ONE LIFE TO LIVE viewers were shocked when, after 15 years of seeing Blair's mom every now and then at St. Ann's, a freshly coiffed and seemingly normal Addie waltzed through Dorian's door on Christmas Eve. "It was pretty sudden for me, too!" shares Pamela Payton-Wright, who originated the role of childlike Addie in 1992.

Since then, the classically trained actress, who studied alongside co-star Erika Slezak (Viki) at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London — "She was in the term right behind me and we would go and watch their presentations," says Payton-Wright — has peppered her busy theater career with appearances as Addie. "While people on-screen were wondering about Addie, I was in Baltimore doing theater and all of a sudden was getting calls from my agent saying, 'Are you available in November?' and then it became December, and so on," explains Payton-Wright, sporting one of Addie's sharp, new outfits and a blond bob cut. "I didn't know what it was all about because this has just been a lovely gig for a number of years. And then one day, right before I was finished in Baltimore with Arsenic and Old Lace, I got a call from Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and he explained to me what the storyline was, and that basically there was no transition period — Addie just appears and she's totally different. He told me as much as he could just so that I could prepare, and then I came back [to New York]. I think I was at home for a couple of weeks before we filmed the first scenes.

"This is a great deal of fun," she continues. "Every day there's a new outfit that's outrageous. She's got a list of more than 400 things that she wants to do and they're all sort of challenging, and she dresses the part. I'm a little bit like that myself." Payton-Wright reveals that the one time she filled in for a friend as a secretary — having only worked as an actress prior to that — she was scared just to answer the phones. "It was like a part I had never played," she laughs. "So the first day, I woke up and I went to my closet and I opened the door and said, ‘Well, what does a secretary wear?' And I got my costume all set."

So where did Addie get her newfound fashion sense? "I think she must be very bright. It's kind of like she was a child all these years, but children look at adults and they dress their Barbie dolls!" she muses. "But she's heard about how blondes have more fun or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She was lucid in a way that a lot of the grown-ups weren't. She just saw right through to the truth and she always told the truth, and when you put somebody who will tell the truth in a public place and she reveals things that none of the other characters want revealed, it stirs the pot [laughs]."

Though an experienced stage actress, OLTL is not the only TV credit on Payton-Wright's lengthy resumé. In fact, she was nominated for an Emmy for her portrayal of John Quincy Adams's wife in the miniseries THE ADAMS CHRONICLES in 1976. Nevertheless, she admits that she is both thrilled and terrified to return to OLTL. "I would say I've learned more in the past six weeks than I did in 15 years because it was like barnstorming, there was so much done. I'd say nine cases out of 10, I have my back to the camera — I don't know where the camera is. I don't understand it! Where is the audience?" she laughs. "But I just love it and it's just been a wonderful thing from the time I came. But this is really challenging and I love a challenge."

To see a vintage photo of Addie in our synopses section, be sure to pick up a copy of the January 8 Soap Opera Digest — in stores this week — which also includes the scoop on Robin Strasser's (Dorian) first and second exits from OLTL and a behind-the-scenes giggle from Farah Fath (Gigi, OLTL).