| Back in May of 1999, as ANOTHER WORLD'S days drew to an end, David
Andrew Macdonald was finishing his stint as time traveler Jordan Stark/David
Halliday when he received a short-deal offer from sister soap GUIDING LIGHT
to play the wicked Prince Edmund Winslow of San Cristobel. "I was basically
here to introduce the character of Richard," he recalls with a laugh. "That
was my impression. But when they threw me off a 50-foot cliff [during the
location shoot] in Puerto Rico and had me twitch on the rocks below, [director]
Bruce Barry said to me, 'Well, you never know. They may be keeping you, so
just one hand twitching.'" |
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| Macdonald In The Middle And keep him they did. Now near his fifth anniversary with the daytime drama, Macdonald admits that while he's seen his fair share of storyline ups and downs, he's thoroughly enjoyed the ride. "I didn't really have any central story for about 15 months, but I enjoyed setting the whole San Cristobel thing," he shares. " I enjoyed watching the fans go, 'Wow, this is cool!' or 'God, this is ridiculous. Get it off the air!' I enjoyed both. I sat back going, 'Huh, I wonder why they think that.' It was interesting, why they liked it or why they didn't like it." |
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| Coming from a theater background, Macdonald was quite amused by not only opinionated soap fans, but also the ever-changing medium itself. "My career as a stage guy was always, 'Okay, this play was written 400 years ago, and everyone knows it pretty well,'" he says. "But this, besides not having any rehearsal, the character is developing as you go. I mean, right now, I'm sleeping with the woman who I tormented for years and arguably caused her child's death! Things always change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not, but it's an ongoing process. When you do a play, you have a beginning, middle and end. Here, we're perpetually in the middle." |  |
 "I've enjoyed trying to do the very difficult
task of getting Cassie and Edmund together," shares the actor, here with
leading lady Laura Wright. |
Love Comes Walking In And that notion, muses Macdonald, is precisely what ultimately allowed for Edmund to not only be redeemed, but to fall in love with his brother's widow, Cassie. "Edmund was, at least in my opinion, never an evil guy," insists Macdonald. "He was neglected by his father in favor of his brother. He held Richard responsible, but knew that his brother loved him more than anyone else. Caught between those worlds, everything, for Edmund, was done in the face of Richard. That's why when Richard died, Edmund had no reason to live anymore. He had no one to impress." |
| Hitting rock bottom, the actor argues, is what opened Edmund's eyes--and heart--to the possibility of a life with Cassie. "When she turned to him and he was at a point in his life where he could perceive that someone loved him and was willing to invest in him and forgive him, then Edmund was able to be a good person." | |
| Going Back Again? Still, a piece of Macdonald yearns for the days when the prince-turned-ambassador was a menace to society. "The villain is usually more fun, because the villain is more conflicted. The romantic guy is usually not. And if he's conflicted over anything, it's 'Do I get chocolates or do I get roses?'" Macdonald laughs. "It's much less interesting than, 'I don't want to lock her in the tower, but I need to because I need to get control of the country. And if I don't get control of the country...!' "That's conflict," he chuckles. "That's fun." --Michelle Ann Moro |
 Is wife Nicolette uncomfortable watching
Macdonald's racy love scenes? "I think she thought she would be, but she
isn't. But maybe I'm wrong about it. Maybe she is!" |