Emotional Journey

Judith Chapman Opens Up About Her Surprise Return To Y&R — And What She Learned About Herself In Her Time Away

- Janet Di Lauro

When it comes to living life to its eccentric best, Y&R’s Gloria Bardwell has nothing on her portrayer, Judith Chapman. “People have been calling me Norma Desmond, that wonderful character from Sunset Boulevard, for decades,” announces Chapman with a laugh. “I think a lot of my eccentricities come from the fact that I’ve lived all over the world. My father is a retired Air Force general, so I’ve had the good fortune of being educated in Europe. I’ve been to Mass at probably every great cathedral in Europe from Notre Dame to Cologne Cathedral to St. Peter’s. I saw my first Shakespearean play in London. I saw the great French mime, Marcel Marceau, in Paris. I saw my first opera, Verdi’s Aida, in Rome. That’s pretty impressionable stuff for a teenage girl.”

Chapman admits she took it all in stride at the time. “Doesn’t everybody live like this? Wasn’t it a way of life?” she remembers musing as a teen. “I give my parents so much credit, because they were both so artistic.”

The adventurous and culturally rich life experience molded the woman Chapman eventually became — bold, fearless and a far cry from the norm. “I remember years ago, I was taking a break from Hollywood and teaching acting at College of the Desert,” recounts Chapman. “A student came up to me and said, ‘I want to do a production of Equus. Would you direct it for me?’ I was like, ‘Equus? How can I direct Equus?’ It’s a highly intense play with horses. After about 10 minutes, I said, ‘Yeah. Why not? I can direct it, and I can produce it.’