General Hospital‘s Nancy Lee Grahn recently reunited with Lane Davies, the Mason to her Julia, when they broke big on the late great soap opera Santa Barbara in the ’80s. Years later, they reunited on GH when he played Dr. Cameron Lewis, the psychiatrist father to Zander. Hit fast forward again, and Davies is back on the soap for another round. His new persona is the surly brother to Alexis’s former boyfriend, Neil Byrnes. As Fergus, he firmly stands between Alexis and a return to her old life as a lawyer.
The Perks and Challenges of Reuniting
While there’s no word on how long Lane Davies will serve as the attorney of record making a case against Alexis becoming a lawyer, the actors were happy to work together again. “I was thrilled,” Nancy Lee Grahn told TV Insider. ” There’s just chemistry between us in general because we could pretty much argue about anything and agree about…
“Nothing,” laughed Davies as he finished his costar’s sentence. The two most definitely have a shorthand when sharing scenes. “We’re so chemical, the two of us, and it’s so fun,” Grahn added. “Later in life now, it’s still the same but different. It’s hard to find that with somebody else, and I know he gets it. He’s smart and can give back as good as it gets.”
As for the semi-retired Davies, there were certain perks to popping back up on GH. “I get to go to L.A., see old friends. I get to work with Nancy, which is some of the most fun I’ve ever had on TV. And it pays pretty well, which for a lonely old pensioner is a good thing.”
Much like they did during their Mason-and-Julia legal eagle days, the two actors found themselves in a lawyerly situation. “I knew working with Nancy wasn’t going to be a problem,” Davies said. What has been a challenge is memorizing all the dialogue. “I’m out of practice handling a lot of dialogue in a short amount of time. So, I probably spent more time on the dialogue than I used to. I used to be able to pick up a script and read it three times and do it, but my brain is not that elastic anymore; new material takes a lot longer to sink in for me.”
“There was a lot of procedural, there was a lot of speeches; it was court stuff, so we were doing like 15, 16 scenes back to back,” Grahn explained. “I counted my pages, and I had about 167 pages over three days, 50, 60 pages of dialogue every day filled with speeches.” (Check out the latest GH Weekly Update here)
However, the dialogue wasn’t the only challenge. There was also Davies’ ability to look like a lawyer again. “The biggest problem for me was I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains and my chainsaw is my best friend. So having to suddenly look well-groomed and lawyerly was probably as stressful as learning the lines.”
Yet another challenge was ensuring their GH scenes were as un-Mason and Julia-like as possible. Their natural inclination was to fall back into step. “We tried to get some of that Mason and Julia banter in there but got the kibosh put on it,” Grahn said. “They’re not trying to recreate Mason and Julia,” added Davies. “They’re creating something more adversarial, which actually could be just as much fun to play down the road if this all goes forward somehow.”
This means the story between Fergus Byrne and Alexis Davis may someday continue outside the Albany courthouse and back in Port Charles. “I would be totally open,” Davies said. “But that’s all up to the writers and fans and producers and network people, and I’m kind of out of that loop. But if it happens, grand.” (Take a peek at the latest in GH Comings & Goings here)
Would you like to see Fergus stick around GH? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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