On The Bold and the Beautiful, poor Liam’s gone out of one frying pan and into another. After collapsing at his dad’s house and smacking his head, he learned that he’s got an inoperable brain tumor. However, this being a soap, odds are that a cure will eventually be found. Despite that possibility, Scott Clifton opened up about how he keeps his performance as Liam as genuine as possible.
He Didn’t Want To Mess It Up
Most soap fans have come to expect a heightened level of reality. Characters return from the dead often, as well as overcome possible death sentences like the one Liam’s going through currently. Despite pushing the boundaries of plausibility, daytime serials have their own set of rules of reality and Clifton wants to ensure that his performance is completely believable.
The actor explained to TV Insider that he did research into the type of inoperable brain tumor that Liam has and made an incredible effort to not screw it up, “because this is not some made-up soap opera thing. This is an actual condition that people have, and people die from, and I didn’t want it to be cheesy.” In a heartwarming moment, Liam was able to attend a father-daughter dance with his little girl, Kelly (Sophia Paras McKinlay), and fans hope this isn’t his swan song.
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He Strived For Realism
It takes a special kind of skill to accurately portray something like a brain tumor when one doesn’t have a true frame of reference, having not gone through it in real life. Clifton worried that he either took the scenes too far or underplayed them more than was necessary. However, as the scenes of Liam dealing with his health crisis have aired, fan feedback has been extraordinary. “Man, you’re nailing it; this is kind of how it looks,” is the response he’s gotten from fans who went through the same thing or knew someone who did.
This delighted Clifton and eased his mind about his performance. “I was going, ‘Holy s**t.’ I just got really lucky then,” he stated, adding, “because I was just doing my best to guess what that experience must be like.” He’s thrilled at the fan reaction, further noting that the positive feedback has bolstered his confidence in being able to realistically portray Liam’s plight. (Find out why Clifton was ‘excited’ to play Liam’s tragedy.)
