Though their stab at coupledom only lasted for a few years, actors Yasmine Bleeth and Grant Show proved that not all love affairs have to be of the epic variety replete with makeups, breakups, agony, and ecstasy. Some are sweet and kind, yet last for but a moment and are looked back upon fondly.
How did Yasmine Bleeth and Grant Show Meet?
She had no intention of letting a little thing like relative inexperience inhibit her from giving the screen test anything less than her all. However, 16-year-old Yasmine Bleeth did find herself momentarily disconcerted when she made the acquaintance of Grant Show, her 21-year-old scene partner and future co-star.
In a November 1986 interview with Daytime TV Magazine, Bleeth related to Soap Hub’s very own Janet Di Lauro that, “I took one look at Grant and thought, Oh, my God! I have to screen test with him? He made some impact on me.”
In spite of her newfound nervousness, Bleeth clinched the on-camera audition and found herself the newest cast member on the now-defunct ABC soap Ryan’s Hope.
Reel-Life Romance
Inside the soap’s fictional world, Bleeth was Ryan Fenelli and Show was Rick Hyde — two characters whose first meeting inside a snowbound public house proved to be an auspicious beginning.
By 1986, one year after their initial coming together, the pair exchanged wedding vows. However, the Hydes quickly discovered — like so many married couples who had come before them — that the road to connubial bliss was a bumpy one.
In no time flat, Ryan suffered a devastating miscarriage and Rick — a dedicated officer of the law — accepted an undercover assignment that placed his life (and Ryan’s) in mortal jeopardy.
Real-Life Romance
In a case of life imitating art, Bleeth and Show began to draw ever closer and by their second year of working together, they were a full-blown romantic item — a private development that the pair managed to keep secret, even from the prying eyes of the daytime press.
From the above mentioned Di Lauro interview, “I love working with Grant. He is one of the most sensitive guys I’ve ever met. He’s so nice…so understanding. He’s like a big brother to me. We’re close. We do things together off the set a lot. I couldn’t ask for a better TV husband.”
Diverging Paths
In 1987, however, the nascent love birds called it quits. There was no recrimination, no faux pas committed on the part of one of the players, and there certainly wasn’t any hard feelings.
While Bleeth remained at Ryan’s Hope, Show had other plans. According to the actor, “I left…because I didn’t like the work I had to do every day, It’s incredibly difficult to do. It was challenging, but it wasn’t challenging in the way that I would’ve liked to be challenged.”
Subsequent to the couple’s breakup, Show spent a year in London honing his craft before returning to the U.S. and gaining recognition as a cast member of FOX’s nighttime serial Melrose Place.
In 2004, he married model and actress Pollyanna McIntosh, though the union was dissolved in 2011. A year later he walked down the aisle with fellow performer Katherine LaNasa. He currently stars in the Dynasty reboot as Blake Carrington.
Bleeth, in turn, found herself a household name the world over following her starring turn on the syndicated action series Baywatch. Between the parting of ways with Show and her marriage to Paul Cerrito, Bleeth was romantically linked to the likes of Luke Perry and fellow soaper Ricky Paull Goldin. “Let’s just say I have great taste.”
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