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Michael Levin Remembered: Former Co-Star Reflects On What Made the Late Actor So Special
Saturday, January 14th, 2023
He could play a love story like nobody’s business. But he didn’t ever play just a love story.
As news spread of Michael Levin’s passing (read his obituary here), his fans took to social media to share their memories of the actor, who played Jack Fenelli on Ryan’s Hope for the much-missed ABC soap’s entire 1975-89 run on ABC. And they weren’t the only ones reflecting on what had made him so special. Louise Shaffer, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of newspaper magnate Rae Woodard on the show, also recalled his star turn.
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Rae’s willingness to bend the truth put her at odds with Jack.
Credit: ABC/Getty Images
“I don’t think we had more than a couple of scenes together, and I don’t feel like I ever really got to know him” as a person, she said. But she certainly got to know him as a performer. “I admired the way he handled being a romantic lead.
“So often the guys who played those storylines didn’t seem to have anything else going on but being in love,” she added. “Mike made it clear that Jack adored [first wife] Mary — and later [last wife] Leigh — but he was always a fascinating character on his own. To me, Mike was special that way.”
Ryan’s Hope gave Jack one love interest after another.
Credit: ABC/Getty Images (5)
In addition to Ryan’s Hope, Levin appeared on As the World Turns, All My Children and primetime series such as Law & Order and The Equalizer. On this somber occasion, “of course I want to send condolences and love to [Levin’s wife] Elizabeth and his family,” said Shaffer.
Review highlights from Ryan’s Hope in the photo gallery below.
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Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
1/25
<p>In 1974, ABC wanted another soap like <em>General Hospital</em>, so Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer created the network <em>City Hospital</em>… which went on to be called, as you well know, <em>Ryan’s Hope</em>. But ABC still got its hospital; conveniently located across the street from the Irish pub run by the Ryans — Maeve (Helen Gallagher) and Johnny (Bernard Barrow) — was Riverside Hospital.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
2/25
<p>… was quickly abandoned as another possible title for the new soap. Nonetheless, the love story of Johnny and Maeve’s strong-minded daughter Mary (Kate Mulgrew) and hotheaded reporter Jack Fenelli (Michael Levin) soon became all the rage.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
3/25
<p>The wedding of Mary and Jack made it official: They were sparring partners for life. *</p> <p>* Not as long as it sounds!</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
4/25
<p>When after two years, fan favorite Mulgrew left to pursue other opportunities (which turned out to be everything from <em>Star Trek: Voyager</em> to <em>Orange Is the New Black</em>), Labine and Mayer wanted to kill off her character rather than let it be played by anyone other than their muse; ABC wouldn’t hear of it.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/25
<p><em>Ryan’s Hope</em> tried to recast Mary over and over again — here with Kathleen Tolan (right). But she was never the same. Luckily, other Ryans stepped up to fill the void, among them Mary’s siblings, feisty Siobhan (the splendid Sarah Felder) doctor Patrick (John Blazo) and would-be politician Frank (Daniel Hugh-Kelly).</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
6/25
<p>Finally, in 1979, ABC threw in the towel and allowed Labine and Mayer to dispatch Mary (by then Robert Goulet’s daughter, Nicolette). When the character later appeared in ghostly form, you can guess who was once again playing her!</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
7/25
<p>For pretty much the entire run of the show, Patrick and fellow doctor Faith Coleridge (Karen Morris-Gowdy) tried to get — <em>and</em> stay — together. And it should’ve been easy, given how madly in love they were. Yet it was anything but, largely thanks to…</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
8/25
<p>Desperate Delia Reid (Ilene Kristen) was so eager to be a part of the Ryan family — though probably any family would’ve sufficed — that she suckered first Frank and then Pat into marriages that had shorter shelf lives than avocados. </p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
9/25
<p>The man with whom Dee (Randall Edwards here) really belonged was a fellow schemer, Roger Coleridge (Ron Hale), the doctor brother of Faith and… keep scrolling…</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
10/25
<p>In court, legal eagle Jillian Coleridge (Nancy Addison Altman) was a force to be reckoned with. But in her personal life… yikes. There weren’t enough scissors in the world to cut her free of the tangled messes she made with true love Frank.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
11/25
<p>Jill bared more than her soul to Johnny’s surprise son, Dakota Smith (Christopher Durham). But viewers were too appalled to think that the Ryan patriarch could’ve cheated on his wife to invest in the new couple’s affair.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
12/25
<p>Early on, there were several — not only Pat but domineering Seneca Beaulac (John Gabriel) and baby-faced Bucky Carter (Justin Deas, who went on to win six Daytime Emmys for <em>As the World Turns</em>, <em>Santa Barbara</em> and <em>Guiding Light</em>).</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
13/25
<p>Long before Labine introduced dimpled don Sonny Corinthos to <em>General Hospital</em>, she was mining the criminal underworld for story on <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> via Joe Novak (Richard Muenz), the reluctant mafioso whose wife Siobhan chose, of all professions, law enforcement.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
14/25
<p>Joe and Siobhan were recast <em>a lot</em>. But probably their most perfect pairing was the one that was forged by Roscoe Born (whom you’ll recognize from <em>One Life to Live</em>, <em>Santa Barbar</em>a, etc.) and future primetime mainstay Marg Helgenberger.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
15/25
<p>Prior to being cast by <em>All My Children</em> as Jackson Montgomery, Walt Willey took a turn playing Joe with Carrell Myers as Siobhan.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
16/25
<p>Finally, in 1988, Barbara Blackburn became the fifth and final Siobhan. By then — as you can see — Born had returned to <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> to play Joe again.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
17/25
<p>Yep, in one of his earliest roles, Corbin Bernsen appeared briefly as Ken Graham on <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> on his way to landing his iconic role of sleazy Arnie Becker on <em>L.A. Law. </em>Fun fact: Mom Jeanne Cooper was at the time starring as Katherine Chancellor on rival soap<em> The Young and the Restless.</em></p>
Image: SOAPnet screenshot
18/25
<p>After Labine and Mayer sold <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> to ABC, it struck pay dirt with a love triangle involving wannabe starlet Kimberly Harris (Kelli Maroney), her extramarital lover and her mother. As you can see, Kim didn’t take it terribly well when she learned that her boy on the side was two-timing her.</p>
Image: SOAPnet screenshot
19/25
<p>… you realize that you’ve been shot mid-tussle. Michael Pavel (Michael Corbett) was frantically trying to appease his sugar mama — and Kim’s actual mama — Rae Woodard (Louise Shaffer) when he was filled with as much lead as nerve.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
20/25
<p>Before getting his big break playing Adam Carrington on <em>Dynasty</em>, Gordon Thomson passed through Ryan’s Hope as Aristotle Benedict-White, an Egyptologist who was convinced that Faith was the reincarnation of an ancient queen. Erm, maybe it was the headdress.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
21/25
<p>Speaking of <em>Dynasty</em>, ABC tried to glam up <em>Ryan’s Hope</em> like the primetime hit in the early ’80s by focusing on the dysfunctional family formed by Rae, Kim and Hollis Kirkland III (Peter Haskell), the wealthy Daddy Dearest that she’d never known. Fans were unsure about the move, though, and Labine and Mayer sure hated it.</p>
Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images
22/25
<p>The show got back to its working-class roots by introducing Jill’s biomom, Bess Shelby (Gloria DeHaven), her other kids, Maggie (Cali Timmins) and Ben (James Wlcek), and one seriously ugly couch.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
23/25
<p>The soap’s last great pair of young lovers were future cop Rick Hyde (Grant Show, years from <em>Melrose Place</em>) and Jack and Mary’s daughter, Ryan Fenelli (Yasmine Bleeth, years from <em>Baywatch</em>). Of note: They weren’t <em>always</em> this serious.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
24/25
<p>Alas, Ryan and Rick’s marriage lasted only about as long as it took pigeons to scoop up the rice that was thrown in their direction. But at least her dad finally found a post-Mary love interest with some staying power in wealthy Leigh Kirkland.</p>
Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection
25/25
