

The customers were working women and men, unable to see the soap during the business day, and drawn to a continuing drama featuring adventure, romance, even science fiction, as Luke and Laura, the “supercouple” at the center of the story, sought to stop the bad guys from freezing the world. Impressed by the turnout, the Annex even began playing back the week’s five episodes on Sundays, turning its “ General Hospital marathon” into a daylong event, accompanied by food and, when the episodes ended, live music to keep the party going. That evening during happy hour he would play the episode on the TVs of the Pierce Street Annex, selling drinks to the after-work crowd eager to follow the events in the fictional Port Charles, New York. With his new Betamax recorder, he would videotape General Hospital each weekday afternoon. As he puts it, "I think I would have remembered something like that.In 1981, one Washington, DC, bar owner found a unique way to bring in customers. Oh, and Colson says that he doesn't recall Gabriel actually being present during the famous levitating scene.

He also has extensive theater experience. Starting in April, he is scheduled to portray the title role in the world premiere of "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost Machine" at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.
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I really got to learn a lot from that time," he says.Īlong with appearing on TV series like "Angel," "Justified" and "Banshee," Colson has taught at Michigan State University and just finished his first semester teaching at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance. "It didn't take me long to look at it for the gift that I was given. He describes it as a job that helped teach him the basics of working in front of the camera. But he says Hall couldn't have been nicer during filming and Hogestyn was just as welcoming. "I could hear this voice across the soundstage (yelling) "Where's Gabriel?,'" he says, describing how Hogestyn greeted him.Ĭolson, who grew up in the town of Charlotte near Lansing and recently moved to Detroit, was a serious-minded newcomer with two college degrees in acting when he was hired by "Days" in 1994. When he says to her "Lovely day, isn't it?" she responds by staring at him with yellow eyes that are, well, Mar-Devilish.Ĭolson says he doesn't know what's going to happen with the Gabriel character from here on out. Gabriel, seemingly a hiker in need of water, is actually there to tell Mar-Devil that goodness is going to prevail. More: Christmas TV schedule 2021: Where to watch classics like 'Charlie Brown,' new specials
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More: Lifetime holiday movie set in Detroit is a love letter to the city and Smokey Robinson On Friday's episode, Gabriel turned up at a cabin in the woods where Mar-Devil, as "Days" fans are calling her, is hiding with Ben and Ciara, who are expecting a baby that is being targeted by the devil. In the current season, Marlena is again under Satan's control and able to change her shape and form. John, believing he was a priest, exorcised Marlena in 1995 and now is married to her.

Gabriel, who shares a name with the angel, turned out to be a guardian angel for John Black, the character played by veteran soap actor Drake Hogestyn. In the original story arc that stretched from 1994 to 1995, Marlena - an iconic soap character that Hall has played, with breaks, since 1976 - fell under the spell of the devil and even levitated off of her bed in a scene that Entertainment Weekly recently described as "one of the most memorable moments in American pop culture history." Says Colson, "I got the call from my agent and I was like, 'Do they know I can still act?'" So NBC asked Colson to return as Gabriel, a force for good who was on God's side in the battle for Marlena's soul. Now, more than 25 years later, demonic forces are again inhabiting Marlena. Marlena Evans, was possessed by the devil. Back then, NBC made a splash when soap star Diedre Hall's character, Dr. When Mark Colson appeared last week on "Days of Our Lives" as a mysterious stranger named Gabriel, the devil - or rather, a famous daytime soap opera story line - made him do it.Ĭolson, who teaches on-camera acting at the University of Michigan, played the same role in the mid-1990s for nine or so episodes.
