Thursday, January 31, 2013

Spotted: Robin Mattson

It was before Delia on "Ryan's Hope." It was before Heather Webber on "General Hospital." Gosh, it was even before she did that sweet little guest spot on "The Dukes of Hazzard." And it was certainly quite a few years before we knew her so well as the second Gina Capwell on "Santa Barbara." It was "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" (the former of the two, actually), in the first of her two appearances on that show. A November 1977 episode called "The Strange Fate of Flight 608."

Robin Mattson is oh-so-gloriously young, as pert and round-faced as ever, her trademark blond tresses long and flowing, as she hops aboard a doomed flight headed for the Bermuda Triangle -- and a huge hurricane. With Parker Stevenson as Frank Hardy at the helm, the plane must emergency land near a deserted island. Everyone survives -- a whole plane full of stewardesses, actually, but for the Hardy Boys -- and washes up to shore, hiding out in a cave from the storm overnight. As the boys unravel a new mystery, it's clear Mattson's suspiciously behaving Carla is at the heart of it. She's got a secret, and it has to do with smuggled diamonds. Are they real or fake? Does she even know?

Mattson scoops out her role with a good measure of fear and apprehension, and we're thinking this is the in-over-her-head character, not the actress, as this is a gal who's been in firm command of a lot of roles over the years. We viewed the first season of "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" last year, so delighted to see our original Fallon Carrington of "Dynasty" in this signature role again, since we hadn't seen these eps since they originally aired. Now we're rolling along the second-season DVD set, happy as a pig in slop, so we're thinking there'll be some more classic-star-spottin' along the way ...

No comments: