It’s been a while since soap fans have enjoyed watching Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress Erika Slezak as Victoria “Viki” Lord on One Life to Live. She sat down with Soap Hub to discuss her time on the soap and how things have been with her lately.
A Star So Bright
Slezak graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, where she was accepted at the age of 17, making her one of the youngest students ever admitted. Born in Hollywood, Erika grew up speaking German before learning English. For her high school education, she attended Sacred Heart Schools in Greenwich, CT, and Philadelphia, PA.
Her passion for the arts is deeply rooted in her family’s legacy. Her father, the late Walter Slezak, was a celebrated actor in both film and Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his role in Fanny. Erika’s grandfather, Leo Slezak, was an internationally renowned operatic tenor, performing at prestigious venues such as Vienna, Berlin, and New York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Before making her television debut, Slezak established a solid foundation in theater. She was a member of the Milwaukee Repertory Company for three seasons, performing in various works, from Shakespeare to Noel Coward. She also spent a season at the Alley Theater in Houston, continuing to hone her craft onstage.
In 1971, Slezak debuted on the iconic soap opera OLTL, where she portrayed Victoria “Viki” Lord. Her exceptional work on the show earned her multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations and wins. She won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series six times, in 1984, 1986, 1992, 1995, 1996, and 2005. She also received nominations in this category in 1983, 1988, and 2012. Slezak’s portrayal of Viki solidified her as one of the most respected and celebrated performers in daytime television. Check out the interview below!
Catching Up
Bryan: Were you surprised when OLTL was canceled?
Erika Slezak: We had heard the rumors for months. When it finally happened, Brian Frons, who was head of daytime at the time, called me. I was just driving up my driveway and I said, ‘let me call you back’ because I didn’t want to hear that news in the car. [When we spoke], my question was ‘can you tell me why?’ He told me that people didn’t want entertainment anymore, they want information, which was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. It wasn’t Brian’s choice…he was just the messenger; it was the network, and it was [about] money. We didn’t make the money that we made in 1968 or 1975 when there were not so many channels on television. I made a good living, which was nice, and I was happy because I got to go to work every day and come home every day and see my family and raise my kids.
It was a real blow because we all, well most, l loved being there. You know, there’s always one or two who are grumpy and think they should be movie stars, so that is fine. It was a great job, and it was entertainment for people that followed the characters’ lives as well.
Bryan: Today, it is almost wall-to-wall news with very little entertainment during the day.
Slezak: My husband broke his hip on Labor Day and would watch news all day at the rehab facility. He does watch one soap. He never ever watched the soaps when I was working, certainly not OLTL. The last thing he wanted to do was see me kiss another guy. But he has become a total fan of one show and that is General Hospital. He always says to me that he watches to find out what’s happening to Sonny [Maurice Benard]. I think that was the case with our audience…having to find out what happened to Vicki, Clint, Asa, Renee, and certainly Dorian to see what she would be up to that day. It was entertainment.
Bryan: You played Vicki from 1971 all the way through the show’s reboot in 2013. Do you think you guys were ahead of the curve, seeing how popular streaming services and shows are?
Erika: Unfortunately, the producers had no idea what they were doing. They were Hollywood guys, and they didn’t know that daytime audiences didn’t want to see sex all day long. People didn’t want to see nudity, hear curse words, and the first episode was filled with that stuff. They wanted to see story. Unfortunately, we went through, I think, five head writers in three months, who said we can’t write this nor do we want to because it doesn’t make any sense.
Bryan: How would you feel about a reboot as a television movie if it were to happen for OLTL, and would you take part?
Erika: I think it is a wonderful idea. It would depend on where it was being shot and how long, but yes, probably would, because I loved playing Viki. I loved her, all of her alters, everything. It would also depend on who is writing it because the writing is so important. We had, for the most part, fabulous writers, starting with Agnes Nixon, who was just bloody brilliant. She set it up and introduced these characters and in an unconventional way. Having Carla, played by Ellen Holly, who was passing for white because she wanted to work in the hospital, was so new in those days.
Agnes wrote about problems. She did that whole drug abuse story, and they went to film at Odyssey House in New York City. She dealt with issues that people are concerned about, and I think she set the tone for all the head writers we had in the future. Agnes left after five years because she wanted to concentrate on All My Children. But she set the tone for what she wanted to tell on daytime—mental health issues, health-related issues, and any kind of problem. The fans can see that they can watch and see how somebody who doesn’t really exist but is on television is dealing with it. She set the tone for people to deal with things in a very accurate way.
During [Viki’s breast cancer] tons of people wrote to me about how I dealt with it and, how it was resolved because this is what people lived through. [Fans] become invested in someone they’ve seen on screen for such a long time.
Bryan: What do you think Viki would be up to today?
Slezak: Well Viki would have grown by 11 years (laughs)! She would still be the same person. She would be worrying about her kids and grandkids, [because] there would probably be grandkids that were around by this time. There is always romance, and she would still be running the newspaper and fighting with people, and the relationship with Dorian would go on forever.
Bryan: The Viki/Dorian rivalry was one of OLTL’s most popular storylines.
Erika: I loved working with Robin Strasser. Robin walked in the studio in the morning with the mindset of Dorian. She was a joy to work with, and we worked well together because we listened to each other [during scenes].
Bryan: Was it difficult to adjust when the actors playing your kids were aged up or recast?
Erika: No, because we were all acting. They had to be aged because who would want to see a three-year-old forever? The kids were all terrific. They worked hard, and I became close to their parents. Nathan Fillion started when he was essentially a child. I mean, he was like 17 or 18, and I used to scold him because he rode his bike without a helmet. I said I’m going to write to your mother. Still to this day, he says how grateful for what he learned and for the way they treated him. I’m still very close to Erin Torpey [Jessica] and her mom, Sue, who had to accompany Erin every day because she would have to drive her in from outside of Philadelphia. When Erin decided to leave, and they recast with Bree [Williamson] it was seamless because Viki was a character who loved her children. It had nothing to do with me and how I felt about the actor.
Bryan: Was there anyone on the show wish that you had gotten to work more with?
Erika: Yes, Phil Carey [Asa]. I always said I was sorry Viki didn’t get to marry Asa. He was so good as Asa. I loved working with Roger Howarth (Todd) when he first came on the show. He was a bit green, and he was a little bit…not difficult, but you could never quite be sure. Then he left and joined As The World Turns. When he returned, he had completely grown up and was the most delightful person. I still love him. It was a pleasure to work with him because [like Robin] he listened in scenes and reacted. There was a scene after Starr had been born, and Todd was hiding in Viki’s attic for some reason. I brought her to him so he could visit with her. During the entire scene, he kept playing with the forks and the knives. Finally, just out of frustration, I put my hand on his hand. He told me after that he loved that because that is exactly what Viki would have done. He was so quick and so smart.
Bryan: Was the dissociative identity disorder (DID) storyline your favorite?
Erika: I had a lot of favorite storylines. I was lucky they wrote for me. I loved the different characters…the idea of Viki and Niki, who appeared very early on before I took over the part. Agnes introduced Niki long before I joined the show. She just sort of came from nowhere, and it was [Head Writer] Michael Malone who said that we should deal with that. It was so much fun playing Viki, who was so strait-laced, raised with manners and polite and then play Niki, who did not give a crap about any of that.
When we actually got to address it. I can tell you this…we had a psychiatrist come in, and with the permission of her patient, she videotaped a session, and I was astonished by how almost simple it was [when she disassociated]. She had been horribly abused by an aunt who had literally locked her in a closet and did other horrible things. She started talking, and then she suddenly dropped her head and picked it up, and she was the aunt with a whole different voice. And this was not fake; this was real. I thought, how scary and frightening for her.
Bryan: What do you miss about being on soaps and do you have a message to the fans?
Erika: I miss working. I miss the fun and pleasure of it. To the fans, thank so much for your loyalty and love of the show. I am sorry we are not there to entertain you anymore. God bless, and thank you for watching.
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