Many soap couples don't survive long enough to celebrate their first anniversary. But ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Bo (Robert S. Woods) and Nora (Hillary B. Smith) accomplished the unthinkable: Not only have they stayed married, they've been faithful to each other! Here's their account of life and love in the rollicking Buchanan family.
1992Nora Gannon came to Llanview intent on convincing her dropout duaghter to return to college in Chicago. Rachel (then Ellen Bethea) was happily living with her dad, so Nora went to plan B: She moved to town. "I was working as a partner in a big law firm in Chicago," recalls Smith. "I had a friend who had a law firm in Llanview. He needed a partner and I said, 'I'd love to buy into your firm.' So I bought in and the next thing you know, he wasn't on the show anymore."
When Bo and Nora first met at Llanview Hospital, it wasn't exactly love at first sight. "We were throwing little zingers back and forth," recalls Woods. "But you know," the actor grins, "as soon as [a man and woman] start making snide remarks to one another, they're going to end up in the sack."
A tragedy in Bo's life drew the duo closer. "Sarah [Grace Phillips] and I were about to get remarried and then she died in a car crash," recalls Woods. "Nora and I were together a lot, trying to find the answers to who was responsible. That was part of the building block of the relationship
1993A grieving Bo tried to fight his attraction to Nora, but his heart won out. "At Sarah's grave," says Woods, "I kissed Nora and then I said, 'Get out of here!'"Smith recalls the next scene: "I was with Rachel and I said, 'I'm gonzo over him, and he's still hung up on his [dead] wife.'"
Early in their relationship, Nora and Bo celebrated Mardi Gras at the Palace Hotel. "Bo bought the costumes for us to wear," Hillary remembers.
You can't help but associate popcorn, old movies, rock 'n' roll, and, of course, dancing with Bo and Nora. They even jitterbugged at a local dance contest. "The dancing stuff was hard," sighs Woods. "Not the fooling around dancing, but when they have a choreographer come in and we're trying to learn all this stuff - it's not as much fun as you might think. [Hillary and I] were both covered in Tiger Balm, because we were so sore from doing all the lifts and ups and downs."
That summer, Nora moved in with Bo. Three months later, he was about to propose when she admitted that she might have killed Sarah. "Nora was driving to the airport and had been having migraines," Smith recalls. "She passed out on the same stretch of road where [Sarah] was forced off." It turned out a drunk driver was the guilty party. In October, Bo proposed to Nora, who said yes!
Their troubles weren't over. Nora was diagnosed as having a malignant brain tumor and needed surgery. She reluctantly opted to go under the knife, but didn't inform Bo. "I was in the hospital," says Smith, "and he came there and found out that Hank and Rachel knew." Woods remembers, "I got mad at them, because she was unconscious."
It's the little things that set Bo and Nora apart from standard soap couples. "I thought our first love scene was pretty romantic," offers Woods. "Also the time when you filled the house with flowers," Smith chimes in. Woods agrees:"That was probably the most romantic. We ended up singing 'My Girl' and using the flowers as microphones."
1994Some of our best scenes were when the show couldn't commit to a storyline because Hillary was working on the primetime TV show [SOMETHING WILDER]," notes Woods. "They would write [dialogue] that wouldn't move the plot. There was one scene about Hillary's hair - Bo didn't recognize right off the bat that she had cut her hair. It ended up being this funny, little bantering scene. Just a slice of life."
1995Fearing Bo would find out from R.J. (Timothy D. Stickney) that she'd had an affair with him while she was married to Hank, Nora confessed her infidelity to Bo. "I said [at a fan event], Bo will probably say, 'Oh, that's okay hon, I still love you,'"says Woods. ANd he did, though the actor would have preferred a different scenario. "There wasn't any kind of three-day soul searching," laments Woods. "It was a little too quick. They could have gotten a lot more out of it"
Love and marriage don't always go hand-in-hand. But Bo and Nora's friends - Max, Luna, Hank and Sheila (aka the wedding police) diagreed. "The wedding police wanted us to get married," chuckles Woods. "They went out and bought Nora's dress, rented my tuxedo and bought the flowers. They did everything." They even threw an engagement party featuring the Singing Norettes - Jessica, Sheila, Tina and Renee.
Bo and Nora walked down the aisle, but when it came time to say, 'I do,' they didn't. Unwilling to tie the knot in a traditional ceremony, the couple were on their way out of the church when they heard a yell from Little Richard. "We were like 'Yes, this is what we wanted. A rock 'n' roll wedding,'" Woods smiles, "I grew up listening to his music. I always loved Little Richard. It was the first time I met him. That was a fun day."
1996The Buchanans and Gannons celebrated Rosh Hashanah together, but what happened behind the scenes was even more memorable. "It was 'Watch Nathan eat dinner,'" laughs Smith. "He thought he went to a real banquet," cracks Woods. "He was eating like he was going to the chair. [In between takes, he'd yell], 'I need more roast beef over here!'"
After Bo was gunned down by one of Carlo's henchmen and lay in a coma, Nora kept a bedside vigil and bonded with her curmudgeonly father-in-law, Asa. "Asa and Nora have always been combative," notes Smith. "He never remembers Nora's name. He calls me 'her' or 'that lady lawyer of yours.' But when Bo was shot and in the hospital, he came in and actually put his arms around me and comforted me. And that wasn't in the script. That comes from the character relationship and the actor relationship." Woods wasn't as moved. "I didn't hear any of that," he laughs. "In order to hold real still and look comatose, I wore earplugs. I'd fall asleep and start snoring. They almost had to cut a couple of times."
What's it like working with Smith? "It's easy," Woods praises. "I think our stuff is always natural and believable." Recalling their first kiss, Smith laughs. "I was so excited that I got to kiss Robert S. Woods. I watched him before I was on the show - I was a fan! There's no one better to play with than Bob. He's one of the best."
