When she was hired to play Adriana on
One Life to Live (1968), the original
intention of the storyline was for Dorian Lord to pretend that Adriana
was her daughter to gain her inheritance. When producers saw the
striking resemblance between Melissa Gallo and
Robin Strasser they decided to
make the family ties permanent and the shocking twist of the storyline
was the Adriana really was Dorian's daughter. This created some
storyline problems because the character had been paired romantically
with Dorian's grandson River Carpenter.