Martha Byrne Recalls As The World Turns And General Hospital Scenes On SOM

Actress Martha Byrne sat down with Maurice Benard for a two-part episode of State of Mind on March 24, 2024. In Part 1, Byrne reminisced about her time on soaps, including 20 years on As The World Turns, a short stint on General Hospital, and how she almost ended up on Days of Our Lives.

Remembering As The World Turns

From 1985-1989 and 1993-2008, Byrne played Lily on ATWT, working on the show for a total of 20 years. Byrne recalled booking the show at 15 years old after appearing in several movies, quipping she was already a seasoned veteran in the business.

Benard commented on her chemistry with her co-star Jon Hensley, who played Lily’s love Holden. “Good looking dude,” she told Benard.

Byrne also remembered working on the show with Kin Shriner, who guested on State of Mind in 2022 alongside the late Jacklyn Zeman. Benard joked, “I’m sorry,” having worked with Shriner on GH off and on since the 90s. Byrne called that time one of her favorite years on ATWT.

Byrne Appeared On GH in 2009

“Even though I was on GH for, like, a second, we never crossed paths,” Byrne revealed about Benard. The actress went on to recall her scenes from the show, saying she played a character who tried to kill Edward (John Ingles) and was later hit by a car in front of a Ferris wheel.

Byrne was referring to the 2009 storyline when she played Andrew, Mayor Floyd’s (John Bolger) wife, who poisoned Edward in attempt to keep him quiet about a woman she murdered. When the infamous carnival happened, Andrea was killed when Edward suffered a heart attack behind the wheel from the poisoning and ran her down.

Andrea wasn’t Edward’s only victim. He also hit Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) when the man then known as Dominic Pirelli saved Morgan (then-Aaron Refvem) from getting hit, causing the secret of his identity to be revealed to Patrick (Jason Thompson).

Benard went on to joke that maybe his character Sonny was killing somebody or in jail, trying to explain why he never worked with Byrne.

Byrne In Salem?

Byrne also told the story of how DAYS came calling after and how it brought her back to ATWT. Byrne explained her great relationship with former ATWT head writer Douglas Marland, who she said completely understood her decision to leave ATWT.

“Days of Our Lives had called for me to audition and I called Douglas,” she said, who immediately asked if she was thinking about going back to soaps.

She paraphrased his reaction as, “If you’re going to go back to a soap, I want you to come back to As The World Turns.” Byrne revealed while she didn’t book the role on DAYS, she was back on ATWT within 24 hours.

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