HOLLYWOOD—This week’s Leading Ladies Gold Standard goes to Susan Flannery, who portrays Queen Stephanie Forrester on CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful”; Kimberly Matula, who portrays Hope Logan on “B&B”; and Sharon Case, who portrays Sharon Newman on “The Young and the Restless.” These three beautiful ladies make daytime so exciting. Susan Flannery, for decades from “Days of Our Lives” to “Dallas” and of course “B&B,” has entertained over 100 million soap fans over the years. Kimberly Matula has turned into a sensational actress in only a year’s time and Sharon Case has been one of the most underrated superstars for a decade. Each actress showcased what makes love so toxic for their characters on their shows this week, and viewers simply can’t get enough of them.
Susan Flannery is perhaps the best actress of her generation. She is by far a force of nature that portrays a character with equal veracity. Bradley P. Bell is Flannery’s best leading man, as her award winning head writer. She works splendidly with costars Katherine Kelly Lang, Ronn Moss, John McCook, and now Adam Gregory. This week Stephanie forced Nick to give up smoking through an intervention with famous Hollywood and international names. Stephanie’s also survived stage four brain and lung cancer and has been able to forgive her sexpot daughter-in-law Brooke Logan for years of sleeping with every male member of the Forrester family. Then Stephanie and her grandson Thomas spoke poignantly and sincerely about the way Brooke has changed her life. Susan Flannery is the heart and soul of “B&B.” Her amazing career was predicted in 1975 when she was the Golden Globe Award(R) for Most Promising Female Newcomer for her role in “The Towering Inferno.”
Speaking of a promising newcomer. Starlet Kimberly Matula is giving a magnificent performance as ever suffering ingénue Hope Logan. The beautiful blonde actress won viewers over initially for her beauty, but she’s become a great performer. Her work opposite Scott Clifton, Kelly Lang and Susan Flannery is giving her the acting chops she’ll need to continue to shine on a TV show that has some of the best acting and writing in the business. If fans of “B&B” thought Hope was devastated when it was revealed that her mother seduced her teenage boyfriend last summer, this week Hope’s despair was even greater when she found out that Amber is pregnant and claiming Hope’s boyfriend Liam as the father. Heartbreak is the emotion most young leading ladies have to play, and if they can do so in a good way, then they have a great future. Matula played this in a grand way, so things are looking bright for the young beauty.
Sharon Case portrays ever suffering heroine Sharon Newman on “The Young and the Restless.” Ms. Newman is not only long suffering but quite deficient in the common sense area. She’s engaged to a man who once kidnapped her daughter and told her the infant was dead. She’s also been arrested for murder in the first degree of her fiancé’s wife and now she’s trying to prove that her ex father-in-law set her up for the crime. Whatever disasters Sharon Newman faces, viewers of “Y&R” know that her portrayer, the ever youthful Sharon Case, is going to do a phenomenal job in the storyline. This week was wonderful seeing Sharon have to depend on three people (Nick, Phyllis and Jack) to help her out of the disaster she’s found herself in.
Drama queens may have a negative connotation associated with the term. However, for daytime divas it’s the best thing that could ever happen to an actress. “Y&R” and “B&B” air weekdays on CBS.
Photographs are Courtesy: Susan Flannery by Gilles Toucas, Bell Phillip TV Productions, Kimberly Matula by JPI Studios© West Hollywood and Sharon Case by CBS Studios.
