1980s TV Shows: A Trip Down Memory Lane with… Michael Spound & Heidi Bohay (Dave & Megan Kendall in “Hotel”)

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen

“Hotel” was a late-night one-hour drama series that aired on ABC from 1983 to 1988. It was based on Arthur Hailey’s 1965 novel and produced by Aaron Spelling. The set was the fictional five-star hotel St. Gregory in San Francisco. It ran for 114 episodes. Michael Spound and Heidi Bohay played married couple Dave and Megan Kendall: he was a bellhop and she was a desk clerk. Michael and Heidi fell in love on set for real and got married in 1988.

KB: “Hotel”: What kind of show was it?

Michael: It was a late-night one-hour drama about the staff and guests at a fictional five-star hotel, The St. Gregory, in San Francisco in the 1980’s. The pilot was shot at the Fairmont Hotel in San Franciso, and the series was shot at a replica of the Fairmont on three separate sound stages at Warner Brothers Studios- at the time (1983) our lobby set was the biggest set in television history.

Heidi: We shot the pilot in May, I think, of 1983. So much fun to be a part of. The pilot had Bette Davis, Mel Torme, Morgan Fairchild, Shirley Jones. We were very young and every week there were famous guest stars cast in each episode. A lot of famous actors from the golden age of Hollywood checked in at our front desk- Shari Belafonte and I always welcomed “guests” at the front desk in the lobby. Elizabeth Taylor, Ginger Rogers, Roddy McDowell, Ava Gabor, Shirley Jones, Jean Simmons, Van Johnson. Bette Davis played the owner of the hotel in the pilot before Anne Baxter took over!

Michael: George Clooney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alec Baldwin, Johnny Depp guest starred on the show…before they became stars…

KB: How did you get the part as Dave & Megan Kendall?

Michael: Well, it was weird. We both showed up in Aaron Spelling’s office one day after we initially read for the director, Jerry London. Shea Farrell, who won the role of Mark Danning, was there that day – and Heidi was there with a lot of actresses to read for the role of Megan.

Heidi: So, Michael goes in with one of the women, and she comes out after a while, but Michael does not. He gets to stay in Aaron Spelling’s office with producers and read as this line of young actresses goes in one at a time. I was last and it felt like a bad audition. We kind of laughed our way through it.

Michael: At one point Heidi dropped her script and we both bent down to pick it up at and we bumped heads and started to giggle… I think they enjoyed that we were enjoying it.

Heidi: …and the next day we were at ABC reading for the network.

KB: What did you like about the character and how did you make it your own?

Heidi: The thing about both of our characters is they were young and just trying to get a start in life- just like we were. Megan and Dave had these amazing jobs at this luxury hotel. It just mirrored who we were at that time.

Michael: I was 25, Heidi was 23 and we were just trying to get a start in Hollywood, and this job comes along for a major network and a huge producer, Aaron Spelling, known for creating big hits. We really felt like we were just playing ourselves.

Heidi: The only difference was that we were playing married characters, but we were not married. In fact, we were the only actors on the show that were not married. By the time the show was over every actor on the show was divorced and we married each other.

KB: What did it look like on the set from getting the script to filming?

Michael: Every episode took about 8 days to shoot. Some weeks we had a lot to do, and we were there every day but sometimes we had “Welcome to the St. Gregory, can I carry your bag days” and we were just kind of functional characters for the show.

Heidi: For five years Shari (Julie Gilette) and I welcomed every guest star at the front desk in the lobby, and they signed in to the hotel on registration cards we had. I think I still have all those signatures somewhere.

Michael: A typical day was makeup and hair in the early hours of the morning…

Heidi: Much earlier for Connie, Anne, Shari and I…

Michael: We shot three to five scenes a day. Some days we were on the lobby set all day. Some days we would be on the other two sound stages that housed all the suites, rooms, executive offices, elevators and hallways. It was shot like a feature film. Scenes took a long time to shoot.

Heidi: I remember we would all hang out in our trailers until it was time for us to work. Shari, Shea, Nathan, Michael and I were “the puppies”- we hung out a lot between scenes. Jim and Connie carried most of the work load.

KB: Where was the show filmed?

Michael: The Burbank Studios- Warner Brothers. I loved going through that gate every morning.

KB: Do you have a favorite episode where you starred in?

Heidi: We did a runner that lasted four episodes. Michael’s character (Dave) was taking pills, uppers, to pass his bar exam- his character was going to law school and studying to be a lawyer. Anyway, it affected our (Dave and Megan’s) marriage. I think Jim (Brolin) directed a couple of those episodes.

KB: Are you still in touch with the other actors on the show?

Michael: Yes, Connie, Shari, Shea- we miss Anne Baxter and Nathan Cook very much. Have not seen Jim since the ABC 75th anniversary celebration.

KB: The show became very special for you both as you played a married couple and fell in love in real life?

Heidi: It did. Changed our lives. It was a special time. We used our prop wedding rings from the show for our real wedding. Mine said “Forever Dave” inside the ring and Michael’s said “Forever Megan”.

KB: Looking back now, would you have played Dave & Megan differently?

Michael: I don’t know. We were both so young.

Heidi: We were just trying to have fun.

KB: How do you explain that the show is still so beloved even after 40+ years?

Michael: I don’t know, maybe it tapped into a kind of escapism. The glamorous setting of a luxury hotel – intrigue, romance —all in one place. It’s the same appeal “The Love Boat” had. We were “The Love Boat” on land.

Heidi: Nostalgia too. For viewers who grew up in the ’80s, it represents a certain era of television—when weekly episodic dramas were a shared experience. We were the #1 show in the country in 1985.

Michael: And a People’s Choice winner in 1984 for Best New Drama. It was just a very fun time.

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