By Seli GrovesBACK IN 2000, when Justin Hartley learned that he'd won the role of Nicholas Foxworth ('Fox') Crane -- son of Ivy (Kim Johnston Ulrich) and Julian Crane (Ben Masters) on 'Passions' -- he had some expectations about what he would find when he joined the soap.
"I knew," Hartley says, "that there would be a lot of lines to learn every night, and that when you're on the set, there's a lot of pressure to get everything done within a certain amount of time. And I also knew that for a young actor, you couldn't hope for a better place to learn your craft."
But one thing Hartley didn't know when he first brought Fox to Harmony is that at some point he'd be running his lines every night and sharing his scenes every day with someone who would become very special to him -- Lindsay Korman, who plays Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald Crane on the show.
"No," he laughs, "I never thought that was going to happen. It shows that life holds a lot of surprises."
Korman and Hartley, who plan to wed later this year, are expecting a child in July.
"We're very excited about becoming parents," Hartley says. "And our families are, too. Everyone has been happy for us from the beginning."
On a soap, the quality of happiness is (with apologies to Portia) often strained. It frequently happens that characters are happiest when they can make other characters unhappy. And that's what happened when Fox and Theresa decided to help each other win the loves of their lives: For Fox, it was Whitney (Brook Kerr) who fascinated him, but she loved another man. For Theresa, it was Ethan (Eric Martsolf), her erstwhile lover who married her longtime rival, Gwen (Liza Huber). But as we've seen in recent weeks, Fox's interest in Theresa appears to be more than just as a co-conspirator, and Theresa seems to be responding to Fox more as a man than as a fellow manipulator.
Some fans like the idea of Fox and Theresa coming together as a couple, while others feel that Ethan -- who, as the audience well and truly perceives, still has feelings for Theresa -- and Theresa should be able to find their way back to each other.
As for Hartley's take on the situation, as an actor, he looks forward to the sparks that would be set off by a confrontation between the brothers. (They both share Ivy as their mother.) From a personal point of view, Hartley feels any story line that gives him more on-screen time with Korman -- especially if it involves some intense love scenes -- is just fine with him.
However, there's an old Hollywood canard that spending too much time together can create added pressures in a marriage. But Hartley doesn't buy into that.
"As far as I'm concerned," Hartley says, "I love Lindsay, and love being with her as much as I can."
