50 Greatest Soap Couples: #18 Joe & Viki From ONE LIFE TO LIVE

COUPLE: Joe Riley & Victoria Lord
SHOW: ONE LIFE TO LIVE
RANK: 18
PLAYED BY:
Joe: Lee Patterson
Victoria: Gillian Spencer, Joanne Dorian, Erika Slezak
YEARS: 1968-1970, 1972-1979, 1987 (in heaven)

STORY:
Victoria (Spencer) was pouring all her energies into her work at her father's newspaper, The Banner, when she met his ace reporter, Joe.  Joe was from the wrong side of the tracks but did a good job and the two of them began working together.  Viki began to fall in love but Victor Lord would never approve.  She was torn between pleasing her father and her growing feelings.  She began to receive threatening notes telling her to break things off with Joe.  Soon a woman named Niki Smith, bearning a striking resemblance to Viki, started showing up at waterfront dive, Ernie's.  Vince Wolek saw her and immediately fell in love.  Vince discovered and revealed that Niki was actually Viki's other personality.  Eventually Joe and Viki were married and seemed destined for a happy live until he died in a car crash in 1970.

CLASSIC ATWT Photo of the Day: The Sullivan Sisters

Widow Jennifer Ryan arrived in Oakdale in 1971 (as played by Geraldine Court originally, and subsequently by Gillian Spencer) with children Barbara and Rick in tow. She ultimately married Bob Hughes, who was a friend of her late husband.

Her sister Kim (forever and always the magnificent Kathryn Hays) followed her to town in 1972 and also fell in love with and had a fling with Bob while he was married to Jen.

Catching Up With Taylor Miller, Part One

Longtime soap fans will never forget Taylor Miller's run on ALL MY CHILDREN as Nina Cortlandt Warner. Her pairing with Peter Bergman's Cliff is one of the most memorable in daytime history. Miller created the role of Nina in 1979 and played the role off and on until 1989. She returned in the mid-1990s a couple of times and will be returning again for soap's 40th anniversary in January. Miller also played Sally Frame on ANOTHER WORLD for a year during a break from AMC. For the past 20 years, Miller has been raising her two children in Chicago and occasionally performing in plays or acting in films. The role she plays in her latest film, Hannah Free, is a huge departure from Nina and she is winning rave reviews. Miller recently spoke with We Love Soaps about her days as a soap star, her other roles, life as a mom, and seeing both her children off to college.

We Love Soaps: You grew up in New Orleans and went to Tulane. Did you always want to be an actress?
Taylor Miller: Yes. But I wasn’t encouraged to be that. The question was always how are you make a living doing that. I was always in plays growing up and I wanted to major in theater but I ended up majoring in history. The idea was that I would be a lawyer, which I thought was very theatrical.