FORTY, SOMETHING!

James Reynolds Celebrates 40 Years As DAYS’s Abe Carver.

Mara Levinsky

“Something I can help you with, Counselor?” Those were the first words spoken by James Reynolds’s Abe Carver, then an assistant homicide detective, in his debut DAYS episode on October 29, 1981. As he marks his 40th anniversary in Salem, Reynolds reflected on the milestone with Soap Opera Digest.

Soap Opera Digest: Take me back to 1981. Where were you in your life and career before DAYS came along?

James Reynolds: Actually, not in a bad place! I had just finished a show on CBS called TIME EXPRESS with Vincent Price, which was a great joy for me. My agent had called me about this role [at DAYS], but for whatever reason, they really didn’t want to see me — which I found hard to believe at the time, because I thought I was hot at the moment. I just had a series on CBS! I thought, “Man, they don’t want to see me?!” They did have somebody that apparently they were going to cast or had cast as Abe — I wasn’t aware of that until a few years ago — but late in the process, the week before the role was supposed to start taping, I came in and read for the casting director, Bob Edmiston, and they called me back like two days later to meet the producers. I walked in a room that was just packed with people and by the time I got home, I had the role! That was a Friday and I started on Monday. [Late Executive Producer] Betty Cor had a lot to do with me being on the sho I think, and what she had a vision for. She thought, “This is the guy to carry this character through.” I have always been appreciative to her.

Digest: There’s still room for improvement in 2021, but at the time, there was an even more marked paucity of Black characters on daytime television. Tell me how you experienced that as a newcomer to the genre.