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Back in 1984, The Young and the Restless did something that no soap would even dare today. The CBS soap wrote a live facelift storyline for Katherine Chancellor, aka Jeanne Cooper. Yes, you are thinking right; the CBS soap actually filmed the actress undergoing the procedure and then aired it.
It was common back then, and even now, for celebrities to keep their cosmetic procedures under wraps. But surprisingly, Cooper had no problem putting hers in front of millions. That means the cameras were rolling during the real operation.
The best part being, The Young and the Restless viewers even got to watch what happened when the bandages came off. But Cooper never approached the producers with her plans, so whose idea was it?
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How Jeanne Cooper’s Facelift Surgery Became The Young and the Restless Storyline?
Back in the 1980s, Jeanne Cooper was already planning to have a facelift. However, she wasn’t planning one in front of the cameras. She approached The Young and the Restless co-creator Bill Bell for some time off to recover after the procedure.
According to her account in a 2009 Television Academy interview, Cooper revealed how Bill himself came up with the idea. Bill came up to her Y&R dressing room and suggested that her character, Katherine Chancellor, should also get a facelift. Cooper didn’t need much convincing, but she had one condition.
Cooper didn’t want the show to sugarcoat the facelift experience onscreen. She wanted viewers to see the real process, including the uncomfortable parts of the surgery, like a documentary.
The Unscripted Moment That Made Jeanne Cooper’s Facelift Even More Memorable?
Once the producers were on the same page, writer Elizabeth Harrower began her homework, which included extensive research. Apparently, she asked so many questions that Cooper’s medical surgeon was almost ready to give her a degree. However, the research really paid off.
The cameras were there when the surgery started, and the following day the production filmed another moment in her plastic surgeon’s office. This time, Glassman was supposed to remove the bandages while an offscreen actor delivered the lines. However, the surgeon was worried that the reveal might get too messy.
But Cooper was quite confident that she wouldn’t bleed. Glassman eventually agreed to film the first take without any backup. And surprisingly, Cooper didn’t bleed. The surgeon was so excited that he forgot he was supposed to speak. Then, in the last scene, he exclaimed, “Oh Jesus, you said you wouldn’t bleed, and you didn’t.”
This spontaneous line stayed as an unscripted yet memorable moment in the soap scene!
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