Hunter Tylo Biography In January 2001 Michael's movie 'Race to Space' was due to open in limited release around the country and Hunter's Bold contract was up for renewal. However these early months of the year offered more work than that. Although Michael's movie was actually released later in the year he had moved on to another one. He was apparently playing a complete lunatic in a movie called 'City of Dreams' at this time while Hunter had started a production company. She and Bold producer/director John Zak had purchased the rights to Judy Lewis's book 'Uncommon Knowledge'. This would enable them to produce a Loretta Young movie based on the book and Hunter would star in the film as the late Loretta Young. The movie was about Young's relationship with actor Clark Gable and was filmed but never released. Click here (page pops up) for a Flash presentation showing Hunter as Loretta Young. Hunter renewed her Bold contract for only six months in February and magazines around the world declared that she had signed on for three years. It turned out that they were wrong because, although an actor's strike in Hollywood was looming, Hunter had had enough of Bold so six months was all she was prepared to commit to at the time. So she re-signed for six months and then took off to Monte Carlo with her Bold costar, Ronn Moss. They appeared at the 41st Annual Monte Carlo Television Festival on February 16-20. Some photos below show her and Ronn with Prince Rainier of Monaco. In April huntertylo.com finally had a welcome page after years of being registered but not used. She didn't really like the Net previously because she had heard about, and believed, all of the negative opinions about a few minor parts of the Net, like forums. However she decided that she would give it a go later in the year. Her charity's site would eventually become part of that site as did her cosmetics line's site. With all that underway Hunter prepared for a play later in the year. Residents of the LA area were able to find Hunter and long-time friend Scott Thompson Baker (ex-Connor, Bold) in a production of "Rear Window" on August 24th, 25th and 26th. Fans from around the world, especially a few from Italy that were vacationing in Los Angeles at the time, went to the play and met Hunter. One fan told this author that it was a great play and Hunter was lovely and the other said something similar in the Tylo Times forum. Below is one of the promotional advertisements for the play. After this play the proverbial you-know-what hit the fan and Hunter's year suddenly took a turn for the worse unfortunately. With the play and the summer hiatus out of the way, Hunter soon found that she was not back at Bold for very long. By September her sixth month contract with Bold concluded, she appeared to have left the show and the media went wild but it turned out to be a rough contract negotiation and she re-signed for a little while longer. A press release in October gave fans a much greater insight into contractual negotiations with the show's business division. The press release stated that Hunter asked for the continuation of her contract at her current rate, with normal cost of living increases to be realized over the course of the three-year contract. The show had increased its viewership by 9 million since June with the addition of the translation of the show into the Spanish markets (through the SAP technology). The distribution of the show had grown from 96 countries to 100 countries throughout the last year. Was all that suitable leverage for contract negotiations? Despite the increase in viewership, increase in market share, and Hunter's eleven year history with the production, the show claimed that it could not afford to continue her contract at its current rate. Instead they offered Hunter a contract for less money, working the same schedule, with small increments built in. At the end of this new three-year contract, Hunter would be working the same schedule, making less money. As it turned out the negotiations between Hunter's attorney and the show's legal team were not exactly all that successful. Additionally, there were rumors that Hunter had exhausted her settlement from the Aaron Spelling lawsuit so she asked Bold for a million dollar contract. The funds from the settlement went directly into Hunter's Chosen Child, which was described in the press release as a non-profit California religious foundation helping day care centers, pregnant teen homes, and women who have been discriminated against in employment due to pregnancy. While the Spelling settlement included a clause stating that the exact amount of the settlement would not be divulged (it was more than $5m), the settlement was made, the attorney's fees paid, the taxes paid, and the remaining balance deposited into the non-profit charity. That was what the press release stated at least. Apparently then Hunter did not personally receive any of the settlement when she could have if she wanted to of course. So the rumors of the million dollar contract were just silly because soap stars earn much less. Having read all of this the fan club's President released her own statement. It said: "Dear Hunter Tylo Fan and Friend, It is with much regret that we inform you that negotiations for Hunter's contract on the B&B have reached an impasse. Hunter taped her last episode for The Bold and The Beautiful, Tuesday, October 9, 2001 ending months of speculation about her status with the show. Negotiations have failed to produce a contract agreeable to both Hunter and B&B. It appears the role of "Taylor" will be recast! Can you imagine this?!" After the official press release and the above fan club one, Hunter gave various magazine interviews at the time and posted messages on her forum. These gave us all an even greater insight into a soap star's salary structure and what she thinks about online criticism. This author had a little bit of a "fight" with her in 2004 here on the Net and she and her people have never been in contact since. I’ll get into that in the 2004 and 2005 section but in 2001 there were other online statements made by people that also confirmed her old suspicions about the Net being a negative place (which is why she rarely uses it now, except to email certain people). In her forum in 2001 she responded to hateful messages, the contract negotiations and more by saying that: "B&B pays the salaries out of a licencing fee CBS gives them. I am not at liberty to say who makes what - actually I don't know. I am just aware of a seniority level of where I tied in structure-wise. I WILL tell you though, the rumors out there that actors on Soaps make a million a year is a JOKE. I believe the closest person to that would be Susan Lucci - she IS on a one hour show and has been for quite a while - and deservedly so. We work harder than any other venue, learning scripts the night before sometimes, with scenes demanding tears, laughter, bikinis, humiliation, fights etc. You have to be "emotionally agile" and "physically fit" to do the schedule. You can't plan a life all year because it is subject to the shows needs. In the big picture of showbusiness - at least Daytime actors know where their next job is for another 2 or 3 years, but compared to Prime Time and Movie actors - per job - we work at McDonalds." I have been off-contract since the middle of August. I continued to provide my services to B&B at my old rate as contract negotiations continued. I received the same offer for 6 continuous weeks with hopes of finding a middle ground, even accepting a lesser cut in pay, with time for my family built in as a concession. B&B remained unwilling to move. Furthermore, when it seemed we were at an impasse, the beginning of the week of Oct. 8th, they ask me to come in and shoot 3 shows for them and they would resume talks in good faith. I shot those 3 shows Wed. Oct.10th. On Thursday the 11th my attorney. received the exact same offer so I rejected it. A letter I've received, dated October 15, from Mr. Ron Weaver states: "We are very sorry that Hunter has chosen to refuse our final offer. We have thoroughly analyzed that offer and feel it was extremely generous given the current business climate. Hunter is a brilliant actress and has been a pleasure to work with these past 11 years. She will be sorely missed. We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors." I don't know why CBS and B&B continue saying we are negotiating. I have not been given any other offers from them! I began trying to set the story straight on Thursday, the day I rejected their offer. The information that I was leaving was given for 3 reasons to my fans and the business: The courtesy of letting them know what is happening because they obviously enjoy the character on the show enough to visit this site (Tylo Times). To quell any rumors circulating and spare those who are looking for the truth the hassle of asking about. To make it known to "the business" that I am and have been available to find other work. Most casting people assume I am still under contract and unavailable for the upcoming pilot season. My agents and I are purposely trying to get the word out that I am available so that presumptions that I'm signed to B&B are squashed. Magazines have called, I've given interviews. The journalists from the magazines said curiously, they got the same response about me still negotiating and trust me, I don't get it either. Perhaps B&B is considering something of a reasonable offer - I don't know. I'm not so proud as not to consider it - but I'm not going to sit around and wait for it either. I would never dream of using my fans to propel my negotiations. If that were the case I would've been in here 6 weeks ago drumming up hype. This is MY fan site and I respect the ones who enjoy it. This site is for THEM to meet each other and chat about the storyline. There are posts and people who posted them who come in this forum who have stated things like, "Hunter was drunk all the time with her son Mickey and he is retarded." and "Hunter gave her daughter, Katya, cancer." My son does have ADD, and, yes, my daughter lost her eye to cancer at the age of 3 months... Believe me when I tell you, it is next to impossible for a mother not to wonder what "she" might have done to prevent horrible sicknesses like these - and one, that left my baby almost blind - I ask you - do you not think the pain caused to me by these vicious remarks hurt me? What's more, my son is 13 and surfs the web and reads these hurtful, embarrassing things about him - some even sent to him that his friends found and thought it would be funny for him to see. Well, it doesn't settle with him as funny. It shatters his self-esteem. I've got a pretty tough skin to take all the criticism I have over my lawsuit with Melrose. I have also dealt with ugly things people say about the character of "Taylor" and then blend it over to me personally - but to deal with hurtful comments on my children's disabilities is taking it to all-time low levels. On the note about clauses that say I have any control over the character - it is completely untrue. There is no such thing - the writers couldn't write! I'd much rather let them write the stuff and then I try to figure out how to put tinges of selfishness or sarcasm in to make her not so squeaky clean and more life-like! I recently chose to play some scenes with out of control anger to try to get another dimension into the character. I felt it was a good place to do it - women do get pretty out of control when their family is threatened. Besides, who wants to see a predictable character?! There has been a mis-quote that I had a morality clause. I have simply had an understanding with the show that the character would have some semblance of integrity - but of course, the producers are going to make sure they have as likeable and redeemable characters as possible. What I have requested of the producers in the past was that if Taylor did do something bad/wrong she should have to pay for it. It is reality. I don't like the message it sends out when a character is evil and seems to succeed in spite of it and never gets caught. I'm talking especially about affairs, murder, etc. Sadly, Ian left before they could address the "James' deathbed request" and I know Taylor has at various times been "naughty". At the most, she seems to suffer mostly emotionally via remorse or more recently, a tongue-lashing from Ridge. I can understand why the fans are frustrated. I would've loved for her to pay for that more. How much more fun it would have been to be depressed, angry and pining away for a quite a few episodes...But I think the writers thought it would be a nice thing to see a husband love his wife in spite of her short-comings - Maybe people need an uplifting look at marriage these days...so professionally and personally, I accept the storyline and I go along with it - whatever they write." Wow! There you go. She covered quite a lot of ground there in response to what was circulating at the time, although many would not have dignified the immature comments of a few nasty online brats with a response. Continuing along an in an interview later with TV Guide Online Hunter said that: "… there were some things that I was asking for that I didn't feel were the moon or the stars. My children are the focal point of my life. I was asking for a little more time to spend with them. At B&B, we don't get our schedule till a week before we shoot. So, not only am I panicking over the weekend if I need to know my lines, but also if can I get the kids to the zoo. Can I even go to church? I was asking for certain things that would allow me to plan my life a little better. We could not come to an agreement." Soon after this, the business team at Bold were told by the creative team (ie: head honcho, Brad Bell) to call Hunter up and get her back. The deal done, Hunter was back and everyone had thought that it was all a publicity stunt. She had set up a forum on the fan club site and people were soon having quite a debate about it. While all this was going on throughout 2001 there was a movie appearance that Hunter somehow managed to squeeze in. It was called 'Jack of All Trades' and starred several famous folk including a swag of pop stars like Britney Spears in her debut movie appearance. Lou Pearlman who had previously launched several boy bands was behind the $15m movie and his company was shopping it around in Hollywood. Not a single local distributor was interested but an international one was found and the renamed movie, 'Longshot' was released in September in Europe and later in the States. Apart from that it was quite a stressful year for the poor gal it seemed but we all have our good years as well as our bad ones. It is not hard to understand why she does not communicate with fans online any more and the arguments that this author had with her in 2004 were probably the last straw (she has not posted a forum message since). People continue to be cruel to her in early 2006 when this was published so she keeps away these days. That aside though, the rollercoaster ride that was Hunter's life back in 2001 continued into the next year which was a slightly more enjoyable year but one of mixed blessings. A look at Hunter's life in the years 2002 and 2003 - click here.