LIZ SMITH SPEAKS DAYTIME

New York Post gossip mainstay Liz Smith featured two PGP soap alumni in her column of April 8.

Rue McClanahan, best known for The Golden Girls and Maude, began her television career on Another World in 1970, playing a nutso nanny. (On The Golden Girls as, presumably, an inside joke, Blanche was addicted to Another World).

Thomas Gibson, currently on Criminal Minds and a veteran of Dharma and Greg, actually holds the daytime distinction of being ATWT Lily's very first husband (yes, he got there before Holden)!

Of course, Derek Mason wasn't worthy of our high-strung young heiress. He was plotting with his father to kill his bride and inherit her money. However, as it was mandated to happen to all Oakdale men in the 1980s, Derek soon fell in love with Lily. He told his father the killing game was off. His father didn't listen and went ahead with his plans. Ultimately, Derek gave his own life to save Lily's. While he died, she was merely burned in the planned explosion and left town to heal from her injuries.

Lily returned with a new personality, a new face (new height, too) and a new portrayer. It was that Lily, played by Heather Rattray, who finally got to wed Holden.

Martha Byrne, though, came back to the show in time for their second marriage. And their third.

Poor Derek is now merely a footnote in Lily's past. Luckily, Thomas Gibson's personal life is a lot more rosy...