By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 2, 1987
After British actor Charles Shaughnessy earned his law degree at Cambridge University, he said goodbye to his classmates and enrolled in acting school.
“I had been acting since I was about 6,” said Shaughnessy, who portrays the heroic spy Shane Donovan on “Days of Our Lives.” The NBC serial airs from noon to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday on WMAQ-Channel 5.
“I was a bit embarrassed about wanting to be a professional actor,” he said. It’s a bit like admitting I was a showoff and wanted people to clap at me. So I tried to put it in the back of my mind. Since I was quite academic, everyone said, `Charles could go to a university and do very well as a lawyer.’ So I thought, `Maybe I’ll do something sensible. I can always act in my spare time.’ ”
Being a part-time actor didn’t satisfy Shaughnessy. Although his parents wanted him to concentrate on briefs rather than scripts, they understood his need to be onstage. Shaughnessy’s father wrote for the BBC series “Upstairs, Downstairs” and his mother is a former actress.
“They were supportive,” Shaughnessy said. “They would have felt happier if I had stayed in England and become a judge, but when they knew I really wanted to do these things, that’s all they really worried about.”
Shaughnessy won plum roles in the BBC productions “Partners in Crime” and “Jury.” While his agent insisted Shaughnessy had a promising career in Britain, the actor decided to move to the United States three years ago to be closer to his girlfriend. Now they’re married.
As an unknown, he had to start from scratch. After doing some stage work at local theaters, he made his American television debut as a ne’er-do-well cousin of Emma Samms on “General Hospital.” Originally, he was cast for a four-day stint on the daytime drama, but audience reaction was favorable enough that the producers of the show asked him to appear in more episodes. Shaughnessy by that time had signed a contract with NBC to do “Days of Our Lives.”
The classically trained British actor said he is pleased with his character on the popular soap opera. “There is really no difference between doing this and Shakespeare,” he insisted. “They’re both just acting. Whatever the material or situation, I think a good actor can make things work. That’s his job. I think it makes you more accomplished to delve into all aspects of acting. I like Shane. I also like Hamlet. There are many interesting characters to play, and it’s up to you to do th e best with what you have.”
He has been on “Days of Our Lives” for less than two years, but Shaughnessy already has become a favorite among soap opera fans. He has won several popularity polls run by soap magazines, and he topped the TV Q ratings (measuring audience appeal) as daytime’s favorite male actor.
“The writers are very clever with the way they create characters,” Shaughnessy said. “They kind of subtly tailored the part to show off my few good points. This is putting myself down in a way, but my role is really like a product. If you market a new cleaner, you already know what the market wants. You bottle it, you package it attractively, you use the right scent, and the best kind of advertising campaign. If the cleanser is pretty good and you present it right, even if it’s not better than anything else in the market, it will knock everything else off the shelves.
“I think my accent was a help, too,” Shaughnessy said, laughing. “I think it’s the equivalent of a pine scent.”
Although his 12-hour workdays can get tedious, he said, his wife (American actress Susan Fallender) and his outside activities keep him from “going bonkers” on the set. Shaughnessy is active in a non-political educational movement called Beyond War, a program that promotes peace through knowledge. He attends meetings twice weekly and occasionally lectures at universities around the country.
“Our concern is that with the advance of technology, too many people are concentrating their concerns on the nuclear issue without realizing that that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Even if we get rid of the nuclear weapons, we have something equally destructive, like chemicals or lasers. The problem, really, is not the weapons, but the way we think. Mankind has always had this inability to use the planet as a single home for everyone. We’re trying to make people aware that we have to reach a point where we have control over life, not just individual lives.”
