1992 Lunchtime
Episodes
January/February 1992
Lunchtime Favorite: OLTL's Erika Slezak
By: JOANNE L. BERG
I have always said that One Life to Live'sindomitable Victoria Lord Buchanan is one of my favorite characters. And, the woman who portrays Viki, Erika Slezak, has always been one of my favorite people. So, it was without question that Episodes chose her to grace our cover-which features the story "101 Fabulous Facts About OLTL" and I asked Erika to join me for lunch between her rehearsal and taping.
I always relish spending time with Erika. She is very intelligent and has a wonderful, hearty sense of humor. When we're together, talk always revolves Erika Slezak around the foibles, follies, and heartwarming wonder of raising kids. According to Erika, her first and foremost job is being a mom to her two children, Michael, 12,and Amanda, 10, and wife to her husband, actor Brian Davies. (Many of you know Brian as Pine Valley's District Attorney Dick Hamilton.)
I laughed so hard when Erika told me, about how she accompanied Amanda and Michael on their trick-or-treating rounds this past Halloween. She dressed up in a costume so that she could keep an eye on her kids without being recognized as their mom!
Erika talked about how delighted she is that Amanda is trying to be just like her mommy. Amanda likes to set a beautiful dinner table, help her mother prepare a salad, and help serve the dinner in lovely serving bowls.
We talked a lot about the juggling act that goes into being a working mom. Erika feels so lucky that her children's father is such a big part of their lives. Brian has chosen to no longer accept roles that take him away from the family's home on the east coast. Before Amanda and Michael were born, Brian used to do a lot of work in prime-time television, which required him to be on the west coast. Erika laughed when she recounted that almost every weekend during the first year of Michael 's life, she and her son would fly back and forth to the west coast to see Brian who was working out there.
Erika said that her two decades on OLTL have gone by so quickly. She talked about the wonderful working, relationship she has forged with Clint Ritchie who plays her on-screen husband, Clint Buchanan. After all the years of working together, they know just how to make the work look effortless, despite the fact that they are rehearsing from 7:30 in the morning and sometimes taping well into the night.
We chatted about all the changes that the show has gone through since she started on OLTL. Happily for us, through it all, the one thing that we can all be sure of is that both Viki and Erika will endure.
