Corbin Bernsen is known to The Young and the Restless fans as Father Todd and to nighttime TV viewers as L.A. Law‘s Arnie Becker — but to many, he’ll always be the son of “Mrs. Chancellor,” played by his real-life late mother, Jeanne Cooper. The actor chatted with Soap Hub recently about his mom and how much he feels she is still with us.
Corbin Bernsen: Family of Legends
“I was out recently, and another actor called me a ‘legend,'” Bernsen shared with Soap Hub on the red carpet for the taping of the 31st Annual Movieguide Awards in Hollywood. While the ex-TV lawyer says it was nice to hear, he didn’t let it swell his head. “I’ve realized that none of that stuff has ever taken me out of the stratosphere so that I’d lose sight of my wife [Amanda Pays, The Flash], my life, my children…my mother.”
Bernsen says that he’s seen on Y&R the portrait of Mrs. Chancellor that hangs over the fireplace in Katherine’s home. What does he think Cooper, who died in 2013, would think of still being a part of the show in this fashion? “She’d love it,” he says. “She would love it. She’d probably say…’Are they paying me?'”
Jeanne Cooper Loved Her Life as Mrs. C
The actor says that his mother being honored with a Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood and being loved and admired by millions of fans meant something to her. “That really filled her up,” he says. “I think she had a void.”
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Grateful that he has his “wonderful wife of 35 years,” Bernsen points out, “We all know what my mom didn’t have that. My father was not there. Her life was filled with [playing Katherine Chancellor]. I’d go out on the street with her, and I’d get, ‘You’re Mrs. Chancellor’s son!’ Not Arnie Becker.”
Corbin Bernsen: Cooper Isn’t Far From Here
Some of the films at the Movieguide Awards are faith-based. Does that give Bernsen reason to think about his mother in the afterlife? “I connect with my mom,” he says, getting a bit teary, “all the time. She’s here. She’s with you. Talking to you. She’s watching us.” So does Bernsen believe in an afterlife? “I don’t know about [that]. I don’t put much stock….I don’t have to call it heaven.”
The 31st Annual Movieguide Awards airs on Thursday, March 7, at 8 p.m. on Great American Family.
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