Walt Willey joined Maurice Benard on State Of Mind.
Despite admitting issues with the video and the audio, Maurice Benard hoped fans would still enjoy the show they shot at Graceland, and he wasn’t wrong. It was a two-for-one deal with both Dr. Charles Noonan and former All My Children star — now occasionally on General Hospital — Walt Willey.
Dr. Noonan re-entered Benard’s life last year on the Graceland stage when he surprised his former patient, whom he diagnosed over 30 years prior, and this year he turned the tables on the Daytime Emmy winner when he conducted the interview. Benard has made no secret that the doctor changed his life when he was able to tell him what was going on with him. At Graceland, Dr. Noonan got Benard to speak about so many interesting things, including how when he portrayed Desi Arnaz, he was essentially playing his own father — as the two men had many similarities though one had a higher voice.
That opened the door to a discussion when he approached his father about taking the belt to him when he was young. Admitting how sensitive he was then, Benard tried to get his father to understand that it was abuse and eventually even received an apology from him. His father acknowledged it was what he knew, which led to even more interesting talk about breaking the chain.
Benard eventually welcomed Willey to the State Of Mind stage, prepping the crowd by telling them how incredibly funny his former AMC co-star was, but it wasn’t all laughs. After talking about working his way up from extra, to under-five, to day player, etc., on various daytime soaps, including meeting his future Pine Valley brother, the late Larkin Malloy, when he was an extra on Edge of Night (where Malloy played Sky Whitney), things took a serious turn.
Willey discussed having been born to older parents, having a stutter, and how art played such a significant role in helping him be the man he is. He spoke of his longtime marriage, raising two children, and about how his daughter is a set designer and his son is an artist and “is on the spectrum somewhere.” Willey had a great story about working with Ving Rhames on Another World, about having Benard stay over at his place as they drove together to AMC, and so many other interesting stories about working in the industry. You can watch the entire episode here.
Follow Walt Willey on Twitter and Instagram. To follow State Of Mind and subscribe, go to YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans can now purchase inspirational merchandise for Maurice Benard’s State Of Mind. Check it out.
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