ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

The Ides of Forbes March (Soap Opera Digest Online, Nov. 2005)
By Mala Bhattacharjee

Are you confused about ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Nash being in a love triangle with four very distinct characters? Forbes March (Nash) has it all worked out — especially the geography.

“There’s a tug of war going on with Antonio and Nash and Jessica/Tess is in the middle,” he breaks down. “When she’s Tess, we run away. When she’s Jessica, they run back [to Llanview].”

And now that he’s in Llanview, Nash gets the dubious honor of meeting pregnant personality Tess’ parents. “With Viki, we initially do not like each other — because Nash believes Tess saying that she’s a terrible mother.” And what about Dad? “I’m like him years ago,” March points out of the newly returned Clint Buchanan, “because of Clint’s past with Viki/Niki.”

“It’s neat working with Erika Slezak (Viki) and Jerry verDorn (Clint),” raves March, “because they are so good. There are so many levels to their performances: They’re liking you, hating you, being suspicious of you and being supportive of you all at the same time.”

“I don’t know if that’s the way experienced adults behave and, as such, the actors do or if it’s good acting,” confides the actor. “I suspect it’s a combination of both.”

So does watching “experienced adults” Viki and Clint help Nash with the prospect of becoming a father? “Nash’s reaction was written slightly ambiguous,” explains March. “We decided after much discussion that Nash would immediately be supportive because he has no family and he’d want a family. It also seemed to be a nice contrast to Tess,” he points out. “She’s more of a free spirit where Nash doesn’t want to be as free. It sets up an interesting dynamic there.”

Indeed, the dynamic is almost as interesting as the one between Tess and Jessica. “I don’t think Nash really understands the differences between Jessica and Tess,” muses the actor, “but I suspect he’ll grow to know both sides of her well over time.”

He elaborates, “As far as Nash is concerned, there’s not a big difference. It’s almost as if one has amnesia and one of them knows him well. You’re looking at the same woman dressed slightly differently, whose facial expressions are a little different, and it’s like one’s in a really good mood and one’s in a serious mood.”

But March is quick to assure that Nash will recognize the differences — and make a choice. “He’ll see the differences and realize that he loves one more than the other.”

But will that "one" be Tess...? Only time, and maybe some tugging, will tell.