As The Stab Burns: Loving’s Ava and Kong

Published April 4, 2026 by biggayhorrorfan

Ava (to Kong): It would never work out between us. After all, you’re just a machine!

13 summers after Delia (Randall Edwards) was romanced by a gorilla named Prince Albert on Ryan’s Hope, Loving‘s Ava Rescott (Lisa Peluso) was kidnapped by an amusement park King Kong. This is seeming proof that the writers of ABC’s lowest rated soaps had a definite fascination with RKO Pictures’ most famous hirsute creation.

This particular homage to Fay Wray occurred while Ava was immersed in a rollicking adventure, involving a multi-million dollar stamp (of all things), with art professor Jeremy Hunter (Jean LeClerc). Thus, throughout July of 1993, the oft-romanced Ava found herself being chased across the country, in trains, taxi cabs and other motorized vehicles, by seasoned criminal Cesar Faison (Anders Hove), a character famous for his many notorious stints on General Hospital.

The dynamic duo of Ava and Jeremy eventually wound up In Universal Studios Orlando where, fearing for their lives, they donned various disguises as they romped, Hitchcock-like, throughout the grounds. At one point, as Faison and his favored goon closed in on them, Ava was plucked from her escape by a very amorous, very mechanical Kong. Reasoning that their relationship would never work, the talkative femme fatale was soon dropped back into Jeremy’s arms by the very reluctant robotic beast.

Resuming the chase, the duo continued to hide in a carhop, were they were impressively treated to musical numbers by colorful dressed workers, among the massive vacationing crowds and even in the Psycho house, where they were momentarily threatened by a Mrs. Bates approximation.

Gamely, the ultra-handsome LeClerc and Peluso, whose character was the program’s Erica Kane equivalent, proved that even the least watched, although beloved, daytime dramas in that era had lots of money behind them.

As seeming proof of this, the producers even hired acclaimed cult actress Shirley Stoler to play Faison’s female counterpart in the arc. Among Stoler’s many credits, she was probably best known for playing the vicious murderess in 1970’s acclaimed, documentary-like The Honeymoon Killers.

Ava (to Jeremy): I’m telling you, King Kong is in love with me!!

Va-Va-Villainess: Ann Williams

Published October 20, 2022 by biggayhorrorfan

Often operating with a silken haughtiness, the late, lamented Ann Williams imbued The Edge of Night’s conniving Margo Huntington with a convincing maternal instinct, as well. This quality definitely humanized the character as she, impulsively, tried to broker a baby for her temporarily barren daughter or manipulated an old acquaintance into hindering her son-in-law’s chances at receiving a job located far away from her watchful grasp.

Of course, like many a glamorous shrew before her, Huntington also was the paramour of a handsome, yet deceitful younger man named Elliot. Suavely played by Lee Godart, Elliot was also, unsurprisingly, the ticket to her downfall – if in a roundabout way. After their disastrous union ended in a hostile separation, Dorn took up with a possessive movie goddess named Nola Madison (Kim Hunter). Eventually, Madison, in a fit of jealous pique, bludgeoned Margo to death, unleashing one of the show’s most popular mysteries of the late ‘70s. (Margo’s angry son-in-law, played by the popular Tony Craig, would be convicted of the misdeed, at least initially.)

Interestingly, this was not the first time that Williams, who had decades of experience in daytime, met her end onscreen. Eunice, the popular character that she played for 10 years on the legendary Search for Tomorrow, was eliminated in the mid-70s by Morgan Fairchild’s increasingly unbalanced Jennifer. (This move allowed Fairchild some career latitude and supposedly gave the show’s matriarch, Mary Stuart, a sense of relief, as well. Williams’ popularity was rivaling her own.)

Sadly, Williams, whose Broadway credits included a supporting stint opposite Lauren Bacall in the musical Applause, lost her real-life battle with cancer in 1985 at the incredibly young age of 50. Her 4 children have written a beautiful account of that time entitled The Kids Are Alright, a memoir that highlights the distinguished actress’ sense of humor and resilience in the face of uncertainty. Their memories about her soap stints, which also included runs on The Doctors and Loving, also leave readers with the correct impression that Williams was a prime example of the sophisticated thespians that populated New York City’s casting halls & premium television studios in that almost hallowed period of time.

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Horror Hall of Fame:

According to IMDB, Williams starred in an episode of 1961’s Great Ghost Stories, a television show. The entry, entitled A Phantom of Detail, is described, plot line-wise, as being about the adventures that ensue when the protagonist discovers that his friend’s fiancé is a ghost. An all-too-common occurrence, right?!?

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Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Fruity Flashback: The Loving Murders

Published May 9, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

Loving Murders

Long term cast member Randolph Mantooth has called it the show that nobody ever saw. But the ABC soap opera Loving did have plenty of loyal followers who have remembered it fondly since its cancellation in the fall of 1995. Interestingly, for a show that continually floated at the bottom of the daytime ratings, it certainly had pedigree. It was created in 1983 by soap opera legend Agnes Nixon and, over the years, it definitely had its inventive moments. A few of those even contained elements of horror and the supernatural. In one of his first acting jobs, television stalwart John O’Hurley played a devilishly evil character named Jonathan Matalaine while the program’s college age characters interacted with a tortured romantic couple, who just happened to be ghosts, in the early ‘90s. Perhaps its most genre laden plotline was the Loving Murders, the months long story arc that brought the show to a close and helped it morph into another (very short lived) soap called The City.

O’Hurley as the satanic Matalaine

As longtime characters were murdered off by a stealthily cloaked serial killer, the show’s ratings actually rose 20%. This was perhaps due to some of the unusual ways in which the cast was offed. Longtime heroine Stacy Donavan, portrayed with heart and verve by frequent horror sweetheart Lauren Marie Taylor (Friday the 13^th, Part 2, Girls Nite Out), met her end via a poisoned powder puff. Deadly candles, heart attacks and coldblooded drownings also made appearances. The most spectacular sendoff probably belonged to Jean Le Clerc’s popular Jeremy Hunter, though. Clerc’s Hunter, an important character for many years on the iconic All My Children, was a sculptor who met his demise by being turned into one of his own statues!

Notably, the producers originally planned for a former character named Trisha, who had a history of mental issues, to return as the culprit. Noelle Beck, her longstanding portrayer, nixed that concept, though. Thus, Gwyneth Alden (Christine Tudor), Trisha’s mother and the show’s diva-licious matriarch, was chosen as the villain. While Tudor did spectacular work and obviously relished the juicy emotional windfall that this turn of events brought her, it was hard for many devoted fans to buy her as the murderess. Tudor had filled Alden with such true-to-life heart over the years, it was next to impossible to believe that Gwyneth would be able to kill off her family and friends no matter her state of mind. Still, the plotline allowed her and the show a significant (if overlooked) place in afternoon television history.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Gwyneth/Tudor in “happier” days.