leslie's articles & interviews

Hollywood Turns Beautiful Women Into Robots!
Daytime TV - March 1979

It should have been heaven, but it wasn't. Here she was working with Kirk Douglas, James Garner, George C. Scott, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Karl Malden - the kind of leading men other young actresses would dye their hair purple to team with. But after six years of riding the Hollywood merry-go-round, Leslie Charleson says she was glad to get off and become Doctor Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital.

Looking back, she still feels a little bit dizzy - and more than a little disappointed. But she learned a big lesson pursuing nighttime TV stardom. She came to Hollywood thinking that a beautiful, young actress, who knew she had talent, could really get challenging roles. Instead, she found out that Hollywood can turn its beautiful women into robots.

Leslie arrived on the West Coast in 1971 after starring on two New York serials, A Time for Us and Love is a Many Splendored Thing. "When I left Splendored Thing," she remembers, "I thought nighttime TV was the gold ring, the big time, but I found out first-hand how unrewarding it can be."

Not that she had any trouble landing jobs. In quick succession, she guest-starred on Adam-12, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, the FBI, the Streets of San Francisco, and Rockford File. She played George C. Scott's lab assistant in Day of the Dolphin and shared a close-up with Kirk Douglas in A Lovely Way to Die.

It sounds glamorous, but it wasn't. The money was nice, the exposure was great, but mainly she felt there was something mechanical about all the women she portrayed. In script after script, she found herself being cast as somebody's girlfriend or somebody's victim. After a while, even the dialogue started to sound the same.

"It's very frustrating for a woman in Hollywood," Leslie claims. "The choice of roles is really awful. The men get to play doctors and lawyers and super sleuths. The women in the scripts mostly come along for the ride. Of course, a part like Grandma on the Waltons is marvelous - it's so rich and emotional. But look how many years Ellen Corby had to wait before a part like that came along."

Leslie seems to have a point, when you consider that the juiciest female roles on nighttime TV are middle-aged heroines like All in the Family's Jean Stapleton, the Waltons' Michael Learned and Family's Sada Thompson. And the young and beautiful girls who do become stars either play sexy superwomen like Farrah Fawcett or sexy scatterbrains like Suzanne Somers.

So, you can sympathize with Leslie Charleson when she says, "It had reached a point of total frustration for me. Everytime I'd get a new script to guest star on some medical or detective show, I'd want to throw up my hands and scream! They were either paying me to say, 'Will he live, Dr. Welby?' or 'Is he innocent, Mr. Ironside?' One day I finally said to my agent, "Listen, what do I have to do to play a real human being, grow a beard or dye my hair grey?"

That's why joining the cast of General Hospital was like a breath of fresh air. In Monica, Leslie saw a young woman who could be rash, compelling, briskly professional, or totally aggravating. "The writers have given Monica so many layers of emotion," she says, "that it's a constant delight to play her. One day she's having a cat fight with Gail Adamson, the next day she's having a tender love scene with Alan Quartermaine. I could never get bored with this role."

And perhaps, because she's enjoying her screen life so much, Leslie feels more settled about her personal life. On August 15 - just one year to the day after coming on General Hospital - she signed a lease on a brand-new condominium in Los Angeles. It's her first adventure as a bachelor homeowner, and Leslie's thrilled about it. "It's a one-bedroom apartment," she explains, "and just the right size for me. The building has a swimming pool, of course, but what I really bought was an enormous patio. That's the real selling point of this apartment."

After growing up in Connecticut, Leslie really loves the New England-style houses - the weathered shingle look and shutters and elm trees. But since houses like that don't grow in California, she's making the best of what she's got. "I told the decorator," she laughs, "that I want lots of trees all around the patio. When it's done, I hope it looks just like the middle of Redwood Forest!"

She sees everything with a big dose of humor, which always helps her keep an even keel. For instance, take the time Leslie agreed to go horseback riding, so a photographer could snap her for a magazine layout. Now Leslie happens to be an excellent horsewoman, but that afternoon calamity struck.

"I fell off the horse - it was so embarrassing!" she moans. "You see, I didn't know it, but the horse was pregnant and not too thrilled about carrying me on her back. I guess she felt she had enough of a burden already!"

Leslie's sure that if her good friend Susan Brown had been there, that pregnant horse would have turned into a pussycat. "Things like that never happen to Susan," Leslie jokes. "She's always so poised and elegant. When she gives a dinner at home, it's gourmet delicacies with cloth napkins. Me, I'm paper plates and chicken delight! And she's never wrinkled. She'll come over to me backstage and say, 'Leslie, dear, fix that collar on your blouse - it's all twisted' or 'Did you know there's a loose thread hanging from the hem of your skirt?' She kind of checks me out before I go on camera. I adore her."

It's obvious there's a real family feeling backstage at General Hospital. And, for a girl who still misses New England clambakes, that makes living in Lotusland a whole lot easier. And these days she's learning to take California with a grain of salt. She can laugh at the fact that everyone in L.A. wants to be in show business. "Even my cleaning lady is an actress on the side!" she says, "and I don't mind driving ten miles to the supermarket anymore just to buy a can of dog food!"

Leslie's view of Hollywood sounds like great material for a TV comedy, and she admits she's toyed with the idea. But you can bet if she does turn her Hollywood adventures into a TV script, the leading lady will be more than just blonde and beautiful. She'll be a real flesh-and-blood heroine. Like Leslie Charleson herself, a wise, courageous lady you'll never forget.