Ellen Dolan talks about leaving soap operas and what brought her back

After four years of playing Maureen Reardon Bauer on the soap opera, guide light, Ellen Dolan decided that she should go to Los Angeles to further her acting career. This is what happened next:

Ellen Dolan: So, I quit and went out and immediately did the standard ‘do two national commercials a year and then do a lot of regional theater.’ What did I do.

Until one night I went to buy dinner, which was either a can of cat food for my cats or some peanut butter for me. And you had to feed the cats. And I couldn’t call home for money. So it was like, oh dear.

So I went up to my agents and said, “Get me out, get me out.” And they did. And I started doing all these pilots and everything. and trying. And that’s how we ended up thinking that I should go to Los Angeles.

And that’s when I got the call from Doug Marland saying “Would you do Margo again?” And I thought… yes. I want to go home. I want to be in New York. And I want to do the kind of roles that women can do during the day. Yes.

And the same thing happened when I quit As the world turns in ’92, I think. And I came back to Los Angeles thinking I really have to try again. I have to give it a good chance, because I was almost 30 years old at the time, 36? And by Hollywood standards, that’s…

Susan Dansby: On the hill.

Ellen Dolan: That’s over the hill.

So I went there and booked a pilot again, right away. I did all the good and right things. And I was living in a nice place. And I was working on different things.

You know, I got to the point where I was doing two episodes in Walker, Texas Ranger. I was in Texas and I looked at everything and thought, this is not as fun as the character he was doing during the day.

So when I found out Margo was being traded, I called my agent and said, I want to go back to New York.

And they said, are you sure? Are you absolutely sure? Because if we call Vince and bother him, it’s going to be hell to pay. And I said, yes, I’m sure. I have never made a character that is as interesting as Margo.