SOAP OPERA DIGEST April 21, 1998 By Rebecca Detken

Whether She's Blind, Being Stalked, Or Just Burning Dinner, ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Nora Has Never Lost Her Zest For Life

Five-and-a-half years ago, outspoken Nora Hanen Gannon Buchanan (yep, that's her full name) left Chicago for Llanview, PA. Though she's no whiz in the kitchen, Bo fell in love with the witty attorney, and the rest is history. Here, Hillary B. Smith recounts some of the highlights---and low lights-----of Nora's life.

Nora followed daughter Rachel to Llanview after Rachel ran away to live with her father, Hank. "When Rachel wouldn't budge, I stayed in Llanview and tried to make life miserable fore everyone until she agreed to come home," says Smith. But Rachel never did. "I happened to run into a friend who had a law firm, so I bought into it. Actually, I must have bought the whole firm because my friend suddenly disappeared off the canvas."

Her first client in town? Marty Saybrooke. "Marty had driven her motorcycle through a window at The Banner," remembers Smith. "Since I was representing her, that put Bo and I on opposite sides of an issue." Soon after Bo was in a car accident with his fiancee, Sarah. Devastated over her death, Bo went on a quest to find the hit-and-run driver. Nora helped in the search, and the couple shared their first kiss on New Year's Eve.

"It was this big, huge thing about Bo [Robert S. Woods] and Nora because you went on their dates with them," explains Smith. "[The viewers] literally saw when it clicked between us." Viewers also discovered that Bo and Nora were Llanview's answer to Fred and Ginger after they won a local jitterbug contest. "When we did those big dance numbers, we had a choreographer come through," recalls Smith. "We smelled of Tiger Balm, and all you could hear was the sound of us going 'ughh,' doing all of these lifts and things."

Next, Nora found herself back in the courtroom when Rachel asked her mother to represent Kevin. He, along with fellow frat brothers Zach, Todd and Powell (Josh Philip Weinstein, Roger Howarth and Sean Moynihan) were accused of raping Marty at party. "As I met the other defendants [Todd, Powell, and Zach], I realized that they would be better off if we did it as a group trial," explains Smith, "I thought they were all innocent because Kevin was innocent." Little did Nora know. "When [then-Executive Producer] Linda Gottlieb told me I would be representing the rapists and I would get them off, I was nauseated," Smith reveals. "I thought it was horrible to be doing a gang rape on television. To let the rapists get off----I thought it was sending a really bad message." Smith convinced the writers to change the outcome. Nora figured out that her clients were guilty and in her closing arguments, tried to sway the jury to that conclusions. A mistrial was declared.

Soon after, Nora began suffering from blackouts and feared that she was the driver who ran Bo and Sarah's car off the road. "I was actually hired to be Sarah's killer," she says, "but Bob [Woods] thought that would be a little hard to believe if he was going to fall in love with me." On the night Bo was going to propose marriage, Nora confessed what she thought she had done. It was eventually discovered that Nora was innocent; Bo popped the question. "He handed me a box, I smelled it and went 'Diamonds!" Then, he proposed."

Around that same time, Nora discovered she had a brain tumor. Not wanting to burden Bo, she checked herself into the hospital (without telling him) and underwent surgery. "All the press said, 'Oh, yeah. She has these tumors and her hair looks lovely.' But I had shaved a three-inch by three-inch square on the back of my hair," reveals Smith. "I had a prosthetic scar. Linda [Gottlieb] looked at it, went 'Ooh,' and decided to never show it."

When Bo learned of her operation, he rushed to her side and took Nora to a beach house to recuperate. "For Christmas, I was going to have a nice, relaxing getaway at the beach," chuckles Smith. Just as Bo was called away on business, Todd escaped from prison. Left alone, Nora became worried when she started losing her eyesight. Rachel drove out to celebrate hanukkah with her mom, and Todd, seeking revenge against his former attorney, hid in the back seat of Rachel's car. When Rachel returned to Llanview, Todd turned Nora's vacation into a living nightmare, almost raping her. "It was great stuff," recalls Smith of the storyline loosely based on the Audrey Hepburn flick WAIT UNTIL DARK. "And working with Roger [Howarth] was a joy!" While being tormented, Nora received a phone call from Bo. Todd ordered Nora to get rid of Bo, so she cleverly told him not to "wait until dark." As soon as Bo learned of Todd's breakout, he understood the clue and came back to rescue Nora. Todd escaped into the night. After that, Nora had another operation to restore her vision. "My eyesight has been normal ever since," she laughs.

When Dorian was accused of murdering her husband, Victor Lord, in 1976, she turned to Nora. "I got stuck defending Dorian in a murder case," sniffs Smith, who notes that she had a ball working with Robin Strasser (Dorian), her dressing room-mate at the time. "Nora and Dorian got written up as the hottest new couple of daytime," she laughs. "We really did!"

That same year, Hank's little brother, R.J. came to town and began stirring up trouble. He was miffed at Nora for "misrepresenting" him in a court case that landed him in jail and threatened to bring up the affair he'd had with her years ago. "Apparently, I had a slight indiscretion with R.J." laughs Smith. "And it just happened to be when I was married to his brother [Hank]. About nine months later, I had a baby."

On Hank and Sheila's wedding day, R.J. decided to spill the beans about his affair with Nora. Not wanting R.J. to spoil her own pending nuptials, Nora told Bo that she had slept with R.J. With everything out in the open, Bo and Nora were free to walk down the aisle, but they had trouble setting a wedding date. And that was fine with smith and Woods, who didn't want their characters to marry. "We said to [the-Head Writer] Michael Malone, Why doesn't Bo pick Nora up to take her to the wedding and just keep driving?'" confides Smith.

TPTB didn't buy it, so Hank and Sheila took over the planning. "They were the wedding police," she says. "Hank and Sheila set the wedding date for us. They arranged my dress, the flowers, and the guests. They did everything, and Bo and I just had to go. We kept giving each other the opportunity to back out, and when we finally got to the ' I do's' we said, 'I don't'," she recalls. "We turned around and thanked everyone for coming and invited them to join us at the sock hop [that was planned as the reception], but Max stopped us and said 'No, you don't.' He opened a curtain and Little Richard was there." Little Richard? "Bo and Nora are very into the 1950s," she justifies. "So we danced down the aisle, and Little Richard married us," says Smith, noting that the performer was so exhausted from touring that he forgot the words "Good Golly Miss Molly!"

Unfortunately, after Nora and Bo's Hawaiian honeymoon was over, everything that Smith and Woods were afraid would happen to their characters did. "Bo and Nora got shoved in a corner," she sighs.

While Nora's daughter was becoming addicted to cocaine, Bo's son, Drew, arrived on the scene. "He was supposed to break Bo and Nora up," says Smith, "but I said I didn't care how devious this boy was. There was no way that Nora was going to be seduced by Bo's son---unless she was really in a state. So that's when I suggested that Nora find out she's perimenopausal." All of a sudden, Smith started getting notes directing her to look at Drew maternally. "For Victor Browne [ex-Drew], I don't have a maternal bone in my body," she laughs. "I didn't want to 'mother' him." Alas OLTL thought it was a better choice.

Drew accompanied Nora to rescue Rachel, who was doing drugs and turning tricks in New York city. "I ended up in New York dressed as a hooker. It was a bad storyline that was aborted half-way," asserts Smith.

Later that year, Nora and R.J.'s night of passion was dredged up again when Kevin asked Hank, Nora and Rachel to appear on ALL MY CHILDREN's talk show, THE CUTTING EDGE hosted by Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight). While discussing how Rachel's drug addiction affected their family, Rachel blurted out that she knew all about R.J. and Nora's one-night stand. "The subject of Rachel's paternity was raised, and I gave a moving description of what a father is," she says noting that Hank fit that description to a "T." "But don't bring Michael Knight on [to OLTL] unless he's half-dressed and in my bed!" jokes Smith.

In 1997, Nora defended Antonio Vega for the murder of Carlo Hesser. A young attorney named Téa helped on the case. "The best thing that came out of this trial was Florencia [Lozano]," says Smith. The two women were later put at odds when Nora turned down Téa for a senior associate position at her law firm, citing Téa's inexperience.

Soon after, Nora became overly emotional and began having symptoms that led her to believe she was pregnant. "When Claire Lambine came on [as head writer], she threw me a bone and let me do the perimenopausal story," says Smith. After Dr. Wolek informed Nora of her condition, Nora freaked out, which created strain in her marriage. "There was quite a response to the storyline, remarks Smith. 'Women wrote in and thanked me, saying that their husbands didn't look at them so strangely anymore."

To help de-stress, Nora hired an assistant name Georgie. Ultra-efficient Georgie became a bit too obsessed with Nora's life.

Bo and Nora had finally gotten their marriage back on track when Téa asked Nora to help her obtain a divorce from Todd. Todd's attorney happened to be Nora's old flam, Sam Rappaport (Kale Browne). And this charmer is making Bo a tad jealous. "It's put everyone on their toes," smiles Smith. "The stakes have been raised. I'm getting verbally seduced by Sam, and then I get to go home and hop into bed with Bo. This is a good job."

Meanwhile, Georgie, who has the hots for Bo, is continuing to make trouble for the couple. "It's so wonderful,' Smith says of this storyline. "We're doing a soap opera again---and it's great!"