J. Eddie Peck shares with Soaps In Depth the epiphany which led him to join ALL MY CHILDREN
Although J. Eddie Peck long has been known as that dude with the awesome ranch out in California, that didn’t make him a stranger to the East Coast when his run as THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS’ Cole Howard ended in 1999. “That November, I came [to the New York City area] on business — as I would do three or four times a year — and I took an extra couple of days to look at some things with a Realtor,” he recalls. “I mean, you never know — you may want to come up this way. When an opportunity presents itself, oftentimes you have to make a quick decision.” In this instance, Peck’s intuition paid off: A short while later, he would be approached about stepping into the role of AMC’s Jake Martin, vacated in the spring of 2000 by Michael Lowry.
Yet, having only recently left daytime, Peck wasn’t certain the time was right for his return. “I really wasn’t looking to jump back into a daytime situation,” he admits. “I was wanting to do some other things.” Indeed, the actor had just finished co-writing two screenplays, and had his eye on primetime’s pilot season. Yet, as that fateful summer neared, Peck’s eyes also landed on a videotape that would change his future.
Fan Support “A wonderful fan by the name of Linda had taped every episode [of Y&R] that I had done,” Peck explains. “I spent a tremendous amount of time watching these 1200-some hours. I’d bring in my wife to watch a scene with me, and when I’d look over at her, she’d have tears in her eyes. She would say, ‘That was really good. I love that guy.’”
Peck, for his part, rediscovered a love of his own. “When I reviewed that tape, I thought, ‘Wow, I really, really love the daytime process,” he says. “Actors develop an affection for their characters, and here [on soaps] we have the opportunity to live, over a long period of time, the life of someone.”
Helping along his consideration of AMC was the soap’s reputation. “I’ve always liked this show; I had kept my eye on it for a long time,” he notes. Of course, strong spousal support never hurts. “[A deciding factor] was my wife saying, ‘I think this would be a great move for us.’”
Putting It To The Test Now there was just the tiny matter of the would-be Jake’s screen test... “I didn’t get my material until the night before my test — in New York,” Peck laughs, “ so I caught the ‘red eye.’ On the plane, I thought to myself, ‘I’m probably not going to get the job. I haven’t slept in two days, I’m the last actor to get the script, and I will have been flying all night.”
Like the rare soap tale, though, this story had a happy ending. “I had no idea how the other guys did, but I had a real good feeling after the test,” he recalls. “I thought if they liked my bow-legs and big ears, they just might go for me!”
— Matt Webb Mitovich
J.Eddie Peck
