What a coup! As the World Turns has hired former General Hospital sensation Lynn Herring to play Audrey, the gold-digging mother of cut-up Henry Coleman (Trent Dawson). She hits the air July 24. One of daytime’s best bad girls, Herring played GH’s Lucy Coe from 1989 to ’97, then took the juicy character to the spin-off Port Charles. When that soap collapsed in 2003, GH bizarrely never asked her back. Married to Days of Our Lives vet Wayne Northrop, Herring now lives on a cattle ranch near Raymond, California, far from the madness of show biz. She called us from the quaint Raymond Museum—which she owns and operates!—to give us the lowdown on her new World turn.

Do you have any idea how badly people have wanted you back on the soap scene? It’s been too long.
I have missed it so much, but GH has never called. Eventually I figured, “Well, OK, I guess I’m outta that role.” That’s why it was such a compliment to get the phone call from [ATWT exec producer] Chris Goutman. I guess I really needed to get back to work. I’d find myself creating soap-opera scenarios in my mind while I was out on the hill feeding the cows. “Hmm…that flirty red one sure looks like she likes the bull today…” When you start doing that you know it’s time to start acting again.

The idea of you on a New York soap is hard to get your brain around. You’re such a country girl.
I know! One day I’m on the ranch giving shots to my horses with cow poop on my boots and the next I’m on the set at ATWT all dressed up with makeup and heels. I haven’t worn heels in five years! I couldn’t sleep the whole first week I was in New York because I’m so used to the silence of the ranch. But you know what’s funny? I’m staying in a sublet on Central Park South right across from where they park the horse carriages—so the smell of manure is still in the air!

How the hell did this happen?
Recently when The Young and the Restless thought they might have to re-cast the role of Jill, I let it be known that I was interested in the part. As it turned out, Jess Walton stayed and that’s the way it should be. But I think CBS got wind that I would love to be back on the boards. I haven’t had an agent in 10 years. Port Charles went off the air six years ago. And I went back to GH for one day for Lila Quartermaine’s funeral. That’s been it.

How is it that you’re playing Trent Dawson’s mom? Did you give birth to him when you were, what, 12?
And my character has seven other kids! And one of them is a serial killer. The way I figure, Audrey was a teenage mom. The backstory is that she ditched all the kids and Henry had to take care of them, so he has a lot of anger issues with her. They agree to not discuss dear old dad… I think he was abusive.

So you didn’t even have one “harumph” moment? Like, “How dare you think I’m old enough to play this guy’s mother?”
I think I was so grateful to be asked back to daytime, I would have agreed to a 50-year-old kid. And the role’s so great! Audrey is kind of a grifter, a con-woman who has been through a lot. She’s like Lucy Coe in a way, but older and wiser. So far I’ve only shot a few episodes, but Trent and I are already chewing scenery together.

How long is your run?
Chris Goutman said the main story is six-to-eight weeks long and then we’ll see what happens after that. If it ends there, I will love it and be appreciative. If it goes on, I can’t lose.

So start flirting with all the male characters, baby! That’s one way to get some longevity. Steal somebody’s man!
They’re bringing in Michael Woods [Passions] as someone attached to Audrey, a guy named Jay who wants money from her. I think maybe she got dough from killing off some husbands. She’s a survivor. And it’s really not clear what she wants from Henry. She just suddenly shows up in Oakdale.

Let’s get back to GH. How did you feel about not being asked back there when PC bit the dust? Were you stunned? Sad? Pissed?
The show had gone in a whole new direction with Sonny and the Mafia and they’ve done very well by that. I knew Lucy wouldn’t fit into that. Her high jinks and her comedic vixeny thing didn’t seem to match with that serious tone, so it didn’t bother me not to be asked back. I understood. But then when they brought back Finola Hughes [Anna] and Emma Samms [Holly], I did start to feel bad. I thought, there’s gotta be a little space for me! But with Kin Shriner [Scotty] gone, there weren’t many characters Lucy had related to a lot. I guess I was disappointed quite a bit, really. I understood why I wouldn’t be offered a full-blown, long-term thing. I just wanted something.

Let’s discuss this marvelous private life of yours. You’re running the town museum?
Wayne thought I was insane, but we went and bought this old house from the 1880’s and turned it into the Raymond Museum. It belonged to Charles Miller, the first homesteader in the area, and I was afraid someone would come and tear it down. There is so much history there. In the walls and the floorboards we’ve found jewelry, saloon doubloons, old railroad spikes, old graniteware and bottles, great historical stuff! It’s been like a treasure hunt. And people are bringing us their own treasures, too. It’s a very important area. Teddy Roosevelt came to Raymond on his way to Yosemite with John Muir, and that’s what started Yosemite National Park. There are ancient olive trees on the property. I learned to pickle them and gave them as gifts from the museum. You have to be careful you don’t poison someone because of the lye. I made Wayne taste the first batch.

So how’s business?
Amazingly, people show up! Our town has 500 people but they’re also coming from everywhere. We’ll get school kids or a busload from the senior-living center, and what’s neat is that they are so appreciative. They thank me and I thank them because it’s all such a gift.

Do you think you were drawn to the house on a spiritual level?
I do. This museum has been a force of its own. I feel like I was supposed to make it some sort of monument to the frontier spirit—and, let me tell you, once I made that decision things just rolled! The county fell right in line with everything we needed. We got a historic rating from the state. It all snowballed so easily, as if it were meant to be. My sons, Hank and Grady, sometimes mind the store when I’m out doing something. Their tours are hilarious. Wayne gives the funniest tours. He just makes stuff up.

Are you often recognized?
I’ll be covered in mud digging for bottles and someone will say, “Hey, aren’t you Lucy Coe? What are you doing here?” It’s very rural where we are. ATWT sends me the scripts via FedEx but the FedEx guy doesn’t like to come all the way out to the ranch so he leaves them at the feed store in town.

Well, if there are plot leaks, we’ll know how it happened!
Oh, it’s funnier than that. The feed store is connected to the beauty store where you can get your hair done.

And you know how gossip flies at a hair salon!
Everyone’s getting such a big kick out of my flying to New York every few days to be on TV. It sounds hokey but people are so nice here. We’ve been ranching up in this area for 20 years. The kids knew it from living here in the summers, but it was still a huge culture shock to leave L.A. after Port Charles ended and make a permanent move to such a remote area. To get to school, the kids have a 35-minute car ride over a dirt road dodging wild turkeys and pigs. In LA, they didn’t know who fixed the pot holes or who worked on the phones. Here they do. They’re part of a community where they know everyone, and what everyone contributes. Here there’s respect for the elders, for the old cowboy down the road. We have 200 Angus, plus horses, sheep, ducks, geese, dogs and cats. We provide a habitat for animals with acres and acres of open space. We haven’t eaten a store-bought egg in 15 years. This is where we’ll be for the rest of our lives. It’s paradise.