He's the good guy, the straight arrow, the white knight. He's Paul Williams, played by the equally affable Doug Davidson, and both the actor and the character are celebrating their 20th anniversary on The Young and the Restless. But there's more to Davidson than Paul's white-bread personality; the guy is a comedian and a thinking-man's actor. Recently he stepped out of character long enough to look back on 20 young and restless years in Genoa City. — Jonathan Reiner What do you remember about your first day? Not much! I remember being incredibly nervous, because I had gone for a reading and I didn't think I did all that well. I didn't hear back from anyone, except for the wardrobe mistress, who called me on a Sunday. She asked what kind of clothes I had, and I didn't get it at first. Then she explained that I got the part. The day itself I don't remember. Erica Hope was playing Nikki, and she was a young teenager and I was the evil guy who was supposed to pull her away from what's good. Well, except for the venereal disease story... ... which came the next summer. Back then, how much were you like Paul? Probably not much like him at all. I'm more like Paul today than I was then. Was it fun playing the bad guy? Yeah, because there was a lot coming at you. We were a half-hour live on tape, so the pace was relatively fast, and being a rookie and uncomfortable with live television, there was not a lot of time to look back. There was only one shot, one take — it was a tough deal. What about the storylines that you were involved in? That was the only storyline I was involved in back then. I was not under contract at that time and I was only coming in during the summer. When did Paul start to turn into a good guy? Well, I think the next summer was very similar, except Melody Thomas was Nikki, and [the writers] were trying to hook her up with a very nice doctor. I was trying to get in the middle and pull them apart, and that's when she gave me VD. Oh, no, that's wrong, I got VD from Erica, the first Nikki, and I was trying to pull Nikki away from the doctor the second summer. You have to remember that this is 20 years ago! Twenty years ago, did you think you'd be here in 1999 still playing Paul? No, not in my wildest dreams. Until recently, it had been a few years since Paul had a storyline of his own — that's why I'm enjoying the current story with Carl returning to town. Is it tough to play this emotional stuff day after day? I go kicking and screaming the whole way because it's hard for me to do it. I don't enjoy going there, and I'm really happy when it's over. Bummer for you, because there is nothing more emotional that dealing with your mother and your father. No, there isn't, and in this particular situation there is not a lot that goes much deeper than those issues. And the poor guy is on the horns of a nasty dilemma. The fantastic thing that could only happen here, in the daytime drama arena, is the fact that there is a part of it based in reality. I grew up in this family. I mean, Brett [Hadley] was playing Carl, Carolyn [Conwell] was playing Mary, and we all went through everything together. It's really exciting for me, as a performer, to do all those family things with those people. Does that make it easier to play, because the relationship has been established and you have feelings for these people? I think to some degree, because when you work with new people, you don't always know them, and I know these people. On the other hand, I think Paul needs to tell Christine to mind her own business, because if she had not stuck her nose where it doesn't belong, none of this would've happened. Well, that's actually the one thing that I had a hard time relating to, because if I were in her position, I think that's what would've happened. But she can't just shut that door. The reality is that you can't pretend something isn't there when it is, especially when it's someone's father. I think it's the best work you've done on the show. To what do you attribute your longevity? That's hard to say. I try to make every show account for something and I try every day to begin again and keep it fresh. I guess there was a synergy between the show and me that's worked out really well. If you had to choose, who would you say was Paul's favorite woman? I think that would undoubtedly be Chris, for a lot of reasons. Lauralee [Bell, who plays Chris] took the edge off my habit of taking things too seriously. She made it a lot easier to work. It's a complementary relationship between the characters, too. They work together on occasion and they have similar interests, and they are both professionals. It's not like all the other women, where we were going in different directions. Which storylines do you prefer — the detective stuff or the domestic drama? If you ask my left brain, I think I'd like to be the private investigator, and if you ask my right brain, I'd prefer the more family-oriented stuff. How often do the left brain and the right brain get together? Too often. If they do, it's usually just a lamebrain. Assuming that you had the opportunity, what other projects would you like to do? You did The Price Is Right, too. What sort of stuff interests you? A lot of things interest me. Whatever it is, though, it would have to work in conjunction with this show, because I really enjoy the people I work with. If I had my choice, it would probably be things that weren't related to acting — like writing or producing, or something like that. I tried to sell a talk show about three years ago, and we got it to the pilot stage, and that was fun. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the next thing is that tickles my fancy. How are the kids [daughter Calyssa and son Caden]? The kids are great. In fact, they're coming down to the studio today. Are they aware of the fact that you're on television? Oh, yeah. They're 9 and 6, so they know. Do they watch the show? No, not often. It's really not suited for them. They've seen me, and they know the name of my character and what I do, so they know their dad is on television. I don't think it's a big deal to them. |