Soap Opera Weekly, Feb. 12, 1991 (enlarged text below)
(My sincere thanks to Wayne for the scan!)
(My sincere thanks to Wayne for the scan!)
Paul Rossilli, GH’s mysterious David Gray, went from TV to radio
Until Paul Rossilli began an eight-month stint on General Hospital, he was best known to TV audiences as the spokesperson for Agree shampoo and conditioner. He was, however, already familiar to New York theater audiences for 15 years of work, in a range of productions from regional to off-Broadway to Lincoln Center.
When Rossilli moved to California in the early 80’s, GH was at the height of its popularity, earning unprecedented ratings. Never having been a fan of daytime TV, Rossilli didn’t realize what a change the magical, hypnotic David Gray was from your typical soap-opera villain.
“The interesting thing about David Gray,” he remembers, “was they (the writers) had no idea what was happening with him from week to week. So I found myself saying things that were so contradictory that it was often hard to believe.”
He was surprised at how popular the character was. “People responded despite the fact that I was after America’s sweetheart.” (Gray was thought responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of Laura Spencer.)
Since leaving GH in 1982, Rossilli has been approached by other soap operas, but has not taken them up on their offers. “I’m not interested in long-term contracts,” he says, adding, “I’ve been selective in the roles I do.”
Among the roles he’s taken have been as Jack the Ripper terrorizing modern-day Arizona in Bridge Across Time (renamed Terror at London Bridge on video) with David Hasselhoff (ex-Snapper Foster, The Young and the Restless) and as a seductive ghost who pursues Jane Seymour in The Haunting Passion. “Because of my exposure in the Agree commercials and as David Gray,” he says, “My eyes, just my eyes, were full-page ads for both those movies.”
Most recently, Rossilli was seen as the lead gangster in the NBC TV movie Johnny Ryan. Although it seems that he’s always playing the bad guys, Rossilli points out, “I’ve been cast pretty often as priests.”
He also finds himself cast in the role of Europeans. He showed up as a duke on the comedy Doctor, Doctor and as Joanie’s French husband in the Eight is Enough reunion specials. Last year, he played Valmont in a Cleveland production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The New Jersey-born actor credits his classical training and his ability to mimic accents as the reason he gets cast as foreigners.
Lately, Rossilli has been taking a more active interest in running a California radio station he owns. The station, KBET, features mainly an oldies format with some Top 40 mixed in. It started out as an investment, but when he got concerned about his money and realized that things were being mismanaged, he decided to step in. “You really have to have hands on at a certain point,” he says. “Hands on,” he points out, does not mean actually getting on the air or picking the music. That he leaves totally up to the programmers. He concentrates solely on the business end.
While business never interested Rossilli before, he’s coming to like it. He finds the switch between running business meetings and running to auditions quite amusing. “I’m used to walking in and being the boss,” he says. “Then suddenly, I’m the one walking into the room looking for approval."
When Rossilli moved to California in the early 80’s, GH was at the height of its popularity, earning unprecedented ratings. Never having been a fan of daytime TV, Rossilli didn’t realize what a change the magical, hypnotic David Gray was from your typical soap-opera villain.
“The interesting thing about David Gray,” he remembers, “was they (the writers) had no idea what was happening with him from week to week. So I found myself saying things that were so contradictory that it was often hard to believe.”
He was surprised at how popular the character was. “People responded despite the fact that I was after America’s sweetheart.” (Gray was thought responsible for the disappearance and presumed murder of Laura Spencer.)
Since leaving GH in 1982, Rossilli has been approached by other soap operas, but has not taken them up on their offers. “I’m not interested in long-term contracts,” he says, adding, “I’ve been selective in the roles I do.”
Among the roles he’s taken have been as Jack the Ripper terrorizing modern-day Arizona in Bridge Across Time (renamed Terror at London Bridge on video) with David Hasselhoff (ex-Snapper Foster, The Young and the Restless) and as a seductive ghost who pursues Jane Seymour in The Haunting Passion. “Because of my exposure in the Agree commercials and as David Gray,” he says, “My eyes, just my eyes, were full-page ads for both those movies.”
Most recently, Rossilli was seen as the lead gangster in the NBC TV movie Johnny Ryan. Although it seems that he’s always playing the bad guys, Rossilli points out, “I’ve been cast pretty often as priests.”
He also finds himself cast in the role of Europeans. He showed up as a duke on the comedy Doctor, Doctor and as Joanie’s French husband in the Eight is Enough reunion specials. Last year, he played Valmont in a Cleveland production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The New Jersey-born actor credits his classical training and his ability to mimic accents as the reason he gets cast as foreigners.
Lately, Rossilli has been taking a more active interest in running a California radio station he owns. The station, KBET, features mainly an oldies format with some Top 40 mixed in. It started out as an investment, but when he got concerned about his money and realized that things were being mismanaged, he decided to step in. “You really have to have hands on at a certain point,” he says. “Hands on,” he points out, does not mean actually getting on the air or picking the music. That he leaves totally up to the programmers. He concentrates solely on the business end.
While business never interested Rossilli before, he’s coming to like it. He finds the switch between running business meetings and running to auditions quite amusing. “I’m used to walking in and being the boss,” he says. “Then suddenly, I’m the one walking into the room looking for approval."