The soap opera world has better backstage drama sometimes than the ones on screen.
This week, “General Hospital” finally re-signed actor William DeVry as bad guy Julian Jerome after a long, protracted contract negotiation.
When the show shut down for summer vacation on June 30th, DeVry was pretty sure that was it for him. He had no contract and no idea what was going to happen.
DeVry’s fans went crazy on social media, inundating ABC with demands to reinstate this guy.
ABC is sort of infamous for letting “General Hospital” actors twist in the wind during contract negotiations. They pull the actors off the air while it’s going on, too, thinking the fans won’t notice. It’s a game of chicken. Sometimes the actors call their bluff. Tyler Christopher did that last year after winning a Daytime Emmy Award. He just announced he’s joining “Days of our Lives.”
What a racket, huh? The actors can’t anything otherwise they get blackballed in their very small industry. DeVry, by the way, is from the family that started DeVry Technical School, now DeVry University. I’ll bet there are days he wished he went into air conditioning repair instead of acting!
