A DAY IN "THE LIFE OF RILEY"

You folks remember my history with "the stories". If not, be reminded by clicking on this entry: HAL IS GONE (AND SO IS LIFE AS WE ONCE KNEW)

Now, Darlene Conley, known as the  feisty fashion mogul Sally Spectra on "The Bold and the Beautiful," has died of stomach cancer. She was 72. Starting out as a villain December 1988 and nemesis to the Forrester Creations which her company Spectra Fashions could always be counted on to 'knock off' - giving 'the look for less' (and more profits for her). Over the years, however, she segued in and out of protaganism to be a damsel, a sexpot, a comedienne, a matriarch to a whole clan set apart from the Forresters. And eventually, those segments came to be intertwined. 

My memory of Darlene Conley (that stems from my childhood memories of my mother sharing her jones for the CBS Soaps with my siblings and me) comes from another CBS Soap: "The Young & The Restless". In the late '70s, she played Rose DeVille, the leader of a prostitution ring from which the young character Nikki Reed was her most profitable call girl (now billionaire wife of Victor Newman, Nikki Newman). But there was also a young call girl named Nina, who would go on to marry Jill's late son Phillip (who we are now hearing may not be her son after all, but that's another "story" for another day). I didn't get exactly what the business was and how it all went down, given I was not even ten years old. But Darlene's portrayal of Rose scared me. But somehow, watching it with my mom made it okay and made that one less nightmare for me to have (as there were a slew of other things I was watching without parental guidance that kept me awake at night).

REST IN PEACE, SALLY!

REST IN PEACE, DARLENE!

REST IN PEACE, MOM!