Linda Gray Joins Web Soap
■ DALLAS vet Linda Gray (ex-sue Ellen; ex-priscilla, B&B) returns to her sudsy roots in the second season of the web soap HILTON HEAD ISLAND, now streaming at www. pureflix.com. “It’s fun; I’m chewing on this stuff,” Gray enthuses. “I read the script, and my character runs a newspaper and is telling everybody they’re corrupt and I was just like, ‘Oh, I like her.’ I play Eloise Beckenridge, and her name alone got me. I was ready to jump in.”
One of the other selling points was the fact that the series is rooted in faith. “When they told me it’s a ‘hope opera,’ I started laughing,” she recalls. “I told them that this is so cool, because that’s the word that’s missing in our society right now. There’s a lot of negativity out there and people are fearful and they’re scared and they don’t know what to do. I said, ‘This is lovely!’ And believe me, we need a little hope for Eloise. She needs help [laughs]. I love that they’re doing that. Anybody can watch it. You can watch it with grandma and the kids. With DALLAS, the kids were sent to bed, even though they sometimes snuck down and watched it anyway. It’s one of those things that I think is just lovely to have. It’s streaming right now, so I hope people will either come back for season two, or discover it for the first time. Either way, it’s worth it.”
Working on a web series was a new experience for the actress. “I love what’s happening with all of the exciting technology that we didn’t have back in the day, and the new avenues that are open,” Gray notes. “When I was offered this opportunity, I had no idea where they found me. They invited me to do this and I said, ‘Okay, I’ve never done [green screen] before.’ For me, it’s new technology. Instead of 70 people around, it was seven people and three cameras. It was quite interesting. I was in this green room with another actor and I said, ‘Where am I?’ and he said, ‘You’re in Hilton Head.’ ‘Green screen. Streaming.’ Those are words that were never in our vocabulary before as far as entertainment was concerned, but I love to work with new people and new energy. I said, ‘Okay, let me do it,’ and I did and had a great time with lovely people.”
Other soap vets in the cast include Michael Swan (ex-daniel; ex-adam/myles, B&B et al), Crystal Hunt (Elisha; ex-stacy, ONE LIFE TO LIVE et al) and Antonio Sabato, Jr. (Jude; exJagger, GH et al).
“I love to work with new people and new energy.”