SAYATA

What Soap Opera was Tommy Lee Jones on from 1971-1979?

Answer:
Tommy Lee Jones was on One Life To Live as Dr. Mark Toland.

Main part was 1971-1975. He did have an uncredited part in 1979 when they were finishing an earlier plot.

Primary Plot:
Dorian Cramer (Nancy Pinkerton, Claire Malis, Robin Strasser, Elaine Princi) arrived in Llanview in 1973 with her handicapped sister, Melinda [Patricia Pearcy]; the following year she and her married lover Dr. Mark Toland (Tommy Lee Jones) conspired to cover up their complicity in the death of patient, Rachel Wilson (Nancy Barrett). When the truth came out, Dorian was suspended from Llanview hospital; erroneously believing that Viki was partly responsible, Dorian vowed revenge. After becoming the private physician to Viki's ailing father Victor, she married him, and schemed to control his fortune. Dorian's machinations further fueled the enmity between Viki and herself. After Victor's mysterious death in 1976, the shadow of suspicion surrounded Dorian for decades.

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Tommy Lee Jones, who in real life was the roommate of Al Gore at Harvard, first on screen success was playing the roommate of Ryan O'Neal's Oliver character in Love Story; Hank Simpson. One Life to Live did a variation of the Love Story plot in one of their earliest storylines and so there is no doubt that the producers were big fans of that movie. Some people say that Erich Segal in part based the Oliver character on Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones themselves though I doubt that.

The part Tommy Lee Jones played on One Life to Live was far removed from Love Story. In One Life To Live, Tommy played Dr Mark Toland, a clean-cut medic. Okay, that is what you would have thought but don't you love the way Soap Operas develop their characters. Good guy. No, I don't think so said the female writer he wouldn't sleep with---(I'm just joking with that). Though you do have to wonder what motivates some of the writers. :-) Regardless, Dr. Mark Toland started as one type of character but had an ever increasingly obvious dark side. Marrying into one of Llanview's richest families, he quickly showed himself to be horribly mendacious, uncontrollably adulterous and eventually murderous. Today, instead of a Doctor they would probably have made his character a Golfer. (Just kidding. I like Tiger.) It was Dr. Mark Toland's penchant for blackmail that finally undid Dr. Mark Toland. Trying to shake some poor woman down, he was shot dead - ironically, he was mistaken for a different adulterer.

Tommy Lee Jones went from being a teenager working the Texas oil fields to Harvard and not being driven insane by Al Gore's constant bragging (Al Gore fans Iza just joking) to a brilliant career.

Some of Tommy Lee Jones' credits....

The Company Men (2010) (completed) .... Gene McClary
In the Electric Mist (2009) .... Dave Robicheaux
... aka Dans la brume électrique (France)
In the Valley of Elah (2007) .... Hank Deerfield
No Country for Old Men (2007) .... Sheriff Ed Tom Bell
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) .... The Axeman
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) .... Pete Perkins
... aka Three Burials: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Australia: DVD box title) (UK: DVD box title)
... aka The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (International: English title)
... aka Trois enterrements (France)
Man of the House (2005/I) .... Ranger Roland Sharp
The Missing (2003/I) .... Samuel Jones / Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan
The Hunted (2003) .... L.T. Bonham
Men in Black II (2002) .... Kevin Brown, Agent Kay
... aka MIB 2 (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka MIIB (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Space Cowboys (2000) .... Hawk Hawkins
Rules of Engagement (2000) .... Col. Hayes 'Hodge' Hodges
... aka Les règles d'engagement (Canada: French title)
... aka Rules - Sekunden der Entscheidung (Germany)
... aka Rules of Engagement - Die Regeln des Krieges (Germany: TV title)
Double Jeopardy (1999) .... Travis
... aka Doppelmord (Germany)
... aka Double condamnation (Canada: French title)
Small Soldiers (1998) (VG) (voice) .... Major Chip Hazard
Small Soldiers (1998) (voice) .... Chip Hazard
U.S. Marshals (1998) .... Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard
Men in Black (1997) .... Kay
... aka MIB (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Volcano (1997) .... Mike Roark
Batman Forever (1995) .... Two-Face / Harvey Dent
The Good Old Boys (1995) (TV) .... Hewey Calloway
Cobb (1994) .... Ty Cobb
Blue Sky (1994) .... Maj. Henry 'Hank' Marshall
Natural Born Killers (1994) .... Warden Dwight McClusky
The Client (1994) .... 'Reverend' Roy Foltrigg
Blown Away (1994) .... Ryan Gaerity
Heaven & Earth (1993) .... Steve Butler
... aka Entre ciel et terre (France)
The Fugitive (1993) .... Samuel Gerard
House of Cards (1993) .... Jake Beerlander
Under Siege (1992) .... William Stranix
... aka Piège en haute mer (France)
JFK (1991) .... Clay Shaw
... aka JFK (France)
... aka JFK - Affaire non classée (France: poster title)
Fire Birds (1990) .... Brad Little
... aka Wings of the Apache
The Package (1989) .... Thomas Boyette
"Lonesome Dove" (1989) TV mini-series .... Woodrow F. Call (unknown episodes)
Gotham (1988) (TV) .... Eddie Mallard
... aka The Dead Can't Lie
April Morning (1988) (TV) .... Moses Cooper
Stormy Monday (1988) .... Cosmo
Stranger on My Land (1988) (TV) .... Bud Whitman
The Big Town (1987) .... George Cole
Broken Vows (1987) (TV) .... Pater Joseph McMahon
Yuri Nosenko, KGB (1986) (TV) .... Steve Daley
... aka The Cold War (USA: bootleg title)
... aka Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent (International: English title: video title)
Black Moon Rising (1986) .... Quint
The Park Is Mine (1986) (TV) .... Mitch
The River Rat (1984) .... Billy
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984) (TV) .... Brick Pollitt
Nate and Hayes (1983) .... Captain Bully Hayes
... aka Savage Islands (UK)
The Executioner's Song (1982) (TV) .... Gary Mark Gilmore
The Rainmaker (1982) (TV) .... Starbuck
Back Roads (1981) .... Elmore Pratt
... aka Love with a Sinner (Philippines: English title)
Barn Burning (1980) (TV) .... Ab Snopes
... aka The American Short Story Collection: Barn Burning
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) .... 'Mooney' Lynn
"One Life to Live" .... Dr. Mark Toland (2 episodes, 1971-1979)
- Episode dated 12 November 1979 (1979) TV episode (uncredited) .... Dr. Mark Toland
- Episode dated 17 March 1971 (1971) TV episode .... Dr. Mark Toland
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) .... John Neville
The Betsy (1978) .... Angelo Perino
... aka Harold Robbins' The Betsy
Rolling Thunder (1977) .... Johnny Vohden
The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV) .... Howard Hughes
Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976) (TV) .... Officer Hutton
"Family" .... David Needham (1 episode, 1976)
- Coming of Age (1976) TV episode .... David Needham
Jackson County Jail (1976) .... Coley Blake
... aka The Innocent Victim (USA: video title)
"Charlie's Angels" .... Aram Kolegian (1 episode, 1976)
- Charlie's Angels (1976) TV episode .... Aram Kolegian
"Baretta" .... Sharky (1 episode, 1976)
- Dead Man Out (1976) TV episode .... Sharky
"Barnaby Jones" .... Dr. Jim Melford (1 episode, 1975)
- Fatal Witness (1975) TV episode .... Dr. Jim Melford
Eliza's Horoscope (1975) (as Tom Lee Jones) .... Tommy Lee
Life Study (1973) .... Gus
Love Story (1970) (as Tom Lee Jones) .... Hank Simpson