From: Soap Opera Weekly, March 24, 1998
Story by: Travis Kinsey


IN THE '80S, IT WAS HARD FOR a soap fan to turn on the television without seeing a favorite couple - General Hospital's Luke and Laura, Days of Our Lives' Patch and Kayla, Guiding Light's Philip and Beth, to name just a few running across America, the bad guy dujour in hot pursuit. The on-the-run storyline is a soap staple.

Last week, Port Charles made its first contribution to the long list of soap couples who've gone on the run: Matt and Grace. What makes PC's version slightly different is that Matt - as well as his portrayer, Mitch Longley - uses a wheelchair to get around. Having spent several years in the witness protection program, Matt has had to flee now that he has been found by the mobsters who forced him to go into hiding. He has agreed to accept help from his friend - and would-be love interest - Grace.

It would be easy - even understandable - for one to assume that because Matt uses a wheelchair, it would be next to impossible for him to elude his pursuers. Not so, according to Longley. "It's not a situation where he has to get out of his chair or climb up stairs or something like that. It's more a test of will, I think, and utilizing the resources that are around. As far as something that the character's chair wouldn't be able to maneuver, there's not a whole lot of that. If there is one thing that might be of consideration, it would be the speed factor .. like somebody can run faster than he can wheel his chair. But to be honest, Matt can wheel his chair a lot faster than a lot of people can walk."

Still, it would be naive to think that Matt having to use a wheelchair doesn't - or shouldn't - figure into his story. "We think about it when we're writing," says PC's head writer, Lynn Marie Latham, "but we're not thinking [in terms of how do we tell a story about a guy in a chair. We're thinking: How do we tell a story about Matt Harmon - and by the way, he does get around in a chair. This is just one part of his character."

Longley, who uses a wheelchair as the result of injuries suffered in a car accident when he was 18, agrees. "Sure, I want the disabled component of this story to be truthful and accurate, because I think that's important. The things that I like to contribute to this character are things that deal with his disability - whether it's physical or psychological, or whether it's social and cultural - [and making sure that they're] accurate. So the show's writers give me the opportunity to add my thoughts. But more so, for me as an actor, this is just the character. These are his circumstances, and the fact that he's disabled shouldn't be any more important than the fact that he used to be in the mob - or the other way around.

"I urge them to incorporate a full life into this character," Longley continues. "For instance, a love interest ... and then bringing up some of those potential issues that might come up in a situation like that. The situations he might have to deal with as a disabled person in an intimate relationship, another character who's not disabled might have other issues - more mental, psychological issues that they bring to the table. I'm just there to give a check to the small points of this story that will make a difference."

"This story is not about the wheelchair," Latham insists. "The reason I love this show so much and the characters Wendy (Riche, the executive producer of both PC and GH) created is because they are people. Matt Harmon is a person who's fully fleshed-out, and we deal with him as a person," Latham says. "When (co-head writer) Scott Hamner and I were hired to do this series, we looked at the characters and thought there wasn't a lot known about Matt. We thought it would be fun to come up with the backstory that would explain his life and why we don't know anything about him." Through this story, Latham believes that viewers will "see other sides of Matt's character, and how he can all of a sudden, when he's in a dangerous situation, deal from a position of strength and knowledge. He knows how to operate with these kinds of people (the mob), which is a surprise. Also, Grace and Ellen are thrown into it, so it's become very, very dangerous. I think we're filling in more of his character, and I think it's fun to finally see what motivates him."

Both Longley and Latham have been encouraged by the fan response Matt's story has generated. "I think the warm reception has been wonderful," Longley says. "I think from the beginning, [the fans] have wanted to see more of this character and more story development, and now that they're getting it, I think they're pleased with it."

"What they're most happy about is that he's an ordinary person on the show. People are interested in him as a person, and that's what I'm most proud of," Latham says. "Interestingly enough, a lot of the fans don't know that in real life Mitch uses a chair," she continues. " We get letters saying, 'We can't wait to see the storyline when he finally walks.' And some people criticized the actor. They said, 'You've got to tell the actor that he shouldn't cross his legs, because a real paraplegic couldn't.' Well, every injury is different, and every individual is different, and Mitch can cross his legs. They're reading it as: Gee, the actor made a mistake, when in reality, this is an ability he has."

While neither Longley nor Latham sees this as an "issue" storyline, they do hope that over time, the story will have an impact. "Hopefully there will be a day when this is not unusual," Latham says. "This is the one minority to me that is more overlooked than any other. You don't see it on TV, and yet, in our personal lives, we have friends and family and people who have been in this situation. We care for them and we know them, but YOU don't see it on television."

"This is a very appropriate and honest portrayal of a character with a disability in showing the audience that there aren't the limitations that a large portion of our population believes there are," Longley says. "I think the perception is that using a wheelchair is some death sentence, and in many ways, in many cases, it's reaffirmation. It's a celebration, really, that this person's alive and this is how they get around, and aren't they rad."