ROCKIN' ROBIN

Is Robin Mattson daytime's most prolific villainess?

She's been GH's Heather, SB's Gina, RH's Delia, AMC's Janet and B&B's Sugar, and, next Monday, January 12, Robin brings her bad girl ways to As the World Turns in the role of Cheri, a woman who encourages Emily (Kelley Menighan Hensley) to explore her untapped, professional potential.

But this isn't Robin's first role on a P&G soap. In 1976, she was a regular on Guiding Light, playing Hope, a (surprise!) good girl. And not just any good girl. A Bauer! Alan-Michael's mom to be!

Not that Hope was a complete angel (the Bauers, despite their wholesome rep, rarely are: Bill was a drunk and a cheat, Ed was a drunk and a wife beater, and Rick made pills his vice of choice, plus he cheated on his wife).

When Hope and her dad, Mike, briefly lived in Bay City (home of sister soap, Another World), Hope became involved with her married professor. Mike dragged Hope home to Springfield, where she promptly fell for Ben, an artist with a grudge against Mike for having failed to defend him on a robbery charge years earlier.

Ben painted Hope in the nude, then withdrew money from their joint bank account to cover for his brother, who'd held up a deli. When Hope found out, Ben took the fall for his brother, and Hope broke off their engagement.

If that's how much trouble Robin managed to cause as a sainted Bauer, imagine what havoc she could wreak on ATWT!

Or, better yet, don't imagine. Tune into As the World Turns and find out!