Another World

An actress puts her reputation on the line when she signs on to play twins Vicky and Marley on ANOTHER WORLD. Not only does the dual role demand a high level of technical expertise and the ability to make swift emotional transitions, it also can make or break an actress's career. The first two actresses to play Vicky and Marley, Ellen Wheeler and Anne Heche, made their names playing the twins: They both won an Emmy for their popular and critically acclaimed performances. Both performers attest to the toll that playing Vicky and Marley took on their lives. In the seven years since the characters appeared together, Vicky/Marley has become the most concentrated dual role on daytime — and arguably the most difficult role to play.

Former AW writer Gary Tomlin, who created the role with Gillian Spencer, says Ellen Wheeler was already playing the more sympathetic Marley when the dual role was conceived in 1985. Tomlin says NBC was opposed to developing a twin story on the show. "There were so many twin stories at the time, it scared them off," Tomlin, who is now writing for SANTA BARBARA, notes. We defended the character, and they came around."

Ellen Wheeler reveals that the impetus for Vicky came from an observation Gillian Spencer made when she caught Wheeler unawares on the set. "She told me that something in the look of my eye made her think that they weren't tapping something inside of me," Wheeler says. Up until that time, Wheeler's colleagues at the studio generally regarded her as an innocent girl I'm Utah whose ears were too pure for ribald backstage banter. "I was really this nice sweet girl," Wheeler remembers. "People would apologize if they swore or told dirty jokes in front of me." That all changed the afternoon she made her entrance as Vicky — in a tank top, tight jeans and cowboy boots. "All of a sudden, it wasn't a big deal to swear in front of me. Men said things to me in the afternoon [when she taped Vicky's scenes] that they wouldn't have said in the morning [when she taped Marley's scenes]. It was a greatt study in human nature."

It was also the beginning of a two-year period when Wheeler would work harder than she ever had in her life, marry her leading man, Tom Epiin (Jake), and bring ANOTHER WORLD much notoriety. Wheeler's basic working schedule for one year consisted of sixteen to eighteen-hour days, four days a week. On weekends, Wheeler and Epiin made public appearances. While she loved the creative challenge of performing both roles (especially when Vicky pretended to be an ill Marley), Wheeler confesses that the media storm took her by surprise. "I didn't realize how much attention I was getting," she says. "Things like getting the Emmy never really crossed my mind. It took me a long time to realize that I was actually on TV."

The implications of fame did come crashing in when Wheeler won the Emmy for Outstanding Ingenue in 1986. Wheeler was unprepared for what she calls the "folderol" that came with it. "It took a few months for it to sink in that I won. I was a newlywed; it was all pretty overwhelming."

Eventually the role took its toll on the star, in more ways than one. Sixty pages out of a ninety-page script contained dialogue for Vicky or Marley, and Wheeler went to the writers to ask for a break. "I loved what I did so much that it didn't dawn on me that I would wear out," she says. "Had I been smarter, I would have said something. By the time I realized I was exhausted, I couldn't handle it and needed a rest." A three-week leave of absence didn't help; Wheeler and Epiin filmed a pilot. The couple was overbooked — they spent their first Christmas together doing interviews — and Wheeler finally left the role in 1986. Though she says on-the-job stress was not a factor, Wheeler's marriage to Epiin broke up soon after. She went into self-imposed exile and did not return to TV until she accepted another Emmy-winning role on ALL MY CHILDREN as AIDS-afflicted Cindy.

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