Familiar faces continue to pop up on The Young and the Restless as the show’s 50th celebration continues this week. On Wednesday, Patty Weaver reprises her role as Gina Roma to attend the Genoa City bi-centennial gala at the Genoa City Athletic Club. It’s only fitting that Gina make an appearance as she is not only a beloved character but also because she once managed the establishment after her restaurant Gina’s burned to the ground. (Yeah, we’re looking at you, Kevin!)
TV Insider chatted with Weaver about her return, the moment she literally went over the top on the show, and her new career as an artist.
“Isn’t it something?” Weaver rhetorically asks. “How many people’s lives have been affected by soaps. When I was back at the show, I was thinking about [series late creators] Bill and Lee Bell. They created this whole environment. People have had jobs and careers because of them.”
There was a time when music was used regularly on soaps. Y&R producers tapped into Weaver’s singing ability to join TV brother Michael Damian (Danny) on stage for his rock concerts. She also performed both a version of the show’s opening theme with lyrics but also the Melissa Manchester hit ‘Through the Eyes of Love’ from the film Ice Castles. The tune has been played at a few of the weddings for supercouple Victor and Nikki (Eric Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott) — and at one of their divorces, too!
“I was so honored to be back,” Weaver says. “It’d been a while. Y&R was such a huge part of my life. To see everyone and meet the new people as well. I’m naturally a shy person but it was so easy to go up to people and say hello. It was great seeing Michael again. It’s like seeing family.”
As the owner of Gina’s restaurant and later, the Genoa City Athletic Club, Weaver got to interact with most of the cast. Gina was involved with Lauren’s (Tracey Bregman) father Neil Fenmore (Jim Storm) and later, she fell for the charms of criminal Clint Radison (James Michael Gregary), who tried to swindle Katherine Chancellor (the late Jeanne Cooper) out of her millions.
Gina confronted an incarcerated Clint and the glass partition barely protected the felon from Gina’s unbridled wrath as she nearly hurdled it in an attempt to get even with the rascal. “That was so fun to [do],” Weaver recalls. “To be that free…”
Weaver worked with the late Quinn Redeker, who passed away in January, not only on Y&R where he played her father Rex Sterling (a.k.a. Brian Romalotti) but also on Days of our Lives where she was Trish Banning and he was Alex Marshall. “Quinn was fantastic,” Weaver shares. “He was a great match for Jeanne. They were both so outrageous. I had known Quinn for some time. He [co] wrote The Deer Hunter. I remember him saying that the next great war we’d fight would be with terrorism. He was very deep. I loved the way he used to clear his voice before taping scenes!”
Weaver and Barbara Crampton (Leanne Love), who also returned for the Y&R anniversary, shared a dressing room this time around. “It was fun to see each other,” Weaver says. “We knew each other on Days [where she played Trista Evans Bradford].”
Is she open for more appearances as Gina should Y&R reach out? “Of course,” Weaver cheerfully responds. “I had so much fun!”
In recent years, Weaver’s found a second career as an artist following the death of her husband Jerry Birn [a longtime writer for Y&R]. “One night, I closed my eyes,” she recalls. “The next morning, I woke up, drove to an art store, and picked out a bunch of supplies. I had no idea what I was doing. I came home and started painting and it’s really taken off. I had never picked up a paint brush in my life. I can’t explain it. But I think it was a gift given to me. I think if something presents itself to you — like painting did with me — you have to embrace it. I feel totally free with my art.”
Weaver has another wish: that Y&R and other daytime dramas continue to celebrate more anniversaries. “I hope networks stick with soaps,” she says. “I think the people who watch our shows almost do it as a form of family. Viewers know the characters. Soaps provide consistency in people’s lives and we have such little consistency. There’s a sense of family. That’s my two cents!”
