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Fan Club Interview

Picture this, You’re in a Manhattan restaurant with a Soap Opera Editor, A photographer and 2 ABC publicists waiting for Hillary B. Smith to come around the corner at any second. It’s a dream come true for us, so sit back and kick your feet up and enjoy a one of kind interview with Hillary and a few of her Fan Club Members.

Angela Zilafro: So what did you think of this storyline when they first gave you your script?

Hillary B. Smith: Which part of it? Where I slept with Sam? Now I know why Nancy is here (laughter). When I was first told about the story, it was June. And I was told about it from the President of (ABC) Daytime and my retort was 'Well, that's great, but I don't know how you are going to get me from here to there.' And so we started getting closer and closer and I would talk to Jill quite a bit and said, 'I still don't see how we are going to get from here to there.' And she said, "Um, neither do I, but we are doing the best." And Jill was really great because she had a writer who had control and she was doing everything she could to make everything plausible and so what they did was Jill was left alone for two weeks when the writer when off to write and she took the story and it was supposed to happen in a day. I was supposed to go to him and say, 'I did a terrible thing. I told my husband I was pregnant. Can you help me out?' And he said, "OK." And we did it. And Jill stretched the whole thing out and really made a wonderful beat out of it, which was the indecisiveness of going back and forth. I take my hat off to Jill. She did the best she could and she stretched it out for two weeks. In the meantime, I had a vacation in there that she had to figure out how to work around because I wouldn't give it back. (Laughter) Generous? No. (Laughter) So, that happened and it was unfortunate and it was unfortunate the timing because I was really very upset about it. It was not something that Nora would do. And there were too many other options.

Angela: Totally out of character.

Hillary: Yes, and I kept thinking, as long as the work is good, as long as there is something to play, than that is what a soap opera is about. Sometimes you have to twist and turn what happens in life to get out the stories and the dramas you need to play.

Angela: Do you get a lot of letters from fans who are like upset for you doing this kind of a storyline?

Hillary: I have this one fan, who is not a fan anymore (Laughter).

Angela: I get a lot of e-mails from people who say I am not watching any more. I say, 'Excuse me, are you a Nora fan or a Hillary B. Smith fan?'

Hillary: Yeah. Well, there you go. But even Nora, she's doing the best, she's getting her integrity back and she's being honest and she's realized. You know she's paid the penance. And the one thing I just said was make her pay, and they have.

Angela, Christy, and Claudine: They have!!! Definitely!!!

Hillary: They were going to kill the baby. The baby was going to die. Yes. And then they decided "no" there was no way they could get Sam and Nora together over the death of the baby. So, and they really want to go there. That's where they really want to go. They want to go with Sam and Nora for a while. And you gotta admit, doesn't he look at her like he loves her? And isn't that nice that someone loves Nora right now when no one does?

Karen Chapman: He is the only one who stood by her through all of this.

Hillary: Thank you! Thank you! So, there's a little (???) that deserves to have her. Just for the sheer gratitude.

Claudine Battisti: I cannot eat after that. (Laughter) I am sorry! (Laughter)

Angela: Now, what advice would you, Hillary, give Nora?p> Hillary: Learn from your mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. Take it slow. And make sure that when doors close, that they're really closed before you go climbing out the window. I mean that is what I would like to see, but that would be the advice I give, but as far as what I want them to do? No! Make her all over the map. I wanted to go into a drinking problem.

Angela: That's one of my questions here. In the beginning, it was not shown, but you and Hank you used to talk about when you were married and in college, you had a drinking problem. And that's how you ended up with R.J. I thought this storyline would really turn Nora into alcoholic.

Hillary: I begged. And as a matter of fact, Claire Labine thought, "Oh that's so interesting" and then she brought Mel up and that killed it. They could not have-and I said, 'No, this would be great because he could help her. Because she's not a 12 stepper. And, no. So then I talked to Jill about it, and Jill thought that would be great but she couldn't. Once they made a decision that the baby was going to live and that was a big, major decision. That was all of ABC getting in on that decision and it would have turned the show so dark if that baby had not survived. It was just have been too dark. And there is so much light with this. I just love these kids and there is so much light and happiness that comes out of it. And not only that, but there is a much more interesting story now. Whose baby is it?

Christy Strauss: Bo's! (Laughter)

Hillary: Well there you have it! (Laughter)

Karen: Seems pretty easy to us.

Hillary: There you go! (Laughter)p> Angela: If you could script Bo and Nora for at least six months, how would you script it?

Hillary: Bo and Nora for six months? I think they are doing a really good job. I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen, but I think what they are doing-

Claudine: Is there any hope for us Bo and Nora fans?

Hillary: Yes! Everytime you turn around, there will be a glimmer of hope.

Christy: Why aren't we getting anything?

Hillary: But, it's going to go, it's not going to go where you want it to go right off the bat. It's just not going to go there.

Angela: A lot of times we have been waiting for those flashbacks.

Hillary: Jill doesn't like flashbacks.

Angela: Who do you think is right for Nora, Bo or Sam?

Hillary: I don't know. I got my eye on Mark Derwin now. (Laughter) I am moving on around Llanview. I don't know, there is John Sykes, Hank-we have never really explored Hank and Nora together and there is RJ-all that hair! (Laughter) I don't know, I don't want to be particular, I don't want to get nailed in. You know, I think it's really important, I mean you have to understand something- it's what the fans went through with Bo and Nora, they dated with them. No other couple on daytime has gone through a dating process. So, this is going to be a very tangled web to unravel-their breakup and it always will be them in the back of their minds. And I think they come to some sort of understanding of that. You gotta get them broken up so that if at some point later on down the road they start again. You can go through that process all over again with two new people because they both changed quite a bit, finding themselves back together again. And finding themselves back together for the right reasons, not because of a child or in spite of a child or all those things. So, what they are doing, I think, is really great. I think it's great. We're all going to have a lot of stuff to play and having had not much to play for a chunk of time in there, it's really fun to have something to play and that's why we do daytime-to work! And that's the fun part of it. So, if we don't have the work, I would rather have them twist my character around so that they can then do it.

Karen: Well, it is difficult for them to bring them back together just like that.

Hillary: It would have been a waste. It would have been a complete and utter waste.

Angela: What do you admire most about Bob Woods, professionally and personally?

Hillary: Oh, he has a wonderful subtlety that is real and grounded and he's-there are people who are rather larger than life but fill it and give it good credibility. He is life size. His performance is life-size. It's so real, it's so right, it's so subtle, you have to watch it. His face tells you so much and he just gives a very real, real performance and he's very professional. He just does his homework. It's all right there. And when you have been doing it as long as he's been doing it that’s a really admirable thing to still have.

Angela: Were you familiar with Bo Buchanan before you came on as "Nora"?

Hillary: Yes, I had a crush on him. (Laughter) Yes, I did. When I first came to daytime, I was on the "Doctors," and he was just starting, and I thought, 'Oh. Robert Scorpio and him had to be brothers. They must be brothers. They look like!' (Laughter) Bob Woods was on "One Life" and Tristan Rogers was on "General Hospital." And I kept thinking, 'They look brothers.' There was a similarity. Woods has changed a little bit. (Laughter) He still has that naughty twinkle.

Hillary: The first job I ever screen tested for was "One Life" as Becky Abbot. I didn't get it. I was on the "Doctors" in '82. Took that sucker right off the air. (Laughter)

Robin: How long were you on it?

Hillary: Only 6 months. Anyway, I had a big crush on Bob. I thought he was pretty cute. And when I came to screen test, of course, he had no idea who I was. (Laughter) I thought, 'He must know me. I've been in daytime many years.' (Laughter) Not a clue! (Laughter)

Robin: Alec Baldwin wasn't on the "Doctors" when you were on, was he?

Hillary: Yes, he was!!! He was my roommate in California too.

Publicist: Who else did you live with?

Hillary: You never know. You have to ask me, "Who did you live with?" And I will give you a list.

Christy: Ok, who did you live with? (Laughter)

Hillary: Alright, enough out of you! (Laughter) There were three of us from the "Doctors": Tuc Mulligan, Alec Baldwin, and myself who went to California and shared a house. I was already dating my husband. And actually, Nip came out for a visit, and we had Nip and Tuc under the same roof. (Laughter)

Angela: Where did the nickname Nip come from?

Hillary: His grandfather is Philip Webster Smith also. And his grandfather's nickname was Nip. As a matter of fact, his grandfather's brother's name was Nip too. (Laughter) Anyway! His father was Philip and he was Nip and my son is Phips.

Angela: Was there ever a story or a scene as "Nora" that you wished you hadn't done?

Hillary: No, I don't have any regrets. Are there things I wish I could do again? Yes. Are there stories I wished could have happened differently? Yes. I would have loved the Sam/Nora/Bo triangle to have happened right on the heels of Georgie-when I still thought he was still having an affair. That was the time, and it was really ripe. It was really great, and that is when we should have gone with it. Someone else wanted to reinvent the wheel, and they didn't take what they had that was working. They went in a different direction. That's fine. It happens.

Ang: What was the hardest thing you had to do as "Nora"?

Hillary: One of the hardest scenes?

Ang: Yeah.

Hillary: Well, there were some physically difficult scenes, but one of the hardest scenes I ever did was the breakup in the hospital with Bo.

Ang: Most people can't watch that.

Hillary: It was very hard because I kept crying, and they kept saying 'please don't." So, we did it about 3 or 4 times because I would lose it too soon. I'm not a crier, but that was really very hard. Catherine Hickland was over in the wings, looking at the monitor saying, 'I'm dead meat!' (Laughter) Her greatest concern is that the fans hate her.

Claudine: Ok, delivering Matthew couldn’t of been an easy scene to do.

Hillary: Yes, but that was physically exhausting. But that was fun. I did not have a problem with that. I like doing those things, and I like the blind stuff. Physical acting, I like to do that. I don't get enough of that. Some of the fun stuff is 10 page monologues you have to do for closing arguments. I like that stuff. That's great. I like the rape close, Antonio's "mold spores." I had more fun doing that!

Christy: What was your funniest moment with a fan?

Hillary: Was it with you? Oh! They stood outside in a rainstorm for 4 hours, and I didn't know! Someone said 'there is somebody outside to see you. And I said, 'well who is it?' And they said, 'It's a fan.' Oh, Ok. Well, it's raining. I can't go outside. When you go out, just tell them 'another day.' I had no idea. Finally, they said, 'You know, these girls have been standing out there for hours. I said, 'What?!' And they said, 'Yeah.' And I said, 'No, no, no! The same ones?!' They said, 'yes.' It's not usual for us to have people sit out on the steps, and, well, it's just not unusual! (Laughter) It's not unusual for us to wait until we leave the studio to go out. I mean, thunder, lightening, torrential downpour! Well, you bonded. So, then I went out in the rainstorm because I realized they had been out there all that time. I felt so badly.

Karen: What was the most memorable thing a fan has done for you?

Hillary: Oh well, these girls have been pretty incredible. I think this is the smartest thing. I have been telling everyone, 'Listen how smart this is. This girl got the magazine! I mean that is really using your head. That's smart. It's a very good idea.

Ang: What's your favorite quality of Nora?

Hillary: Well, it used to be her honesty. It still is her honesty. I like the fact that she has a lot stuff going on. She is not afraid to get angry. She has a good sense of humor. She is really smart.

Ang: Nora never really had a close female bond with anyone on the show, except for Renee now..

Hillary: She had Sheila for a little bit.

Ang: Right. Would you like her to have that or would you like her to remain close with all her ex-lovers?

Hillary: She had Sheila as a girlfriend. I like having Renee. Oh, you haven't seen it yet. I am doing things with Renee.

Robin: Who is Renee's kid?

Hillary: She thinks it Nigel. Well, we don't really know to be perfectly honest.

Ang: I think Sam would be really good. Imagine Bo and Sam being half siblings.

Hillary: Oh, can you imagine that? You’re thinking Ben? Yeah, but remember, John Sykes was adopted too.

Christy: Are they ever going to bring Rachel back?

Hillary: Yes.

Christy: Which actress who has played her would you like back?

Hillary: Ellen Bethea but she won't come back. She has a baby. She's living in New Hampshire. They really have to conceive this role. They need a plan for this role to bring it back to really attract somebody. We've had some good actresses playing it, but it has been one of those roles, like Drew, they have never really found a hook or a plan.

Ang: They had so much potential to work with Susannah and Nora's parents. They got rid of them so quickly. There could be so much storyline.

Hillary: That was a budget thing. Susannah was not a regular player. She was just brought on as a feature for a definite time period. I loved my parents. At my wedding, I thought they were the funniest things I had ever seen.

Christy: When Dorian and Vicki had the tea party, do you wish that you had been a part of that?

Hillary: I was in the control room watching that, and I laughed so hard. I think it was more fun to watch.

Claudine: And they're older anyway.

Hillary: Oh no, no, no! (Laughter) Robin Strasser and I have stayed up to the wee hours many a nights. And Patricia Elliot has more stories from her Broadway days. And Erika…they are the girls.

Claudine: We were wondering if you could pick an actress for a day to fill in for you, who would you choose?

Hillary: I don't want to give anyone any ideas! (Laughter) Well, I've replaced Margaret Colin, so Margaret Colin could probably replace me very easily.

Claudine: Just for the day now!

Hillary: Yes, a very short day. Well, it is a good thing to actually know off hand because I was thinking if I got sick or something who could I call. Maggie Reed could probably replace me for a day. Many people say I look like Bonnie Bedilla, that we have the same quality. Patricia Richardson-I get her all the time. As a matter of fact, when I was doing "Something Wilder," everybody thought we were sisters. And we are both from a family of four girls.

Ang: Do your children want to be in the business?

Hillary: Oh, of course they do. They want to be exactly what mommy is. You sit there and say, "Yes, Ok, Sure. When you can drive yourself to your own auditions!" (Laughter).

Ang: What do you and your family do in your spare time?

Hillary: We don't really have spare time. Both kids play hockey; my husband coaches the hockey. We're pretty active. But what do we like to do? If we have time and it's just us and it's a bad day, I'll take the kids and we'll go rent a movie. If it's a good day, we travel together. We like to go places together. We play tennis together. Just hang. Usually we just drive the kids, they ditch us as fast as they can.

How old are they? 13 and 10 and half. They are getting up there, and big. My daughter is 13 and she still thinks that she is a lap child. But she is 5'8 and she will come crawling into bed to snuggle with me, and it's not my little girl anymore. I don't know where to hang onto her! (Laughter) She still looks little next to her daddy, but she towers over me.

Christy: If you could ask the fans one question, what would that question be?

Hillary: Well, everyone who came up in line at SSW, I asked them, 'If you and I had been married and I slept with another man to give you a baby cause I loved you so much, would you forgive me?' And they all said, 'Yes!' So that was the most frequently asked question by me to a fan.

Robin: Did you ask your husband that question?

Hillary: Yes. He didn’t have the same answer, I don’t know why? (To Ang) What did your husband say?

Ang: I’m sorry but he called you a slut. (Laughter) He loves you dearly but, after I showed him the R. J. stuff…

Hillary: I want you to know my husband said the same thing. He had pneumonia since Christmas, and he was finally told, 'You go to bed.' So, he's in bed, what does he have to do? Watch the show! I would call him at 2 and say, 'Watching the show, honey? Good boy!' And it was during the Christmas break and so I was there and I would come back and we would watch the show together. Well, one day I wasn't there. At this point, he was hooked enough that he watching. He was looking at me, and I said, 'What's the matter?' He said, 'I saw you and Bo today." And I said, yeah.' It was the New Year's Eve episode where Sam and Nora have been caught hugging. He said, 'You were hugging Sam. And Bo walks in, and you made up some flimsy, little lie. And then you go back to your house, and I have to tell you, you were really convincing. You almost have me convinced that nothing went on between you and Sam, but I know you slept with him. So, do you do that with me?! Cause I believed you, and I know you were lying. This puts a whole, new take on our relationship now!' (Laughter) So, I don't let him watch the show anymore. It's really not worth it! (Laughter)

Ang: If you could play the lead in any past movie, what movie would you choose and whom would you want to play?

Hillary: You should have given me this question before so I could have thought about it. Probably because of what it did to her career, "Pretty Woman." There were some movies that I begged for and wanted to kill for. I followed the script of "Prince of Tides" around and I finally got John Voyt to give it to me. He said, 'You want to do this role, go for it. But I will tell you right now, Barbra Streisand just got the rights to it.' That is why he had the script. And I said, 'Yeah, that's great, she will be directing it.' He said, 'No, she's going to be what you should play.' I wanted the psychiatrist in "Prince of Tides." There have been some movies and films that I have been really close to, but didn't get. But everything happens for a reason and everything happens for the best.

Ang: We just found out about "Last Breath."

Hillary: I haven’t seen it. I did it as a favor.

Claudine: We still watch "Something Wilder."

Hillary: Oh, do you?! I had a really good time doing that.

Ang: We have the game shows.

Hillary: You have $25,000 Pyramid? How did you get that?! The Family Feud--we were in hysterics! Doug Davidson and Jeanne Cooper…you know at the beginning of the Family Feud where they strike the pose? They opened up the curtain, Doug Davidson, Barbara Crampton, Peter Barton, and Jeanne Cooper are the other team, and they have taken the table and turned it upside down. They got it like a toboggan. They have Jeanne Cooper sitting on the front of it in a dress. I swear to God you can look all the way to Ohio…And they push off when the curtain opens and down they come on this table turned upside down, down the steps and underneath the thing! There were like pettycoats & legs flying, and we were in hysterics. We were naughty! The producer pulled us aside and said, "You have to calm down. You're having too much fun."

Christy: What was going through your mind when you won the Emmy? A lot of us were bouncing on our furniture.

Hillary: I remember sitting in the chair and I thought David Canary took an extremely long time to open the envelope. When I look at the tape now, I realize he didn't. It was 'And the Emmy goes to…' Oh, would you start already?! They said my name and I remembering saying, 'OK, I heard my name, but I am not sure he said my name! (Laughter) So, I am not going to go up there and have Julia Barr standing up there and say, 'Hi Julia!' Nothing like that ever happens to me. I don't get Emmy nominations, and I don't win awards. I have been nominated for Soap Opera Digest Awards and have never won them. And then when I thought I would get nominated for SOD awards, I don't. I got a MVP award from Update, which I thought was so exciting, I couldn't believe it. So, when I got the nomination, I was so honored and so pleased that when I won it was amazing.

Claudine: You gave Bob a longer kiss than Nip! Just so you know. (Laughter)

Hillary: You know, I grab him when I can get them! (Laughter) He deserved a longer kiss. Later on that evening, my husband deserved a longer kiss! (Laughter)

Christy: During the menopause story, what was going through your mind when you had to cry over a dead fish?

Hillary: The fact that I was being made to cry over a dead fish! (Laughter)

Christy: Is the fish still in the freezer?

Hillary: I don't know. I think Bo took it when he left. Actually, I didn't mind that story. That story first came when Victor Browne was first cast as Drew. He was supposed to seduce me. I said the only way this would happen was if she was completely in menopause and some young guy came along and made her feel young again. So, Claire Labine heard that and said, 'How interesting.' She wanted to do it, but ABC said, 'no,' we want it to be funny. So, I said, 'Then, let's tell it with humor.' So, we did. We did the whole thing with humor. It was fun. I had a good time. My favorite scenes were with Dr. Larry. When he didn't know what was going on and I was grabbing him by the lapels and then crying and then laughing. I also love Michael Storm.

Christy: When you were in the cabin, did you really hit Bo?

Hillary: No. As a matter of fact, you don't even stand near him. It's the way they shoot it. The point of impact is away from the camera. I am literally standing 2 feet away from him. 'Yeah, Woods, I’m going to slap you now, and we'll be doing this 5 times.' (Laughter) Just don't clench your jaw! I actually had to slap Colleen Zenk (Pinter, Barbara, ATWT) on "As The World Turns." She said, 'I prefer it if you actually slap me.' (Laughter) A little weird, but Ok!!! The hard thing was she is very petite, her face is petite and I've got these big, athletic hands. One thing I said to her was, "Don't turn your head before I hit you, and don't tighten your jaw, but don't leave it too loose either. Go with my hand, not before.' She went before, I got her ear. And she had her jaw tight. She had a red mark on her face and my hand hurt because she fought it. The poor thing. I felt badly. It's just not necessary.

Claudine: How much preparation do you have to do for scenes? When do you get your scripts?

Hillary: Today, I haven't opened my script yet. I don't say anything today. (Laughter)

Robin: What are you in a coma? (Laughter)

Hillary: I did all of today's scenes yesterday. I have one scene where I walk in. That is the beginning of next week. You guys are going to die when you see that. Big time stuff.

Karen: Do they give you a lot of leeway? Do they just say, 'Have at it, do it the way you want to do it,' or do they choreograph the whole thing?

Hillary: No. We meet in the morning. We have dry block. That is our time with the director and the director has pretty much choreographed the whole script and set up his shots. And that is when we have any questions about the script-small changes. Any major changes, we go to the producer prior to that day. We get our scripts a day, 2 days, sometimes 3 days in advance, to read through them, look for mistakes, and then you put them away. If you are working everyday, you can't pick that script until the next day. From dry blocking we go to camera blocking and that is the cameraman's time with the director. We show them our moves, and they get their moves, and any glaring problems we have get worked out then in the movement, in the flow of the show. Then we come down. We have lunch, we do hair and make-up, and we start dress taping at 1:15. Dress it, get notes, tape it. We do it item by item, step by step. So, yesterday there were 3 costume changes because I was taping out of order, out of sequence. I did shows from today's show yesterday first, and then I did shows leading up to today's show and then shows following the day before. I was completely out of sequence.

Karen: Is that hard to do when it is out of sequence?

Hillary: You have to know where you are in the script. You have to really read the script and understand where you are. You are coming from here and coming from there and you get a lot of help--like the Assistant Director or any of the productions assistants. They will help you with continuity.

Robin: Do you have trouble memorizing all those lines?

Hillary: Everyone has a little way of learning. Mine is semi photographic because I can say it's page 54, the second line down from the top, and I will know where it is because you sit there and get to learn it. You get into a system. Everybody has their own system. Mine is pretty good. It works for me. It's a muscle.

Robin: Do you just look at it once or twice and it is memorized?

Hillary: No, I think monologues are the hardest things to do because there is not somebody to play off of. Usually when you are in a conversation, you can recall it if you have only had it once. They said this, then I said that, and then they said that, and that is basically the way it is with dialogue. Yeah, I can look at it once or twice and it's pretty much there. But you want to run it, get the most out of it. The monologues are tough because it's coming from you. You have to read the whole thing, break it down, look at intention, see where it is going. You do your work. Find what it is about, find your different arch’s, find your summation, find your prologue. So, it's a little work, but it's fun. My husband is a little sick of lying in bed and, 'Yeah.' (Laughter)

Robin: He reads with you?

Hillary: For long speeches, I make him sit on book. I'll read my lines in bed. I will go over them in bed. For big days, such as during trials, I like my lines memorized when I come in to dry block. There is so much movement that has to be attached to the script and camera work in the courtroom is so precise because wherever you are standing there is a shot not just of you, but it is usually across the defendant, to the defendant from the witness, and across you to the judge, and everything is moving around. There is a lot of racking and focus. So you really have to be very specific. That is how we got monitors on the floor. They call them Smithies because I asked for them. Jill Mittwell came over and directed and we did a courtroom thing, and I said, 'Can we please get a monitor?' And Jill insisted that they get a monitor. So, they hooked a monitor up from the grids down and blocking went like that because I could see what she was doing and she knew I knew what she was doing. I could re-establish my marks to get to her shots, and then we got to tape and we just flew because I had the opportune to see it. So now we have monitors.

Robin: Do any of the other soaps have it?

Hillary: Yeah. "As The World Turns" always had them. You need them for hair and make-up and wardrobe because they sit on the sets. If I am on the set and I look at you and say, 'Oh, their hair looks fine.' I have to watch the monitor to see what she looks like on television. They can't be in the control room because if there is something that needs to be done then they have to get up out of the control room, come through the sound barrier onto the set. It is too much. They have to be right there. So that is what the monitors were always for.

Ang: What do the think is the biggest misconception people have about you?

Hillary: That I am such a nice person! (Laughter) (To Lori and Nancy) What do you guys think?

Nancy: That you are Nora.

Lori: There are similarities.

Hillary: Yeah, but we are very different. We don't dress alike. I wish we did. I would not mind have a closet full of Armani. (Laughter) I don't know. I guess the biggest misconception is that I am Nora, and I'm not. Another big misconception was that I was married to Woodsie, even upstairs in the production office. They used to call me at home, 'Do you have Woods' number where he is right now?' He is on vacation with his wife. 'Yeah, do you have it?' Um, no, no, I am not his real wife.

Ang: It was a rumor online.

Hillary: Oh, I loved that! I am one of those people that I start rumors about myself. (Laughter) And no one believes it! Everyone laughs. I started rumors about me and Woods and Woods was like…(Hillary facial expression) (Laughter) We're both married, no one believes it. He was like, 'No, I don't think so.' No one wants to claim having an affair with me. So, I keep saying I am, no one believes it, and then I tell people, 'No, no, no, I was in their room last night. And everyone laughs! (Laughter) Like you guys are doing! (Laughter) Then I started going with--good rumor--Frank Valentini. I started that one. I tried that one. Everyone laughed. They all laughed at me. They laughed. It was so sad. Because he is single, he has nothing to defend himself. I started with Victor Browne. I did. I said, 'You know the reason why we are not doing that story is because we are having an affair in real life. Don't tell anyone though. And everyone laughed. Even my husband laughs! (Laughter) 'You know I am having an affair with everyone on the set!?' (Nip: ) Good. That's nice. What's for dinner?

Ang: What is your favorite childhood memory?

Hillary: I have a whole bunch of them. I was a pretty happy kid. I have some wonderful memories, but unusual memories. I remember my father had this watch that had an alarm which I thought was so cool Everyone has them now. The alarm would ring, we would be in the middle of dinner, and he would say, 'Ok." And we would get up, walk out to the dock. We would go out and lie on the pier. We would lie down and wait. He would say, 'It should come any minute.' We would look for the satellite to go overhead. It was pretty cool back in those days. It was the 60's. We could find the satellite going overhead, time his watch, and we would all go out and lie out at night. I remember being on my mother's hip. She was carrying me. She had a very boney hip, and I remember being very uncomfortable sitting on her hip. She stopped, she pointed, and said, 'Look.' And it was, had to be '59 or '60 and we were in Florida, and it was the launching of the Gemini or the First Apollo. You could see the vapor trail going up. I got to watch a space ship going up. And then driving my father's submarine. My father designs submarines. We would go on vacations on the company boat and we would have a submarine with us. We would flip it over, down we would go, drive down, and see all the tropical fish. I mean there were kind of fun things like that.

Jen: What would you be doing if you weren't acting?

Hillary: I was in the Human Genetics program at Sarah Lawrence. I was getting my Masters the same time I was getting my BA. I don’t think I would have done that anyway. A lot of sniffing urine. I did not have the discipline for it. It was a field that was changing so much, but I was really fascinated with it. The other thing that I did and I did quite a lot of it was fashion consultant. I probably would have gone more into that, the arts and the design area. Acting was something I always wanted but I took up other things to placate my parents. As a matter of fact, I was placating my parents for a long time until my mother went into the pharmacy and they said, 'Oh, you are Hillary's mother.' And then it was OK.

Claudine: Are you aware of how closely fans watch? Right now, there is discussion of when you wear your wedding bands and when you don't.

Hillary: Well, you know I don't wear it now. We are very careful about it. When I got mugged and my wedding band was taken, making sure the 3 days up to that, it was the same day, that I didn't wear my wedding band. We had to reshoot a scene because we shot out of sequence and there is a scene of me walking in my office, sat down, listened to a message, and it turns out that that scene was after I had been mugged, only we shot it 3 days before the mugging and I had my rings on. So, we had to reshoot the whole thing. And we did it in Nora's bed room and it is a much better scene. So after she gets mugged after the police station, she goes back to her house, and she sits down, she sat on the end of the bed, and tries to go to sleep. Frank Valentini wrote that. Yes, oh I know. You guys are like hawks! (Laughter) They gave me a ring that was slightly fatter than my wedding ring, and I said, 'You know, this is not my wedding ring.' And they said, 'How can they tell?' (Laughter)

Christy: What is the longest it took you to get through a scene because of bloopers?

Hillary: Usually, Dick Clark as them. There was a closing argument. I don’t know whose trial it was. And I had to stand up, I started to say something, and it was a tongue twister, and it was something like neonatal neurologist. It was this long thing. I had been saying it so articulately through dry block. And during camera block, I made a big joke of it and said it so perfectly. We got down to taping, and I couldn't say it. And then I got the giggles. And when I get the giggles, it is not really pretty because I can't speak and I can't breathe. And I said, 'No, no, no. I am fine.' I got myself together and you can feel it. You know when you have those, when you can feel it brewing? Think of bad thoughts-dead dogs, ok. (Laughter) And again you're gone. And everyone thinks it's funny the first couple of times, and then they lose their humor on it. And I still, obviously, am finding it terribly amusing. They took a 5 on me that time. Take a 5. Get your thoughts together. No one would talk to me. No one would come near me, which makes things worse. But everyone wanted to go home, and I was pooping on their parade. (Laughter) But it was pretty funny to me!

Claudine: What do you think makes you so popular with fans?

Hillary: Not a clue! (Laughter) You can answer that more than I can.

Claudine: Ok, you really want me to answer that?

Hillary: Yes.

Claudine: Well, obviously because of Nora. Because she is so real. There is something so real there, people can relate to her. Her sense of humor is phenomenal. And then you come across that way in interviews and everything. You are so down to earth, and then we met you and were like, 'Oh, that is so true!' (Laughter)

Hillary: Well, there is your answer! (Laughter)

Christy: What was your favorite dance scene?

Hillary: Definitely "Sing, Sing, Sing." That hurt most. The jitterbug. We had a great time doing that. The tango was sort of last minute. They brought a choreographer in just to give us some different moves but Woods does it all, I just follow. It's great.