As a native Texan
now living in Los Angeles, GENERAL HOSPITAL'S Brad Maule, known to
millions of daytime fans as Dr. Anthony Jones since 1983, didn't have many
markers pointing the way to his ultimate vocation. He came to his metier
like many another actor: through music - first singing with the Serendipity
Singers to starring in Stephen Sondheim's "Marry Me A Little" and
finally being seen by GH's mentor Gloria Monty while singing
"Arthur's Theme" on national television at the American Music Awards.
The rest is Port Charles history.
But Brad's true history lies in almost every nook and
cranny of his Spanish bungalow-style home. Greeted by Pete, Max and Panda -
cocker spaniel, terrier and cat, respec- tively - Brad's home is like
opening the door to a Mexican hacienda, albeit a heavy wooden one with
Spanish grillwork and a large black ring door knocker. But it's "kids,
dogs and animals" that make this 70-year-old, 3000-square- foot house a
home. "I don't care what you put inside a house ... it's not truly real
until you add the kids and dogs. There's this ongoing activity all the time
that really makes it home."
Recognizing this, Brad shares his
home with high school sweetheart and now wife Laverne and their three
children Michael, Hunter and Lily. "If our kids had their choice about
it, we would live in a large one-room house, sleeping and living in the same
room. Our favorite rooms in the house are our bedroom and the kids' rooms."
It's easy to see why Brad finds his upstairs master bedroom that
overlooks the pool and backyard a sanctuary. Colorful Mexican throw rugs are
scattered on the wood floor. Beside the four-poster pine bed hangs a set of
chaps given to him by his Texan ranching dad. And then there's an African
mask given to Brad by co-star Lynn Herring. "It's a circumcision mask, so
maybe it shouldn't be in the bedroom," teases Brad.
To round out
the eclectic array are copies of House & Garden and
Metropolitan Home on top of the small wooden end table in the
sitting area. "We got that at a garage sale for $25," boasts Brad.
"And this high-backed wooden chair was my 81-year-old aunt's that Laverne
convinced to sell to us. It's Chinese. This wooden horse's head hanging here
is from Indonesia - they use it in parades. I love to sit up here and just
play my guitar - I do that almost every night. It's peaceful up here and it
truly is my sanctuary. Each room is a combination of Laverne and myself. But
even though I like eclectic, artsy and interest- ing things, I also like a
room that has a calm basis ... you know, a butter yellow sunlight feeling. I
like that. I like tranquility and order in my life, yet I live in a very
disorganized universe. So I find this order and tranquility in my bedroom.
I'm from a very quiet family; raised on a farm 20 miles from the nearest
town and two miles off the nearest paved road. They raised everything they
ate except for sugar, flour and things like that. That's why I love having
my garden." Brad's garden consists of herbs, strawberries, eggplant,
tomatoes, squash, peppers and a large olive tree. While not exactly
self-sufficient, quite an accomplishment for a city slicker.
Brad
admits that if disaster struck the house, besides grabbing the kids, wife
and animals, "I would take my guitars and diaries. Yes, I write diaries,
but I've slowed down in the past few years. The theory being: I would write
when I was unhappy, and I've been so happy these last few years that I
haven't written as much. But I have seven books in my bedroom. They're more
impressions of what I'm thinking and what I'm doing, much like my
paintings."
Indeed, almost every room of the house has at least
one Brad Maule painting, and if not hanging on the wall, the many skylights
that dot the ceilings throughout the house have handpainted
murals.
They called this the shadow house when we first bought
it," recalls Brad. "That's because of the skylights and arched
doorways casting weird shadows. But I think of it as a very charming house -
sort of Mexican, mixed with eclectic."
Coming back downstairs,
Brad gives a tour of the children's rooms. Lily's room has a canopied bed
with enough dolls to make sitting a challenge, while Michael and Hunter's
has red bunk beds, a desk, and yes, toys!
"The architect that
helped us remodel was the same one that designed Marlon Brando's Tahitian
home. Legend has it that this home was a Rudolph Valentino love nest."
He stops for effect. "But it wasn't. Actually it belonged to one of
the Three Musketeers from silent film days."
Since moving into
the home last year, Brad and Laverne have done some extensive remodeling
while maintaining the Spanish charm and bungalow atmosphere. Expanding on
this theme, the living room has an antique armoire and a pine chest which
serves as a coffee table. At the moment, there are many framed family photos
and fresh flowers atop it. Above the fireplace is "a gypsy panel taken
from the side of a gypsy van." And the adjacent dining room houses one
of Brad's favorite finds. "I got this old pine table for $250 ... can you
believe that? Look, they don't even make wood panels this wide anymore. And
those are our red bordello curtains," he motions to the window
trimming.
Through another arched doorway, we have the kitchen and
then the family room. Again, a set of chaps and a cowboy hat adorn a
strategic nail next to the fireplace. "It's authentic. You can even see
where my mother mended it."
With Dr. Tony Jones a neurosurgeon
and Brad Maule a down-home country singer/actor, if his alter ego were to
enter the doorway, what room would he feel most comfortable in? "The
bathroom," Maule hoots with laughter. Would that be the blue or
turquoise Mexican tiled lavatory? "Oh, I don't know. If the character Dr.
Tony Jones were to come into this house, he'd probably say, `This home is
what I always wanted'." Would Brad have rewritten any chapter in his daytime
life over? "Sure, I would have had Tony duck when being shot at. But I would
never change him being a foundation character to the show. That's his job.
And my job is making it happen."
Well it's time for Brad to
spend some quality time with his family. That means heading for the patio
and backyard area. "We eat outside at least two or three times a week."
The patio is furnished with attractive white rattan, but it seems you
can't take the country out of Brad. "See, I have a tin roof covering the
patio. Makes me feel right at home."
