NEWS ROUNDUP: DAYS Beverly Todd On Replacing 'Ill' Tanya Boyd; Jess Walton Takes Break; John McCook Hosts Awards

Jess Walton is taking a 6-month leave of absence from THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
"The reason she is taking a break is because her son and his wife and are expecting a baby and Jess wants to be around for the birth of her first grandchild," states her publicist, Charles Sherman, whose client recently moved to Oregon.

Beverly Todd Talks Reviving DAYS OF OUR LIVES Celeste Perrault Starting April 3
"I was asked by the producer of DAYS OF OUR LIVES to replace a very fine actress who unfortunately became ill and can't return to the show (Tanya Boyd). I never wanted to do a soap. I didn't think my brain could work that well. It's going to be ongoing. It was a gift."

An Amazing DYNASTY-Inspired Tale Of Success From Senegal To The Floor Of New York's Swankiest Department Store
As a kid growing up in Senegal, Mamadou N'Diaye was obsessed with "Dynasty," the '80s soap opera about a rich oil family. Today N'Diaye, 44, is one of the top jewelry sales associates at Bergdorf Goodman's flagship store on Fifth Avenue, selling precious jewelry to a regular group of 50 to 75 customers.

NEWS ROUNDUP: ABC Says No Decision On GH Yet, Brad Pitt Recalls Soap Audition, OLTL Tribute Issue

ABC president Paul Lee: No decision made on GH and no time frame yet
"I’m a fan of GENERAL HOSPITAL but we have not made a decision, and we do not have a time frame for [making that call] either. I don’t know when we will make a decision” about its fate for fall or beyond."

Lee noted that he began his career working as an assistant director on a Brazilian soap.

THE BAY's Tristan Rogers returning to GENERAL HOSPITAL
Rogers is due back on our screens in mid-February, and not for a short stint but “the foreseeable future,” TVLine is told. And though a GH rep declines to confirm Robert is returning for Robin’s exit story.

Brad Pitt recalls soap experience
“This is a really big honor for me, considering I’m a guy who had never ridden in an airplane until I was 25,” he began. “That first trip was here in 1989 to New York. I had an audition for a soap opera. But I had to put myself up, and I stayed at a friend’s apartment. That apartment was in the Village on Christopher Street. My first impression of the city was: my god, there’s a lot of guys around here. But they’re so nice.”

American Media, Inc.'s Soap Opera Titles Release Exclusive ONE LIFE TO LIVE Tribute Issue
With nearly 400 photos, this star-studded 97-page magazine covers four decades of everything viewers have loved about the fictional town of Llanview and the people who have come in and out of it. See how stars like Tommy Lee Jones, Laurence Fishburne and Nathan Fillion jump-started their careers on the soap and revisit the memorable appearances of celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Reba McEntire and Kourtney Kardashian.