All My Children: Ruth and Opal

[@abe_froman8360]

I don't care how long Jill Larson has played the part, Dorothy Lyman will ALWAYS be Opal Gardner.

[@fmm10970]

They were both good... would rather have a recast than no Opal at all

[@marcusj4641]

I hate, hate, HATE how AMC tried to erase Dorothy Lyman's existence from the show. That period (late 70s through mid 80s) was when the show was it's absolute best, and Dorothy was dynamite and defined that era and they never even showed her scenes in the retrospect episodes.

[@judymyers9867]

She was a great opal true

[@travisjames3517]

@@marcusj4641Lyman wanted to come back in 1989, but they said NO! I guess they had enough with her antics behind the scenes.

[@new_yawker901]

Damn right!!!!

[@CoopyKat]

This role got her noticed by Carol Burnett who cast her as Naomi on "Mama's Family" -- both characters are very similar!

[@radrobd123]

yeah and that led to Dorothy's exit from the show.

[@RaymondHng]

@@radrobd123 Lyman continued to perform on _All My Children_ concurrently with the beginning of _Mama's Family_ 's production, flying back and forth each week between New York City and Los Angeles. While the commute was brutal, she remembered it fondly, referring to that stage of her career as "All My Paychecks".

[@adelgado75]

Once upon a time AMC was one of the best soap operas.

[@laminage]

Tell me about it! Some kids at that time were so into the Show they would make sure they had time off between Classes to watch. I was Four when the Show debuted and I didn't understand why they had "With Special Guest Star Rosemary Prinz". I had no idea of her her tenure as Penny Hughes on As The World Turns : - ). Oh do any of you watch UK Soaps like Coronation Street, or Eastenders. They are very popular in Canada. Also they used to Broadcast All My Children on The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) back in the day as well as One Life To Live, and Dallas.

[@DeepScreenAnalysis]

Not just one of the best soaps, one of the best written shows on American tv.

[@nickhill8612]

​@@DeepScreenAnalysis You are right. Ryan's Hope AMC One Life to live and of course GH.

[@Capwell83]

Now that is what made me love AMC growing up. Just the best

[@3AMJuggernaut]

The dialogue in this scene was so well written...couple that with actors who know how to deliver lines, and you have a great quality show. Nowadays the dialogue is dulled down and pretty people deliver the lines...simply because they are pretty. That's about all our simpleton society can handle now. This was TV at it's best. RIP AMC and RIP Mary Fickett.

[@baconbap]

When I was in college the tv lounge in my dorm was standing room only for three hours each day, with kids watching AMC, OLTL, and GH. This was the height of the Luke and Laura craze.

[@bradymcguire6151]

LOVE THIS OPAL

[@castlist3384]

Dororthy Lyman is my favorite Opal, and she and Mary Fickett (Ruth) bounced well off each other as two mothers expressing two points of view regarding education and employment. Ruth epitomized die-hard middle-class morality (as did her husband Joe and mother-in-law Kate), while Opal represented the absentee mother who could be selfish and clumsy in expressing her love for her offspring.

[@thesinger126]

Oh My Goodness I have not seen the original in ages, I almost forgot about Dorthy, she did a great job but Jill filled her shoes amazingly, great character.

[@greggriffin8020]

I know, I love them both. Hard to pick a favorite.

[@starkid77]

Oh wow, Ruth is a second away from cussin' Opal out, and I don't blame her!

[@greenlee7smythe]

Back then, Opal had a knack for pushing people over the edge. Lmao 😂 she could make even the most patient people 2 seconds from blowing their top! It was a gift lmao 😂

[@rockyracoon3233]

Mary will always be Ruth Martin!

[@danielr4640]

I enjoyed Ruth and Joe Martin. They were a good family figure in that show and made Pine Valley a success

[@frenchypink1135]

Didn't know that Dorothy Lyman played Opal I remember her as Naomi

[@lavoixdevelours]

+frenchy pink I remember her on Mama's Family too. She won two Emmy's for playing Opal.

[@laminage]

+frenchy pink Dorothy Lyman also played Gwen Parrish Frame on Another World from 1976-1980. She also played a Widow of a Vietnam Veteran who went in Alan Spaulding's Place on Guiding Light. This is a hoot. Tad Martin's Two Mothers having an argument. They are both right in their own way about Tad's Child Rearing.

[@carloschambers6569]

Dorothy Lyman was the original Opal and later got the part for Mama's family because her Opal Gardner was so popular. The same would happen 10 years later when Sara Michelle Gellar was so popular as Kendall she went on to Buffy,the vampire slayer and a movie career.

[@a.b.s_productions]

laminage Dorothy Lyman's soap roots goes back farther than "Another World." She was on "The Edge of Night" as Elly Jo Jamison from 1972-73, and prior to that she was on the short lived soap "A World Apart." Oh and she was on "Generations" 1990-91 and "The Bold and the Beautiful" 1991-92. One busy woman!

[@laminage]

@delius521 Yes. In fact Stirling Gallacher who has been playing Lawyer Paula Martin on The UK Soap Opera Coronation Street since 2018 is taking time off to play a Police Officer Fifon on another Soap Opera Casualty. I told UK Soap Fans how Actors play two different characters around the same time. Remember ho win 1998 Robert Gentry briefly reprised his role as Dr. Ed Bauer on Guiding Light that he played from 1966--1969 then he did double Duty a Detective Craig Morris on it's Sister Show Another World.

[@jimmaisch7851]

Wish they could rerun this era of that soap !! Good stuff !!

[@GeminieCricket]

OMG THIS BRINGS BACK A WONDERFUL TIME IIN MY LIFE 🙆🏼‍♀️

[@joeblough261]

I long to see the scene (with Opal #2) where Opal and Ruth fight over something to do with Tad. Late 80's to early 90's. And Opal says, "who do you think you are?" and Ruth turns around and says, "I AM HIS MOTHER!" And I get chills thinking about it and wish o' wish someone would post it on here.

[@Vivi4629]

RIP Mary Fickett

[@marvinnewbill6470]

Loved Opal

[@trumprosie]

SURE LOVE TO SEE THAT CLIP OF OPAL & PHOEBE LITERALLY HAVING A KNOCK-OUT DRAG-OUT BRAWL IN THE "GLAMOURAMA" BACK IN THE 80'S .....CLASSIC AMC HILARITY

[@miggy25]

I'm guessing Ruth and Opal are arguing about Tad here....Mary Fickett will always be the strong, loving Ruth Martin--the heart and soul of AMC!.....and please more of Dorothy Lyman's Opal if you have any....I was too young to remember her as Opal

[@laminage]

Ruth should have told Opal about her First Husband, a Second Class Car Salesman and how she had to "Carry" The Family on her Salary which wasn't always much. Also, Opal shouldn't talk. Ray Gardner was a SOB and Joe Martin was a Saint.

[@DeepScreenAnalysis]

“You are gonna spoil him Ruuuuuth!”

[@laminage]

To a Degree I can understand where Opal's coming from but Opal has to realize, she gave up her rights as Tad's Mother when she gave him to The Martins to raise. Also, Opal was a horrible Mother making Jenny work in some Two Bit Dive in Center City, and Jenny was always looked down as Trailer Trash and remember what a hard time Liza Colby gave her back in the day. Ruth is a Nurse, and unlike Opal she actually had to get that Job by going to College, someplace that Opal never did.

[@radrobd123]

Opal didn't give Tad to the Martins. Ray took Tad and then abandoned him in Pine Valley. Opal tracked him down years later and he was adopted by the Martins then

[@laminage]

​@Robert A. Davis Oh I didn't know that.

[@nancyericson4263]

Ruth is a nurse and she married a doctor. Opal is a beautician and she was married to Ray. Ray pushed his kid out of a moving car. Need I say more?

[@user-xx6nj8eg4o]

Apparently Dorothy had an appearance in Blow. Need to watch that again, can't remember what part.

[@bigmacrr]

Mary retired, figuring the show would put her on recurring status, but instead they fired her and hired Lee Meriwhether to play Ruth in 1996. They managed to get Mary back for the 30th anniversary in 2000 but ever since then, Lee has been playing Ruth.

[@radrobd123]

Mary retired in 1994 right before the show's 25th anniversary in January 1995. She appeared infrequently throughout the year and they explained that Ruth was always at work at the hospital. They needed a regular Ruth and so they hired Lee the following year in 1996.

[@DonnaLichvarcik-e1w]

Lee also was miss america and one of the greatest badass female dc villainesses of all time and a great soap queen 👑 too

[@kevindavis296]

I didn't know Naomi from Mama's family was the original Opal

[@tallulah1961]

Whatever happened to the wonderful Mary Fickett? Did she die? I always liked her as Ruth Martin. I'd say the Martins were upper middle class Opal. And Opal Gardner, yes I still call her by that name, was and is a Pine Valley treasure

[@laminage]

When I was a kid, I thought that Joe Martin was on a Slumming Trip before meeting Ruth and he met Opal and they kicked it. Dorothy Lyman felt she did more with Opal than as Architect Gwen Parrish Frame on Another World. Then she was on Guiding Light as the Wife of a Soldier who died in Vietnam who went to Vietnam as a replacement for Alan Spaulding.

[@2up3rm4n1]

I was watching AMC when Opal showed up, first time she appeared, sitting on a bus with Jenny, complaining about how hot it was, and she tore it up from the get-go. Lyman said she auditioned wearing one of her boyfriend's shirts. I didn't know anything about Ray Gardner or Tad's parentage. For those who don't know, Tad was abandoned in a park or something and found by Joe and Ruth (or was it Phil? Doesn't matter now.) and was taken in by the Martins. Listening to this, I do recall how all these women used to just nit at each other and you really wondered how they kept themselves under control, whether it was Opal or Erica doing the annoying. As to the second Opal, there was no way Lyman's Opal and Erica would ever be friends, nor would Lyman's Opal have ever married Palmer Courtlandt, no matter how much Pete Cooney he was. It would not be a marriage to last, that's for sure. Lyman was totally like a Carol Burnett depiction, and Burnett was a fan of AMC, but I always felt something was lost with Naomi that was there with Opal. It was like anybody could have played Naomi. She was sorely overshadowed by Vicki Lawrence, especially.

[@radrobd123]

well in the original NBC version of Mama's Family, Naomi had a strong backbone and stood up to Mama/Thelma. But in the syndicated version, she became a caricature of Opal

[@theslayerboyRED]

All I hear is early Naomi Harper😊

[@BLTKellys]

Opal was a better character though.

[@totallytivo]

For the record, Tad did not get a job. He got bad grades anyway and had to go to summer school.

[@new_yawker901]

Opal was 💯 % right here about putting these kids to work so they can get life experiences.

[@baconbap]

I never watched much of AMC but when I was a little kid I tuned in the day Ruth, whom I thought was rather matronly, and sexy David started their affair. At the time it was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. 🙂

[@kittygrrlhk]

Is there an episode available online where Tad and Opal are reunited after being separated for so many years?

[@adelgado75]

when they stopped writing like this the shows went downhill.

[@jmiller297]

Opal was *RIGHT ON.*

[@Reshme77]

nurse's make a good amount of money

[@baconbap]

My brother's wife is an RN and makes $104 an hour and gets quite a bit of overtime at time and a half.

[@exaudi33]

Not as much as they're worth.

[@anthonyL1995]

They really watered down Opal as time went by and Dorothy left the role. I did like Jill though.

[@bluedasher74]

OMG, Mary Fickett looks like Hillary Clinton!

[@tjames9698]

Opal was kinda rude here and did have a point RE: getting a job for Tad.

[@davidbencockstein847]

Clearly a guy