Doug Davidson Looks Back at His Most Memorable THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS Scenes
On Dec. 1, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS marks a major milestone: The iconic CBS soap opera celebrates its 12,000th episode! In honor of the landmark occasion, the soap’s longest-running cast member, Doug Davidson — who has played Paul for 42 of Y&R‘s 47 years on the air! — took a walk down memory lane.
“With Y&R’s 12,000th episode coming up, we thought it would be fun to look back on some of my most memorable scenes,” the Emmy winner shared in a video posted by the No. 1 soap.
The first scene included the montage is actually from Davidson’s first day on Y&R — May 15, 1978 — and prompted the actor to recall how he ended up on the show to begin with. “I had a friend, Mark Lambert, who I met in a karate class,” Davidson revealed. “And his wife was Victoria Mallory, and she played Leslie Brooks on the show.”
As the story goes, when the Lamberts were experiencing car trouble one day, Davidson joined his pal on a ride to the CBS studio to help Mallory out. “I was studying to be an actor at the time,” he shared. “As I was waiting in the parking lot for Victoria to come out, John Conboy, the executive producer was there. Mark introduced me, and I got an interview for the role of Paul. No last name.”
Landing the audition for Y&R was a total fluke. But with his sister and best friend Rick Springfield (ex-Noah, GENERAL HOSPITAL) with him for moral support, Davidson returned to the CBS studio for his try-out. Which he was convinced he’d bombed. “They waited in the lobby when I went in to interview for the role of Paul,” he admitted. “I thought I blew it.”
Needless to say, Davidson was quite surprised when he received a call from someone in the wardrobe department on a Sunday to chat about clothing options! “And I was to report to work,” he said. “I was scared to death because I’d never done a soap before, and it’s shot live on tape. And we would stop for nothing. Frightening.”
Thankfully, it all worked out, and Davidson has become a staple in Genoa City over the years, nabbing three Daytime Emmy nominations and one win for his portrayal of police chief Paul Williams.
Check out the video posted below for more of Davidson’s most memorable Y&R moments, like when Paul and Nikki got caught showering in the locker room, working with his future wife, Cindy Fisher (ex-Rebecca), that massive blow-out with wife Isabella and even the aftermath of shooting his own son, Ricky. And be sure to look closely at the gym scene where Paul is working out with Snapper and you will even see Davidson’s best friend, Rick Springfield, showing off some karate moves!
