Joe Gallison Looks Back on His Time at 'Days of our Lives' (Video)

Joe Gallison looks back at his time on Days of our Lives.  Photo
Credit: WECT

Actor Joseph Gallison starred for years as Dr. Neil Curtis on Days of our Lives, leaving the NBC soap opera in 1991 after a 17-year run. He recently spoke with WECT in Wilmington about his long daytime run.

Gallison played Bill Matthews on Another World, Tom Edwards on One Life to Live, and Dr. Hollis Forbes on Where the Heart Is prior to be asked to read for a six-week part on Days in 1974.

"I enjoyed it. I loved it! But I thought it was time to go," Gallison said, about leaving Days in 1991 when asked to take a pay cut. "When I came back from a vacation they had not written me out of the show, because they thought I was going to hang around. So my last line was, 'I have patients to see, lots of patients.'"

Gallison says he has no regrets about his departure, which led to more television roles and also to Broadway, and eventually, a move to Wilmington.

Watch the interview below:

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Surprise! Soap Opera Ratings Bubble Up
Social media and increasing use of DVRs also are helping drive viewers. "There's a water-cooler sort of effect in social media," says GH exec producer Frank Valentini. For instance, a mid-November episode of Days was seen live by about 1.8 million people. Another 409,000 time-shifted to later that day, and an additional 178,000 watched within seven days. (That means about 25 percent of overall viewers watched a recording.)

Given the resurgence, could this mean new dramas soon will be coming to daytime? Says Bill Carroll, vp and director of programming at Katz Television Group, "At some point in the future, the trend will once again be soap operas."

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A rep for Y&R tells TV Guide Magazine that Pinter will be seen as Marcus Wheeler, "a powerful and sophisticated congressman involved with Victor [Eric Braeden] and Jack [Peter Bergman], who will go to any lengths to protect his image and career."

Pinter starts shooting Y&R on Dec. 6. He hits the air Jan. 10 and will be seen at least through Feb. sweeps.