Oh, nothing, really… except that Charles Bateman would hold the role of C.C. Capwell for less time than it takes you to read this caption in which we identify Lane Davies, Todd McKee, Marcy Walker and Robin Wright as the patriarch’s offspring, respectively, Mason, Ted, Eden and Kelly.
Ultimately, Jed Allan (formerly Days of Our Lives’ Don Craig) took over the role of C.C. — wardrobe and all — and threw sparks with General Hospital alum Judith McConnell (murderess Augusta McLeod) as his favorite wife, former starlet Sophia.
Just across the way from the Capwells were their lifelong nemeses, the Lockridges, another hoity-toity family, this one headed up by Lionel (Nicolas Coster) and his on-again/off-again missus, Augusta (Louise Sorel). Circle of truth, anyone? No one? OK, then.
Kelly might not have turned her back on prettyboy Peter Flint (Stephen Meadows), had she realized that he was the well-coiffed Carnation Killer. Then again, she does seem to be fashioning that rope into a noose, perhaps to hang the villain?
Though Dame Judith Anderson had at home not so much a trophy case as a trophy wing, the stage and screen legend who played Minx Lockridge never put on airs, according to castmate Walker (who was just coming off her first run as All My Children schemer Liza Colby).
In the late 1980s, Santa Barbara paired Wright’s Kelly with Ross Kettle’s Jeffrey Conrad. But the co-star with whom she really clicked was Dane Witherspoon (who’d played initial love interest Joe Perkins); they were married in real life in the mid-’80s.
What future Emmy winners Walker and A Martinez created together as Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo has yet to be replicated by any other soap co-stars. Y’all keep trying, though; seriously, we want you to succeed.
Seriously… c’mon. There are whole courses in chemistry that aren’t as compelling as these two were.
We’re not sure who ticked off whom, but somehow, this image of Walker, Wright and Martinez was the result.
After the giant letter “C” atop the Capwell Hotel fell on Mason’s first love, former nun Mary Duvall, attorney Julia Wainwright (Nancy Lee Grahn, now Alexis on General Hospital) fell well-coiffed head over heels for the rake, with whom she formed the second of the show’s unforgettable supercouples.
After Davies left Santa Barbara, Terry Lester (ex-Jack, The Young and the Restless) embodied Mason’s smarminess; Gordon Thompson (Adam, Dynasty), his wit and intellect.
Among Justin Deas’ half-dozen Emmys were a couple for Santa Barbara, where he chewed scenery like it was the only thing on the craft-services table as incorrigible district attorney Keith Timmons.
With apologies to General Hospital psycho Heather Webber, Gina Capwell was the role of Robin Mattson’s career — and would have been even if it hadn’t paired her with Poseidon Adventure casualty Stella Stevens as her mom, Phyllis Blake.
After being spotted in a guest role on L.A. Law, then-struggling actor Joe Marinelli was tapped to join Santa Barbara as cross-dressing mobster Bunny Tagliatti. He’d later pass through General Hospital as Joseph Sorel, yet another mobster, though one without an affinity for women’s clothing.
In his two stints on Santa Barbara, Roscoe Born not only made us contemplate whether Cruz and Eden really were endgame as Robert Barr, he turned up the heat with future ex-wife Roberta Weiss, who was combustible Flame Beaufort opposite Robert’s twin, Quinn Armitage.
In the end, Santa Barbara did what it always had — recruited A-list talent, in this case General Hospital vet Jack Wagner (ex-Frisco) as Warren Lockridge. But alas, the show ceased to feel like… well, the show.
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