The Young And The Restless - Melody Thomas Scott

Celebrating 40 years on The Young And The Restless, Melody Thomas Scott is daytime royalty

- Malcolm Venable

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Melody Thomas Scotta living legend. After all, she’s been playing Nikki Newman for 40 years on The Young and the Restless, a history borne out on the walls of her set dressing room, where framed covers from Soap Opera Digest and TV Guide are arranged in precise rows. Each teases a different but decidedly juicy storyline (“Nikki Fights Back!” “Nikki Wakes Up … to a Wedding!” read two), accompanied by photos of Scott staring out in various states of fierceness, feminine vulnerability, distress, or just-snagged-a-man delight.

While Scott found fame playing Nikki, she was a successful actress prior to embracing the role of the beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks. At the age of 8, she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 masterpiece Marnie, and she went on to work with the likes of Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Kirk Douglas before signing on to Y&R when she was 22 years old.

But on this afternoon in L.A., Scott isn’t keen on being immortalized or even talking legacy. Casually glamorous in zebra print mules, diamonds, and denim, she is still very much about living in the present—a benefit, perhaps, of the thrice-weekly yoga sessions that keep her nimble enough to slip into lotus pose on her plush sofa as she reflects on her remarkable career, her favorite storylines, and what four decades of playing Nikki has taught her.

We’re sitting in your dressing room, which I was told was originally Cher’s during The Sonny and Cher Show. True?