Daniel Goddard is active on social media, but his late friend Billy Miller, who died a month ago, was not. Now, the former Cane Ashby from Young and the Restless shares his thoughts on his friend, who played the role of Billy Abbott on the soap.
Daniel Goddard: Remembering Billy Miller
“My way of showing respect was not to post for a month,” Goddard explains why he put off sharing his thoughts on Miller and his passing. “I’ve been thinking a lot about [Billy’s] mom and what his mom is going through now.” The actor acknowledged it was difficult to face the camera as he was recording footage for this post, but he continued with his heartfelt words.
“As a parent, all you care about is your child’s happiness,” he says. “The path of an actor is not a happy path. It’s a path of…it’s not happy. I just would love people to show compassion because, man, we’re all just a squirrel trying to get a nut, you know?
When Cane Met Billy
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“The first scene I ever had with Billy, will never forget it,” Goddard recalled the moment the two actors had in the Chancellor boardroom. “I was standing at the end of the desk, and Jess Walton [Jill] was in the room. Cane finds out he’s got a brother [Billy]. And I remember thinking, ‘How do I play this scene?’” Goddard points out that this was before he knew that Cane was a con artist, who was lying that he was Jill’s son and was carrying around vials of blood belonging to the real Phillip (Thom Bierdz) in case he was required to take a random blood test to prove his fake identity.
Goddard, not knowing what was ahead story-wise, recalls choosing to play in the moment the reality of what it would be like to find out that you had a brother, someone biologically connected to you. “What’s interesting is…I played the scene as someone who’d been left out in the ocean, drowning, and, finally, they found someone to cling onto, that they weren’t going to drown,” he says.
Daniel Goddard: Match Point
Goddard says he felt that as he continued to do more scenes with Miller, he found that he just wasn’t able to keep pace with him because he was in awe of his co-star’s talent. “He was just so there in the moment…” Goddard says. “You would start watching him.” He likened it to viewing [tennis player Novak] Djokovic scoring 6-0, 6-0, and 6-0, wondering, “Can I just get off the court, please?” However, Goddard did share that when he’d watch the scenes back on screen, they all worked. “Rest in peace, brother, and to your mom,” he added, motioning around his heart. “Okay. I love you guys.”
You can check out the Instagram post above. Goddard’s Y&R daytime pals Tracey Bregman (Lauren), Ashley Jones (Bridget, Bold and the Beautiful), and Vincent Irizarry (ex-Lujack, Guiding Light) shared messages of support on Goddard’s post.