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Soap
Opera
Weekly
Postcards
from London
A
REAL GUYS' ADVENTURE
GH's Matthew Ashford leaves Tom behind (or does he?) to
visit Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater, drink his first English
lager — and get in touch with the Beatles....
"We
saw this sign on the way to Dover and, of course, once I
saw it, I knew I had to find the town, Matt admits. "I
said to Chris, `We gotta stop'—my last name is Ashford.'"
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"I
just had to have a photo of this bobby in front of Big Ben at
Westminiser Abbey in London," Matt says. "Security
there is very tight, so he had to be on the ball. As you can
see, he agreed to pose — but he isn't exactly thrilled."
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GH
Star Matthew Ashford (Tom) made a quick study of ancient history on
a recent trip to England — and he got to make a little modern history
as well.
"I recorded a few songs a Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles
recorded," Matt reports. "Actually, we were there because
my wife, Christina Saffran, was making the cast album of Singin'
in the Rain. The director needed a few more actors for some small
speaking and singing roles on another cast album he was doing, so I
got to perform, too.
"I was standing there with my headphones on trying to capture John,
Paul, George, and Ringo's vibes," he recalls. "It was pretty
cool."
"I was standing there with my headphones on trying to capture John,
Paul, George, and Ringo's vibes," he recalls. "It was pretty
cool."
"I recorded a few songs a Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles
recorded," Matt reports. "Actually, we were there because
my wife, Christina Saffran, was making the cast album of Singin'
in the Rain. The director needed a few more actors for some small
speaking and singing roles on another cast album he was doing, so I
got to perform, too.
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"I
thought this telephone booth was so quaint — until I realized
it looked like someone had been living in it." Matt laughs. "As
you can see, only my foot's inside — I was afraid to go any further."
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Matt
checks out the scene in Trafalgar Square, then closes in for
a closeup. "Hey let's face it, it's what you do with a
lion," he laughs. "I kept thinking the English must
say to themselves, `Those Americans will do anything for a photo.'"
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On
a trip to see the legendary white cliffs of Dover, Matt
insisted on making a detour when he saw a sign for the town
of Ashford. The highlight of the day: hunting down tombstones
with the name Ashford in the local cemetery. "I stopped
to look for long lost relatives," laughs the actor,
who is of English and Irish decent.
Although he was thousands of miles from home, Matt couldn't
escape his own fame. "While I was in the recording
studio, a woman and her entourage came in and I was introduced
to her as the famous America actor Matthew Ashford,"
he says with a grin. "She immediately recognized me
from GH and wanted to know what was happening on the show.
Later, I found out she's someone really important like the
Minister of Culture — and she's a big fan. How weird
is that?"
—LISA BACKUS
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