Chance of a Lifetime: As Young & Restless Turns 50, Lauralee Bell Takes Over
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Celebrate the milestone this Sunday!
Get ready for a Young & Restless 50th anniversary celebration of an entirely different nature! The show, as we all, began its celebrations this week with Genoa City’s bi-centennial gala, but the actual anniversary falls on March 26. There’s a primetime special planned for Monday, of course, but since the anniversary itself falls on a Sunday, there’s sadly no Young & Restless celebration on the day itself.
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Except, that’s not entirely true.
Lauralee Bell (Christine) will be “taking over” both Lifetime Movie Network and their Instagram on Sunday to coincide with Young & Restless’ 50th anniversary. The network will be playing five (yes, five!) of Bell’s Lifetime movies in to commemorate the momentous daytime celebration, and the actress didn’t waste any time sharing how “super excited” she was about the news on Instagram.
She promised more details to follow, and we’ve got them all below!
As the network shares her films, Bell will be sharing new, exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes videos and art from her LMN movies, and the whole thing kicks off at 2 PM with Nightmare Tenant, followed by Mistress Hunter at 4 PM and Their Killer Affair at 6 PM.
And VC Andrews fans won’t be left out as the network is showing Ruby at 8 PM and capping off the marathon with Pearl In the Mist, both of which films have Bell starring as evil, manipulative stepmother Daphne Dumas.
“These are so fun to do,” Bell tells Soaps.com, “because they let people see me in a different light. It’s like, ‘See, I’m not just Christine!” Obviously, that’s one of the reasons a person goes into acting, to play different parts.”
Daphne for instance, is “so self-centered and so self-involved. She has no maternal instincts whatsoever. It’s a true acting experience, because it’s completely the opposite of how I am as a mother!”
Exhibit A for how different Bell and Ruby are!
Credit: Grant Harder/Courtesy of Lifetime; elaine lee photography
At least, she’s pretty sure it is! “I hope absolutely no one who knows me sees these movies and says, ‘She reminded me so much of you!’” Bell cracks. “I don’t even look the way people are used to seeing me look, all of which makes it fun for me.”
So don’t worry, Young & Restless fans, you aren’t being left out in the cold on the show’s official anniversary! Hop on over to Lifetime Movie Network and check out their Instagram to connect with Bell and celebrate her work on the show and in the movies!
Celebrate the show’s milestone with the rest of the cast in our photo gallery of Young & Restless‘ 50th anniversary party!
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Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
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<p>Didn’t get an invite to <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ 50th anniversary celebration at Vibiana in Los Angeles? Not to worry. Soaps.com has curated a photo album full of images from the party that’s the next best thing to having been there.</p>
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<p>As Peter Bergman (Jack) was quick to point out, there was a sign to remind guests of the reason for the glamtastic get-together.</p>
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<p>The red carpet went on for a mile — and was <em>loaded</em> with past and present cast members.</p>
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<p>The soap’s very first scene introduced viewers to Genoa City — and Tom Hallick as unusually well-dressed hitchhiker Brad.</p>
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<p>We thought we were having a flashback upon seeing Eric Braeden (Victor) with Victoria No. 1, Heather Tom (now a <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> scene stealer as Katie).</p>
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<p>Nick who? Courtney Hope and Mark Grossman appeared to be decidedly Team Ally.</p>
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<p>You can tell just by looking at the smile on the face of Grossman’s mom how very proud she is of her son.</p>
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<p>Also on hand for the festivities was Grossman’s brother, with whom he clearly gets along far better than Adam does Nick.</p>
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<p>Rocking a snazzy new ’do, Christel Khalil (Lily) made a rhetorical question of “Orange you glad you wore the color dress that you did?”</p>
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<p>Michael Damian (ex-Danny) and wife Janeen Damian have become in-demand movie producers.</p>
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<p>… may have been Victoria Rowell (ex-Drucilla), at least judging from this photo.</p>
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<p>On the left is John O’Hurley with wife Lisa Mesloh. On the right is the actor with Lauralee Bell during his 1980s stint as Cricket’s father, Jim.</p>
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<p>The party reunited the Reed siblings, Roberta Leighton (ex-Casey) and Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki).</p>
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<p>Melissa Ordway (Abby), Loren Lott (ex-Ana), Cait Fairbanks (Tessa), Tamara Clatterbuck (ex-Alice), Camryn Grimes (Mariah) and Sharon Case (Sharon) squeezed in for one of the lovelier group photos in recorded history.</p>
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<p>Beth Maitland (Traci) brought along her daughter, Emelia Louise Banninger, to celebrate the show’s milestone.</p>
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<p>Jason Thompson (Billy) couldn’t look more at home in a tux, could he? Wait, he <em>couldn’t</em>, right? ’Cause he looks like he was born for black-tie events.</p>
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<p>Every place Christian Jules LeBlanc (Michael) goes, mischief follows. Just ask on-screen wife Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren).</p>
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<p>LeBlanc even roped Sean Dominic (Nate) into his shenanigans.</p>
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<p>It’s Robert Parucha, who in the ’80s sported a very Victor Newman-esque mustache to play the tycoon’s brother, Matt.</p>
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<p>Michael Graziadei (Daniel) pointed out the helpful sign indicating the feat that <em>Young & Restless</em> had accomplished.</p>
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<p>Maybe the sign wasn’t such a silly idea after all. J. Eddie Peck (ex-Cole) and son Austin momentarily had us thinking they were at a party for <em>Yellowstone</em>.</p>
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<p>Trevor St. John may have found in Tucker a character even more scheming than Victor, the conniver that he played on <em>One Life to Live.</em></p>
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<p>Though Grace once tried to steal Nick from Sharon, Jennifer Gareis (now a <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> mainstay as Donna) is good pals off screen with Case.</p>
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<p>Uh-uh. No. In that snazzy suit, Bryton James (Devon) is nothing short of a maroon 10.</p>
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<p>The shindig gave James an opportunity to catch up with Angell Conwell, who played Leslie for the better part of a decade.</p>
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<p>Brytni Sarpy is doing in this image exactly what Elena should be, considering that Victoria is macking on her man.</p>
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<p>The kids stayed home so that Ordway and Justin Gaston (ex-Chance) could enjoy an evening out.</p>
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<p>Once playboy Lance on <em>Young & Restless</em>, John McCook, with wife Laurette Spang, is now <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> family man Eric. Who, come to think of it, has also always been kind of a playboy!</p>
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<p>Grimes and Fairbanks added a touch of class to the event. Well, <em>another</em> touch of class. It was pretty classy to begin with!</p>
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<p>Long before <em>Seinfeld</em> made him famous, Phil Morris passed through Genoa City as Tyrone, who passed himself off as white to marry into (and bring down) the Mob.</p>
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<p>Oh, not really. As Jess Walton (Jill) well knows, Michael Corbett is nothing like David, the nefarious villain that we’re still waiting to see rise from the trash compactor in which he was supposedly died.</p>
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<p>… were Bell and husband Scott Martin, a photographer whose favorite subject you can probably guess. (It’s his missus if you can’t guess!)</p>
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<p><em>Young & Restless</em> co-creator William J. Bell named Jaime Lyn Bauer’s character Lauralee after his daughter. (Though the vixen was more commonly called Lorie.)</p>
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<p>Decked out in paisley, Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe) had to have turned heads — besides her own — at the eleganza extravaganza.</p>
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<p>Follow along now: Ashley Jones, who played Megan on <em>Young & Restless</em>, now recurs on <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> as Bridget, whose V-card was punched by Sean Kanan’s Deacon, who on <em>Young & Restless</em> tried to coerce Adrienne Frantz’s Amber into marrying him.</p>
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<p>It’s all well and good to see a picture of the incomparable Judith Chapman. But what we <em>really</em> want to see is a lot more of her on screen as Gloria.</p>
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<p>Back when Tom was playing Victoria, rare were the times you’d have seen Victor’s daughter looking so chummy with stepmother Ashley, aka Eileen Davidson.</p>
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<p>Not blue as in sad, blue as in stunning. Veronica Redd (ex-Mamie) wore a dress that was a sight for not just sore eyes, <em>any</em> eyes. It — and she — were lovely.</p>
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<p>Frantz, who brought Amber from <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> to <em>Young & Restless</em>, attended the shindig with husband Scott Bailey, once Sandy on <em>Guiding Light. </em></p>
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<p>All dolled up, Kate Linder was light years away from Esther’s old maid uniform. Somewhere, Mrs. C had to be smiling.</p>
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<p>Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea) and husband Matt Katrosar were eagerly anticipating the “debut” of baby No. 2.</p>
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<p>We don’t know how Moses is faring in college, but Jacob Aaron Gaines certainly makes the grade.</p>
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<p>Susan Walters (Diane) lit up the room with husband Linden Ashby, whom you’ll recall from his run as Sharon’s onetime tormentor, Cameron.</p>
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<p>Shades of Victor Newman! Braeden playfully points a finger at the “ne’er-do-wells.”</p>
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<p>If Patty Weaver was at the blowout, who was running Gina’s?!?</p>
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<p>Kimberlin Brown, whose Sheila spent years stirring the pot on <em>Young & Restless</em> before moving to <em>Bold & Beautiful</em>, had as her plus-one daughter Alexes Pelzer.</p>
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<p>Nope. We will never understand why the show decided to turn Sean Carrigan’s good-guy character bad. He had chemistry with <em>everybody</em>!</p>
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<p>Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Peter Barton (ex-Scott) and Scott Reeves (ex-Ryan) brought to life the ROFL emoji.</p>
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<p>Seeing how dazzling Janice Lynde was in silver, we finally understood why Lorie had titled her book<em> In My Sister’s Shadow</em>. Leslie was always hard to compete with!</p>
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<p>Sadly, not really. But portrayer Jordi Vilasuso did at least get to live it up with wife Kaitlin.</p>
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