Walt Willey

Last updated
Walt Willey
Born (1955-01-26) January 26, 1955 (age 64)
OccupationActor
Years active1983–present
Spouse(s)Sarah Kaine (m. 2018)
Website Walt Willey Official website

Walt Willey (born January 26, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jackson Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children from 1987 to 2011.

A soap opera is a radio or television serial dealing especially with domestic situations and frequently characterized by melodrama and sentimentality. The term soap opera originated from radio dramas being sponsored by soap manufacturers.

<i>All My Children</i> television series

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC for 41 years, from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and iTunes. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictional suburb of Philadelphia, which is modeled on the actual Philadelphia suburb of Rosemont. The original series featured Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime television's most popular characters. The title of the series refers to the bonds of humanity. All My Children was the first new network daytime drama to debut in the 1970s. Originally owned by Creative Horizons, Inc., the company created by Nixon and her husband, Bob, the show was sold to ABC in January 1975. The series started at a half-hour in per-installment length, then was expanded to a full hour on April 25, 1977. Earlier, the show had experimented with the full-hour format for one week starting on June 30, 1975, after which Ryan's Hope premiered.

Contents

Early life and education

Willey was born in Ottawa, Illinois and was a member of the class of 1973 at Ottawa Township High School. He attended Southern Illinois University, where he majored in sculpture. While in college, he played baseball against Drake Hogestyn, another future soap opera actor.

Ottawa, Illinois Illinois city

Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi River, and North America's 25,000 mile river system. The population estimate was 18,562 as of 2013. It is the county seat of LaSalle County and it is part of the Ottawa-Peru, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Southern Illinois University State university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, United States

Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, United States, in the southern region of the state, with multiple campuses. Randy Dunn was formerly president of SIU.

Drake Hogestyn American actor

Donald Drake Hogestyn ( is an American actor best known for his long running role as John Black on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives.

Career

Stage

In 1981, he left Illinois for New York City. His first soap opera role was played the role of Joe Novak on Ryan's Hope . After numerous Off-Broadway productions, including Dust Off with Dan Lauria, and a stint on Another World , Willey joined the cast of All My Children.

<i>Ryans Hope</i> Television series

Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, originally airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

An Off-Broadway theatre is any professional venue in Manhattan in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.

Dan Lauria actor, Ex-United States Marine

Daniel Joseph Lauria is an American actor, best known for his role as Jack Arnold in The Wonder Years.

Willey branched out into stand-up comedy in 1989, entertaining across the country. He headlined at famous comedy clubs such as Caroline's in Manhattan and the Comedy Store in California.

Stand-up comedy comedy style where the performer addresses the audience directly

Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is commonly known as a comic, stand-up comic, comedian, comedienne, stand-up comedian, or simply a stand-up. Comedians give the illusion that they are dialoguing, but in actuality, they are monologuing a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners, typically called a shtick, routine, act, or set. Some stand-up comedians use props, music or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is stated to be the "freest form of comedy writing" that is regarded as a fictionalized "extension of" the person performing.

In 2009, Willey starred in a live theater performance of "The Odd Couple" with fellow "All My Children" star Jill Larson at Ottawa Township High School in Ottawa, Illinois. He played Felix Unger in three performances on July 24–26. Walt will play Oscar in the upcoming production of the same show at Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven NJ (October 21 to Nov 1). He continued to produce community theatre in Ottawa, presenting "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Plaza Suite", "Harvey", "Deathtrap", and "Auntie Mame".

The Odd Couple is a play by Neil Simon. Following its premiere on Broadway in 1965, the characters were revived in a successful 1968 film and 1970s television series, as well as several other derivative works and spin-offs. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates: the neat, uptight Felix Ungar and the slovenly, easygoing Oscar Madison. Simon adapted the play in 1985 to feature a pair of female roommates in The Female Odd Couple. An updated version of the 1965 show appeared in 2002 with the title Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple.

Jill Larson is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Opal Cortlandt on the ABC daytime soap opera, All My Children.

Felix Unger Austrian cardiac surgeon

Felix Unger is a heart specialist and a president of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and Alma Mater Europaea. In 1986 he performed the first artificial heart transplantation in Europe.

Other media

In July 2013, Willey joined the soap opera web series Tainted Dreams , portraying soap opera actor Gregory Ashford. [1] [2]

A web series is a series of scripted or non-scripted videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet and part of the web television medium, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single instance of a web series program can be called an episode or "webisode", however the latter term is not often used. In general, web series can be watched on a range of platforms, including desktop, laptop, tablets and smartphones. They can also be watched on television.

<i>Tainted Dreams</i> television series

Tainted Dreams is a soap opera that premiered on YouTube on December 30, 2013 and later moved exclusively to Amazon and Amazon Prime. The series will debut on Popstar! TV and the Popstar! App on September 23, 2019. Created by Sonia Blangiardo, it is a "soap-within-a-soap" which follows the backstage drama of the fictional soap opera Painted Dreams.

In October 2013, Stage and screen actor Walt Willey joined the cast of Indie Soap Award-winning web series "THURSTON". The longtime ALL MY CHILDREN fan favorite will play Edmund Snead, father of the outlaw Snead boys and husband to Colleen Zenk's "madam" character, Agnes. Willey has already shot several scenes as Edmund.

Walt Willey, Bobbie Eakes and Chance Willey DeathTrap photo gallery. Courtesy of Bryan Willy. Live performances were in July 2013.

Walt Willey's current projects are: The "Wild and Willey Comedy Tour" and his one-man show:"Wild Bill! An Evening with James Butler Hickok" Video on YouTube

Walt Willey launches his new "In-School" Acting Workshops and coaching. He also speaks to students in the character of Wild Bill Hickok about bullying in his new anti-bullying campaign.

In 2014, Walt guest co-hosted "You & Me This Morning" on WCIU, the U, a Chicago entertainment television show.

In 2016, Walt Willey played Benjamin Fletcher, the General Manager of Old Time Fun Town in the movie Characterz.

Awards

He was a People's Choice Award nominee in 1992, and was named All My Children's 'Most Valuable Player' by Soap Opera Update's Reader's Poll. He was again awarded this honor in 1993.

Other activities

Willey regularly hosts charity fundraisers, and developed the 'Willey World Endowment Fund', benefiting children's charities. When not working, Walt resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, singer-songwriter Sarah Kaine.

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References

  1. Logan, Michael (December 30, 2013). "First Look: An All-Star Soap Cast Shines in Tainted Dreams". TV Guide . Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  2. "Tainted Dreams: Meet the Characters". TaintedDreamstheSeries.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.