Leanna Love Is Back on ‘Y&R’! Barbara Crampton Talks Her Intrepid Reporter’s Return

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Barbara Crampton took The Young and the Restless’ Leanna Love from a short-term unbalanced villain back in the late 1980s to one of the show’s most entertaining, exasperating characters ever to set foot in Genoa City. Now, the actress is reprising Leanna for a limited run on Y&R, starting Friday, March 24. Watch for the feminist biographer character to bring her intrusive reporter persona to the bi-centennial gala storyline that’s coinciding with Y&R’s 50^th anniversary celebration.

TV Insider chatted with the actress, who is known not only for her soap roles but also for her vast work in the horror film genre, about her return. Read on for an entertaining chat with the fan favorite.

You were originally planned to be short term: Leanna would try to kill Ashley (Eileen Davidson), presumably fail, and then, leave the canvas one way or the other. However, Bill Bell [Y&R’s head writer, senior executive producer] saw what you were doing on-screen and redirected things.

Barbara Crampton: Yes. I was brought on for maybe three months or so. For whatever reason, Bill liked what he saw and thought I could make something out of this. So, they had to redeem me a little bit. Leanna was Steven Lassiter’s [Rod Arrants] patient who was unwell mentally. I talked to some psychiatrists and came up with this borderline personality [character] with bouts of psychosis. That’s what I played. You can’t continue that for too long! So, they redeemed me a lot.

Well, redeemed Leanna…

[Laughs] To a point!

Yes. The entertainment level didn’t drop.

That’s what’s so nice about soap operas. It’s rigorous work. At the same time, the writers really watch you and they play to your strengths. They’ll see what you’re doing and write to it. Nobody was really doing comedy. Terry Lester [ex-Jack] did to a degree with the flippant attitude he was playing. I tried to do that and they started writing to it. It evolved between the writers and myself and whoever I was working with.

You were later working with lots of other people on the show.

I think the show does that. They try to put characters together and see what sparks. You could have what seems to be an innocuous on-screen exchange in an elevator, for example, but they’re looking for things.

Francis Specker/CBS

Sure. There’s been many an on-screen chemistry test.

That’s why I try to have chemistry with everybody! That’s a conscious choice of mine. I do think it’s an actor’s job to have chemistry with everyone. I try to find that with every single actor with whom I work. If I don’t have chemistry then I don’t feel I’m doing my job.

Sometimes chemistry just happens, but if it doesn’t, how do you help create it?

It’s about looking at someone and being interested in what they’re saying. There might be some flirtation. It depends on who I’m acting with. You can have a rapport, a familiarity with lots of people. I try to be interested in whoever I’m acting with. It’s either flirtation or intrigue. It’s being open to what the other person is giving me.

One of the great things about Leanna is that she has history with so many people. She helped break up Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) marriage when Leanna (AKA Nora Randall) wrote about Ashley’s abortion in the Victor Newman unauthorized biography titled Ruthless. What was it like when you started working with other folks?

I was grateful. I felt like I was working with the big guns. I started with Terry Lester before Peter Bergman took over the role of Jack. I was with so many amazing performers — Eric and Melody. You can’t take your eyes off them when they’re on-screen. I had been on one other soap — Days of our Lives [as Trista Evans Bradford] — for about a year. That was my first job. I was getting my feet wet.

It was intimidating at first to be working with Eric and Melody, but they were amazing to me! They always have been. Everybody was great. I had a wonderful time with them. It was a very exciting time for me. Leanna got better psychologically and she dealt with love and loss — all the things that are important to human beings.

Not every villain can transform the way Leanna did. Bill often wrote out his villains but if he saw something in an actor… he’d find a way to keep them around.  

Bill was a master at doing that. He could figure out how to massage the character and morph them into someone whom loyal audiences would accept.

Leanna had this great line at the Chancellor mansion to Katherine (Jeanne Cooper) after she exposed Jill (Jess Walton) for two-timing Rex (Quinn Redeker) and John (Jerry Douglas)… “So, this is how the other half ‘loves.’” Do you recall that?

I don’t. [Laughs] But I’m glad you do!

Can you preview Leanna’s return? Do you have material you can sink your teeth into?

I have to say that they gave me a lot of dialogue my first few days. I had to re-exercise that muscle. You have to be performance ready. It was a little daunting. I haven’t used that muscle in a while, but it went great. Lauralee [Bell, Christine] was watching one of the scenes I was doing with Kate Linder [Esther]. She said, “Barbara, that’s it! That’s Leanna! You’re amazing!” I had to say I think the writers really wrote for me well. They understand who Leanna is. It was like no time had passed. It felt like the same character.

They had me talk to nearly everyone at the party. There were a lot of things about what’s been going on at the companies. That was exciting. My very first scene is with Peter Bergman and Susan Walters [Diane]. I know Peter. He’s a mensch. Susan’s so nice. She’s this wonderful actress. I felt very welcome back into the family.

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You’ve played other roles…Trista, Mindy on Guiding Light, and Maggie on The Bold and the Beautiful. Which role are you recognized for the most when you’re out and about?

Oh, definitely Leanna Love. People remember me. She’s a bigger than life character.

Are you open to coming back for more?  

Sure! They had called me a few times over the last decade or so. The only reason I haven’t before is that I was living in San Francisco. I’m doing other things. I let my agent know I was back in [Los Angeles]. I reached out and asked, “Do you think you might like to have Leanna visit?” They said, “Absolutely.” It was a wonderful time.

It was very nice to be welcomed back by everybody. Lauralee, especially, went out of her way. She’s become an ambassador to the show now that her parents are gone. She was messaging me saying she was so happy I was back. She didn’t have to do that. But she did and I really appreciate that. It shows the character of the family she grew up in. I’m glad she’s taken up that mantle.

You have a whole other world you’re involved in — the horror genre. Are there similarities with the horror film world and the soap world?

Yes. I feel like I’ve done horror movies as long as I’ve done soap operas. Horror films are about heightened fear but also heroism and winning in the end. Soaps have high stakes, too. There are similarities with the fandoms. There are people who love scary movies and they’re fervent and loyal. So are fans of soap operas. They love their stories.

 

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What do you have coming up in the horror world?

I have three or four coming up — The Last Stop in Yuma County and Blackout. I did another movie — that was a festival and is looking for a distributor. I play a comedic role in that movie. The biggest project I have coming out is a movie I’ve been shepherding for the past couple of years. It’s called Suitable Flesh and Heather Graham [Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me] is the lead. It’s really fun and cool and deals with time travel.

I’m in Jakob’s Wife, which is out now. I play a vampire in that. I executive produced a movie that J.K. Simmons [Oscar winner, Whiplash] is in called Glorious. He’s amazing. That also has a little [humor]. A lot of the movies I do have a comedic bent to them. I like to instill humor into a lot of my projects. Life is full of absurdity. I look for absurd moments that can be put in a movie. I want to entertain. One of the commandments of an actor is “Thou shalt not bore!”

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