Annette M. D'Agostino is a self proclaimed soap fan and this book is born out of her love for the genre.
As a long time fan of soap operas, she continued to follow her favorites during her years in college and even wrote a paper titled Women's Changing Roles on Soap Operas. As she told me, last year, in an email "...I must agree that the subject is one that is close to my heart. I LONG thought of soaps as a challenging training ground, just thinking about the fact that these people have no break, or hiatus, like primetime and film people do -- I'm glad that I could contribute a book that, hopefully, will elevate the popular conceptions of soap operas." I believe her book does just that.
From Soap Stars to Superstars takes a look at the number of talented stars, that grace our movie theater screens and our televisions at night, who got their start doing daytime soaps. Some you may be very aware of such alumni as Kevin Bacon (T.J. Werner, Guiding Light), Demi Moore (Jackie Templeton, General Hospital) and Meg Ryan (Betsy Montgomery, As the World Turns). But did you know that Cicely Tyson got her start on Guiding Light in the 1960's? Or how about Richard Thomas of The Walton's fame? He he was Tom #4 on As the World Turns. Even Star Trek the Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes was on The Doctors in the 1970's. There are many such fascinating discoveries to be found as you dig into this book.
The book starts with a briefs overview of the history and world of soap operas. It then moves on to an alphabetical listing of big name stars and their biographies. The biographies include their current history as well as their original soap connections. Further into the book you'll find lists of special guest stars on the soaps, and sidebar information with fun facts. The appendix's are truly an added gem for the soap historian. One is a listing of all acting awards on the Daytime Emmy's from 1972-73 up to the 1997-98 awards presentation. The others are alphabetical and chronological lists of all soaps on network television through the writing of the book.
The bottom line is that this book is a must have for any soap fans that like to make sure they stay on top of all soap trivia and history.
