THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW FIRST APPEARED IN SOAP OPERA DIGEST IN JUNE, 1976

At Home with Mary Stuart
By Sue Facter

Mary Stuart has been making television history for the past 25 years. "There was no such thing as a television soap; we made it up as we went along."

We met with Mary in her luxurious eight room apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Mary arrived after a hectic day at the set of Search For Tomorrow and was joined by Lewis Arlt, friend and castmate (bartender).

Search has finally gotten to the point where it is everything that I ever fantasized about it," says Mary. She continues, "We have the producer, we have the writer, we have the company and we have the style. Our producer, Mary-Ellis Bunim, grew up with the show. She started as a secretary at the age of 19 - the trust began back then. She wants the same kind of excellence that I do, and she knows how to get it."

Mary Stuart is not only a gifted actress, but she is also a talented singer and composer. She played us tapes that were just recorded. One of her catchiest tunes was Crossroads. "I write very complicated music, much too complicated for me to play. I don't perform in concert except for one number - Mary, Why Don't You Ever Play The Guitar Well? Two guys travel with me - they do all the back-up music."

Ms. Stuart is also a mother. She has a 20-year-old daughter, Cynthia, who writes for the Michigan Free Press. Jeff, her 19 year old, writes speeches for Vice President Rockefeller. Not your average type family.

"The most destructive things a parent can do is expect someone to do something. My kids amazed me every day of their lives. I never even felt that they were mine from the first day that I saw them. The first time I saw my daughter, I said, 'My goodness, that is a total stranger. I never saw that person before, and I hope to God that we like each other cause we have a lot of time to spend with one another.''"

Mary has a delightful attitude about life: "Why settle for anything less than wonderful!" And this is a woman who has led a wonderful life: being escorted by Groucho Marx to Hollywood parties at age 19, standing between Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh in ballet class, always working and never needing an agent and most of all, being loved and respected by all of her peers.

Mary remembers her early days in the movie industry. "I only stayed in Hollywood for three years. Being a starlet wasn't my thing. There's a lot of hanging around pools. Starlets always drape themselves around somebody's swimming pool. I never remembered to shave my legs or I was sunburned or something."

"Linda Christian decided she was going to be my Mother and protected me. She would send me home from parties if she thought they were going to get naughty. She would send a car for me, and I never knew what I was being sent home from."

At this point, Mary's dog, Tiger, started to bark. "I found Tiger in Gristedes, a grocery shop, and we've been together for about a year now. I really didn't need a dog, but I couldn't resist her."

There's always excitement in Mary's home. She has a bird, as well, which adds some fun to the household. "He spits seeds all over the place." Mary's elevator man moves in when she's away and sleeps in one of the four bedrooms to take care of the dog, bird and plants. "He loves it, he doesn't have to go to the Bronx, he has a color TV here, buys a 6-pack and enjoys."

Mary has lived in this apartment for 17 years. "It's truly home for me. I never had a real home until I was married. [She was married twice.] Yes, and I got into things like houses, possessions, although I don't relate to things like that anymore."

There are quite a few Japanese originals in Mary's living room. "My first husband taught me how to look at pictures. With these pictures, you don't even have to look at them; they don't distract you. I couldn't handle re-arranging my furniture. I'm comfortable the way it is. I know the blue chairs have to go; they should be beige like everything else."

Although Mary is comfortable with her life, she longs to do a Broadway show. "I don't have the credentials for Broadway they tell me. Okay, I'll learn them. I'm young yet."

Determined to reach this goal, Mary Stuart will indeed do it. She has already captured the hearts of 30 million viewers on a daily basis. And that's some accomplishment!

And from experience she can surely relate. "It takes a long time to know where perfect is!"

A New York Live interview that really hit home with me was talking with longtime soap opera actress Mary Stuart.

Growing up in my neighborhood, everybody watched soaps. "Stories" we called them. This was pre-VCR days, so working mothers swapped updates with their children and babysitters. Keeping track with the characters was a running conversation that would pop in and out of our real everyday lives.
We only had three TV stations and my first memories are watching black and white TV....I remember my naptime started with my mom and me watching As the World Turns. I remember when the show was interrupted by Walter Cronkite(sp?) with news of President Kennedy's assassination. These shows (World Turns, Search for Tomorrow, Secret Storm, Love of Life, Edge of Night, Guiding Light...to name a few) were part of many an American family. These fictional characters became a great escape....with all their troubles, loves, and drama....we loved them.

Since November 1996, Mary Stuart has been playing Meta Bauer weekday mornings at 10 on CBS2 on "Guiding Light"....which I remember was once =The= Guiding Light", but I digress. My first fondness for Mary was her many years as the strong matriarch Joanne Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur on Search for Tomorrow. She played Jo through the show's entire run from 1951 to 1986. She was so likeable and I can remember crying watching her and her costar Larry Haines...who played her best bud Stu utter their final scene in 1986. He asked her "Jo...what are you searching for?" Ok, so I get caught up in the characters with their long, long history together as such good friends. But I also think, hey, what are we all searching for? Anyway....back to meeting Mary in person here on New York Live. I learned so much about her.

She started her career when she was 12, singing with local bands, and working with the USO at area military bases during high school. She was a hatcheck girl at New York City's Hotel Roosevelt Grille...and that's when she began singing with the hotel band. What a whirlwind for Mary. Long before daytime audiences knew her, the singer and actress was working with Hollywood hunks like Errol Flynn and Yul Brynner. She appeared in over 20 movies and then moved back to New York. Mary went to acting class with Cliff Robertson and Jack Lemmon. You may not know Mary is a real pioneer. While having lunch with an ad exec who was working on starting a TV serial...she complained that there were no female characters with whom she could identify. Shortly after, she got the lead in Search for Tomorrow. And Mary's second pregnancy was written into her storyline....a first for live daytime television. And there's more. Jo's apron is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Chatting with Mary was a treat. She's shorter than I expected. And she's petite. But she looks ya right in the eye with twinkling eyes. I was touched that she was touched that I am such a fan. We played her last scene from Search...I was surprised that she'd never seen it and didn't want to during our interview. She said...one day she'll be ready. In the meantime, she's feeling good after a bout with cancer and enjoying working on Guiding Light. And being involved in the community. Mary is the chairperson for the New York Chapter of BOOK PALS (Performing Artist for Literacy)...it's an organization of working actors who donate time each week reading books to children in New York City Schools. During my interview...she looked right into the camera and urged us all to remember to read to our children. Do it at home. Volunteer at schools, she said.

An important message from a talented, kind woman who's spent decades in my living room and millions of others.
An affirmation of 35 years of friendship, love and support was the grist for Search for tomorrow's final episode. In the last scene, Jo (Mary Stuart) and Stu ( Larry Haines), the soap's most beloved characters over 35 years, shared one last moment of friendship. And for fans all over, there wasn't a dry eye to be found.

It was only fitting that Search's final scene would be between Jo and Stu. Their friendship survived 35 years of marriages, deaths, divorces, kidnappings and plenty of joys and sorrows. After the show's stories were wrapped up, Jo and Stu stood outside and reflect on their lives together. "What are you searching for?" Stu asked, to which she replied," Tomorrow. And I can't wait". Their final embrace was a heartfelt testament to the unbreakable lifelong bond two may share.

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