Noelle Beck on playing the mom of gay son Luke Snyder on CBS soap “As the World Turns”

I’m going to post the latest As the World Turns clips shortly but first wanted to do this item on actress Noelle Beck who plays Luke’s mom, Lily Snyder, on the soap. Noelle joined the show last year, replacing Martha Byrne, an Emmy-winning actress who was closely identified with the role after playing it for so many years. I loved Martha in the part but I gotta say, Noelle has really elevated the role – particularly when it comes to being an outspoken parent of a gay son. I cannot keep my eyes off of her and her chemistry with Van Hansis, who plays Luke, feels very real.

She’s best known for the nine years she spent on the ABC soap Loving in the role of Trisha Alden MacKenzie. But I remember Noelle best from the short-lived CBS prime-time soap Central Park West. Raquel Welch played her ruthless mother and I’ll never forget a scene when Welch’s character was about to walk down the aisle and Noelle says something like: “Mother, you can’t marry someone you don’t love just for their money!” And Welch, in a great line reading, says in exasperation: “Oh, grow up!”

But I digress. Noelle did an interview earlier today with BlogTalkRadio about her ATWT gig. Here is what she had to say to host Robert Reid about playing the mother of a gay character on the show: “I’m so proud our show is doing it and doing it so well, and that it’s received so well. I was just saying how impressed I was with the Luke and Noah fans at the Fan Club luncheon last weekend. I was really touched by their sincerity. They are behind that storyline and behind those actors in such a beautiful way that I was sort of just standing there and taking it all in, and looking at Van, and being so proud to get to be his mother on television. I have never seen fans like that before. It’s pretty impressive.”

I think she’s pretty impressive.