Robert Ford (One Life to Live)
| Robert Ford | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Life to Live character | |||||||||
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| Portrayed by | David A. Gregory | ||||||||
| Duration | 2009–2012 | ||||||||
| First appearance | August 10, 2009 | ||||||||
| Last appearance | January 10, 2012 | ||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||
| Created by | Ron Carlivati | ||||||||
| Introduced by | Frank Valentini | ||||||||
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Robert Ford is a fictional character from the ABC original soap opera One Life to Live. The role was originated by David A. Gregory on August 10, 2009 on a recurring basis. Gregory was upgraded to contract status in December 2009, and he remained on the show through the end of its run, last airing January 10, 2012.
Character creation and casting
David A. Gregory debuted in the recurring role of Ford in August 2009. Originally, his role was meant to be short term, but Gregory is later placed on contract and returns in December 2009. In an interview with Michael Fairman, Gregory reveals the producers original plan for Ford: "Initially they were going to have him, you know a well suited up producer, kind of slick and then when they wrote that scene [the barn scene], I remember thinking, 'This is kind of unlike anything we've done before." Though the writers make him out to be the bad guy originally, steps are taken to redeem the character.
Not that I wanted to be a squeaky clean guy, but they are adding elements that make him why the way he is. A lot of directors I have worked with since have told me, “We don’t want him to lose his fire, because that is what kind of makes him interesting.” So that is not going away, but once he brought in family members, it allowed us to see, not that he is justified in the way he is, but that it makes more sense. So I don’t know if it’s as much that Ford is being redeemed, as much as it is explaining to people why he is the way he is.
-MichaelFairmanSoaps.com[1]
When Gregory returned, he found out from executive producer,
Storylines
Robert Ford, going by his last name Ford , shows up in Llanview in August 2009 as the young producer of a reality television show
On New Year's Eve, Ford surprises Langston by showing up at Ultraviolet. Langston has thought about Ford often since their encounter in the stables, and Ford says he has been thinking about her, too. When Markko interrupts them, he is dismayed to learn that Ford has taken a job at Llanview University as a teaching assistant in the very class that Markko will be taking. Ford hits on
Ford tells Cris that he is smitten with a younger woman, and Cris assumes she is a college student, not the high school senior Langston. Langston confides in her cousin
When Langston's best friend and roommate Starr Manning comes home to find Langston and Ford together, with an open condom wrapper on the floor, Langston admits she is having sex with Ford. But Langston refuses to break it off with Ford, going so far as to lie to Starr and Cole that she had broken up with him. Langston briefly considers actually breaking up with Ford when Markko nearly catches them together at the Palace Hotel and Ford embarrasses Markko. But Ford tells Langston that she is the one making Markko look like a fool, and Ford tells Langston that he is falling in love with her. The two are later caught kissing by Destiny Evans who tells her friend, Matthew Buchanan. When Destiny and Matthew are deciding whether to tell Markko, their conversation is accidentally recorded on Markko's video camera.
On prom night, Ford asks Langston to come over and she says that she cannot but later changes her mind. Meanwhile, Ford invites Karen over and Langston finds them having sex. Ford manages to convince Langston that his thing with Karen was just a one-time thing, and they start kissing as Markko walks in. He is furious and after a few heated words, punches Ford out. Ford then tells Langston that they never had anything real – it was just sex. Ford later finds Jessica Buchanan (who thinks she is a seventeen-year-old in high school) crying on his doorstep after Cristian rejects her and proposes to Layla. Ford convinces her that sex will help her forget about how Cristian hurt her and the two go to bed together. But before anything happens, Jessica remembers when her father Mitch Laurence tried to rape her. Ford attempts to calm her down, which is how he is last seen until Cristian and Layla find him brutally beaten.
On June 9, 2010, Ford's younger brother
On January 11, 2011, Jessica gave birth to Ford's son, who she and Brody named
Later, Jessica and her sister Natalie Buchanan get in a fight and Jessica goes to Ford for comfort. He invites Jessica and Bree to the park with him and Ryder for a family date. James thinks Ford is falling for Jessica. Ford is hired to work at the premiere of "Vicker Man". Markko brags to Ford about his fame. Jessica told Ford that John not Brody, is Liam's father and Ford thinks Brody already knows.
Ford dies on January 9, 2012, after an altercation with Mitch Laurence leads a chandelier to fall on top of him.
