Tuc Watkins

As if One Life to Live could afford to have another good actor depart, the charming Tuc Watkins takes leave very soon for his home on the West Coast. To his credit, Mr Watkins doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, but that doesn't mean he isn't armed with some serious talent: his ad libs certainly add to a viewer's enjoyment. They don't make 'em much more fetching or more fit than him and NYC's loss will be difficult to replace. While he will be missed by more than a few people here, his poetry in motion will simply be on another coast.


David Vickers, Watkins' character, is a unique creation and there isn't another like it on the Daytime TV map. As Carolyn Hinsey states in today's New York Daily News: "Watkins has been appearing on [One Life to Live] on and off since creating the role ... in 1994. In the interim, he has also worked ... as a series regular on Showtime's Beggars & Choosers from 1997-2001. [Where he played a gay TV executive] He has an open door at [One Life to Live] because his character is the comic foil for the more serious goings-on in Llanview. Indeed, one of his last scenes involved a go-round with six-time Emmy-winner Erika Slezak (Viki) wearing nothing but a frilly ladies' apron.

'I reached for the most masculine article of clothing I could find, and there it was,' he quips.



Watkins adds that 'the time just felt right' to leave again. 'I saw that the end was near for [David's imprisoned brother] Spencer, and a guy like David wouldn't want to stick around and watch that wave just peter out. David felt that he had come to the end of a chapter in Llanview, and when a guy like that comes to the end of a chapter, you gotta go.'

Watkins' immediate plans include plugging the movie The Good Shepherd (with Matt Damon), in which he plays a technical officer, auditioning for new projects, and buying and fixing up old houses in L.A., where he now lives.

'Although I am smart enough to hire someone else to do the electrical,' he says.

Watkins adds that he will keep up with his old pals by watching them at the gym.

'I know that I haven't been paying enough attention to One Life to Live when I look up at the monitor and see that Bob Woods [Bo] has changed his hairstyle,' he says."