Victoria Wyndham & Charles Keating 1998 Interview: Another World

In this incredibly charming March 1998 broadcast of The Dini Petty Show, daytime television royalty Victoria Wyndham and Charles Keating step away from the fictional drama of Bay City to showcase their real-life artistic partnership. Famous for their iconic roles as Rachel Cory and Carl Hutchins on the long-running NBC soap opera Another World, the duo visits the Toronto studio to promote Couplets, their collaborative spoken-word poetry CD released by Shanachie Records. Having worked closely side-by-side for fifteen years, their profound comfort and deep platonic affection radiate through every sentence they playfully finish for one another.

Far from a standard promotional soap opera interview, this appearance highlights the pair’s theatrical mastery and literary passions. The studio audience watches the actors seamlessly trade comedic banter and high-art recitations. Keating launches into a spirited rendition of e.e. cummings’ complex poem “May I Feel Said He,” delightfully botching and fighting through the lines with his signature theatrical flair. In a striking contrast, Wyndham delivers a performance of Edna St. Vincent Millay with such profound grace and emotional resonance that host Dini Petty is visibly moved to tears on camera.

The actors explain how their joint venture into audio recording actually sprouted directly from Another World, where writers originally had Rachel and Carl court each other on-screen using classic poetry. The sprawling conversation dives into their dynamic, with Wyndham jokingly acting like a schoolteacher grading Keating as he uses the words of Oscar Wilde to explain the structural differences between prose and poetry. They also discuss tracks on the album, including a previously unpublished Oscar Wilde letter, and look forward to a planned collaborative holiday project featuring the works of Charles Dickens and Washington Irving.

Unseen since its original 1998 CTV airing, this master tape has been optimized and preserved via the official archive of The Dini Petty Show, protecting a beautiful, vulnerable look at two daytime legends operating completely off-script.