General Hospital’s Cynthia Watros Reveals the Atmosphere at Guiding Light That Made Annie and Reva’s Feud So Unforgettably Combustible

A whole different kind of sparks flew when she shared scenes with Kim Zimmer.

Back when Guiding Light cast Cynthia Watros as Annie Dutton in 1994, the future Daytime Emmy winner was just “a young kid who really didn’t know what she was doing,” she said during a recent episode of The Locher Room. (Watch it in full below.) But boy, did she have “it,” that ephemeral quality that separates stars from mere actors. And when the CBS soap resurrected Kim Zimmer’s Reva Shayne to reclaim soulmate Josh Lewis from Annie, Watros really got to shine.

You or we might panic if we heard that our love interest’s previous love interest was coming back from the dead. But “I was like, ‘Yay!’” Watros said. Turned out, she had every reason be happy. She and Zimmer formed an on-screen partnership that transformed Annie and Reva into legendary rivals on par with The Young and the Restless’ Katherine and Jill or Stephanie and Brooke on The Bold and the Beautiful.

“Kim is a strong personality,” recalled Watros, now entangled in a whole new feud as General Hospital pot stirrer Nina. On screen, “we would fight, but she would let me. I did all sorts of things off script like laugh in her face, get in her face.”

Soap vet Zimmer not only rolled with it, she rocked it. “Not once was she ever like, ‘Ya know what? Don’t do that stuff. Just do what’s written,’” said Watros. “She just played with me, so we played together.”

The rest, as you well know, is soap history. While you’re here, catch up with some of your Guiding Light favorites with the below gallery of then-and-now photos of the cast.

Video: YouTube/The Locher Room