Exclusive: The Bold and the Beautiful's John McCook Gets Restless

Nothing but the best for Nikki Newman! The much-married heroine of The Young and the Restlessis hiring The Bold and the Beautiful's Eric Forrester — played by John McCook — to design a bridal gown for her fourth wedding to the dastardly Victor Newman. And that'll have McCook crossing over to Y&R to make a guest appearance at the ceremony (March 18-19 on CBS). TV Guide Magazine spoke with the veteran actor about his trip to Genoa City and, of course, what it's like to suddenly be the biggest slut on B&B!

TV Guide Magazine: So has Eric outdone himself with the dress? This is wedding No. 12 for our Miss Nikki. She's gotta look damn fine!
McCook: It's another Forrester classic! It's not a dress for an 18-year-old girl. It's a grownup dress for a grownup woman. Melody Thomas Scott looked beautiful. It had a nice train on it. [Laughs] That's about all I know. It had a train! I was too busy sweating my ass off to notice anything else. They sat me next to a roaring fireplace during the ceremony. I'm, like, "What the f--k? Couldn't you put somebody else by the fire...like somebody under 60?" The actors from Y&R refused to sit there so they gave the chair to the poor guy from the other soap across the hall. I was sweating so bad people thought Eric was nervous about the dress. I said, "That's not nerves. I'm roasting to death!" But, otherwise, I had a great time. Eric has scenes with Lauren and Michael, Neil, and Victor and Nikki, of course. Eric Braeden was in a very good mood that day. [Pause] Uh...I don't mean to imply that's unusual. [Laughs]

TV Guide Magazine: How come no one in GC recognizes you as passionate playboy Lance Prentiss, the part you played on the show back in the '70s?
McCook: That was so long ago. [Laughs] Memories don't go back that far. Eileen Davidson [Ashley] was at the wedding, too. The whole schedule had been thrown off because Mel was sick. We wound up shooting the wedding in one day instead of two, which meant Eileen came at the end of a work day at Days of Our Lives. She showed up really breathless and then pretty much sat there and wasn't given much to do. But we're all basically extras at these things. Soap weddings are all about the pageantry and the exchanging of the vows. I didn't see Peter Bergman there at all. I guess Jack wasn't invited.

TV Guide Magazine: We must talk about your sexcapades on B&B. Eric is already shacking up with Taylor [Hunter Tylo], just three months after the death of Stephanie [Susan Flannery]. And Stephanie and Taylor were BFFs! Too trashy!
McCook: [Laughs] I was trying to keep a little dignity. I didn't want Eric jumping into bed with just any available set of boobs, but he's a horndog and he's been alone for 12 weeks. That's eons in soap time! Hey, he wasn't getting any from Stephanie. He's probably gone five years without sex. Her death freed him up to sniff around the neighborhood. Yeah, people are shocked, but we need this kind of tension and excitement on our show. Any publicity is good publicity, as long as I don't have to look at it. I don't go online because it scares the s--t out of me. I don't want to hear all that negative stuff. I'm just happy to contribute to the show and be working in a storyline that impacts a lot of characters. I don't need the rest of it.

TV Guide Magazine: Will Eric be designing a wedding dress for Taylor?
McCook: I don't know that Eric and Taylor are necessarily headed toward marriage. There are so many people pointing fingers. [Laughs] Even Stephanie's pointing her finger from that painting over the fireplace at the Forrester mansion! It took us a whole week to kill her off. How long is it going to take us to take that picture down? Maybe we should have a service and remove it. We'll have refreshments. We'll have music. Eric can bring back Celtic Woman!

TV Guide Magazine: We're all waiting for Flannery to come back for a guest appearance — as Stephanie's ghost! She could haunt the hell out of Eric for being such a tramp.
McCook: Oh, my God, what a ghost she'd make! She wouldn't need to rattle chains. [Laughs] She could just shake that big mutha of a broach she used to wear! But how can she blame Eric? At least he's with Taylor and not some new woman we brought in from who knows where, played by someone from one of the failed soaps. The audience would really hate that! I think this Eric-Taylor thing works. It's outrageous. It's campy. At B&B, that's what we do best!

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