♥ An Inside Look
Now it can be told! The uncensored, naked truth! How DOOL'S Drake Hogestyn really feels about his right eyebrow, giving up baseball, Roman Brady, and his old dressing room - the one with the shower!
"Ooooh that!" Drake Hogestyn moans. We are talking about that ever-illusive part of the anatomy, that wily, roguish imp, his eyebrow. The right one to be exact. The one that sends normally sane women to the point of frenzy and has husbands and lovers all over America standing in front of their bathroom mirrors, trying to do likewise. The one that arches like a Cupid's bow whenever he gets close to a woman or even thinks sexy thoughts, which must be all of the time, judging from the plethora of action due north of the cheekbone, which, by the way, ain't bad either. The truth, the unabashed, naked truth is that Drake Hogestyn is a man who has absolutely no control - of the arch, that is. It is all completely involuntary. "It just comes," Drake explains with a boyish chuckle. "I don't sit there and say, 'in this scene I'm going to arch my eyebrow!' It comes out of whatever I'm doing. I do it when I'm talking to people. I do it when I take still pictures! Or as my dear old granny said while snapping her beans over the kitchen sink, 'Who cares how he does it, just as long as he keeps right on doing it!'" Yes indeed. Poignant words.
Drake Hogestyn is the sexiest man in America. Leslie Wainger says so, and she edits those steamy romance novels all day, so she ought to know. Drake Hogestyn also used to be a baseball player, and you know how sexy they are. Just ask BULL DURHAM'S Susan Sarandon. But better yet, ask DAYS OF OUR LIVES fans and they'll tell you the man's appeal goes a whole lot deeper than that raised right eyebrow. It has to do with his attitude toward women. "I would like to think I know how to treat women," Drake says. "I do respect them. I do care for them. I've had a passionate love story all my own with Victoria (Mrs. Hogestyn) that has gone on since I was fifteen and she was twelve. I waited for that woman for seven years! I don't believe women want to be patronized, but they do want to be respected. You should treat them gently."
And Drake Hogestyn, AKA Roman Brady, AKA John Black certainly pulls out all stops in that department. Not bad for a guy who never wanted to be an actor, much less a soap opera idol. In fact, the acting thing started out as a joke. Back when he was playing pro ball, the team entered a contest for fun. Columbia Pictures was having a talent search and all you had to do was write an essay about yourself. Not long after Drake had sealed his entry and licked a stamp, a talent scout started calling. The short of it is, he was hustled off to Hollywood, got a contract, did some primetime, and the next thing he knew, he was a soap star. Talk about mind-blowing experiences! "You don't understand what that's like right away because of the amount of work you put in on the show. We're here all day long. We're very seldom out in public. It's like my five year old asked me, 'Daddy, do you ever see the sunlight?' because I get up at 4:30 in the morning and like last night, I'm home at nine. But I did a personal appearance a little while after I first came on the show and I wondered, WOW! Who are these people coming to see? I was shocked!"
All the hoopla aside, the decision to give up baseball wasn't an easy one for the appealing actor who originally studied dentistry on a baseball scholarship. After being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and the St. Louis Cardinals (he was the Number Two pick in the nation), he elected to continue his education. It was only after graduating from college with a microbiology degree that he changed gears when he was again drafted, this time by his favorite team, the Yankees. "I wanted to see out of curiosity where my talents stacked up," Drake modestly admits. However, after three years, he chose to give acting a whirl. "You have to understand that in 1976, 1977, 1978, being in the minor leagues with the Yankees was very tough because they were in the World Series all three years. Therefore, rookies breaking into the standing lineup of the Yankees at the parent club level was very rare and you felt you were dying on the vine and your talent was really being suppressed." Now, seven plus years later, he has no real regrets. "At first I was apprehensive, only because I saw players that I had played in the minor leagues with getting a break in the major leagues, and I always thought their talent was very 'fringe' as they call it. Either you're a prospect or you're fringe, and I thought they were fringe. They were getting a shot to play the 'show' as we call it. That was hard for me to watch because I could play circles around these guys and so I didn't attend a ballgame for seven years, until it got to the point where some of the guys who had made it up were then being released because of age or because of injury or lack of talent or whatever. Then I could finally start going to games again. But what is interesting is that a lot of the players that I had played with that did make it to the major leagues are out of the game now and are calling me and wanting to know if I could introduce them to people out here and get them started in this business! I can play this game a lot longer and I don't have to get injured!"
Which brings us to the topic of Roman Brady, AKA Drake Hogestyn, until quite recently. The actor attributes much of his success in playing the top cop all these years to the viewers. This month marks his sixth anniversary on the show and, if anything, his support from fans is stronger than ever. "Once Deidre and I started working together, there was overwhelming support for the idea that maybe this character could be Roman after all. I think the fans wanted to see the character of Roman resurrected. The fans wanted to see Marlena with Roman again. It was handled very well by the producers, the way the story unfolded." They gave the actor, Drake Hogestyn, enough time to establish himself by coming in as this character, John Black, and letting the scenes work themselves out.
Once he was Roman, however, Drake endeavored to make the character his own in every way. Viewers responded with unprecedented approval. "As soon as it was revealed that I was Roman, the mail picked up fifty percent and the support picked up likewise. It wasn't like trying to replace a character cold and sliding in and saying 'this is Roman.' There was a great storyline behind it. As far as I'm concerned, it was one of the best I've experienced since I've been on the show. It was a very interesting time. It was the first soap I'd ever done and to be involved in a storyline like that was very exciting."
Equally exciting were the ladies the actor was paired off with, beginning with Deidre Hall. "The funny thing was, I never worked with Deidre that much," Drake recalls. "When I was playing Roman, she was off at OUR HOUSE, so she was gone quite a bit and we were just taping on Saturdays. Maniacal Saturdays of one-hundred-fifty pages plus to substitute in the shows while she was filming OUR HOUSE. Until finally they made the decision - one or the other - and obviously she went with OUR HOUSE and DAYS moved in a different direction with Genie Francis." For a brief time, Roman and Diana proved to be one of the hottest couples on daytime. Between his raw sex appeal and her tantalizing smile, the chemistry was right on the money. "I thought we played well. I was looking for it to go on longer," Drake admits. "However, her contract was up and they couldn't arrive at a mutual agreement." But despite the inconclusiveness of their storyline, the actor found that it nonetheless gave him a chance to stretch his talents, even though the payoff - finding Marlena - never materialized. "Genie Francis was to have run into her on Stefano's island. She swings this blonde-haired woman around and the tag of the scene says, 'it is Marlena,' i.e. Deidre Hall. But that never happened. So the story was wrapped up in four days' time, leaving a lot of loose ends." Which, oddly enough, brings us full circle and back to John Black, another loose end. Ironically, one of Drake's most memorable moments on the show was when he got to take John Black's name off the Vietnam War Memorial. Six years later, with the return of Wayne Northrop to reclaim his Roman Brady character, lo and behold, Drake Hogestyn is the enigmatic Mr. Black once again. A lot of people didn't like that. They didn't think it was right. After all, Drake had played the character a lot longer than Northrop. HE was Roman Brady. "Yeah, but I didn't originate the role. I rented it for a while," the actor states. And no, he does not feel cheated because it was taken away from him. Only a little sad, perhaps. "I had grown very attached to the character of Roman. And I think I am just now starting to realize that I will never again be the Commander. Like yesterday on the set, I got a phone call and I picked up and said, 'Brady here.' It's a very natural thing to do," he says somewhat wistfully. "It's just hitting me that I'm not going to be doing scenes in Roman's living room anymore and I'm not going to be working in the cop shop anymore. I heard a woman scream in a scene last week and instinctively I reach inside for my gun and it's not there! Things like that. But I had grown very attached to the character and it was hard to let it go. A lot of people wanted to do interviews on it initially and I really couldn't respond because I was weighing in my own mind how I felt about it."
One of the things he feels most is gratitude toward the fans who have stuck by him throughout the whole morass. "I'm thankful that the fans gravitated toward it (his playing Roman). I'm even more thankful that they've hung with me through the course of John Black. I believe that what was written and what was given to me was more than an actor could hope for. I was given scenes to play that I haven't played in years - emotional, heartfelt scenes. I think those are some of my strong points and they (the writers) played to them real well. I can only see great things happening now. I don't know what the longevity is of a soap actor. I know I've watched over a hundred contract players' three year deals come and go since I've been on. I'm number seven in seniority on the show right now and starting out my sixth year as a whole new character. It feels like a new lease on life!"
While Drake is unsure of the direction his John Black character will take, he finds the role possibly the most challenging thing he's ever tackled. "It's remarkable! Everything he has lived for the last five or six years is all that he remembers. That's the only thing that is real, and then to find out all that was basically a lie! It's a challenge." Moreover, John Black's season of discovery is becoming Drake Hogestyn's as well. Little by little the actor is trying to get into his character's mindset, feeling his way through, making subtle changes and relying on pure instinct to guide him. "My hair is longer than it has been in a long time, and the show hasn't said anything about it. I'm waiting for what I call 'finding his shoes' to see who John Black really is, and I'm trying to make a subtle transformation. I want to see where the chameleon turns. There has to be something coming up where he will start to pull in his past." And while the actor hasn't been given so much as a clue as to what that will be, he does admit there is a cloak of secrecy going on and he kind of likes it that way. "I like to pick up scripts and be surprised like everyone else. On the other hand though, I also think it's important for an actor to have an arc - to know approximately where he is going so he can start building the foundation now and make that strong for the payoff later." To that end, Drake discussed his new character with Executive Producer Al Rabin and the new Headwriter Richard J. Allen before the Christmas break. "I was feeling confused and a lot of that stems from the fact that I've been stripped of the character of Roman and I don't know who John Black is. I'm not sure of a lot of things I'm doing on the show right now, but I study hard as an actor and I try to make the most out of every scene. I'm just kind of drifting through the fog with this character, and I think they want me to do that. Also, I had to keep in mind that this man will be a survivor. He won't walk away from the problems; he'll try and face them. I picked up a script where he's saying, 'I'm growing very weary of this. It's starting to weigh on me and it's getting too heavy to carry around anymore and I would like to just forget about it.' But I know he won't. There will be circumstances which will push him to carry on."
One of them may very well be linked to the new mystery lady, Danielle. "She is obviously a woman from my past. A woman with whom I have had a relationship. I've been having nightmares or flashbacks about this person and certain parts of my life but I can't put it together enough to even distinguish a face or a name. But she has this wolf ring and I have three things that I had in my satchel from Chichén Itzá: the picture, the piece of melted gold, which I formed into a wedding ring, and the locket. I think the rings are just to let the audience know there was a connection there somewhere. I don't know how they tie into the picture. But I think what probably does tie in is that locket." The actor also notes that this whole scenario was the brainchild of former Headwriter Gene Palumbo. Now with a new team in place, much of it could change, once again leaving him in limbo. If nothing else, Drake figures that will gain him what he calls 'sympathy points' with viewers.
"They did that with John Black by having him lose the family, lose everything, the cop shop, the five years mortgage he paid on the Brady house. Then Roman takes over at the police station while John is hanging out on a pier with the snow falling, looking for a place to live." Ditto in the scenes showing John in the Brady house on Christmas Eve. "For the first time he sees all the Bradys together: Roman, Bo, Kimberly, Kayla, Mom, Pop. And it hits him: 'My God, this is the Brady family! Who am I and what am I doing here? I do not belong in this picture.' Those are what I call strong sympathy points. Then it's up to the actor to pull those scenes off."
Also hanging in the balance is John Black's relationship with his pregnant fiancée, Isabella, who has stood steadfastly by his side despite his attempts to hold her at a distance. Drake, however, rebuts the notion that his character is turned off to romance. Quite the contrary. "The man is confused. He's reluctant to stay with Isabella. He doesn't want to drag her into this web because he's starting to find out things about himself that he doesn't like." But that in no way diminishes his interest in the affairs of the heart, the actor asserts. "He's always going to be a lover!"
Though if Drake could have his way, John would be a knight in somewhat tarnished armor. "I think I would like to experience a darker side. I'm having these flashbacks right now about art thievery. I see this person dressed like a cat burglar just removing pieces of priceless art and it's very disconcerting because I don't know who it is. It might be interesting to explore that he did have a dark side and even though he doesn't feel that way now, he operated that way then. There are indications now that perhaps that is the case. I'm hoping they explore that. It would just add another dimension to the character." Drake also hopes fans will continue to hang in with John Black. "You can invite the fans to suspend reality for a little while. They can go on the ride with you and enjoy it if you're playing it as true as you can, and that's what I try to do."
What Drake isn't trying to do these days is take a shower in his dressing room anymore - a minor, though newsworthy point. The reason being that along with losing the role of Roman, he also lost the aforementioned dressing room with its resident shower. But having had all that practice as a team player, the actor was more than happy to sacrifice his room for the greater good. In this case, for Deidre Hall. He also had his eye on a better room upstairs - one with a sauna! "When the storyline was first pitched to me by Al Rabin, he brought up the possibility of Wayne and Deidre coming back, and right away, I thought that would be a big coup. Then in the middle of the conversation he goes, 'But on the other hand, we're gonna have a little problem with the dressing rooms!' And I said, 'Let me guess, my dressing room has come into question.' And he said, 'Yeah.'" Drake goes on to explain that he and Deidre Hall are the best of friends. "I knew she always had one of the four rooms that had a shower because she works out and takes a shower as we all do. But also my mind was churning and I said, 'Well, there is a room I had my eye on in the back of Studio Four...'" So she got the shower, he got the sauna, and now everybody's happy. "I didn't have to do it. I'm seniority here. But I said, 'No problem. If that's the only stumbling block to getting her back, so be it!'"
The way Drake sees it, sometimes there are just gonna be tradeoffs, and he has certainly had his share. But through it all, there's been no posturing, no complaining, no acting like a prima donna. Because for Drake Hogestyn, being on a soap is a lot like playing baseball. You gotta be a team player or the "show" goes straight down the tubes and the viewers are let down. And that is one thing this actor will never allow to happen if he can help it. "What's so amazing about this job is that we have the ability to touch people, to move them, to make them experience something, to feel something. If they can kind of escape from their own world or whatever problems they're having and lock into us for an hour, that makes me feel like we're accomplishing something with our crazy job here."
In case you hadn't realized it yet, besides being the sexiest man in America, the guy is also genuinely nice, a real gentleman, the kind your mother made novenas that you'd meet up with and marry one day. So, now that our interview is over and I've finished my Moët Chandon, I guess I should re-play the tape once or twice - just to make sure I got every single word, breath, pause, subliminal message. Then I'll listen to that last phone message again. The one where Drake says, "Catch you later, babe!" Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?
Joanna Coons, SOAP OPERA NOW, 2/3/92
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