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Alley Mills Reflects On The Highs And Lows Of The Past Few Years

- Tom Stacy

Alley Mills, who is still recurring on B&B, was as surprised as anyone when she got the call from GH to play the soap’s favorite female psycho, Heather Webber, a role previously portrayed by Robin Mattson, who was unavailable at the time. “I have a friend who is a Broadway actor and he lives in a cul-de-sac in the Catskills, as does the head writer of GENERAL HOSPITAL,” recounts Mills as to how the opportunity came about. “One night over a martini, my friend called me and he said, ‘Would you ever think of doing GENERAL HOSPITAL?’ This was months and months ago. ‘We were just talking and yours and Orson’s name came up and he goes, ‘I love Pam! Would she ever do GH?’ That was pretty soon after Orson [Bean, her husband] died and I said, ‘I don’t know. Probably.’ About three months later, I got this phone call and Frank Valentini [executive producer] had heard from the head writer. How they drew the line from Pamela Douglas to Heather Webber, I don’t know, but Orson always said when you have to make a decision that you’re not really sure of, just put the proverbial gun to your head because inside, your gut knows. So, I did that. I read the breakdown of the character, and Robin Mattson couldn’t come back, and it was the 60th anniversary. It was supposed to be just 10 episodes and it sounded like fun. So, I just said yes. I went in and did it and it ended up being close to 30 episodes.”