The following was the very first piece of information I ever got on Lane Davies: can you imagine just how excited I was!
1994 (in Russia it was the time of the Lily Light s/l)
My cutting is from EVENING EKATERINBURG (newspaper), and this copied it from KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA
Author: Irina Mastykina
MASON FROM SANTA BARBARA
Two small rooms, divided by a plastic wall. A wide bed, a mini bar with Moskovskaya vodka ($32 a bottle) and Bacardi rum ($7), a auto regulating air conditioner. Everything thats needed for comfort. Even champagne and flowers and fruit. When I peeped into the price list in the hotel hall, I saw the suite Lane stays in is quite common. Not a presidential one. Far from Victoria Ruffos and Veronica Castros (these are Mexican soap stars Olga).
As they explained to me in the committee organizing the White Nights festival, in the USA the actor is not as popular as he is in Russia. Lane does not agree with this. Before Santa Barbara he was really not so well known, but after it premiered he started getting mail in big buckets. Unlike Russian fans, American ones express their love for actors in this very way.
Q: Lane, how did it happen so that youve become a member of the jury of this festival in Saint Petersburg?
A: This trip was organized by Larry Namar (help me spell it right! Olga), the president of COMPSPAN company that sold SB to Russia. He learnt I was very popular here and suggested I go. I hope to get to know Russian people better and to make contact with the theatrical world here: Ive been managing my own Santa Susana theatre company for six years already.
Q: Is the company big?
A: About 50 people. I hope it will soon grow into an Art Center with a capital of $64 million.
Q: In Russia youre known as the actor who played the role of Mason Capwell. What role does this character play in your life?
A: Practically, its a friend that I had and that was gone then. When I was still doing SB, Mason was a part of me, his life was my life.
Q: Is the show over yet?
A: It was finished two years ago.
Q: And how long had it lasted?
A: Seven years. And it aired as long.
Q: How many episodes are there all in all?
A: More than two thousand.
Q: Can you tell us what it ended with?
A: I left the show two years prior to its ending, so there was much I just do not know.
Q: Why did you leave?
A: Five years of ones life is long enough a period. I wanted to do something else.
Q: What way out did the writers, the Dobsons, find for Mason?
A: They sent Mason to Europe. I did the same, I traveled for more than half a year. What did I not see!
Q: So, there was no Mason in the later episodes?
A: Yes, there was, but played by a different actor.
Q: Are you any different from your personage?
A: I do not drink as much and I am much happier. My mind is not Machiavellian, unlike Masons.
Q: Do you have the same sense of humor and irony Mason possesses?
A: Yes, I do; that was the main reason for the Dobsons to invite me for the role.
Q: Are you as faithful in real life as in the show?
A: Yes, I think I am. In Saint Petersburg Ive met many beautiful women. There were many temptation, but I fled them. If I came to Russia earlier, when I was not married yet, who knows what would happen.
Q: If you could choose a partner for yourself in SB, who would you choose?
A: Mary, of course.
Q: Say, is Harley Kozak as self-sacrificing in life, is she as kindly?
A: Shes different, but still shes a very good person.
Q: Did your onscreen romance tell on your private life?
A: You see, making long soaps when your character is in love with somebody, you tend to overlook the difference between real life and the onscreen life.
Q: Did your real life romance help you?
A: Only on the screen. In reality it led to us having many problems.
Q: Are you in touch with Harley now?
A: I cant say we dine out together very often, but sometimes it happens. We write to each other, as were still very good friends.
Q: Why did the writers decide to kill Mary off? Was it the actresss decision, or were there other reasons for this?
A: I still cannot understand why it happened.
Q: Who, besides Harley Kozak, are you friendly with?
A: A Martinez, the actor playing Cruz, and Todd McKee, my younger brother in the show.
Q: How did you shoot the soap?
A: In San Francisco, SB was a special industry. There were many pavilions with permanent interiors where different storylines were being shot simultaneously. After this they cut the film and made the eppies, so that there always were some in store for the future.
In Saint Petersburg Lane Davies did not see a single episode of the soap that had been awarded all the prizes and awards in existence. He did not have the time to, as he had not had the time to watch the show up to the end at home. Mason Capwell is far away from him now
MASONS KISS
SWEPT A SHY ST.PETERSBURG GIRL OFF HER FEET
For some reason or other it seemed that Lane Davies, the actor who played the role of Mason in SB, was stunned by the hospitality of Saint Petersburg hosts. A bodyguard, banquets every night in the best restaurants of the city, a reception at the governors. Everywhere people delighted, applauding, asking for an autograph. In Pushkin Lane had to leave autographs on his fans palms. In Ekaterininsky Palace, at the watchers request, he wrote in a bold hand on one of the screens, To babushkas (grandmothers) from Mason.
Q: When you were getting ready to start for Russia, did you learn any Russian words?
A: Spasibo (thank you), pozhaluysta (please / you are welcome), do svidaniya (good bye), vodka (vodka), vino (wine).
Q: Have you had a chance to taste Russian vodka yet?
A: No, Ive got concerts every night and I do not drink when I work. At receptions Ive had red wine that I prefer to other spirits.
Q: Which of the three vices are you mostly prone to: alcohol, smoking, women?
A: I drink little and do not smoke, so only women is left.
Q: What do you value in women most?
A: Education, wit, intelligence. To attract my attention a woman must be pretty, too.
Q: Is your wife Holly like this?
A: I would not have married her otherwise. I had been waiting very long choosing the mate, it was hard. And only four years ago I met the woman of my dreams. She was working for the Fox Television then, and now shes staying home with our sons who are two and three now, and helping me about the theatre.
Q: You are 43 now. What holds the first place in your life now?
A: My family. Theatre, TV and cinema is the second place, and music is the third.
Q: Lane, are you rich enough to buy a villa in Santa Barbara?
A: Oh no! Only oil makers can afford that.
Q: Where do you live?
A: In an hours drive from Los Angeles, in Ventura district. Ive got a big house with a pool and 6.5 acres of land.
Q: I know 5 of them are taken up by avocado. Why do you need so much avocado?
A: I understood I could not take care of my children, my theatre and all the land properly, so I decided to plant avocado there, its unpretentious. When they are ripe, we sell some and make some moccamole for ourselves a mixture of avocado, tomatoes, garlic and pepper.
Q: Lane, it was a surprise for us that you can sing
A: I discovered music for myself in the musical theatre. I started participating in festivals, musicals. Five years ago or so I released an album in the USA and a single in France.
Q: And do you thing lullabies to your sons in the evening?
A: Of course I do. Most often these are American traditional songs. On stage I usually sing ballads and some rock-n-roll. I do not give singing concerts, however.
Q: Are you doing any filming now?
A: No, Im rehearsing Don Quixote in a musical at my theatre. Thats why Im growing the beard, normally I go clean shaven.
Q: Is Holly a strict judge of your work?
A: Unfortunately not. Shes too partial.
At the last concert in Saint Petersburg Lane Davies surprised our lady spectators. He invited them to ask questions promising to kiss the one who asked the best question. Girls rushed to the mikes from all the hall: Lane, is your wife the actress playing Lily Light?, Could you pose nude for a magazine cover?, Could you love a Russian girl?. Lane answered, No, My bodys all right*, We shall live and we shall see. He chose the most resourceful girl who, having gotten to the mike, asked shyly, Could you please kiss me?
The kiss was long and tender. After it the girl was close to fainting and almost fell down from the stage. And Lane, having presented the spectators with his radiant smile once again, went to pack his suitcases. Moscowers (Muscovites) were already waiting for him
*(Olgas side note: and much later I learnt it was a quote - as he quoted it later in the comments or elsewhere: My bodys all right, but in perspective and not in the light. ;D )
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