More from Cooper's memoirs:

Terry Lester and she were extremely close. They spent alot of time together throughout the years and spoke for hours on the phone when they weren't. She writes that he had a very dark side that haunted him. He agonized over his mistake of leaving Y&R in 89 and burning his bridges with Bill Bell.

She writes that her love for Lester led her to initially reject the casting of Peter Bregman in the role of Jack; she felt he was the total opposite of what Jack was supposed to be. However, he proved himself a classy gentleman and Cooper and he eventually became very close. She marvels at how two talented actors could have such different interpretations of the same character and manage to make it their own in their own individual ways.

She talks about the notorious blowout between Bregman and Braeden which led to fisticuffs on the set during a scene which led to the top brass contemplating firing Bregman. Cooper states that she went to bat for Bregman and threatened to quit herself if Bregman was fired. She was not picking sides but felt that it was an unfortunate mistake that should not cost an actor his job.

Cooper apparently was always willing to go to bat for the underdog: when she learned Guiding Light was cancelled, she was furious and let the top brass know her feelings. She writes that more consideration and care should have been given to daytime's longest running show, that if it was broke it should have been fixed. Her classic statement: "If you find cracks in the Lincoln Memorial you don't replace it with a strip mall".

She requested a cameo background scene in the final weeks on GL, and Christian Leblanc (another actor she includes in her favorite costars write-up) jumped right in and asked to join in. GL exec producer Ellen Wheeler jumped at the chance and had a scene specially written for them (in which they played a wealthy dowager and her Italian studboy).

Cooper also tried to get Nancy Grahn, another actress she adored, a job at Y&R. Grahn had been trying to make a name for herself in primetime after SANTA BARBARA was cancelled, but nothing was working out. Cooper encouraged Grahn to pitch herself to Bill Bell. Grahn was hesitant, but Cooper insisted she introduce herself to Bell at the Soap Opera Awards. Prepped and primed by Cooper and Cooper's best friend, Grahn reluctantly went up to Bell and introduced herself. The man replied, "It's nice to meet you Miss Grahn, but I am Jerry Douglas" (Jerry looked uncanningly like Bill Bell). Embarrassed by the faux pas, Grahn retreated and left without pursuing the real Bill Bell.

Btw, I am surprised that apparently it has been implied that Katherine Chancellor and John Abbott were former lovers? According to Cooper, she speaks of both characters as having once shared a romantic past, and refers to John as Katherine's ex-lover.

Other tidbits:

Cooper states that the one true love of Katherine Chancellor's life was her island husband Felipe Ramirez.

Her all-time favorite storyline was the Marge the waitress story.

When she tested for the role of Katherine, John Considine was hired as Phillip Chancellor and played the scene with her. He was quickly replaced by Donnelly Rhodes and she never found out why.

The only other daytime role she ever auditioned for was for the part of Julie Olsen on a soap that was to be named Days Of Our Lives. The role went to the much younger Susan Seaforth.

She was "pals" with Barbara Stanwyck and Lucille Ball; Cooper was nominated for an Emmy for a guest starring role on the TV show Ben Casey but lost out to actress Pamela Brown, a choice the appalled her "pals" Stanwyck and Ball.

Her own real-life marriage to Harry Bernson (Corbin's dad) was tumultuous; Bernson cheated on her and pilfered money from her to support his mistress. Cooper found out all about it when the mistress called her on the set and told her Harry needed more money to support the life she was becoming accustomed to.