Simply Devane!
by Michael Logan, TV Guide June 1999
"In a major coup,
ABC's All My Children has signed Emmy-winning fan favorite Finola Hughes to a long-term
contract. The deal lays to rest months of incessant rumors that had the actress
either returning to ABC's General Hospital- where she played kinky crime stopper Anna
Devane from 1985-92 - or joining the cast of NBC's upcoming Passions. Hughes, who
makes her first appearance in late July, will play Alexandra Devane, a mysterious femme
with a very fatale secret, who bears a striking resemblance to Anna. 'But she is not
Anna,' insists Hughes, noting with a laugh that her former character, who was supposedly
killed by GH psycho Faison (Anders Hove), would not be 'trying to hide out with the same
look and the same last name. That would be, like, sooo intelligent. She'll
probably turn out to be Anna's cousin or some other member of the family." The
Brit beauty, who starred in Aaron Spelling's 1997 Pacific Palisades, admits she did have a
powwow with Passions but came way rather confused. 'I met with [the show's creator]
Jim Reilly, and I guess I just didn't do it for him. I don't really know what
happened during that meeting. It was very... uh... muddy.' (Hughes wasn't the
only biggie eighty-sixed by the pooh-bahs at Passions- they also rejected such daytime
phenoms as Lane Davies, Kimberlin Brown, and Barbara Crampton, in favor of a virtually
unknown cast.) Though GH certainly could have used her star wattage, Hughes says the
show 'never really made any strong or positive move to have me return.' It was
Angela Shapiro, the new, no-baloney president of ABC Daytime, who landed Hughes.
'Angela stepped up to the plate and said, "I want this deal to happen."
She was so decisive about it. I'm very decisive too, so I love it
when somebody says, 'Let's play ball!"
