Cathy Craig
| Cathy Craig | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Life to Live character | |||||||||||||||
Jennifer Harmon (1976–78) | |||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1969–78 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | January 1969 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | November 1978 | ||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Doris Quinlan | ||||||||||||||
 Dorrie Kavanaugh as Cathy Craig | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Cathy Craig is a fictional character on the American soap opera One Life to Live. Introduced onscreen in January 1969, the character role is the first ongoing antagonist to lead heroine Victoria Lord[2] and last appears in November 1978.
Casting
Actress
Jennifer Harmon
played the role until the character's final appearance in November 1978.
In late 1975, actress Robin Strasser was offered a long-term contract with the series to take up the role but declined upon the knowledge that Kavanaugh would be fired to accommodate the recast.[4] Strasser would later go on to join the show in 1979 as Dorian Lord.
Storylines
LSD-fueled maniacal episode. Cathy seeks treatment for her addiction at the culturally relevant Odyssey House in New York City (a real treatment center) in 1970.[4][5]
She (Kavanaugh) soon begins reporting stories for The Banner when
Megan Craig Riley, December 2, 1974.[6] Joe is told that baby Megan is born with a congenital heart defect that ensures she would never live to adulthood; fearing she would not take the news well, Joe keeps Megan's condition from Cathy. While caring for stepdaughter Megan, Viki is involved in a car accident while rushing an ailing Megan to the hospital during a storm in October 1975. The accident leaves Viki in a coma and assures baby Megan's death.[7]
Believing Viki intentionally caused the accident, Cathy swears vengeance on the newspaper heiress.
Emotionally reeling and plotting, Cathy (Harmon) marries Viki's newly arrived brother and maternal cousin,
Pat Ashley (Jacqueline Courtney). Adding to Cathy's emotional strife was the fact that Viki became pregnant herself, and gives birth to baby boy Kevin Lord Riley that year,[8] but the child does not inherit the heart condition that plagued Megan. Cathy's mental state wavers at this point, and she becomes obsessed with having a baby with Tony. Cathy miscarries her second child and proceeds to fall into psychosis. She then kidnaps baby Kevin and disappears for several months. When she is finally located in 1977, Cathy is found in catatonia but without baby Kevin. Many more months go by before Cathy recovered sufficiently to tell Joe, Viki, and Tony the location of the baby. After completely recovering from her breakdown, Cathy grants Tony a divorce and leaves Llanview.[9]
Reception
The role of Cathy was created by series creator Agnes Nixon as one of the first
Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
in 1978, the first nomination in the category for the show.
References
- ^ "OLTL - Weddings 1976-1980". November 21, 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-11-21.
- ISBN 0517533316.
- ^ Soap Opera Digest. September 1976. p. 106.
- ^ ISBN 9781401323097.
- ^ ISBN 9780879728212. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
- ^ One Life to Live. Season 7. December 2, 1974. American Broadcasting Company.
- ^ One Life to Live. Season 8. October 3, 1975. American Broadcasting Company.
- ^ One Life to Live. Season 9. September 12, 1976. American Broadcasting Company.
- ^ One Life to Live. Season 11. November 1978. American Broadcasting Company.
- ^ Anthony Astranach (23 March 1975). "Life can be beautiful/relevant". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ^ Fred Ferretti (13 May 1970). "Odyssey Addicts to Assist TV Program on Narcotics". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ^ "Odyssey House Drug Rehabilitation Center Shown On ABC Daytime Serial". The Robesonian. 5 July 1970. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
