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For their new daytime drama, Bill and Lee Bell wanted some veterans, faces they had worked with before and loved. Bill remembered Susan Flannery from when he worked on the NBC soap “Days of our lives” where Susan played the role of Dr. Laura Spencer Horton for 8 and a half years. He really liked her and wanted her to be Stephanie Forrester. So he made her an offer. Susan almost turned the offer down, but after some persuasion and thoughts, Susan accepted the part of B&B´s strong and fearless matriarch. She was the first actor cast on B&B.
At about the same time, John McCook had heard about the new Bell series from someone at his daughter Becky’s preschool. John had worked for the Bell family when he played the part of the ladies man Lance Prentiss on “The young and the restless” from 1975 to 1980. He was another actor who Bill Bell had always loved to work with. John was contacted about the part of Eric Forrester. John had, as well as Susan, doubts about accepting the offer. He had two young children (Jake and Becky) to raise. Just like Susan had a young daughter (Blaze). John had already turned down 3 offers from other daytime dramas and instead focused on guest-starring roles in different TV-shows and theatre. But this was a role specifically written for John McCook to play. John respectfully declined the offer anyway. But his agent talked him into meeting with Bill Bell. They met and Bill and John both agreed that John was a little too young to play the father of grown children. But Bill said that no one was going to care after a few episodes. Bill told John more of the character of Eric Forrester. About his troubled marriage to Stephanie and his success as a clothing designer for a world known fashion company that was his own. John was impressed at the thought of a patriarch who wasn’t the typical patriarch, but also a successful businessman. Then, Bill told John about hiring Susan Flannery for the part of Eric’s wife which was a big plus in John’s mind. He first met Susan in 1981 (5 years earlier) when he guest-starred on Harper Valley PTA. Susan had dropped by the set that exact day to meet her good friend Frannie Flagg, who starred on the show and John and Susan were introduced to one another. John said: “I played Fannie’s old boyfriend from high school. During a dinner break, Susan Flannery, a friend of Fannie’s, visited the set and we were introduced. Of course, I knew who Susan was, but it wasn’t so much because she was on “Days Of Our Lives”. Susan was one of the few people to step directly out of soap opera and into a major motion picture, “The Towering Inferno”, which starred Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. I was very impressed with her reputation, and her history in daytime television. I thought it was a coup that Bill had her”. John went home and discussed the offer with his wife and he got more and more interested in accepting the part of Eric. He liked the fact that it was a brand new show to start with and the crew was professional. People who were used to the daytime drama productions and knew what they were doing. So John gladly accepted the part and was the second actor cast.
Bill’s son Bradley Bell said: “My dad really loves Susan Flannery and wanted her to be Stephanie. He really had his eyes on her, as he did with John McCook. These are two people he enjoyed working with, and my dad knew that he wanted them”.
Susan and John’s ages turned out not to be a problem at all. John added some grey strings in his hair to make it seem more natural for him to be the father of grown children. Ronn Moss, who got the part of Ridge, the couple’s oldest son, is only 6 respectively 8 years younger than John and Susan. But no one ever thinks about that fact anymore and haven’t since the first episode.
And now, 15 years later, John and Susan are still on “The bold and the beautiful”, playing their wonderful characters. Watched by 475 million viewers all over the world in 98 different countries. Both admired, respected and loved for their work and commitment in this world’s most successful TV-show.