Extended Cut: UNC grad Wisner Washam clones Jesus — in a novel

Wisner Washam always knew he wanted to entertain.

So, the man who would become an Emmy-winning soap opera writer entered the dramatic arts department at UNC in 1949.

His plan was to study with the Carolina Playmakers to become an actor, but his plan changed one day during his senior year. Washam said that he remembers walking across campus and noticing a sign tacked up on a tree – “Auditions for announcers for the new radio station.”

“I’d always had this idea that I could do that,” Washam said. “I went over there, put on my deepest voice and tried to speak like Charles Kuralt and got hired!”

Not only did Washam try to emulate Kuralt’s voice, but he worked right alongside the legendary broadcaster, who was also a student at the time.

“Charlie was a friend of mine, and even at age 17 he had a miraculously mellifluous voice and wonderful pronunciation,” Washam said.

Washam and Kuralt were part of the first FM-broadcasted show of W-UNC in 1952. Journalism professor Jean Folkerts said that public radio during that era would have been educated-oriented, incorporating live drama, comedy and music. Washam said he started writing plays for the radio station.

“Stopping to read that notice on a tree really changed my life because it got me into the whole world of radio and writing,” Washam said.

The actor-turned-writer went on to be the head writer for the ABC soap opera “All My Children” for nearly 20 years. After retiring from television in the early 1990s, Washam continued to write independently. His most recent novel, “The Cloning,” began as a screenplay. Washam adapted it and published the novel version in 2011. “The Cloning” follows a young professor who attempts to clone a fragment of DNA from the Shroud of Turin, which he thinks is the DNA of Jesus.

“It’s been one continuous segue for me from one part of the entertainment world to another part,” he said.

At UNC, Washam lived on the second floor of the then-dormitory Steele Building, conveniently located near the Historic Playmakers Theatre where Washam took many classes and worked with the Carolina Playmakers. Though he entered the University intending to become an actor, Washam said he didn’t get many acting parts in the productions. He said he thinks it was because many of his peers were more experienced and mature.

“The University was awash with veterans who had just come back from World War II, and they were young. Some of them were still in their teens and early twenties, but they had a maturity that I did not have,” he said.

Washam eventually found his niche in the theatrical program. He studied dance under Foster Fitz-Simons, a well-known writer and choreographer, and he did technical and set work for the Playmakers.

This student and faculty group, a part of the Department of Dramatic Art, was prominent on campus from the 1920s until PlayMakers Repertory Company phased it out in the 1970s.

After graduating from UNC in 1953, Washam was drafted in the U.S. Army and stationed west of Paris. Under the G.I. Bill in 1958, he studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He returned to the U.S. in 1959 and went to New York City with only $200 in his pocket.

Washam traveled with the American Shakespeare Festival for a few seasons, and he took many stage managing positions. He was working at the Dallas Civic Opera in 1963 when President John Kennedy was shot in the city’s plaza. Washam said he can remember distinctly when he found out about the assassination.

“I was still in bed because we had worked ‘til about 2 or 3 o’clock that morning, the previous morning setting the lights for opening night for an opera called ‘Ballo in Maschera,’ which was about a political assassination,” Washam said.

Back in New York, Washam began stage managing for playwright Neil Simon. It was while working on Simon’s “Plaza Suite” that Washam met his future wife, actress Judith Barcroft. He understudied the groom, and she understudied the bride.

“We fell in love backstage, got married and bought our first co-op. And she was pregnant when the show finally closed after 1,100 performances,” Washam said.

Washam credits Barcroft for the start of his writing career. She was acting on the daytime soap opera “All My Children,” which needed writers, so she mentioned Washam to the show’s creator.

“I always thought he was such a good letter writer,” Barcroft said. “Those were the days before email. He used to write beautiful letters.”

Washam wrote a speculative script for “All My Children,” and he began writing for the show on a regular basis in 1971. He became the head writer within five years and remained on the show for almost 20, winning two Daytime Emmys.

Lorraine Broderick was Washam’s assistant and eventually became the co-head writer. She said that she and her colleagues consider the time that Washam was on the writing staff to be the heyday of “All My Children,” not just in the ratings, but also in creativity.

Broderick said she recalls a specific episode when the network allowed them to show a character smoking cigarettes because he was a bad guy.

“I remember Wisner working on that [episode] because Wisner used to be a smoker,” she said. “When I was pregnant with my first child, Wisner felt so guilty about smoking in the office with my carrying Annie. He felt so bad about it that he quit smoking. He’s never gone back.”

Broderick said that Washam’s “Southern gentleman” personality infuses everything he writes.

When soap operas began to decline in popularity, Washam turned to writing independently. He said that the two styles were quite different and made for a challenging transition.

“I was so spoiled as a writer for television, and I didn’t realize I was spoiled at the time,” he said.

“When I sat down and started writing novels, I suddenly realized I didn’t have any actors, or directors, or set designers, or costume designers, or lighting people, or music people. The novelist has to create all of that by himself.”

Washam made the shift when he wrote “The Cloning.” The idea for the plot came to him in a dream. Encouraged by Barcroft, Washam wrote a screenplay about a young, ambitious professor who discovers a fragment of DNA, which he uses to attempt to clone Jesus.

“I’ve always had a religious bent, but I’ve always had a scientific kind of mind,” Washam said. “This story was conceived before Dolly the sheep was ever cloned. It was really an idea that was totally off the wall.”

Washam submitted the screenplay to the Writers Guild of America East in 1996, and it won the Guild’s contest that year.

Unfortunately, Washam said that nobody important in the film industry was waiting to pick up the script. Prompted by a friend, Washam wrote the novel version. But Washam hasn’t given up the thought of a movie production.

“It moves very fast. It’s a fast unfolding story. It has a lot of action, a good deal of sex and it also has some spirituality in it too and sort of a social comment on the world,” he said.

“This is not a great, profound work of literature. I know that. I’m not that kind of person, nor that kind of a writer. It’s an entertainment; it’s an amusement. I like to make people smile.”

Washam still lives in Manhattan with Barcroft. They have two children and three granddaughters. He has continued to write independently. He has written a semi-autobiographical play, “The Sweet Bye and Bye,” about growing up in the South in the 1940s. His second novel, “Edie’s Story,” is about a young girl’s trials and tribulations growing up during the 1960s sexual revolution in New York City.

“I’ve had a very wonderfully checkered career,” Washam said.

“I’ve managed to keep my nose above water, which is not easy to do in the entertainment world.”

Washam’s novel, “The Cloning,” is available on amazon.com and for the Kindle e-reader.