Joan Collins Still Looks Good

1 Cyndi Lauper appears on AS THE WORLD TURNS for gay rights David Hinckley of the New York Daily News reports: "You could argue that Cyndi Lauper's appearance on AS THE WORLD TURNS Thursday is a 360-degree back-scratch: Lauper promoting her new record and tour, the show enjoying the glow from a genuine pop star who drops in to sing a tune or two. But hey, does everything have to be cynical? What if it's really just a nice gesture by Lauper to boost a notion she's supported for years - respect and fair treatment for gay folks? But her appearance on the show is clearly an endorsement of the relationship, a signal that people need to deal with it and get used to it and accept it. The fact that P&G is having her on the show knowing that's her message also speaks well for the company." Soap Watch: Cyndi Lauper's 'As the World' turn Cyndi Lauper does know how to make an entrance. We're not talking about her guest appearance on As the World Turns' July 3 episode, when she visits the CBS soap to perform a benefit concert (her latest single ''Into the Nightlife'' and the classic ''True Colors'') for a university Pride event. We're talking about her appearance on the ATWT set May 27, when, before shooting her scenes, she replaced actor Jake Silbermann — the first half of daytime's hottest off-but-soon-to-be-on-again? gay couple, Noah and Luke (Van Hansis) — in the hot seat at the Snyder family kitchen table to answer reporter questions. "I just think it's awful, and you should get back together with your boyfriend," she told Silbermann, before taking a breath that would have to last for the next 30 seconds. "Because honestly, I think you two are made for each other. And if you're gonna start this silliness now, just think, you know, later on, you'll be sorry in life. You had your moment when you could have had real love. But no, you decided to become distracted. And then what's gonna become of you? You're gonna be unhappy, which will be perfect for this show, but, you know what I mean. You better get straightened up... [She puts out her hand out for Silbermann to shake] It's nice to meet you." Set Visit: Cyndi Lauper Helps AS THE WORLD TURNS Celebrate Gay Pride Brian Juergens from AfterElton visited the ATWT set the day Cyndi Lauper taped a guest appearance and spoke with Lauper, Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann about daytime television's first gay pride celebration and the Luke and Noah storyline. Lauper: "It’s wonderful in this soap opera that they’re showing real life. And there’s a lot of real people in real situations – that’s why on the tour I also brought along PFLAG. Because you know, when you come out you go through what you go through, but your family goes through a lot too, and who do they talk to if they don’t know other people? But there’s PFLAG where they can talk to other parents. Information is power, and I wanted to do a tour that would empower people." Former stripper writes memoir and reveals his Matt Drudge friendship — and their butual love of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS According to Seymour: "Matthew and I were primarily obsessed with two things: music and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. That’s all we talked about as we walked around D.C. late at night or drove out to the Maryland suburbs where his mother worked behind the counter at 7-Eleven." ATWT's Magnussen to star in "Paper Dolls" Lively Productions and Métropole Ink will present Paper Dolls as part of the 11th annual New York International Fringe Festival, running Aug. 8-24 at the Players Theatre. Penned by New York Daily News columnist and playwright Patrick Huguenin, the cast will feature Ali Ahn, Allison Goldberg, Jen Jamula and AS THE WORLD TURNS star Billy Magnussen. Magnussen also made his Broadway debut last season in "The Ritz." Analysis: SAG's in a Tough Spot With its final offer just hours before the screen actors contract expired Monday night, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers issued a dare to the Screen Actors Guild: Take the deal or go take your strike vote. EASTENDERS: No stranger to controversial storylines With the latest admonishment from Ofcom still ringing in its ears, EASTENDERS has announced it plans to tackle the taboo subject of child sex abuse in a forthcoming storyline. The plot will revolve around Bianca Jackson's 15-year-old stepdaughter Whitney and her jailbird dad who will arrive in Albert Square later this year. Sarah Jayne Dunn's 'great' return to HOLLYOAKS The 26-year-old actress - who reprises her role as Mandy Richardson in the Channel 4 soap - insists she is thrilled to return to the show, and be involved in an emotional storyline involving the custody of her stepbrother Tom. She said: "I always said, 'Never say never' so it was nice not to be killed off, so I always knew there an opportunity to go back. I don't think I can look as it as going back because it's still a job in the industry and when you're an actor you just want to be working. HOLLYOAKS is riding such a wave at the moment - it's a great time to be there." INTERVIEW: PASSIONS's Hector Luis Bustamante "Well, for a long time, he was just called 'Henchman' in the scripts. But he then had a scene with Tabitha where she asked what his name was and Juanita didn't even know his name, so she said, 'Hench.'"

Soap Vet Keith Charles Has Died

Keith Charles, a veteran Broadway and Off-Broadway actor and soap veteran, died at his home in New York City on July 1 at the age of 74. The cause was lung cancer. At home in both musicals and straight plays, he starred opposite Lauren Bacall and later, Anne Baxter, in the Broadway musical "Applause" and Holland Taylor in "Breakfast with Les and Bess." He also appeared in "Celebration" and "Happy Birthday, Wanda June." After graduating from the University of Texas and serving in the U.S. Army, he came to New York in 1959 to pursue an acting career. His first job was taking over the part of El Gallo in the long-running Off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks." He played roles on nine daytime soap operas: Rick Oliver on THE EDGE OF NIGHT Nick Kane on THE SECRET STORM Ross Cavanaugh on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW Robert Jardin on WHERE THE HEART IS Ted Chandler on LOVE OF LIFE Alex McDaniels on THE GUIDING LIGHT Ralph Mitchell on AS THE WORLD TURNS Ted Clayton on ONE LIFE TO LIVE Homer Dowd on RYAN'S HOPE

Gay Pride Oakdale

Hunter Tylo (Taylor, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Marina, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Robin, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 46 Jeff Phillips (ex-Matthew, ANOTHER WORLD) - 40 Ryan McPartlin (ex-Hank, PASSIONS) - 33 Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESSS; IMAGINARY BITCHES; ex-Maggie/Frankie, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 29 Justin Torkildsen (ex-Rick, THE BOLD AND TEH BEAUTIFUL) - 27

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Television Characters

David A. Wyatt has compiled a very comprehensive list of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered television characters. To be listed a character should have "appeared in at least three episodes and be explicitly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered." MarkH has compiled a good list of the soap characters which I am going to include below along with a few additions. The first date is the date they debuted or were revealed to be gay. 1977, The Young and the Restless, Katherine Chancellor 1977, The Young and the Restless, Joanne Curtis 1977, Days of Our Lives, Sharon Duvall In 1977 the unhappily married Sharon Duval (Sally Stark) admitted to her dear friend Julie Williams that she was bisexual and was in love with her. The story line was quickly wrapped up when problems broke out backstage between head writer Pat Falken Smith and the NBC top brass. 1983, All My Children, Lynn Carson After Devon McFadden discovered Lynn was a lesbian, she convinced herself that a relationship with a woman was the answer to her problems. Lynn wisely told her that you don't just choose to become a lesbian because your affairs with men don't work out. After about 2 or 3 months, Lynn decided to get on with her life and moved away from Pine Valley. 1985, Santa Barbara, Channing Capwell, Jr 1985, Santa Barbara, Lindsay Smith This soap opera opened its first episode with the release from prison of the wrongly convicted murderer of Channing Capwell Jr. In the course of finding the real killer, it was discovered that Channing's past included affairs with his father's mistress and someone named Lindsay Smith. More investigation turned up that Lindsay was another man. Some of this story was played out in flashback wherein Channing and Lindsay appeared. 1988, As The World Turns, Hank Elliott Hank was a dress designer, who had come to town to find occupation away from his HIV+ lover Charles. Various characters reacted differently to Hank's coming out to them. 1992, One Life to Live, Billy Douglas 1992, One Life to Live, Jonathan Michaelson 1992, One Life to Live, Rick Mitchell Billy Douglas moved into Llanview in the summer of 1992, a 17 year old highschool senior. Billy's struggle to come out to himself and his homophobic parents, in the midst of a town bitterly divided over a rumour that the local minister might be gay, occupied a substantial share of OLTL air time over the summer of 1992. Jonathan, lover of the minister's late brother, showed up to ask for help making a quilt panel. Billy met Rick Mitchell carolling on Christmas eve 1992 and left for Yale the next summer. 1994, General Hospital, John Hanley Beginning in 1994 the character of John Hanley was a recurring character, each year co-chairing the annual AIDS Ball charity fundraiser. The character and the actor were both HIV-positive, and when actor Lee Mathis died in early 1996, John Hanley's [off screen] death was mourned on the show. 1995, All My Children, Michael Delaney 1995, All My Children, Rudy In 1995 producers introduced a full-time (as opposed to short-term) gay character. Michael's sexual orientation was revealed several months after his addition to the cast. In the ensuing controversy about a gay teacher in the classroom, `Mr. D.' developed a platonic friendship with an employee of the local TV station. Kevin, one of Mike's students and the leading homophobe's younger brother, came out. 1995, Guiding Light, Wyatt Sanders Wyatt, a recurring character, was an HIV counselor and appeared in several episodes between 1995 and 1997. 1996, All My Children, Kevin Sheffield 1996, All My Children, Brad Phillips By September 1996 Mike and Brad had started dating, and moved in together in January 1997. Actor Chris Bruno was contracted for only occasional appearances (a few times per year) after April 1997. During the summer of 1997 Kevin endured "reparative therapy" by a conversion therapist sponsored by his homophobic parents. 1996, The City, Azure C. 1997, All My Children, Rick 1997, General Hospital, Ted Murty Ted Murty [occasional from 1997] was erroneously suspected in the sexual assault of a female student. 1997, One Life to Live, Wendie Mercury 1999, Passions, Simone Russell 2000, All My Children, Bianca Montgomery 2000, All My Children, Rain Wilkins 2000, All My Children, Sarah Livingston 2002, All My Children, Olga Sosnovska 2002, All My Children, Maggie Stone 2004, The Bold and the Beautiful, Sergei 2005, As The World Turns, Luke Synder A character since his birth, in the spring of 2006 teenager Luke came out, to varied reactions from his family and friends. Luke's first crush was his straight best friend Kevin Davis (Karl Girolamo). 2005, General Hospital, Lucas Jones A character since his birth, during the winter of 2005/6 college student Lucas grew to realize he was harboring a secret sure to distress his family situation. 2005, One Life To Live, Daniel Colson 2005, One Life to Live, Mark 2006, All My Children, Zarf/Zoe Luper Erica Kane's lesbian daughter Bianca Montgomery returned full time to the program from fall 2006 to April 2007 (without girlfriend Maggie). In what was perhaps one of the most convoluted attempts to avoid portraying a same-sex romance, AMC introduced Zarf, a male-to-female transsexual (played by a male actor) to provide Bianca a love interest. 2006, General Hospital, Guy Richardson Guy and Lucas Jones began dating in May, 2006, and they both promptly disappeared from view. 2006, Passions, Chad Harris-Crane 2006, Passions, Vincent Clarkson-Crane Somewhat unconventional American daytime drama, mixing complex, interrelated families with a 300-year-old supernatural meddler. Simone is daytime's first African-American lesbian. In early 2007 is was revealed that Chad was having an affair with another man. Chad's lover Vincent would go to any lengths to keep the affair secret. Chad's heterosexuality was eventually rescued when it was revealed that Vincent was a hermaphrodite and Chad was sleeping only with Vincent's female anatomy. Vincent turned out to be a serial killer and (using his male parts) a rapist. 2007, As The World Turns, Noah Mayer 2008, As The World Turns, Reg Addington 2008, As The World Turns, Tony Noah's speedy connection with Maddie Coleman told Luke Snyder his heart was heading down the wrong path again. Soapy plots have included a Noah's crazed, homophobic father, Luke's tenure paralized in a wheelchair, and Noah's green-card-sham marriage to Ameera, a wayward Iraqi. Early story characterized by well-written plot developments separated by weeks or months of the character being sidelined by the writers. A vocal campaign by Luke & Noah fans seemed to break down story barriers inside the production company circa May 2008. In February 2008, the characters of Reg and Tony were introduced as fellow gay Oakdale U students.