The cast of
Lime Street included veteran
Hollywood star Robert Wagner and
Samantha Smith. Smith, a schoolgirl in
Manchester, Maine, had written then-
Soviet premier
Yuri Andropov a letter asking him whether he was truly desirous of a nuclear war with the United States, as she had heard suggested by some. He wrote her a reply stating that he was not, and then invited her to visit the Soviet Union; the event, which was followed by media in both countries and elsewhere around the world, gained her fame. Two versions exist of how Smith was cast into the show: one story states that she had caught the attention of Bloodworth-Thomason in early 1985 when the latter's brother-in-law spotted her on a talk show and suggested that she might fit the role of the elder daughter in the series, at that time known as J.G. Culver. Another suggests that Wagner, who had first seen her on
The Tonight Show, called her up, asking her to audition for the role. Three episodes and the pilot had been shot when Smith was killed on August 25, 1985, in the
crash of a small plane belonging to
Bar Harbor Airlines. Auditions were held instead for a new character, another daughter to Wagner's character, but the notion was entirely dropped. The plan had been for Smith's character, Elizabeth, to live on off-screen, moving to
Paris to be with her divorced mother. The show was subsequently dedicated to Smith's memory. There was genuine praise for Smith's talents and acting ability in the few episodes she had completed. John Leonard of
New York said "...Samantha was wonderful—
gawky but sincere, life-loving, a saint with bangs...." However, the series had trouble finding much of an audience, mainly due to competition from NBC's
The Golden Girls (a top ten hit) and
227 (top 20), both also debuting that same season. However, three then-unaired episodes were shown on the
Lifetime network in 1987. ==Cast==