‘The Young and the Restless’ Interview: Christian LeBlanc Channeled Hannibal Lector For Y&R Debut

“The Young and the Restless” Christian LeBlanc has been on the show for over 30 years. Michael Baldwin debuted on “Y&R” in 1991 as an attorney that had a darkness about him. In 1993, Michael was convicted of sexually assaulting Christine Blair [Lauralee Blair]. LeBlanc stated that when he was filming the scenes when he was watching Christine in her apartment through the peek hole, he channeled one of the greatest villains in ALL time- Hannibal Lector, according to CBS Soaps in Depth.

“Silence of the Lambs was coming out about the same time of my debut. I tweaked it a little to fit the storyline. Michael was super-intelligent. When he was in jail, the writers had me sniff Christine’s perfume coming down the halls, and feed the rats to the guards. Michael would write in his notebooks [journals] the craziest stuff. It was always a huge question mark, was he really crazy or just faking it? I had a ball channeling the legend- Hannibal Lector,” LeBlanc explained. He went on to say that he is relieved that Michael is in a much saner state of mind the past few years.

Michael sure has come a long way from his early days. At one point, he was disbarred and sent to jail for three long years. He changed his life in prison and came back a respectable attorney. Christine even forgave him for assaulting her and ended up falling in love with him.

That is one heck of a transformation, and that is why Soap Opera Spy loves Michael Baldwin. He took the once hated man in Genoa City and made the role a soap opera icon. Do you remember his first storyline when he raped Christine?

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