Phenomenal, classy, elegant, beautiful and talented are just a few words that pop into my mind whenever someone mentions the name of daytime actress Jess Walton in my presence. For nearly 20 years, Walton has wowed viewers with her performance as Genoa City vixen, Jill Foster Abbott. However, keen longtime viewers may remember another role that made Walton a household name in the daytime community. “Prior to assuming the role of Jill, I played the role of Kelly Clegg on Capitol,” she says. “Capitol was my first soap and actually my first contract role, and we were all very disappointed when we got word that the show was going to be cancelled.”  But Walton and the cast of Capitol were not the only ones shocked at the network’s decision to pull the plug, so were the viewers. 

“There was an extreme, extreme shift in the storylines once we got word of the cancellation that we were unsure of what was going on. To be honest, I think the writers and producers ended the show how they did thinking and hoping it would get picked up on another network.”

Unfortunately, Capitol never emerged from cancellation slumber and the cast hoped fate was on their side, as they began auditioning for work. Well fate was on Walton’s side, as she stepped into Jill’s spiky high heels and poofy hair assuming the role from Brenda Dickinson in 1987 and boy what a ride the last 20 years has been for Walton and  Jill.

Long lost children, a newly discovered mother and unlucky in love, is there anything Jill has not done yet? “I don’t think so, but I don’t know” Walton says with a laugh. There is one thing she would like to see the show do for Jill. “I would love the show to bring back Jill’s son Billy permanently. Personally I think it would make for a very entertaining storyline having Billy back in Genoa City and competing with his half-brother Cane for Jill’s time and attention.”

Additionally, Billy is a member of the Abbott family (something Walton picked up on before I got it out of my mouth) and as long time viewers know, the Abbott family has virtually disappeared from this show over the last few years, leaving Jack as the lone survivor.  Now that it appears as if battle swords are about to be drawn between Jack and Gloria, Billy’s return would certainly give Jack an ally in his corner.

“Essentially I have been an Abbott my whole life on the show,” Walton says.  “I was very disappointed by the decision to slowly phase this family out on the show….there is so much history with them and the Abbott’s are tied somehow to a lot of characters still on the show.”

Since it appears that Billy’s return to Genoa City is not on the immediate horizon, I guess Cane can still enjoy one on one time and attention from his new found mommy. And speaking of Cane, longtime viewers were not to happy with the discovery that he was Jill’s son, let alone the real Phillip Chancellor. After all, we saw Phillip die on screen (something Walton points out was the idea of Bill Bell at the time) and his widow Nina take their son and leave town not to long afterwards.

“I know longtime viewers were not very happy at all with this move,” reveals Walton. “I loved the storyline and still do to be honest, it gave the show a lot of great drama and us a lot of great storyline to act out  Cane’s true paternity provided Jill and Kay the chance to be at each others throats and it put them on the out’s with one another again, after all switching the children would give Jill a good reason to hate Kay.

Then I happened to mention an old character that could provide an interesting twist to this storyline and Walton excitedly agreed when she heard who it was. “I would love to see Tricia Cast in the role of Nina back on the show and a return by Nina and Little Phillip could still be done and would be very interesting and exciting. Besides, Tricia, Jeanne and I always had a lot of fun working with one another and I loved the comic aspect between the three characters.”

Besides, having Nina back in town might give Amber an ally when it comes to dealing with Kay and Jill, and that would be entertainment. Can I just say, how much I love Adrienne Frantz,” Walton says excitedly. I think she is such a great addition to the cast, we always laugh and have fun in our scenes together. Adrienne is a great actress, very alive….very magnificent.”

Who knows, perhaps Amber and Jill could become friends and confidants.  Now here is a thought, what if Amber helped Jill find a man, after all Jill seems to have been unsuccessful in love department with all her failed marriages and relationships over the years. Viewers had hoped that Jill was finally going to find her love of a lifetime, when Walton was paired opposite of Eric Steinberg’s Ji Min.  “Oohhh I absolutely loved working with Eric,” she says.  And that is why Walton and daytime viewers were shocked with the announcement that the show decided to fire Steinberg and kill off the character of Ji Min.

“I was horribly disappointed, because Eric and I thought that there was so much potential and so much storyline that could be told for Jill and Ji Min. I thought it was an unexpected, unusual and very interesting pairing for Jill,” she says. “I am still very disappointed that it ended.”    

However, love and romance could be in the wings for Jill especially now that Ted Shackelford has returned to the show. “I have been getting hints at a possible Jill/Gloria/Jeffrey triangle, at some point down the road but I do not know that for sure.” Walton however is excited to have Shackelford back on the show. “I like Ted a lot,” she says. “I was just as surprised as the viewers when they decided to kill off his original character Will.” 

But if a triangle never develops between Gloria/Jeffrey/Jill, now that Victor and Nikki are divorced the show could always revisit a pairing between Victor and Jill. “Eric Braden is a fascinating actor to work with,” she says. “I think a Victor and Jill pairing would be VERY interesting.”

And perhaps a romance or the return of her other son, might keep Walton and Jill from languishing on the back burner as she had done in previous years. “In daytime everything is cyclical,” she states. “Nowadays, the shows have such large casts that it is hard to incorporate storylines for everyone into a 30 minute or even an hour long show. I actually won an Emmy and Emmy nominations while I was in a storyline that was placed on the back burner. Being put on the back burner has happened to me a few times, storylines start out strong in the beginning and then are shelved until later.”

No matter, what has happened or will happen in the future to which Walton has “no idea” - one thing is for certain, she has many, many longtime storylines that hold a soft spot in her heart. “Ohh they’re so many of them,” she says with a laugh.” “I loved the storyline when Mamie was in love with John Abbott and Jill viewed her as competition, that was fun…..I also liked the storyline when Kay was kidnapped and her imposter Marge took her place, and Kay’s husband ended up turning to Jill.”

The most intriguing storyline that jumps into Walton’s mind, revolves around her true parentage and who her unlikely biological mother was. “When the writers pitched that storyline to us, I thought it would give an interesting twist to the show and the characters of Kay and Jill….these two have always had animosity with one another and now Jill is Kay’s daughter, yes the show rewrote history but that is necessary in daytime to an extent.”

One thing’s for sure though, for this icon and veteran no amount of rewritten history will ever change the impact the actress and her character(s) have made on daytime. She’s as popular as ever and enriches our viewing experience every time we tune in and see her on screen.  Jess Walton above all is one of the classiest ladies to ever grace our small screens. Here’s hoping to enjoy her talents for many, many years yet to come.

I would like to thank Jess Walton for taking time out of her busy shooting schedule to talk to us here at Soaptown USA. Also, I would like to thank her publicist, Charles Sherman for making this interview happen. 

Photos courtesy of JPI Studios