38
to make sure that I was
doing the writing justice.
And just when I started
to get to a place where
we could move on to
new stories and maybe
new love interests or just
new adventures with
Rex, it stopped. I felt like
I never had the oppor-
tunity to kind of rectify
him in a way.”
Lowder worked stead-
ily until the end of his
run. “The last week of
shooting went by so fast,”
he marvels. “All of a sud-
den, it was my last day.
I had a great time while it lasted, but the last
day was tough. I think I was a little numb
more than anything else. And, I think at the
end of the day, I was just bummed. I wasn’t
upset with or mad at anybody in particular, I
was just bummed. I was having such a good
time working with these people, and playing
Rex, and I was so emotionally charged on top
of that. It took me a few days after to just kind
of decompress. Everybody was so supportive.
Josh [Taylor, Roman] and Lauren Koslow
[Kate] were just so sweet, saying, ‘Honey, it
was so great to have you here.’ ”
The actor wasn’t idle for long: He
quickly began work on A MERMAID FOR
CHRISTMAS, which he stars in and serves
as executive producer. “Everything happens
for a reason,” he muses. “Right around
that time we were in development for A
MERMAID FOR CHRISTMAS and trying
to figure out when we were going to shoot
it, and if I was even going be able to work
on it because of my DAYS schedule, all of
a sudden my schedule opened up and I was
able to play the role in the movie. This is a
character that I really wanted to play. When
DAYS went down, I was very grateful that
I could dive right into A MERMAID FOR
CHRISTMAS and devote all of my time to
that, which we are still doing right now. That
was very helpful. Any actor will say it’s real-
ly nice to lose a gig for another one. We’re
in post-production for that right now. I’m
also shooting an awesome film in August.
I’m very grateful for my schedule this year.”
Lowder says he would be open to a
Salem return, or a role on another soap.
“I love this genre,” he says. “I’ve had the
privilege of working in every genre from
theater to prime-time television to feature
films. Daytime drama is so near and dear
to my heart. It’s like when I was in Vegas
doing Rock of Ages and then moved to New
York and was living and working elsewhere,
I remember I moved back to L.A. and I was
like, ‘I would love to get back into the day-
time drama family again.’ So yeah, I never
want to be too far from my soap opera fam-
ily no matter what show it is.”
And despite his short run, he is happy he
was able to come back to the soap he first
joined in 2000. “I want to extend my most
sincere thanks to [Executive Producer] Ken
Corday, [Co-Executive Producer] Greg
Meng, Ron Carlivati, [NBC Exec] Bruce
Evans and all the powers-that-be for giving
me the opportunity to once again be a part
of a show that has always been so special
to me,” Lowder praises. “I truly am very
grateful.” Parental Guidance: “Josh [Taylor, Roman] and Lauren Koslow
[Kate] were just so sweet, saying, ‘Honey, it was so great to
have you here.’ ”
XJJOHNSON/JPI“I HAD A GREAT TIME
WHILE IT LASTED.”