Article Scott Jaeck

Cain ? Yes, but only on TV

By Laurie Ward, Beautiful, 1992

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In reality, Scott Jaeck is a completely different man from the enigmatic hermit who saved Eden Capwell's life in Santa Barbara. A highly appreciated theater actor, he has a great passion : antique furniture.

In Santa Barbara, they wanted him to be called Cain. But the two dimples on his cheeks, which the beard barely manages to cover, reveal that Scott Jaeck is made of completely different stuff than the first murderer in the humanity history. The same storytellers placed him on top of a snowy mountain in the state of Utah, where he leads an ascetic life, completely isolated from the rest of the world until the day he reveals himself to the viewers to help poor Eden Capwell (Marcy Walker), victim of a car accident while crossing this impermeable region. Demonstrating that he has very little to do with his namesake, Cain, he takes care of Eden, helps her get back on her feet and start walking again and when the girl now appears to have recovered, he leaves with her to Santa Barbara. Yes, because Cain also has a heart that now beats strongly for the unfortunate woman. Arrived later in the city, Cain will find a way to make up for lost time, falling in love first with Andrea and then also with the charming Vietnamese Ming Li, especially after discovering that she is not his daughter. Scott is happy to have been asked to play a role in Santa Barbara. "Especially because," the actor explains, "the director guaranteed me that I wouldn't need to shave my beard. Joking aside, I found myself working with really nice people, with whom I didn't even feel like I was acting, everything was so spontaneous, natural. I have a lot of good memories from this period and I often meet up with my colleagues from the soap opera."

Working in television, however, is not the greatest aspiration for Scott, who is considered one of the most beloved theater artists in the United States. His name often appeared on billboards at theaters in Chicago, a city in the United States second only to Broadway in terms of dramatic performances. An eclectic actor, Scott Jaeck moves with the greatest ease from brilliant roles to dramatic roles. "I think I reached the pinnacle of my career when Tennessee Williams, the author of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, called me to perform his latest work, A House Not Meant to Stand. It was an indescribable emotion to work with that. I'm proud that it happened to me too."

When he is not busy on set, at the theater or studying plays, Scott Jaeck devotes himself to his other passion : collecting antique furniture. In his youth, he studied architecture and was particularly attracted to the Renaissance. Spain and Italy fascinate him and it is for this reason that he has visited these two countries several times, where he buys many pieces from his collection. "To finance my studies," says Scott, "I worked as a courier in a bank, then a cashier, but also a bus driver. During a trip to Southern California, I discovered a very worn chair but without no doubt unique in a Spanish Renaissance style store. I bought and restored it myself, patiently. Since then I have never stopped collecting antique furniture and when I work I always ask the director to use one of the pieces in my collection to furnish the scenes. It happened in Hotel, Remington Steele and in T.J. Hooker. In Santa Barbara, I couldn’t do the same. Can you imagine a hermit furnishing his mountain cabin with old furniture ?"