Meet Y&R'S Abbotts Of The Past

Y&R fans will learn much more about the Abbotts’ past when the show airs “flashbacks” of the family during the 1970s this week. The recreated scenes feature actors playing younger versions of John and Dina and their kids, Jack, Ashley and Traci.

Casting John and Dina was easy: The performers had already appeared in shorter flashbacks last year. “After getting that phone call, which was completely out of the blue, I was like, ‘Are you serious? Is this for sure?’ ” chuckles Jonathan Stoddard (John). “When I heard it would be for a week, my jaw hit the floor. The first time was like that incredible vacation you go on and after you leave, you’re like, ‘Am I ever coming back?’ ”

Upon getting her callback, Stoddard’s TV wife, Cathy Marks (Dina), reacted with, “Okay great!” then further researched her alter. “I went all over the soap websites,” she shares. “There is a plethora of information. I dove deep into the soap websites and tried to find archive episodes of Dina. I thought it was important to try to do justice to the character. There are definitely things that Dina says that are very specific to her, so I wanted to stay true to that as much as I possibly could. It was a lot of fun. I realized how awesome the soap world is. And now I love it!”