After decades in daytime TV Eileen Davidson left “The Young and the Restless” last fall, and her final episodes aired in October 2018, but she left the door open for periodic return appearances as a guest. She’s making good on that promise soon: Soap Opera Digest exclusively reported that she’ll be reprising her role as Ashley Abbott on the CBS serial. But when and for how long?
“I said on my last day that I would love to come back for a visit,” Davidson told Digest. “It’s always great to see my ‘Y&R’ family.” She’ll be making her return guest appearances for two days on March 28 and March 29. She initially played businesswoman Ashley from 1982-1988. Then she returned to “Y&R” in 1999 and played the role on and off for the next two decades. In her last show on October 29, after a long battle for control of the family company, Jabot, Ashley decided to skip town and take her cosmetics patents with her.
On most soap opera resumes, having one iconic character spanning decades would be plenty. But Davidson actually had two. When she wasn’t on “Y&R” she spent time on “Days of Our Lives” as the sinister Kristen DiMera and a variety of lookalikes. That included a five-year stint in the 1990s followed by a return from 2012-2013, and then sporadic appearances until 2017.
Both performances won Emmys for Davidson. She claimed Best Actress for “Days” in 2014, and then she won that category again for “Y&R” in 2018. Though she’s not on soaps full-time anymore, she’s not forgotten. For her work in 2018 she’s once again pre-nominated for Best Actress, and she’s a strong contender to win again according to our predictions, which rank her second with 4/1 odds. And maybe she’ll be back in the Emmy lineup in 2020 for Best Guest Performer. You can never keep Ashley down for long.
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