GUIDED TO THE ‘LIGHT’

Marcy Walker, last seen on daytime TV in the role of Eden Capwell Castillo on “Santa Barbara,” has signed with “Guiding Light” to create a new character.

On “Guiding Light,” Walker will play a woman (yet to be named) who becomes involved with Josh Lewis (recent returnee Robert Newman) after he travels to Italy to search for his supposedly deceased wife, Reva (Kim Zimmer). Her first appearance in the role is slated for Oct. 29.

Walker’s first job in daytime was on “All My Children” in 1981 with the creation of the selfish and scheming Liza Colby. She played the role until 1984 and racked up two Daytime Emmy nominations as outstanding supporting actress. Shortly after leaving “All My Children,” she turned up on “Santa Barbara” and created the role of the equally scheming Eden Capwell Castillo, who was willing to do anything to get what she wanted. Walker earned a third Daytime Emmy nomination (for leading actress) for her portrayal of Eden for the 1986-87 season and went on to win the coveted statuette for 1988-89.

Between her soap opera stints, Walker has appeared in TV movies such as “The Return of Desperado,” “Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception” and “Life on the Mississippi.” In 1991, she made her prime-time series debut in the short-lived “Palace Guard.” Walker was also seen in the feature films “Hot Resort” and “Talking About Sex.”

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Clint Ritchie was welcomed back to “One Life to Live” at a press conference in New York City. Ritchie, who began playing Clint Buchanan on “One Life To Live” in 1979, had been badly injured in a near-fatal tractor accident last May at his California ranch where the actor trains horses. Ritchie returned to the storyline Sept. 30.

To explain his absence from the story, Clint Buchanan has been recovering at his Arizona ranch from injuries sustained in a plane crash. Clint’s return will surely complicate things for his wife, Viki (Erika Slezak), who has expressed her desire for a divorce after she fell in love with Gen. Sloan Carpenter (Roy Thinnes).

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Carol Burnett couldn’t resist paying a visit to the set of her favorite soap opera, “All My Children,” during the week of Sept. 6 while she was in the Big Apple preparing for a guest-host stint on the talk show “Regis & Kathie Lee.” Burnett, who played Mrs. Johnson (1976) and Verla Grubbs (1983) on “All My Children,” got caught up with former castmate Susan Lucci (Erica Marick), chatted with Kelly Ripa (Hayley Vaughn) and reminisced with Christopher Lawford (Charlie Brent) about the work she had done with his late father, actor Peter Lawford.