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<blockquote data-quote="Daniel Avery" data-source="post: 431065" data-attributes="member: 27">One of the unexpected pleasures of Donna&#039;s chat with Morgan Fairchild and her sister was hearing an anecdote (for the first time) about Donna&#039;s time on the daytime soap Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.&nbsp; She and Leslie Charleson played sisters Laura and Iris Donnely, who were considered the &quot;breakout characters&quot; of the relatively short-lived (and mostly forgotten) soap.&nbsp; Leslie C wisely advised Donna that they needed to capitalize on their popularity by going into contract negotiations together because, as Donna said, the show might could survive the departure/recast of one sister, but not both.&nbsp; They demanded (and got) outs in their contracts that allowed them to take primetime, guest-starring gigs---which they both knew would allow them to move into bigger, better roles eventually.&nbsp; Both Leslie and Donna ended up doing just that, spending the better part of the 1970s guest-starring on all the popular primetime shows.&nbsp; In Donna&#039;s case she got Play Misty for Me and ended up on a steeper career trajectory than Charleson....but it&#039;s pretty clear that if Charleson had not been looking to the future (for both of them), Mills may not have had the sort of career she had.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Leslie Charleson returned to soaps in 1977 to play General Hospital&#039;s Monica Quartermaine until Charleson&#039;s death earlier this year, and Monica&#039;s death onscreen was just written in last month.&nbsp; So hearing this anecdote about the debt that Donna Mills owed Charleson for some excellent career advice &quot;way back when&quot; was well-placed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Daniel Avery, post: 431065, member: 27"] One of the unexpected pleasures of Donna's chat with Morgan Fairchild and her sister was hearing an anecdote (for the first time) about Donna's time on the daytime soap [I]Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. [/I]She and Leslie Charleson played sisters Laura and Iris Donnely, who were considered the "breakout characters" of the relatively short-lived (and mostly forgotten) soap. Leslie C wisely advised Donna that they needed to capitalize on their popularity by going into contract negotiations [I]together [/I]because, as Donna said, the show might could survive the departure/recast of one sister, but not both. They demanded (and got) outs in their contracts that allowed them to take primetime, guest-starring gigs---which they both knew would allow them to move into bigger, better roles eventually. Both Leslie and Donna ended up doing just that, spending the better part of the 1970s guest-starring on all the popular primetime shows. In Donna's case she got [I]Play Misty for Me [/I]and ended up on a steeper career trajectory than Charleson....but it's pretty clear that if Charleson had not been looking to the future (for both of them), Mills may not have had the sort of career she had. Leslie Charleson returned to soaps in 1977 to play [I]General Hospital[/I]'s Monica Quartermaine until Charleson's death earlier this year, and Monica's death onscreen was just written in last month. So hearing this anecdote about the debt that Donna Mills owed Charleson for some excellent career advice "way back when" was well-placed. [/QUOTE]

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