Gail Shister (Vancouver Province) Linda Dano's never had heart surgery but she's about to get a quadruple bypass on ABC. Dano, 55, who has played irrepressible romance novelist Felicia Gallant on NBC's lame duck Another World since 1983, will return to ABC's One Life to Live to reprise a character that will cross over to all four ABC-owned soaps, including All My Children, General Hospital and Port Charles. "ABC called and said, 'What do you think about playing Gretel Cummings and spinning her out over four shows?,'" said Dano from her Naples, Fla., condo. "I said, 'Are you crazy?' I couldn't even fathom it." Dano's unprecedented deal begins with One Life on June 28, three days after the 35-year series finale of Another World. After her initial shock, Dano's next reaction was tears. "I've been around for so long. I've worked hard. . . . To have ABC step up and say they want me, an old broad, when all we old veterans ever heard was 'We need young. We need kids. We need Dawson's Creek,' means we have substance." Dano originated One Life's Gretel Cummings from 1978 to '80. Now a powerful "relationship expert" who prefers to be known as "Rae," she returns to Llanview "harbouring a mysterious piece of unfinished business." Dano expects to appear exclusively on One Life for several months before floating to another bubble. After that, she could pop up on several shows, if not all four, in one week. Neat trick, considering that Port Charles and General Hospital are produced in L.A.; One Life and All My Children in New York. Dano has a one-year guaranteed deal, with options. Signing her is a smart move for ABC on two counts: Her celebrity can only help ratings and her salary can be spread among four shows. Dano reports to One Life Tuesday. Another World's finale, taped May 25, "was the most difficult time for me. I was beyond sad. I felt like I had gotten hit by a truck. This was more than a show. This was my family." |