In the fictional
town of Llanview, Pennsylvania power and the Buchanan name are one and
the same. Headed by Asa and his sons, grandsons and now,
great-grandsons, the Buchanan’s are one of the longest running
families on daytime. The character of Kevin has been played by many
actors over the years. Eldest son of Clint Buchanan, newly elected Lt.
Governor of the state of Pennsylvania, Dan Gauthier has made the role
his own bringing a passion, intensity and maturity to the character
while staying true to the Buchanan traditions we know and love.
This talented
veteran has been around the industry for well over 20 years and it
shows in his strong portrayal, understanding of the character and his
motivations. Gauthier started out modeling, winning the west coast
portion of the Faces of the 80’s contest and naturally worked his way
into acting. “I met Debra Harmon who was an actress on a show called
“Just The 10 Of Us” and she asked me have I ever thought about
acting?”, Gauthier shares. “I always thought that sounded like fun and
that I would rather do that then modeling.” Debra introduced him to
her manager, he started taking acting classes and an acting career was
born.
One of
Gauthier’s first jobs was on Bold & The Beautiful. Saying with
a chuckle, “One of my very first jobs was on B&B which was their very
first day of production, that’s how long ago I started. I did a dream
sequence for this character
on the show and I
remember seeing Ron (Moss) – I remember seeing him and a lot of people
and that was one of the very first jobs I ever got.”
The versatile
actor’s credits quickly grew to include recurring roles on Melrose
Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, Ellen, Courthouse
and Sisters, and guest-starring roles on Will & Grace,
Friends, Still Standing, Cupid and Charmed.
“I got into prime time and I was just in prime time for years and
years and years but the business has gotten very difficult as of late
and I was fortunate enough to read for OLTL”, Gauthier relates. “I
didn’t know daytime at all so I wasn’t’ intimidated by the likes of
Erika Slezak or Robert S. Woods. I knew who Susan Lucci was and
Anthony Geary and when I worked on B&B I knew that Ridge guy,
but didn’t know his real name. I had friends who worked at General
Hospital and knew a bit about that show. But I never watched daytime
as I was growing up. Everything I ever heard about this world of
daytime was my own preconceptions from friends of mine who had been on
daytime. I asked my wife who was on GH for 6 months a lot of
questions.” Lucky for us he decided to give daytime another shot,
almost 20 years after his first stint on B&B. Stepping into
Kevin Buchanan’s shoes was a perfect fit.
Like any committed
actor, Gauthier has his opinions on storyline but certainly
understands the workings and constraints of any daytime show. When
asked what advice he would give his character Dan replied, “It doesn’t
matter what my advice is, I am at the discretion of the writers. But I
would certainly start with letting Ace go. It is just ridiculous! I
would prefer if the writers wrote where Kevin was trying to have a
relationship with Duke. It seems interesting that that we’ve never
even really had a relationship, not because we argue but because I
wasn’t there. So it seems strange that we’re at odds now before we
even got to know each other. What I would say is for Kevin to let go
of Ace and work on his relationship with his own son.”
Dan was however as
surprised as his viewers were when he was not asked to go to Florida
to film the scenes regarding Baby Ace. “That was a big mistake. After
my son was taken away I have not been involved whatsoever”.
Continuing our
discussion on the question of relationships, on a new love for Kevin,
Dan chuckles, “It would be nice to actually have a relationship with
someone of some sort”. “I’m tired of being in angst all the time. It
would be nice to show some other side besides the dramatic. I know
it’s a drama but it’d be nice to have some other colors thrown in
there a little bit.” There’s no question that Heather Tom and Dan
Gauthier have terrific chemistry together. The actor agrees. “The
smart thing would be to put Kelly and Kevin back together because we
work so well together”.
One Life To Live’s
new head writer Dena Higley has promised to bring the core families
back to the forefront. I asked the youthful actor if he’s had a chance
to discuss Kevin or storyline with Ms. Higley, many know when a new
writer comes on she discusses the options with her contract players.
Surprisingly not so in Dan’s case, at least not yet. “I’ve have never
been up to the office to discuss my character. They do it with others
but not with me. I’ve had discussions with the executive producer
about some things and changed some things but I’ve never conferred
with the head writers.”
Comedy has always
been a constant in Gauthier’s career. From Will and Grace,
Friends and Ellen, to his own sitcom, the actor feels
strongly about adding comedy to the mix of the show. “As long as OLTL
has been on the air, you would think they would start doing more
comedy, especially since the ratings are so low right now”. He goes on
to say “If TPTB got their butts in gear and started doing something of
this nature, maybe things could change, but all they do is hire and
fire”.
“I think Roxy and
Nigel should be front and center, there seems to be no humor in the
show any more. I think it’s important to have characters that are fun.
They should have Kevin move out of the mansion, get his own place and
then hire Nigel not just to be his butler but his right hand man so he
is always involved with me.” He continues, “They could bring Roxy in
with him because they have this relationship and she comes in while he
is working on my finances or my house and things of that nature and
say I’m doing a remodel and Roxy comes in with her two cents and
redesigns the whole thing. It would be hilarious with me reacting to
them.”
One can definitely
tell Dan loves what he does and is passionate about his job and acting
but the very astute actor echoes the sentiments many viewers have,
that it doesn’t always have to be doom and gloom or about soap’s
stereotypical and myopic view of beauty. “You have to have staples and
fun and quirky things, I don’t think everybody has to have a six-pack
and be gorgeous to do what we do. For example Marcie and Michael -
people love to watch these characters particularly Marcie. It’s not
like she is this conventionally beautiful, tall, lean lady, but she is
beautiful, a good actor, she’s funny, she’s sad, she can do it all.
She’s entertaining and people love to watch her. I can’t imagine if
they said, you’re not good looking and we’re going to take you off the
show. It really doesn’t matter what people look like, it all basically
comes down to story and how it’s performed.”
Gauthier doesn’t
necessarily see Kevin Buchanan as a lead on the show at this point,
even if his fans disagree. But asked if he’d rather see Kevin as a
lead character the actor replied, “I would just rather have a great
storyline. Ya know? And just let everything else go where it may. It’s
all storyline. Everything is storyline in the soap world. You have to
have a great storyline that people like to watch and that’s well
done.” Truer words couldn’t be said. OLTL is still trying to recover
from the whole Santi mess. The actor agrees. “I’ll tell you what, they
lost a lot of ratings during that time.” Even the explosive baby
switch that proved so successful for All My Children didn’t have much
of an impact on this show. Once again the perceptive actor agrees. “I
think that story was put on front burner about July and August of this
last year and it was major when I found out. This whole thing could
have been a major story line. AMC ratings went through the roof and we
dropped the ball here. I think we should have been fighting to have
people between AMC and OLTL fighting for which show gets to keep the
baby. It should have been that kind of a deal but it obviously wasn’t
done that way.”
Dan is as committed
to charity as he is to acting, attending Martha Bryne’s St Jude gala
and found he enjoyed mingling with the fans as much as they loved
talking with him. The many letters we received at Soaptown expressed
just how much the fans appreciate this actor. “Well, thank you, I know
it’s a lot of work to go out there and as I have not been on daytime
all that long, I bet people get tired of doing that. But I figure if
people pay that kind of money and come all that way, I am there to
support the event. I am not there just to drink and eat free food,” he
laughs “sit in the background behind a rope. It’s something I enjoy
and the fact that the fans appreciate it, I am more then willing to do
it”.
Last year Dan held
a fan event of his own with some of his fellow actors and I asked if
he was going to do it again the weekend of the OLTL luncheon. “I
haven’t decided yet. It’s more work for Debbie, my fan club president
than anybody else. I did raise quite a bit of money for my charity -
$8000.00. Everybody was really supportive and I think it went pretty
well. It was quite a deal. I’ve had a lot of great responses, I just
will have to cross that bridge when it comes.” He ponders a moment and
replies, “I probably will do it, we just haven’t planned it yet.”
Here’s hoping it comes to pass for Dan’s many fans.
So, Dan Gauthier is
an actor, a family man and a sports enthusiast. “Golf is my favorite
thing, though I love basketball too. I have bad tendonitis in my knees
and it just cripples me, but golf certainly is my favorite obsession.”
Gauthier recently had the good fortune to play a round of golf with
fellow actor Cameron Mathison at the famous “Augusta National” thanks
to one of his fans. “An amazing fan named Gardell Lewis offered me the
chance to play at Augusta. I asked Cameron because I knew he was a big
golfer and would really appreciate it”. He goes on to say, “I didn’t
know Cameron very well but we got a chance to learn more about each
other. It’s like nothing else in the world, to be able to have the
opportunity to play at such an illustrious club. It was amazing! It
happened to me only because I was on a soap. This guy was a huge fan
of OLTL and has friends who are members and he paid for us to go. It
was just a wonderful, wonderful thing he did and its something I will
never forget. It was the kindest, most gracious thing a fan has ever
done for me. EVER! The fact that it was a fan was pretty cool.
Playing at this course was one of the great days in my life”.
If we are to
believe the new head writer’s promise of re-emphasizing the
core family of One Life To Live, Kevin Buchanan should be at the head
of the line when they hand out storylines. Dan Gauthier is talented,
sexy, can mix comedy with drama, has great chemistry with Heather Tom
and Kassie De Paiva , not to mention Trevor St. John, and the strength
of character to make Kevin Buchanan a force to be reckoned with.
Gauthier has it all
- humor, candor, honesty, love of family and friends and is one of the
nicest people I’ve come across in this industry. I’d like to thank
Debbie Hartzog Dan's Fan Club President for making this interview
happen as well as Dan himself for taking the time out of his busy
schedule to talk with Soaptown and for sharing his views with us.
Visit Dan's Official Website
