TELEVISION - Aug. 17, 1992

Soap Dish: Davis Gaines removes his mask as theater’s “Phantom of the Opera” for a two-day stint on CBS’ daytime drama “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Gaines will play Forrester Fashions’ research director, Stuart Maxwell. He taped one episode last week and will tape the other Tuesday, to air Sept. 1 and 4. . . . Stephen Nichols, who became one of daytime’s most popular actors during his 1986-89 role as Steve (Patch) Johnson on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” is joining the cast of that network’s “Santa Barbara.” He’ll play Dr. Skyler Gates, a therapist specializing in Eastern philosophy and religion, who becomes involved with child molestation victim B. J. Walker (Sydney Penny). Nichols begins taping today; his first show airs Sept. 1.