Why does she not work more?!?
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gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 02:41 PM)
If she thinks she's as good as anybody she is wrong. I feel she is as good as a few people but not as good as anybody. There are a lot of actresses who would clean the floor with her. She's best suited to one type of role in my opinion.
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SimplemindedSociety — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 03:32 PM)
She mentioned that Bette Davis complimented on her as an actress when they worked together on Hotel,an episodic during the early-mid 80's. That apparently made an impression on Morgan
Perhaps what she meant in the previous quote was "I am as good as anybody else who is working on things I could be doing" -
gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 04:33 PM)
I remember she played a hooker who was raped on Hotel, maybe she was good but i've never seen that episode. I imagine Bette Davis complimenting your acting would go to a lot of people's heads. I think Morgan's as good as her blonde villainess peers Heather Locklear and Donna Mills and as good as Victoria Principal and that would make her statement true if she meant in the context you suggested but who knows? She has a niche and I feel should be happy with it and the things she has acheived. She is in no way underrated in my view.
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gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 08:11 PM)
Oddly I have the same issue with Morgan as I do with Vanessa Williams in that they have voices that always sound bitchy to me. I like them both but I think a large part of the credit they receive as villainesses is from the fact their voices have a snotty tone to them,if that makes sense. I actually believe that's Morgan's normal voice whereas Raquel's sounds fake to me. I've only seen Heather play bitchy charecters so i'm not sure what she can do outside that and same with Donna, though Donna's Knots charecter was a more human villianess than any of seen Morgan or even Heather play. I saw Morgan on Falcon Crest as a lady with split personalities and I found her pretty good.
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SimplemindedSociety — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 08:30 PM)
If you watch Donna & Heather from the 70's,they were the opposite; Heather on TJ Hooker,Donna in her TV films where she always played the heroine. That why I mentioned their range.
Donna made a switch playing the villian on Knot's Landing, to my pleasant surprise. Heather was very likable on TJ Hooker as the police desk-officer and her role on Dynasty(which she shot simultaneously)
Now,Morgan comes off as bitchy or snide in everything I've seen; something 'affected' about her that I don't like -
gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(December 30, 2010 08:40 PM)
That's fine. I never saw TJ Hooker or Donna playing anything but a villainess so I can't judge. I do recall though Heather was in a TV movie called Shattered Minds playing a woman with multiple personalities and she was really good. I've mainly seen Morgan playing bitchy women and I don't disagree she is affected, like Raquel and Loni but for some reason I like her better. However, I feel the same about her like I do Raquel and Loni in that they are not underrated and do not deserve more work. There are vastly more talented people who don't get work so she has nothing to complain about.
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blackie-5 — 15 years ago(January 01, 2011 08:39 PM)
One of the above posters said Morgan should be working in a soap if she wants to work more. I completely agree. All My Children, General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, Young & Restless, One Life to Live would all do well to hire this proven TV villainess. However, from things she has said, I don't think Morgan is that interested in the year-round grind that a contract role with a soap would require. Look at her history Other than her debut on Search for Tomorrow (1973-77), her longest running role was on Flamingo Road (a season and a half). I'm sure the current network soaps have made her offers other than her fun but pointless, recent 4-episode stint on Bold and the Beautiful. In fact, I heard ABC Daytime wanted to meet with her about possibly joining one of their daytime soaps in the mid-2000's but nothing came of it. I suspect that doing a daytime soap like Search for Tomorrow for 4 years is something Morgan feels she has done before and she doesn't feel the need to do it again. She is involved in things like political causes and fundraisers, shooting supporting roles in small independent films, and of course the occasional guest-star role on shows like Nip/Tuck and Chuck. A role on a soap would require her to be in L.A. year-round & I get the feeling she likes to be free to travel & get involved in politics & go off to different states to make small movies. A soap opera role provides nice financial rewards but is sort of a dead end creatively in many actors' minds. This is all in my humble opinion.
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SimplemindedSociety — 15 years ago(January 01, 2011 08:45 PM)
blackie,
I think it's more than that.
Some 'stars' would feel a loss of status by doing a soap. If she really wanted to enjoy her craft,she would accept those offers, not for the money, but for the joy of acting. Holding out for better offers has not really gotten her anywhere. -
gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(January 01, 2011 08:57 PM)
I don't think Morgan is holding out for better offers, I think she takes work as it comes. ABC did get her to do a daytime soap in 1995 "The City" and it flopped. I think if she doesn't work more it's because the offers aren't there, not by choice or because she is choosy. Look at her filmography (Body Chemistry, Test Tube Teens,etc) the woman is not choosy.
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blackie-5 — 15 years ago(January 02, 2011 01:17 AM)
No, it didn't. I posted that comment re: a previous posting that "Morgan should do a Western" but my reply didn't appear in the right spot under that comment, so it might not be clear why I was pointing out about Red Headed Stranger.
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blackie-5 — 15 years ago(January 02, 2011 01:36 AM)
Anyway, yes Simpleminded Society you are correct that Morgan did The City for ABC in 1995-96. She was paid a million dollars for this & she committed to it for one year only. (The show continued for another year after she left before being cancelled in 1997). According to her A&E Biography, the reason she did The City was that her mom was quite elderly & needed lots of expensive care at the time; so Morgan did this series (at quite a high salary for a daytime soap role) to ensure her mom had the best care. I don't think she is interested in committing to a soap role except that the above circumstance made it worth it to her at that time. Like I said, she was later approached by ABC Daytime in the 2000's but I think it was only in a general way they just let her know they were interested or asked to meet with her. I don't know that ABC's solicitation went any further than that Anyway, I do think she would probably do a primetime series if offered. Compared to daytime soaps, primetime offers a higher profile, far fewer pages of dialogue to learn every day, a slower, more artistic shooting pace, and more money.
Personally, though, I've always thought that if one of the top leading ladies leaves Days or B&B or One Life or Y&R or AMC or GH, Morgan should be hired to fill in she certainly has the experience and the cache to step in to a lead soap role she could give gals like Erika Slezak, Melody Thomas Scott, Robin Strasser, Deidre Hall a run for their money
Meanwhile, however, soap budgets continue to be slashed to keep daytime TV financially viable. Days even fired Deidre Hall because she was too well-paid. If Morgan is resistant to daytime TV, then I can't imagine they'll ever be able to pay Morgan what it would take to lure her to that grind.
She was interviewed last year about her 4-day stint on Bold and the Beautiful - the writer asked if she'd ever consider a more significant role on a daytime soap, and she said something like, Never say never! Here's hoping she decides to go on daytime someday. -
gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(January 02, 2011 11:05 PM)
I said Morgan did The City not Simpleminded, I remember it because I used to watch it with my grandma as a kid and Sydney was the only charecter I liked. I didn't know about her mom's expensive care or that Morgan needed the money. $1 million dollars was and is a lot for a soap star but Susan Lucci was getting it too so it wasn't unheard of but certainly very rare. I would love to see Morgan in another primetime series also. Where did you hear she was approached by ABC Daytime in the 2000s? Also, do you know if her A&E Biography is available on video?
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SimplemindedSociety — 15 years ago(January 02, 2011 11:45 PM)
'she could give gals like Erika Slezak, Melody Thomas Scott, Robin Strasser, Deidre Hall a run for their money'
On the contrary, these multi Emmy-winning soap veterans are far more talented than Fairchild. The most talented don't always become the most famous.
However, I have to ask: why does the 'grind' of a soap bother her? What other acting is she doing? Either she wants to act, or doesn't. I don't know,she portraying herself like she's above it all. She must have a good savings account. -
gabbieispretty — 15 years ago(January 03, 2011 01:10 AM)
I don't think she's acting like she's above daytime or she wouldn't have taken the small role on Bold and the Beautiful in 2009. Her most recent films are little seen, independent ones and she makes guest appearances, lately often in smaller roles(on Law and Order she only had one brief scene). I don't actually know for a fact if daytime soaps have even offered her a more permanent position and she has frequently said she would be open to a return to daytime, at least in interviews I've read where they asked if she would. I don't think she could give Erika Slezak a run for her money but I think she could Deidre Hall(when she was on daytime). Deidre was very wooden in my opinion and not really a very good actress or more talented than Morgan.
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blackie-5 — 15 years ago(January 09, 2011 02:51 AM)
In answer to your questions, I had a friend working at ABC who said ABC Daytime was curious to meet with Morgan about soap work in the early to mid-2000's. I don't know that the meeting ever happened; if it did, obviously nothing came of it
I don't know if her A&E Bio is available. I have a copy of it taped off TV when it aired in 2000. It might be available on A&E's website or there used to be a Biography magazine website that sold ep's of A&E Biography.
What I said about her resisting the daily grind of soap work was just a theory. I don't have first hand knowledge of that It's just that she's such a natural fit for daytime drama, I can't imagine why she would prefer to do all the small (probably low-paying) indie films she does & TV show cameos. Why would she not rather be a soap icon instead of having smaller movie & TV jobs here & there? It's a mystery to me. I am just theorizing that she has already done daytime twice (Search for Tomorrow & The City) and it is fairly grueling & perhaps she doesn't want to repeat herself.
If I were able to place a bet, I would bet that at some point she will do daytime as a regular again - she's just such a natural fit for it!