Interview with Ilene Kristen

By Randee Dawn

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(Ilene Kristen, Roxanne)

All throughout her meal at Josephina's, a popular eatery for ONE LIFE TO LIVE interview subjects in New York City, Ilene Kristen (Roxanne) is being ogled by an artsy-looking gentleman sitting by the window. He looks as if he might know her - but never says a word. And Kristen, who cheerily but bluntly goes through every step in her long (since age 14) professional career during the course of the discussion, never notices. She's probably used to it by now. She's still most widely recognized as RYAN'S HOPE's Delia, a character she played on and off for 14 years.

These days, she's playing a form of the signature role on OLTL (her second trip, having played Georgina in 1982) - Roxanne is like Delia's dim bulb distant cousin. "I'm trying to imbue her with some human qualities," explains Kristen of her neglectful, somewhat abusive, boozy character. "Which is what I always try to do. She's had a hard, difficult life."

Just The Facts Birthday: July 30, 1952 Birth Name: Ilene Schatz Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York Interesting Movie Role: Played a party guest in Madonna's 1985 movie, Desperately Seeking Susan Other Acting Jobs: Guest starred in Third Watch, The Sopranos and Law and Order.

 

Kristen herself hasn't had it too easy, either, having battled health issues and the vagaries of show business most of her life. But soaps have changed, she notes, since she got started at RH. "The process of making them is very different," she acknowledges. "It used to be like you were making a play every day. You used to have a sense of every scene. Scenes that you weren't even in. Now, you do your piece of it and that's what you do. It makes it a lot easier in some ways. Before was scarier - if you stopped tape, which I had to do sometimes because I had so much dialogue, they'd have to go to headquarters in another building, in another location and rewind the tape!"

If she could, says Kristen, she'd love to work with RH's creators, Claire and Paul Labine, again (and nearly did at GUIDING LIGHT, before they were let go last year). "I thought I was going to, and they got fired," she sighs. "They gave their blood and sweat and tears [to RH]. It really was their baby. "But, she acknowledges, being at OLTL is an education in itself, and she's thrilled to be back in the game again with co-Head Writers Lorraine Broderick and Chris Whitesell penning her words. ”I love working with Lorraine. She's fantastic. I really couldn't be happier."

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