NEWS: Maurice Benard, Wesley Eure, Jesse McCartney, William Roache, Shane Richie

GENERAL HOSPITAL's Maurice Benard: 'Maybe I'll be around for the next 50 years'
"To tell the truth, I wanted to retire at 50. But I couldn't do it. We've got kids and bills to pay. Maybe I'll be around for the next 50 years. Maybe I'll end up playing Sonny with a cane and white hair, or no hair at all. We'll see."

"I think it's great that we've been able to bring a little more balance to the character (of Sonny) and to put him in the position of having to fight for the woman he loves. I do think we can be doing some more with the mob, but they (the producers and writers) know what they're doing."

Cops investigating death threats against CORONATION STREET legend William Roache
Police have launched an investigation into allegations veteran actor Bill Roache has been bombarded with death threats. The CORONATION STREET star, father of LAW & ORDER actor Linus Roache, made headlines this week after he gave a controversial TV interview in which he suggested victims of sexual abuse are paying the price for actions in their "previous lives".

FLASHBACK: In 1976, DAYS OF OUR LIVES Cast Was the "Most Musical"

Who knew? The cast of DAYS OF OUR LIVES had all kinds of awesome musical talent back in the 70's. In this fun "Special Feature," from the third 1976 volume of "Daytime TV Super Special," we get a rundown on everyone's musical background, along with some photos catching them in the (musical) act. Is today's DAYS OF OUR LIVES cast still the most musical in daytime TV?

In addition to photos of Mark Tapscott (and family), Wesley Eure, Patty Weaver, Mundell Lowe, Edward Mallory, Robert Clary, John Clarke, Jed Allen, and a dolled-up Bill Hayes, there's a mini-resume for almost everyone. They make a compelling case for DAYS' "Most Mucisal" status.

WLS Interview Archive: Wesley Eure

Wesley Eure is best known to soap fans for his long run as Mike Horton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES which ended in 1981. He also made a huge splash as Will Marshall during his run in the popular Sid and Marty Krofft adventure series LAND OF THE LOST. But he also has an extensive background as an author, television writer, producer, lecturer and charity fundraiser. In an exclusive three-part interview with WE LOVE SOAPS TV from November 2009, Eure covered all those aspects of his life and more including the price he's paid for being an out gay man in the industry.

In Part One, Eure talked about his background, how he came into show business and shared some fun stories from DAYS set.

In Part Two, Eure recalled Mike Horton's "gay storyline" and revealed how and why he was fired from the soap.

In Part Three, Eure spoke about the dear friend and former cast member he lost because he was gay, and how he has channeled the energy from the devastating AIDS crisis in the '80s into a positive.

The Wesley Eure Interview, Part Three

Wesley Eure is best known to soap fans for his long run as Mike Horton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES which ended in 1981. He also made a huge splash as Will Marshall during his run in the popular Sid and Marty Krofft adventure series LAND OF THE LOST. But he also has an extensive background as an author, television writer, producer, lecturer and charity fundraiser. In this exclusive three-part interview with WE LOVE SOAPS TV, Eure covers all those aspects of his life and more including the price he's paid for being an out gay man in the industry. In Part One, Eure talked about his background, how he came into show business and shared some fun stories from DAYS set. In Part Two, Eure recalled Mike Horton's "gay storyline" and revealed how and why he was fired from the soap.

In the third and final part of our interview, Eure talks about the dear friend and former cast member he lost because he was gay, and how he has channeled the energy from the devastating AIDS crisis in the '80s into a positive.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Did you keep in touch with anyone from DAYS after you left?
Wesley Eure: It was an odd time. Patty Weaver, who was on DAYS OF OUR LIVES [as Trish], used to hang out with me and my friends and had a lot of gay friends, then she moved over to her show [THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS] and married an older man who was a writer, Bill Bell's good friend, and suddenly she cut all the gay men out of her life. [She] actually told us she was cutting us out of her life because she was not allowed to have that lifestyle anymore. I lost my friend Patty Weaver. She literally made her bed. Homophobia effects us in a lot of different ways, professionally and personally. Certain things are different but they are nowhere closed to being resolved.

The Wesley Eure Interview, Part Two

Wesley Eure is best known to soap fans for his long run as Mike Horton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES which ended in 1981. He also made a huge splash as Will Marshall during his run in the popular Sid and Marty Krofft adventure series LAND OF THE LOST. But he also has an extensive background as an author, television writer, producer, lecturer and charity fundraiser. In this exclusive three-part interview with WE LOVE SOAPS TV, Eure covers all those aspects of his life and more including the price he's paid for being an out gay man in the industry. In Part One, Eure talked about his background, how he came into show business and shared some fun stories from DAYS set.

In Part Two, Eure talks about Mike Horton's "gay storyline" and reveals how and why he was fired from the soap.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Speaking of Susan Flannery, she's been on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL for many years now and I think she's recognized as one of the best, if not the best, actress in daytime.
Wesley Eure: She's amazing. I remember she was in Towering Inferno as the love interest of Robert Wagner. It was my first time going to a big movie watching someone I knew or worked with die on screen. It was a very odd little moment. That's a strange juxtaposition for a young actor to watch people die.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: One of your stories on DAYS was Mike questioning his sexuality because he wasn't able to sleep with Trish, and then sleeping with Linda to prove he was "straight." I've read vague accounts of this online but didn't actually see it play out. Is that how it happened?
Wesley Eure: I had a gay storyline... for a day. DAYS OF OUR LIVES tried to hit on a lot of social issues [at the time] and they were in the forefront. They had the first interracial marriage with David, my cousin. There was a scene when I (Mike) was having trouble having sex with Trish. So they had one day where I went over to my father's ex-lover, Linda, which was Maggie Mason, and I had this scene. They shot it like an old movie, it was great. It was like Tea and Sympathy. I'm in her apartment and I am very distraught and I go, "Linda, I can't." Of course I couldn't say "get it up" or anything like that on TV at the time. So it was, "I can't do this, I must be..." and she said, "Don't say the word." And I said, "No, I must be..." and she said, "DON'T say the word." And I said, "But, I must be..." and she said, "DON'T SAY THE WORD!" She put her hands to my lips and turned off the lights in the room and the bedroom lights were on so it was dimly lit. She dropped her robe if I remember correctly. She was very beautiful. She just held her hand out and I walked into the bedroom with her. So my one day of being gay was over with!

The Wesley Eure Interview, Part One

Wesley Eure is best known to soap fans for his long run as Mike Horton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES which ended in 1981. He also made a huge splash as Will Marshall during his run in the popular Sid and Marty Krofft adventure series LAND OF THE LOST. But he also has an extensive background as an author, television writer, producer, lecturer and charity fundraiser. In this exclusive three-part interview with WE LOVE SOAPS TV, Eure covers all those aspects of his life and more including the price he's paid for being an out gay man in the industry. In Part One, Eure talks about his background, how he came into show business and shares some fun stories from DAYS set.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Can you tell me a little about your background. You grew up in Mississippi?
Wesley Eure: I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised in Mississippi, and then we moved a lot. My dad left us when I was two, and my mom moved us back to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with my grandmother. Then she went to college because women couldn't get jobs in the South back then so she had to get an education. She went to become a psychologist, and started teaching at university, so we moved to Texas, then to Illinois and then to Las Vegas, where she was heading up the drug abuse program for the state of Nevada. She had the first methadone clinic and her own radio talk show on drug abuse.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: Maybe I should interview her!
Wesley Eure: [Laughs] I put my mom through law school when she was 50 and she graduated at the top of her class and in two years she was grading the bar exams. She wanted to be an attorney all her life, and down South in her day you didn't have to go to law school, you just had to study with a judge or a lawyer and take the exam. She was studying with a friend of the family who was a judge and he passed away. They wouldn't give women scholarships to anything except social services, like psychologists, so that's all she could get when she wanted to go back to school after my dad left.

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: That's a great success story.
Wesley Eure: When I was making enough money and had success and she wanted to leave the drug abuse program and go to law school, I said, "Come on. Do it."

WE LOVE SOAPS TV: In reading your bio I saw that you wanted to be an actor or entertainer from an early age.
Wesley Eure: When I was five years old I announced it, much to the dismay of my Southern family. When I said, "I want to be an actor," they would look in horror at me like, "What the hell are you talking about, boy?" But yeah, I totally knew.