Singer Gladys Knight has guested as herself on the primetime soap Empire – now, she’s getting a connection to daytime dramas.
Soap Hub has learned the legendary singer will be presenting the Daytime Emmy to Outstanding Drama Series at this Sunday’s awards show.
“The final award of the night for best soap will be handed out by Gladys Knight,” David Michaels, senior vice president, Daytime Emmy Awards & Events for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, tells Soap Hub exclusively. “She’s the best. I used to work with her [when I produced] game shows.”
Speaking of music, Michaels says, “We’ve got lots of surprises this year. There’s a big opening [musical] number. We have Max Ehrich (ex-Fen) from The Young and the Restless and Under the Dome singing a song during the In Memoriam package. It’s going to be absolutely gorgeous.”
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Sadly, the daytime world has lost significant players over the last year including writers/serial creators Agnes Nixon (All My Children; One Life to Live) and Claire Labine (Ryan’s Hope) along with actors Larkin Malloy (ex-Sky, Edge of Night; ex-Kyle, Guiding Light), Patricia Barry (ex-Addie, Days of our Lives; ex-Sally, Guiding Light), and Peter Hansen (ex-Lee, General Hospital and Port Charles).
“They’re all in the In Memoriam segment,” previews Michaels.
As previously reported, Susan Lucci (Erica, AMC) will be at the ceremony to honor Nixon.
“We have a special [segment] with Agnes with a lot of stars who worked with her over the years in a video piece. Susan wrote the most beautiful speech that I’ve ever heard. It makes me cry. She wrote it herself and said, ‘Fix it up.’ I said, ‘No way. These are your words.’ They’re so heartfelt.”
Past ceremonies haven’t always had videos of the actors’ work when their categories are presented, but Michaels says this year that won’t be the case.
“There are clip packages for all the actors. There’s a lot more video than last time. You’re going to like the packages.”
Theoretically, the show could extend past two hours since it’s being streamed on the Web and doesn’t have the time limitations that a broadcast production would have.
“We’re still looking to do a two hour show, but nobody’s going to put the news on if we go a little over,” Michaels says with a smile.
You can see the Daytime Emmys this Sunday starting at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT by going The Daytime Emmy’s Facebook page.
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