Current Interview

JAMES REYNOLDS

A Days of Our Lives veteran actor shares his thoughts on awards, daytime - and everything else.

By: Dawn

Jim Reynolds is good-naturedly sympathetic. At the time our interview was being conducted, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states were in the grips of a deep freeze and it was all I could do to keep my teeth from chattering while asking my questions. "It's actually very nice here," the South Pasadena, California resident says, as I shiver and try to operate my recorder with numb fingers. "Must be nice to be warm," I tell him. But Reynolds is undoubtedly good-natured, by all accounts. He is funny, well-spoken, talented - and is also currently being considered for a slew of prestigious (and well-deserved) awards as well. Enjoy my chat with this beloved Salemite as we dish about Abe, the show's future, sports, and oh yes! A possible new "lady" in his life.

Whether that new lady goes by the name "Image" or "Emmy," Reynolds is honored to be under consideration for both the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor, and the Daytime Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. While the Emmys are still in the pre-nomination phase, the Images will be given out on March 2. For both awards, Reynolds submitted the scenes in which Abe uncovers wife Lexie's affair with Tek and confronts them in the hotel room. "It's always hard to say they were fun to do, but they were fun to do," the actor jokes, of playing those scenes. Of the Emmys, Reynolds says he is "keeping his fingers and toes crossed for this year! It would be really nice to get an early morning phone call on March 14 and find out that I'm nominated. That would be very, very nice!"

Reynolds is one of the few actors from the show that has had his name on the final roster in recent years and the reasons for that is as baffling to the actor as to the rest of us. "There are some shows that do bloc-vote, and that's really unfortunate," he says carefully, "The nomination process is now, I think, much more fair than it was before..... The difficulty is the actual voting. And when you get down to those five people, if these shows bloc-vote, that's really unfortunate, it really is. You know, we have a responsibility to look at everyone's work and judge their work on it's merits. I periodically watch other shows. Unfortunately I can't do it every day. I know enough people on other shows, and know their work and like it and make sure I watch it, one; for my own enjoyment and the other; when the time comes for the Image Awards (or the Emmys), I'm more informed about their work."

As for his own work, Reynolds would like to see his character get back into the swing of things. "Things aren't going well with Abe at the moment. He's going blind, his wife left him, and he's on medical leave from his job. So at this moment, Abe is a little down and a little depressed and wondering what is going to happen next." What would the actor like to see happen? "There are a lot of things I would like to see," Reynolds offers, "I certainly want to see the commissioner get back to work. That's a really important part of Abe is to be able to work and whether he has to figure out how to do that while his eyesight is gone; that's a challenge that would be wonderful for him to meet. Or if he decides to have another cornea transplant and move through it and be able to see and function normally, then that would be a great thing for him to do as well. But I think it's important for Abe to get back to the Salem PD." Of his co-star and onscreen wife Renee Jones (Lexie), Reynolds took umbrage to her dismissal. "I was, and am, very upset about that," he states, "It's kind of difficult to go there and not have her there....We've been together a long, long time. We always joked that it was like another marriage and it many ways, it was." Will Jones ever be brought back? "If it were up to me, she would," Reynolds declares.

As an actor that has been in the daytime industry for quite a number of years (he was also Emmy-nominated for his role on the defunct Generations), Reynolds is philosophical about the future of soaps - and the future of Days. "I think the show's certainly there until 2009," he shares, "I don't think there is any question about that. I know that with the cancellation of Passions, a lot of people were concerned about the show's future. But we certainly know that for the next two years that Days will be there, and then we'll see what happens then. I think this time next year, we'll have a clearer idea of that. I think we're all just going to wait and see. I know I'm signed with the show until 2009 as well; we'll just hold our breath for our future together." Does Reynolds see any merit in the recent predictions that soaps are on the decline? "Well clearly, if you look at the evidence, they're waning," he states, "But the form has been with us forever, ever since Oedipus. That idea of continuing drama, whether it be the soap opera or the serial. That concept has been with us forever."

"I know a lot of people are looking at the telenovela concept now as another possibility and a way of continuing types of shows that soaps is," Reynolds goes on to say, "But the audience loves soaps. I think there is a huge audience out there for soap operas and American-style soap operas that not only end after a hundred episodes, but go on for ten thousand episodes. I think there is a future out there, whether it is on network TV, or whether it is on cable, you're going to see soap operas in that form for many years to come."

Never one to rest on his laurels, Reynolds has plenty of upcoming irons in the creative fire in addition to his Days role. As part of the Freemont Center Theater in South Pasadena, Reynolds finds the time to produce and direct a number of productions and has a one-man play scheduled to open on May 5. "I haven't been on stage in years," he tells me, "I've directed several plays but haven't actually performed. So I'm going to do my one-man show, "Eye to America," and run it for four weeks through the month of May. It's the first time I've done that show in about six or seven years. So it's going to be interesting to be up there, and hopefully a lot of people will come to see it." In addition, his film company is currently looking at scripts for their first film debut. "I hope to know something in the next couple of weeks." Will being under the lights make Reynolds picture himself in other roles as well? "I want to play Brutus in Julius Caesar," he decides, "That's one of the roles that I'd hoped to do in the next couple of years. There's certainly something out there that someone has written that I would love to do. There are lots of things out there. I'll read a book and there is a great character in the book, and I think I'd like to play that as a role. I'd like to play Alex Croft in the James Patterson books, about the detective. That would be a great character to play!"

The mention of Reynolds' hometown brings the actor and I into an interesting conversation about the University of Kansas men's basketball team (Reynolds is a true, blue Jayhawk) and sports figures, both in real life and portrayed in theater. "The first play my son Jed did after college, I was fortunate enough to direct and it was called "National Pastime." He played Jackie Robinson," Jed's dad says proudly, "And that went very, very well. He was wonderful in that role.... Obviously in directing this play, I'd always been an admirer of Jackie Robinson. My respect for him grew because of the kind of man that he was, the difficulties that he had to face daily in breaking the color line in baseball, and the courage that he showed. It may have been one of my best experiences in theater." When I point out that Robinson's greatness has been overshadowed in recent years by the use of performance-enhancing drugs in major league baseball, Reynolds declares, "Barry Bonds seems to get the brunt of the blame as far as pitchers from that era. So far, people have just been talking about hitters, none of whom have actually been proven as anything. And how many pitchers from that era were juiced? I think there is a really interesting debate that should go on about who belongs in the Hall of Fame and who shouldn't belong to the Hall of Fame..... Where do you go, and when do you stop and judge all that?"

"These guys are so driven," Reynolds continues, "There's a positive aspect to it and then there is this negative outcome."

But it's not just sports figures that draw both positive and negative attention from Reynolds, although of Robinson, he says, "I believe there are always people like him, people that show a lot of moral courage." He also finds himself amazed at Everyman. "I admire people that show physical courage as well." A recent USO gala in Washington DC had the actor in awe. "(We) met a number of Medal of Honor winners and they shared their stories with us. And I'm a Vietnam veteran as well, so I understand their struggle and what they went through. You have to admire people like that, " Reynolds says emphatically, "People who, either through their physical courage or their moral courage, stood up for something. That, to me, is something that's always worthy of admiration."

For Reynolds himself, he plans to keep enjoying life and his artistic endeavors, which incidentally, run in the family. He has another play coming up later in the year, "Raven's Woods," which he will be directing. "It's a very interesting play that deals with labor issues in this country, issues of wealth, and the end of communism in the former Soviet Union." Wife Lissa is currently training for a marathon before she opens her play, "Joanna's Husband, David's Wife" on March 17. Jed, now graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara, is taking acting classes (Reynolds' former cast mate Arianne Zuker is also enrolled), and coaching freshman basketball at South Pasadena High School. The Reynolds clan also takes the time to nurture their home community with charity work, including the National Asthma Foundation and the Ronald McDonald House, as well the city's high school basketball program. "I believe that we as citizens are responsible to our community and our fellow citizens."

Reynolds says the magic words, and off we go - on a college basketball chat that lasts at least ten minutes. His beloved Jayhawks were, at the time of this interview, scheduled to take on cross-state rivals Kansas State and Reynolds planned to watch every single second tick by. By this time, we are so engrossed in court talk that we both forget that we're supposed to be doing an interview. But that just goes to show you how easy and fun it can be to have a one on one conversation with this gentleman.

Hopefully, an award-winning gentleman. "I've had my speech ready for a long time," the actor smiles, "I shouldn't forget the words."

I would like to thank Jim Reynolds for taking the time to conduct this interview.

Photos courtesy of Jim Reynolds and NBC.

Visit Jim Reynolds on the web at