SOAPS IN STRANGE PLACES

From Bloomberg.com:

Paul McCartney found his. So did Warren Buffett, Meg Ryan, economist Paul Samuelson and photographer Gordon Parks, who directed the movie “Shaft.”

They all discovered what Ken Robinson calls their Element - - “the place where the things you love to do and the things that you are good at come together,” as he writes in “The Element.”

The equation for being in your element is simple: Talent + passion = success.... Meg Ryan found her calling when she did a stint on the soap opera “As the World Turns.”

“The job was like being in this nutty extended family,” she tells Robinson. “It was a kick.”

Ryan played Betsy Stewart on ATWT from 1982 to 1984. She assumed the role soon after Betsy's stepmother, Kim, had married Nick Andropolous. Nick's brother, Steve, was newly out of jail and looking to start a trucking company. Nick wouldn't front Steve the money, so a smitten Betsy offered Steve her trust-fund. Nick was furious and told Steve to stay away from Betsy. When Nick found out that Betsy had gone ahead and given Steve the money anyway, he attacked his brother. Scared that one sibling would seriously hurt the other, Betsy promised not to see Steve again.

She lied.

When Nick caught the young couple together and Betsy screamed that she was in love with Steve, Nick collapsed. Before he died, he made Betsy promise (this time for real!) that she and Steve were through.

Again Betsy agreed. This time, she even married Craig to make sure the promise stuck. But Betsy couldn't stay away from Steve.



Eventually, she gave birth to Steve's daughter, Danielle, while still married to Craig. Once she discovered both Craig's duplicity and Dani's paternity, Betsy ended her marriage and wed Steve in a lavish ceremony in 1984.



They were happy for several minutes before Betsy was presumed dead in a car accident, and Meg Ryan left ATWT.