Having recently joined his fellow actors at a party celebrating THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL’s 16th year on the air, John McCook (Eric) can appreciate the milestone perhaps more than others. As one of the show's original cast members, he remembers the first day of taping like it was yesterday. "We were all so excited to be a part of something new, but we wondered, 'Will it last? Is it going to be any good?'" he recalls. "We didn't even know each other, let alone the characters we were playing!"
The historic first scene involved McCook, Ronn Moss (Ridge) and Clayton Norcross, who originally played Thorne Forrester. "We were supposed to be backstage at a fashion show," he recounts. "Not only were there actors there, but we had all these models and seamstresses and extras in the midst of steam machines and stuff. I remember coming in and seeing all these opulent, brand-spanking-new sets and being really impressed."
Realizing he shared the burden of helping to make the fledgling soap a success, McCook admits his anxiety level was high for the first few weeks. "I was trying to define how I would behave and what this character was all about," he says. "We made mistakes and forgot our lines, because we were nervous!"
We don't forget our lines now," he adds, flashing his trademark grin. "We just don't even learn them anymore!"
McCook lived up to the task of helping give the show a lasting place on the daytime schedule. Now, the veteran actor makes it his mission to make sure each and every member of the cast and crew feels like a part of the family. "That's really part of what my job here is about," he explains. "I don't just want to come in and do my lines and go home because that's not very fulfilling. This is more than a job."
That said, McCook has become an expert at gauging his co-workers' moods and setting them at ease. "If I see that someone comes in and is not their normal, bubbly self, I'm sensitive to that," he says. "We're a family, and if we don't have that, we don't have anything." — Amy Helmes
John McCook
