The Bold and the Beautiful Star Courtney Hope Talks The Original Sally Spectra

Sally Spectra is going through quite an ordeal on The Bold and the Beautiful. Alas, not everyone in her family is there to provide a shoulder for her to lean on, so she’s reaching out to new pal Katie for support.

Courtney Hope As Sally II

Over the years, the Spectra gang on BB has dissipated — either folks have passed away or left town. Sally’s (Courtney Hope) the namesake of her great aunt Sally (Darlene Conley), who is off traveling around the world, and, alas, as Conley passed away in real life, she’s not able to support her great-niece.

But the original Sally had drive and a “never give up” attitude. That’s something Hope discovered when she watched past episodes of BB after landing the role.

“The producers had sent me stuff and I looked online for some of my own research,” Hope recently told TV Insider when asked if she had ever seen Conley’s performances of Sally.

“I wanted to do that because I play her great-niece. There are bloodlines there and characteristics and traits in her that I wanted to see. I wanted to draw on those and see how they transformed into what I can create.

“Sally came on a lot more naïve than she is now. [Darlene’s Sally] was larger than life and [Darlene] seemed like a really wonderful person. I know that she was a great actress.”

In fact, Conley was the first performer on BB to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on the half-hour soap as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in both 1990 and 1991.

From all indications, Sally has inherited her great-aunt’s fighting spirit. Stay tuned to see the next development in her current life-threatening storyline. The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.