In the soap world, the devil doesn’t wear Prada, she wears Forrester Creations. But not for long, angels. The soap opera apocalypse is officially upon us: four-time Daytime Emmy winner Susan Flannery is leaving her iconic role as Stephanie Forrester on the world’s most watched daily serial, The Bold and the Beautiful, sometime in the next couple of years to retire from acting. Highly considered the best actor on daytime TV, the Golden Globe winner’s exodus will no doubt leave an irreplaceable void not only on the CBS sudser, but also in the entire industry. As an original B&B cast member, the soap’s identity has been based around her seminal character, Stephanie’s psychosis and her legendary love-hate relationship with Brooke Logan. But alas, La Flannery has made up her mind and barring a miracle, we're just going to have to deal with it.
The former Days of Our Lives star invited TVGuide.ca into her dressing room to go on the record about why she’s ready to move on and why she wasn’t happy with Stephanie’s involvement in Brooke’s rape last year in a rare and exclusive interview.
TVGuide.ca: Are you really planning on retiring in a couple of years? Or is this just another great scheme of Stephanie’s?
Susan Flannery: [laughs] Yes, I am retiring — and it’s going to be sooner rather than later. I haven’t set a date in my mind, but it’s not in the too-far distant future.
TVG: No! So that sound we hear is Brad [Bell, B&B’s executive producer/head writer] constructing a dungeon chamber to keep you under his lock and key!
SF: [laughs] I don’t know about that. You know, life is short and I had a great run. I’m not leaving in the next four to five months, but I am definitely headed towards leaving the show.
TVG: My therapist is going love this. [sighs] If you had your druthers, how would you like to see Stephanie written out of the show?
SF: You know, someone asked me that and all I can say is I would trust however Brad decided to write me out; however best he thinks my exit should play out. Brad’s the writer — and I have a lot of respect for him — so, I wouldn’t even think to suggest anything.
TVG: Bradley is one of my all-time favourite writers, and I believe one of the most underrated head writers in daytime. I think his father, William Bell, would be extremely proud of him.
SF: Oh, I agree completely. William would be so, so proud of him.
TVG: I have to have a fan moment here for a second — my friends and I gather for Flannery nights at my house to review all your best acting moments. Your performances were the only thing keeping us from writing off your country during the past eight years.
SF: [laughs] Let me guess, ‘bitch, bitch, slap, slap!’
TVG: You know your fans all too well. Did you know from an early age that you were destined to be an actor? Your talent feels God-given.
SF: It sounds corny, but I always knew. I was very fortunate to have two wonderful parents who believed I could do anything that I wanted to. My father even said to me, ‘If you want to be the President of the United States, you can be the President of the United States.’ They were very liberating parents. The only requirement they expected of me was to go to college, which I did. After I graduated, I moved out here to the coast and began knocking on doors. You know I’ve been very fortunate to have been working my entire career and life.
TVG: I’ve always wondered which actors you look up to.
SF: Well, I have to tell you that I was absolutely thrilled when La Vie En Rose’s Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar. I saw the movie sometime last year when it was first released, and I remember turning to my friends to remark, ‘That’s the benchmark performance for an actress of her generation. That performance was untouchable in my opinion.’ Of course, I think Julie Christie is magnificent. She’s wonderful, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime performance. I was very disappointed that La Vie En Rose wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and cinematographer. Personally, I thought La Vie En Rose was the best movie of the year — and this is coming from a No Country for Old Men fan.
TVG: I could perhaps accept your upcoming B&B departure, if you traversed back into the film world. Or are you retiring retiring from acting permanently?
SF: If someone offered me a great role in a film, I’m sure I wouldn’t turn that down. But I don’t know if that will happen…
TVG: Of course it could. You started out on the big screen and won a Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer in 1975 for The Towering Inferno.
SF: Yes, I did. When I joined B&B, I gave Bill my word that I wouldn’t do anything else and I would stay with him. I’ve only moonlighted once — and that was for two episodes for my best girlfriend, Joanna Johnson [ex-Caroline, B&B], who created and produced Hope & Faith. You know, film is so wonderful… however, please don’t misunderstand, I love the intimacy of the TV camera, and I love the immediacy of TV…
TVG: It’s like life.
SF: It’s like life! But film is so beautiful.
TVG: How did you feel about Stephanie being indirectly responsible for setting Brooke’s rape in motion?
SF: [sighs] I was not happy about that. That was the only time I said to Brad, ‘I don’t think this is right,’ as far as Stephanie’s involvement. I said to him, ‘You can not have her directly responsible for setting this in motion, because the audience will never forgive Stephanie for hurting another woman.’ Moreover, Eric and Ridge would never forgive her. When they backed off, and made it that Stephanie inadvertently set the rape up, I mean, that was enough guilt that we could work with from an emotional perspective.
TVG: Brooke and Stephanie are without a doubt B&B’s original and most popular super-couple. In fact, you guys are the heart and soul of the show. During the spectacular, award-worthy 5000th anniversary episode, when Brooke hugged Stephers and announced, ‘I love you, too,’ it was pretty orgasmic to watch, to be honest. Do you wish that Brooke and Stephanie teamed up more often, and perhaps flirted more with a friendship or, at the very least, an alliance?
SF: The audience likes that. I think they love seeing Brooke being pulled in by Stephanie, them getting along and bonding — and then boom, the explosion happens all over again and they’re in battle yet again.
TVG: I find the show uncharacteristically dark since writer Kay Alden joined the show.
SF: [nods] Well, it has been dark but I think that happened after Darlene Conley died. Without Sally Spectra on the show, we have lost our humour. We’re sorely missing that camp element, which gave B&B a nice balance.
TVG: Would you be friends in real life with either Brooke, Stephanie or both?
SF: [laughs] I’d commit them both to an insane asylum!
TVG: Y&R/B&B crossovers are all the rage again. I’m surprised that two of William Bell’s greatest character masterpieces, Victor Newman and Stephanie Forrester have never met, or done battle, or become allies. Now that I’d pay money to see! In a way, Stephanie is the female counterpart of the Dark Knight.
SF: That’s true. I don’t suppose there is a natural story to be mined there; it has to be organic. Of course, you never know what’s up Brad’s sleeve! You know, what I always say to people is what a stroke of genius — William really was a genius — casting a German actor to play the main character on a daytime soap opera, a medium watched primarily by middle America!
TVG: Bill loved ironic casting. Is Stephanie in danger of becoming a cardboard villain?
SF: Yes, she is. I will be honest — I worry about that all the time, especially in the past couple of years.
TVG: I think there’s far more exposition that’s needed in Stephanie’s childhood abuse storyline. I know Alley Mills [Pam] is back taping again heavily — are they revisiting that story more deeply?
SF: I never ask Brad what he’s doing, but I must say that was a beautiful storyline. Especially 20 years later after this character was introduced. To reveal something as personal and painful as that, and what kind of impact it had on her as a human being, I was stunned. I thought it was great.
TVG: And Stephanie abuses Brooke as a result.
SF: Yes — she does abuse Brooke.
TVG: It’s a shame they had to cast a little-known actress as your mom, Ann, huh? [laughs]
SF: Oh, my — what a great gift! I love Betty White [Ann], and she’s so wonderful.
TVG: You know, it’s interesting how Stephanie has evolved into the star player of the show because at first she wasn’t a front burner character — not until Brad took over the reins of the show.
SF: I’m sure you know this because you’re a soap opera afficionado, but every soap needs a tent pole character that is capable of going in and out of all the storylines on the show. And it took a while to find the rhythm of the show, and once he locked into it, B&B took off like crazy and I played a much larger role on the show. I don’t think Bill realized when he cast me how big a role Stephanie would become. Joanna said that to me at one point, ‘I don’t think Bill realized Stephanie would be such a focal point when he created the show.’
TVG: What does Katherine Kelly Lang [Brooke] have to do to get an Emmy nomination?
SF: Well, you know, I’ve spoken on her behalf publicly because I do believe she’s underrated. I don’t know what it’s going to take for us to turn that belief around.
TVG: You must have been proud of her work during Brooke’s rape?
SF: Oh, I’m impressed with her all the time. But yes, absolutely. So I have my fingers crossed for the 18th time for her!
TVG: I’m sure you’ll be nominated again this year.
SF: You know what — I doubt it this year.
Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and In Touch Weekly, along with covering soaps for TVGuide.ca. He got his professional start in 1997 as Senior News Editor at Soap Opera Update, and has freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly, where he interned in 1994, and Soaps In Depth.
