WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Shelly Burch (ex-Delilah, ONE LIFE TO LIVE)

Nelson & Shelly

I met Shelly Burch back in my early soap days, my first day working on ONE LIFE TO LIVE. My buddy Louan Gideon (who would go on to play Liza Sentell on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW a few years later) and I were playing shoppers in a mall scene where Shelly's character, Delilah, was being arrested for shoplifting. As a WONDER WOMAN fan, I thought Shelly was the closest thing I'd seen to the iconic Amazonian Princess super heroine. Tall, glamorous, vivacious and with a wild mane of hair teased into a glorious frenzy of 1980s-volume.

I later learned that, in addition to being one of Llanview's most popular vixens for several years, she was also a Broadway baby...garnering rave reviews for her work in shows like "ANNIE," "STOP THE WORLD-I WANT TO GET OFF" and "NINE." NY Times critic Frank Rich even gushed in his praise of her: "a Modigliani goddess with a strong voice and almost unearthly presence."

One of the wonderful things about living in NYC, and particularly being part of the showbiz scene, is that sooner or later you reconnect with friends & colleagues from your past; No Facebook or Twitter needed! That's just what happened recently when I attended a benefit evening featuring Tony Award winner Martin Charnin, lyricist, writer, and theatre director best known as director and lyricist of the musical "ANNIE" (Brace yourself for the upcoming Will Smith all-star movie remake and subsequent theatrical revivals/sequels).