At least where parenthood's concerned, WALKER doesn't subscribe to the "practice makes perfect" notion. "I said to Kelly that one of the things I feel very proud of as a parent is that I've apologized. I'm setting up a good example, so that when Taylor's wrong he doesn't have to be too ashamed to come to me to say he's sorry".

Laurie GRANIERI
SID 09/09/97