"Guiding Light's Lisa Brown : Nola watches where she puts her hands"

People Magazine June 14, 1982

Whatever Nola Reardon wants, Nola Reardon doesn't always get on "The Guiding Light", but her naughty methods have generated a torrent of love-hate mail since she slithered into mythical Springfield two years ago. They've also caught the attention of CBS Program Practices officers. "They call if I have my arms around a man below waist," says doe-eyed Lisa Brown, 27, who portrays the scheming sexpot. "But I get away with a lot. We no longer just do coffee table scenes and talking about your Aunt Suzie."

A tomboy back in Kansas City, Lisa was the only child of a construction company estimator and at 13 marched with the Kansas City Chiefs dance-and-drill team. She made her acting debut in the bus-and-truck tour of the musical "Seesaw", then waited tables in New York before joining the national company of "Hello, Dolly!" with Pearl Bailey. Later she did commercials ("I got to point out ring around the collar").

In October, she plans to wed GL co-star Tom Nielsen, the affable musician Floyd whom Nola abandoned at the altar when she gasped "I can't" instead of "I do." While she continues playing Nola by day, Lisa will soon step into the Ruby Keeler role in Broadway's "42nd Street". Would Nola approve? "I'm determined, the way Nola is," Lisa says. "I don't lie, but I have a fighting instinct that doesn't give up."