Steve Burton talks to us about his 35 years in daytime and more! Read More Here>>>
Photo Credit: Bradford Anderson
By: Angela Ryan-Duncan
Over the past 35 years, Steve Burton has solidified his place in the daytime history books playing 4 amazing characters on 3 amazing soap operas. He debuted on Days of Our Lives on July 21, 1988, as Harris Michaels, a role he returned to last year on Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem Chapter 2 and then brought back to the mothership earlier this year. He then moved to General Hospital where he played Jason Quartermaine and then transformed into Jason Morgan, his longest-running, and arguably most iconic, role. It was also the one that won him the first of 2 Daytime Emmy awards. Burton took a four-year break from GH to hop over to The Young and the Restless where he portrayed Dylan McAvoy and won his second Daytime Emmy. We recently got to chat with Mr. Burton about his 35 years in soaps. Keep reading to find out what he shared with us about his journey in daytime and what's next!
Soap Opera News: So very excited to talk to you. July 21st marks 35 years in daytime for you. That's quite an accomplishment.
Steve Burton: 35. That's just crazy and it's amazing. When I got Days, when I was doing Beyond Salem, I thought that this is just crazy that I'm going back to where I started. It's not often you get to do things that are full circle like that, from 1988 and then all the way back here again. And it was kind of, emotional to some degree because my dad is not with us anymore, but he was a big part of my life and obviously my acting. He was the one who really pushed me and said 'Why don't you give it a try?' I did, and he would take me to all my auditions, and we would go over to where NBC is and it was just really cool. I'm grateful to still be doing it, that's for sure.
SON: Can you tell us your most memorable storyline for each of your characters? Harris Michaels, Jason Quartermaine, Jason Morgan, and Dylan McAvoy.
Burton: That's a tough one but for Dylan, I would say the going undercover story and the story there with Sharon. Because of that story, I was able to win my second Emmy after close to 20 years. For Quartermaine, I would say Monica's breast cancer story. I had a lot of amazing stuff with Leslie Charleson in that. Jason Morgan, there were way too many to pick one, so many were great.
For Days I would say, storywise, Beyond Salem was great. Just to go back and do such a big arc in a short amount of time was just a lot of fun. I've got a good story right now on Days too, it's exciting.
SON: So the last time we saw Harris onscreen he was asking Marlena (Deidre Hall) to commit him to Bayview and there are a lot of rumors swirling around that.
Burton: Well, you know I can't say anything but we'll see what happens. Bayview is going to be exciting. It's exciting and a great way to start this next leg of my story. It's going to be fun and the fans will definitely enjoy it.
SON: How would you describe Harris to a fan who doesn't watch Days?
Burton: I think Harris is right in between where Jason Morgan is and where Dylan McAvoy is. Harris is a Navy SEAL, he's seen a lot. He has some emotional struggles about the things that he's done that Dylan did also. Jason doesn't really but he does have a lot of the emotional parts after coming back from Russia, for sure, he was a lot different than before Russia. I was able to show more of my personality with Dylan than with Jason or Harris. But that could just be a temporary thing for Harris because of the stories he's been involved in and feeling guilt about the things that he's done. And now he's going to Bayview to protect himself from doing those things again. So maybe he'll come out of that differently. I don't want to say Harris is a hybrid of Jason and Dylan, but he is to some degree.
SON: Is there anyone at Days that you want to work with that you haven't had a chance to yet?
Burton: I'm working with Brandon (Barash) a lot so that's a lot of fun. I've gotten to work with some that I can't say because that gives too much away. I haven't worked with Eric Martsolf a lot and I'd like to. I'd like to work with James Reynolds. I haven't had any two-person scenes with him and that would be really cool. I've always been a fan of his. I can't really say more than that without giving things away but I've worked with so many incredible people here and everyone will find out over time.
SON: What other character would you have loved to play on each of the three shows?
Burton: Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary), Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), and Patch (Stephen Nichols).
SON: That was easy!
Burton: That's the easiest question and the coolest thing is that I've gotten to work with all of them. That's the best part about it. I remember I was in a scene with Stephen Nichols and I said 'Dude,
I just can't believe I'm here working with you guys.' I got to work with
everybody, all the legends, all the veterans over at GH because that was my
home show. And then I went to YNR, and I got to work with all the veterans, Peter, Eric, Melody, and so many more. And then I back come
to Days and you're always in the grocery store and you're seeing Patch and Kayla, Bo and Hope, John
Black and Marlena and Roman. And it's just so crazy
to be able to work with them all. It's incredible.
SON: You have your weekly podcast with Bradford Anderson, Stone Cold and The Jackal. Any upcoming guests you can share with us?
Burton: We got some people recently but they are hesitant because of the SAG strike and we're not sure if they can do it or not so we're working on that right now and waiting to see about them but Lauren (Koslow) said she would do it and some people at GH said they would.
SON: This has been a lot of fun. One last question before we let you go. Any message you want to send to the fans?
Burton: I'm always so grateful for the support over the years. I
would not have a career if the fans didn't support me, support the shows that
I've been on, and follow me to each show. I can't say enough about how grateful I am.
It's really a unique journey too, because there are people who've been with me
since day one, who I've known for a long time now. I know a lot of these fans, we know them and it's crazy. We get to know their families, we
get to know what's going on. There's a fan now that's in the hospital who's
real close to us and we're praying for her. And we always get messages from
people telling us what's going on and it becomes more than fans at some point because we have relationships
with them. I say we because I'm always talking about me and Bradford and we've known some of them for years and it's awesome.
I think, honestly, the only thing you can compare it to is wrestling fans, You could say that because they have the same loyalty. But what happens is, at some point, some of those people grow out of that. And with daytime, no one grows out of it because it's passed on from generation to generation. That's what's so incredible to us. And being on the road and going to these appearances, which I've done since I started, I'm able to meet a lot of people. We meet four generations sometimes, which is crazy. Great-grandma, grandma, mom, daughters, all either Days fans, YNR fans, GH fans and it's passed on. So I think it is a unique audience. There's no fan base like it and I am just so grateful.
We are so grateful to Steve Burton for taking the time to talk to us about this momentous milestone and can't wait to see what's next for Harris Michaels! Happy daytime anniversary Steve and here's to many more! You can catch Days of Our Lives, on weekdays, on Peacock.
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