One Life to Live 1969 Part 3

[@Angel0fDeath984]

I'm 26 years old, I watched this show with my grandmother from around 2006-2010 and loved it, I decided to travel into the time machine and watch the original CLASSIC OLTL. This is so amazing, thank you for sharing!

[@wenstrends4852]

This is awesome. I never saw Victor Lord before.

[@gailreese4102]

Going from memory, there were two actors who portrayed "Victor Lord."

[@jaykeaveny6505]

What a blast from the past! Loved these actors, especially original Cathy Craig, played by Catherine Burns!

[@cornholio710]

It's really amazing to see Victor himself in his original form. I started watching the show when he wanted Natalie's heart.

[@EricMontreal22]

Ha oh man that was a hated storyline. Yeah he went through a lot of changes from the 80s on (years after his "death") when his secret room was discovered. Then each decade it seemed he did something worse.

[@cornholio710]

@@EricMontreal22 I hate that people don't like what they did to the character. I think it was an amazing evolution. But that's my personal opinion .. as far as the storytelling aspect goes it's amazing

[@cornholio710]

@@EricMontreal22 it was Erika Slezaks best acting after Dorian pushed her personalities which is still my favorite soap opera performance

[@EricMontreal22]

@@cornholio710 Him coming back from the dead to get a heart (with the help of Todd) was maybe a bit much, but I loved the revelation of incest abuse--that was the last really wonderful OLTL era for me. Funny writer Michael Malone talks about consulting on it with Agnes Nixon, but Nixon herself later said she didn't approve of the story, contradicting what he said completely (though by that time she seemed to get a number of details confused)

[@StevieM2]

@@EricMontreal22 Maybe the part she didn't like was the part where Viki was said to have killed him, and that he died by being suffocated. They could have told the abuse story while still keeping Dorian as the killer. They just would have widened the camera angle, so to speak, in order to expand her motivation beyond what was originally seen on screen.

[@lotusbuds2000]

THANK YOU A MILLION....such a classy soap opera with beautiful dialogue..so elegant...what have we now....sound bites...yuk

[@lotusbuds2000]

OLTL had class..i miss those days. Loved Meredith played by Lynn Benesch here in this clip.

[@m.e.d.7997]

I heard that some thought it was a big mistake to kill her off on the show. She was one of the core characters from the start of that show. Wonder if Lynn Benesch wanted out of the show.

[@toddrossmanith5141]

when does Viki or the Buchannans show up??? I wish i could by a whole DVD set of this show from 1969-2011 ABC is stupid for taking it off the air

[@jtinaman]

This was during the time when Nikki Smith started appearing. Wish they could find an episode with Gillian Spencer playing Viki/Nikki.

[@6828Lu]

These clips are fabulous! One Life to Live was so riveting in the late 60s and throughout the 70s.

[@renealexander2703]

It was also riveting in the 80s.

[@maestroclassico5801]

Michael Storm as Larry ....who he played for DECADES..... He had just started playing him here. He replaced his own brother James Storm, who around this time period was then playing Gerard on DARK SHADOWS (and scared me as a child)

[@EricMontreal22]

And James was the second Larry (while common to all soaps, Agnes Nixon's OLTL and AMC had a bit of a reputation of quickly replacing actors in their first year.) What's always struck me as odd is James Storm left OLTL to pursue music, but then within a year took on the role on Dark Shadows! By all accounts, this was the first example of a recast being accomplished with the plastic surgery excuse.

[@EricMontreal22]

Always seemed criminal to me that Michael Storm/Larry was phased out in the 90s (before disappearing, he spent years just appearing in hospital scenes) and wasn't brought back for the finale. He was key to some of the biggest OLTL stories especially in the late 70s.

[@maestroclassico5801]

@@EricMontreal22 yes it was the first time surgery was used ....it is not the first time a family member replaced another family member on a soap though. Joan Crawford filled in for her daughter Christina on SECRET STORM.

[@m.e.d.7997]

I am sad that the whole series is unavailable for viewing from day one like The Doctors is. As states this truly was a great soap from the start. Many groundbreaking stories.

[@jimdavis3435]

Creator Agnes Nixon archived the show along with AMC but were lost in a fire!!!

[@daytime70s]

1976 and on, are available if Abc would release them.

[@m.e.d.7997]

@@daytime70s They really should though the better days of the show were pre 1976 IMHO save for a few storylines like the baby switch. The Buchanans never did it for me. But many people loved them.

[@edgefan4437]

@@jimdavis3435 I never knew that. darn. That's a horrible loss. All their hard work lost.

[@StevieM2]

@@daytime70s I wonder if they have the scenes where Dorian is trying to kill Victor. The actual history, before it was revised in the mid-90s, had her opening the windows when he was sick, and then witholding his medicine.

[@jv-ep2tc]

if I walked fast enough I could get home in time to watch this. I think it was a half hour show.

[@EricMontreal22]

Yep! It went to 45 minutes in 1976 (along with General Hospital which at the time was one of the lowest rated soaps so they thought pairing them both together as a 90 minute block would keep viewers from OLTL to GH) and then to an hour in 1978

[@miaminorthwesternbull3056]

I cannot imagine anybody other than Erika Slezak playing the role of Victoria Lord

[@mrob75]

Erika was Viki #3

[@jv-ep2tc]

gillian spencer was better imo

[@m.e.d.7997]

Well imagine it. I watched when Gillian Spencer played Victoria Lord. She was awesome in the role. And she played an incredibly awesome Niki Smith. She blew the socks off Erika Slezak. Gillian was phenomenal in the iconic role of both personalities.

[@m.e.d.7997]

@BruhTV You said it! Very, very good!

[@mrob75]

@@m.e.d.7997 Gillian's Niki Smith was very different than Erika's...When Erika revived Niki somewhere about '85, Niki was similar to Gillian's but not quite there. Later, Erika made Niki way over the top.

[@antmullenix-fielder84]

EricMontreal22 I can't thank you enough for this up load! OLTL was and always will be my favorite soap. Seeing these old clips takes me back to sitting on the sofa with my grandmother watching our stories. If she were still living, she would be heartbroken that OLTL was cancelled. Such a wonderful walk down memory lane. Cheers!

[@karengray2003]

I qwish they had more of these

[@EricMontreal22]

Me too

[@tonyatmidnight]

What an entirely different world, where a woman can bring home a complete stranger claiming amnesia she found in the park that morning and is cited as a good samaritan, rather than a complete loon like she would today. And could any American youth today be expected to recite the Gettysburg address by heart?

[@tajmulhall]

By the time I had started watching in 1978 Meredith had went crazy

[@brookehanley3659]

Meredith Lord died in the summer of 1973

[@carmenvitale855]

Liked this much better than General Hospital or All My Children

[@maestroclassico5801]

Back then it WAS more interesting than General Hospital. GH didnt get interesting until Audrey went on trial for murder....

[@travisjames3517]

The producers always said that killing off Meredith and Victor were huge mistakes.

[@maestroclassico5801]

I was around 7 and I was devastated when Meredith died. I remember learning to say "Oh My God, WHY?" listening to Larry. My parents were not pleased.

[@travisjames3517]

@@maestroclassico5801 Producers have since said they made a fatal error killing her and Victor off.

[@lisabaxter7786]

I am so glad we have these it takes me back wow

[@EricMontreal22]

I'm so glad you enjoy them!!

[@chakiihooks4077]

Please keep posting these old episodes as many as you can of one life to live

[@EricMontreal22]

I wish there were more easy to find--the Museum of Broadcasting (Paley Centre) has at least two more--one in colour--from this era. If any pop up, of course I'll post them.

[@tonyatmidnight]

"Father, should we call him a doctor?" "Well, yes, dear, he is suffering from amnesia ... and you did find him unconscious in the park, so ... yes, we should call our family doctor."

[@EricMontreal22]

LOL!

[@alexisgreen-hernandez8604]

I used to like 👍 this show it is so sad 😞 what happen to Vicki because of Victor Loyd.

[@tomdavis9198]

RIP Catherine Burns; Ernest Graves; Doris Belack; Nat Polen

[@EricMontreal22]

Thank you. So sad to leave them and soap actors rarely get the credit they deserve.

[@WolfModig]

Neil Curtis from DAYS

[@booksofinterest]

Victor lord was decent.

[@fwdthinker]

Erika Slezak said she always hated what they did to the Victor Lord character. After his death, they turned him into a real dirtbag.

[@maxinemccartney5284]

Yes, it is a shame how the writers destroyed his character in later years when the world really needs these old time, decent gentleman.

[@jakelibo8721]

@@fwdthinker I saw that video on youtube too. I was shocked to hear her say that. I started watching in 1996 when I was five years old. I remember in the early 2000's when Victor Lord wanted to take his grand daughter's heart (which meant killing her) and Vikki stopped him. In the 80's there was a flashback of Victor pushing his wife down the the stairs when his was pregnant with Meredith which ended up killing her, and all the talk about Victor sexually touching Vikki. As long as I had been watching Victor was always known as a villain. So when Erika was being interviewed I was shocked to hear that Victor was originally a good character!

[@marcelparker6755]

@@jakelibo8721 He was loosely based on Agnes Nixon's own father.

[@shawndemetrios7899]

@@jakelibo8721 There were too many rewrites. I hated it when they made Viki kill Victor in a supposed flashback and then Dorian killed her own mother in another rewritten storyline flashback.

[@charbellaellis]

I somewhat believe Victor Lord had an identical twin

[@EricMontreal22]

I like that

[@kristinazubic9669]

His son did, after all! And Jessica had a twin, though they were fraternal.

[@fwdthinker]

It would be logical because the Lord family was full of them.

[@vavacoulter7798]

Lol Dark Shadows Music

[@pce-sz1gi]

I loved Ernest Graves as Victor. He was perfect for the part. And I pretended all that later junk with Victor never happened. That was not very popular with fans as I understand.

[@EricMontreal22]

I thought the abuse story was well done. However they should have never had Todd find Victor still alive and needing a heart transplant from, I think, Natalie

[@MsTexas73]

@@EricMontreal22 All of those later storylines, IMO, weren't the best. They rewrote A LOT of history and they felt like grabbing for straws. I hated they turned Voctor into a pedofile who molested his child.

[@m.e.d.7997]

@@MsTexas73 Did he molest Meredith or Viki?

[@marcelparker6755]

@@m.e.d.7997 Viki.... and in the later years, it was heavily implied that Meredith was not his child.

[@m.e.d.7997]

@@marcelparker6755 So I wonder who Meredith's father was. Hate when they try to rewrite history!

[@jakelibo8721]

So that was Victor Lord? Is that the same actor that portrayed the role in the 2000's?

[@EricMontreal22]

Oh no, he was recast a lot (mostly for flashbacks, obviously) Ernest Graves (1968-74) Shepperd Strudwick (1974-76) Tom O'Rourke (1985) Les Tremayne (1987) Fritz Weaver (1988) Bill Moor (1994-95) Terry Caza (1994-95) William Stone Mahoney (2003-04)

[@leetheboss8538]

GR8 vid bin lookn 4 vids like this

[@EricMontreal22]

I just wish I had more!

[@leetheboss8538]

@@EricMontreal22 wish it never stopd filmn I want a DVD 1st to last

[@consumerwarrior1267]

What ever happened to Anna Wolek? I didn't start watching One Life To Live until the later 1970s. Dr. Larry Wolek and his brother, Vincent Wolek, were still on the show. Dr. Jim Craig was on the show, but there was no mention of his marriage to Anna Wolek by then. She seemed like a powerful character on the show.

[@mrob75]

the actor who played "Jim Craig"dies off screen and "Vinnie" is killed in the line of duty...."Anna" was quickly written off and it was mentioned that she moved to Florida...A lot of these solid characters were let go for the arrival of the Buchanons.

[@consumerwarrior1267]

+mrob75. Thank you for the info. The other day I came across a website that showed a picture of an actress who was supposed to have played Anna Wolek in the mid-to-late 1970s. She was a different actress than the one who played her role in 1969. I remember the actress's face. However, she was shown on "One Life To Live" very rarely and whenever she did appear on the show, her name was rarely ever mentioned. Usually she would be in Dr. Larry Wolek's office, and he would talk to her as though he had known her for a long time; but he would never mention the fact that she was his sister. Strangely enough, I never saw her and Dr. Jim Craig together in the very few scenes in which she appeared during that time period despite that she and Dr. Craig were supposed to be married to each other. In light of what you posted, it now seems to me that Agnes Nixon was trying to gradually fade out her character's existence from the soap opera to make room for other characters like the Buchanans.

[@consumerwarrior1267]

+mrob75. By the way, I do remember when Vinnie Wolek was killed. Someone jabbed him with a poisonous ring or something like that, and he died from blood poisoning. He left his wife, Wanda, a widow.

[@mrob75]

@@consumerwarrior1267 Yes! I think "Tina Lord's" adoptive father kills him....such GREAT story lines then...But by this time it's another actor playing "Vinnie"....Not the original.

[@consumerwarrior1267]

Tina Lord's adoptive father was Ted Clayton. It is no wonder the Irene Manning (Tina Lord's mother) was once married to Ted Clayton. She turned out to be really evil in the long run, although she was first introduced on the show as a nice person.

[@rosannababyburt431]

didn't say his name whos that guy with Meredith

[@amymaclean7586]

Who are the people having dinner? Cathy?

[@EricMontreal22]

Yep, the first Cathy (who became one of the main characters in the 1970s), her father Jim Craig and his new girlfriend Anna Wolek who she resented from the get-go.

[@travisjames3517]

I always had an odd suspicion that the characters of Cathy and Karen were also molested by their fathers, like Viki.

[@EricMontreal22]

It would psychologically make sense. Although I think I'd be even more upset if I found out Cathy's father, who I loved, was a molester than some were when they made Victor one.

[@jusssayin480]

Why in the word do you think that Jim Craig molested his daughter?

[@jakelibo8721]

@@jusssayin480 It was for drama. Soaps are known for turning up the drama as much as possible.

[@travisjames3517]

@@jusssayin480Because she became obsessed with him in an unhealthy way.

[@wilfordfraser6347]

Wait. Who is this Meredith? Vikki had another sister?

[@EricMontreal22]

Yes, Meredith was sheltered and had health issues. Her and Larry Wolek were an item, but she was killed off around 1971 I think--early on in the show (I've heard people say they should have never killed her off)

[@nujeru99]

Yes she's Viki's sister. Their mother, Eugenia (Victor's wife), died in childbirth with Meredith. Meredith had health issues and ended up dying after a hostage crisis at Llanfair, I believe

[@brookehanley3659]

@@EricMontreal22She died on the show in the summer of 1973 sadly

[@danielrinconeno7784]

1 15 21

[@EricMontreal22]

A sad day