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ABC has confirmed Rebecca Budig will reprise her role as Greenlee Smythe on All My Children winter.
All My Children‘s version of Vanessa Marcil, Rebecca Budig (Greenlee), who exercised the out in her AMC contract last year due to geography, is returning to the sudser this winter. ABC has confirmed that the L.A. based actress, who once found it difficult to have a bicoastal marriage (Budig is married to “Bachelor” Bob Guiney), will be returning to the soap sometime this winter before the show moves to Los Angeles, and then will continue on with the show once it’s based in L.A. TVSource Magazine was first to report to you that Budig had meetings with both head writer Charles Pratt and ABC Daytime President Brian Frons when news of All My Children‘s relocation broke back in August.
The actress, who moved to California after she left AMC in 2006 with her husband, returned to AMC for a one-year gig back in 2008. Budig exited the show in February 2009 telling suds cabler SOAPnet, “Well, my life is in California. I had hoped it would be a lot easier than it was to live bi-coastally. But it’s really tough — our life is enmeshed there. We put down roots there.” Budig actually exercised the out in her contract after one year, which reportedly had a non-compete clause to prohibit her from appearing on any non-ABC soaps.
Upon Budig’s exit last winter, Greenlee was presumed dead after flying her motorcycle off the road and into a ditch. While what was supposedly Greenlee’s body was later found, fiancé Ryan (Cameron Mathison) failed to identify if it was actually Greenlee, deciding it was her simply upon seeing her engagement ring on her hand. Ex-husband Aidan (played by recently fired Aiden Turner) had the gall to take a closer look and kept tight-lipped about the whole thing ever since. AMC top scribe Charles Pratt, Jr. confirmed to Soap Opera Digest that Greenlee didn’t actually die when she went over that cliff, but is being cared for by Nurse Gayle in Gloucester on orders from former brother-in-law Dr. David Hayward (Vincent Irizarry). A first airdate for Budig is unknown at press time.
Budig began her career in daytime as Michelle Bauer on the now defunct Guiding Light in 1995. She left that show to pursue other interests in 1998. In 1999, Budig debuted on All My Children in the role of Greenlee Smythe, long-lost daughter of Jackson Montgomery (Walt Willey). She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama in 2001 and 2003 for her work on All My Children. Budig left the role in 2005 and it was recast with Sabine Singh in 2007. Budig returned as the highly promoted “real Greenlee” in 2008 only to leave the show again after one year. Budig recently guest starred on CBS’ hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother. This summer, Budig wrapped production on Please Give, a film starring opposite Amanda Peet and Oliver Plath.
Now that All My Children ended the months of speculation of who will or will not make the move to Los Angeles when the show relocates this January, the focus has shifted from the present to the past. Which West Coast former AMC stars will rejoin the show? We can already check Budig’s name off on the list of returning cast members. It’s widely known that L.A. based Daytime Emmy winning actress Eden Riegel (Bianca) has been wishing and hoping All My Children would come out west as soon as rumors spread of the move. Will her onscreen partner Tamara Braun (Reese) be willing to make a return to the soap? The recent Emmy winner is also L.A. based and has a pre-existing relationship with head writer Charles Pratt dating back to their General Hospital days, who is said to be the reason Braun signed on to AMC in the first place last year. Soap Opera Source will keep you updated on any future casting developments at All My Children.
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