1981 Will She?

Daytime TV, 1981

Erika Slezak puts her soap contract on hold, for contractions of a different kind…Will She come Back After The Baby's Born?

After playing the role of Victoria Riley for ten years-plus, actress Erika Slezak has temporarily retired from One Life to Live for the best of all possible reasons. Erika's expecting her second child in November, and she wants to spend all her time with her husband, Brian Davies, and son Michael.

Erika's soap contract isn't up yet-just on hold-and the show has obliged her with a six month leave of absence. Actually, Erika isn't the first actress to negotiate a hefty maternity leave on the basis of her popularity. In 1970, when Jacquie Courtney was playing Alice Matthews on Another World, she left the soap for a year (to move to Mississippi with her husband and then await her daughter Kristen's birth). In Jacquie's case, the role was written out until her return; but One Life to Live has decided to bring in a temporary replacement while Erika's gone.

The search for a substitute Viki took several weeks, and dozens of actresses-including an Oscar nominee, a well-known model and a former soap star-were reportedly auditioned. However, a spokesman for the show refused to reveal the try-out list, saying,” It wouldn't be fair to any of the actresses we tested to mention the other contenders."