Dorian Lord
| Dr. Dorian Lord | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| One Life to Live character | |||||||||||||||||||||
| File:Dorian-RobinStrasser-2004.jpg Robin Strasser as Dr. Dorian Lord in the One Life to Live opening sequence | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Nancy Pinkerton (1973-1977) Dixie Carter (1974) Claire Malis (1977-1979) Robin Strasser (1979-1987, 1993-2000, 2003-present) Elaine Princi (1989-1993) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | April 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon & Gordon Russell | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Elaine Princi as Dorian Lord | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Dr. Dorian Lord (maiden Cramer; previously Callison, Santi, Vickers, Hayes and Laurence) is a fictional character on the American ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. She is currently portrayed by Robin Strasser, who is best known in the role and has played her on and off since 1979.[3] For most of the show's history, the character has been the show's primary antagonist and Byronic hero.
The character of Dorian was originated by Nancy Pinkerton in 1973,[3][4] and was subsequently played by Claire Malis from 1977 to 1979.[3][5] Strasser stepped into the role in 1979 and left in 1987,[3] after which Elaine Princi played Dorian from 1989 to 1993.[3][6] Strasser returned in 1993 and stayed until February 23, 2000. She reprised the role on April 2, 2003 and still portrays Dorian today. In 1974, actress Dixie Carter filled in for Pinkerton, who was out on maternity leave.[3][7]
Strasser won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 1982 for her portrayal of Dorian, and was also nominated for the award in 1981, 1983 and 1985. [8] Strasser has been nominated for Soap Opera Digest Awards for Dorian in various categories in 1986, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 2005, winning in 1996 ("Outstanding Lead Actress") and 2001 ("Outstanding Female Scene Stealer"). [8] Princi was also nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award as Dorian for "Outstanding Villainess: Daytime" in 1992. [9]
Character biography
Enter Dorian
Dorian arrived in fictional Llanview, Pennsylvania in 1973, along with her mentally ill sister, Melinda. Dorian took a physician position at Llanview Hospital, where she quickly began an affair with her married colleague, Dr. Mark Toland. Melinda, in the meantime, wanted Mark for herself. Upon learning of their affair, she schemed to drive them apart. After attacking Mark with a butchers knife, Melinda was sent to a mental institution.
Dorian and Mark continued their affair. During an intense exchange between the two, Dorian made a careless error on a medical chart, resulting in the accidental death of a patient. Fearing for their careers, the two covered up the crime; extenuating circumstance, meanwhile, led to Dr. Larry Wolek being arrested instead. With the guilt on her shoulders, Dorian later wanted to confess, while Mark was content to allow Larry to take the fall. As they argued over how to handle the situation, Dorian accidentally fell down a flight of stairs and went into a coma. Upon waking, Dorian confessed and was immediately fired by the hospital board; she blamed Victoria Lord, a prominent member, for her termination. This started the rivalry that would last for decades. What Dorian didn't know, and finally learned in 2003, is that Viki cast the lone vote against her termination.
Swearing revenge on Viki, Dorian became the private physician to Viki's ailing father, Victor Lord. With dollar signs on her mind, Dorian ended up marrying Victor, to Viki's chagrin. Dorian discovered that the newly arrived Tony Harris was Victor's illegitimate son. Unable to keep the truth from being revealed, he and Victor shared an emotional reunion. Wanting to ensure that Tony's presence would not take away from her inheriting Victor's enormous fortune, Dorian succeeded in soon turning Victor and Tony into enemies and keeping them at odds. In the interim, Dorian manipulated Victor into altering his will in her favor. Victor ultimately learned that Dorian was behind his and Tony's contentious relationship, and suffered a massive heart attack during his confronting her. Desperate, Dorian isolated Victor from the rest of his family; Victor soon died under mysterious circumstances. In his wake, Dorian was named executor of the Lord estate. With half of the controlling interest in Lord Enterprises, Dorian was the owner of The Banner until Viki assumed control of the newspaper by purchasing Dorian's stake.
With their adversarial relationship as heated as ever, Dorian decided to try her hands at Viki's husband, Joe Riley. Dorian fueled the fire even more when she told Joe that he was responsible for the hereditary heart condition which afflicted his and Cathy Craig's ailing daughter Megan, a secret that Viki had been keeping from him. This strain on Viki and Joe's relationship succeeded in allowing Dorian to become closer to Joe. He started having blackouts, and Dorian soon learned that Joe had a brain tumor; she lied, telling him that he got violent with her during his blackouts. She convinced Joe to leave Viki, for Viki's own good. However, Joe got wise to Dorian's schemes and swore he wanted nothing more to do with her.
Despite her conniving and vindictive nature, she does have a tender and genuine side towards those she cares for. She is also very claustrophobic, which was later explained to be due to abuse at her mother's hands; actress Strasser has stated that this character trait was added because she also suffers from claustrophobia.
Dorian has a long list of people who she has scorned and fought over the years: Pat Ashley, Asa Buchanan, Kevin Buchanan, Sloan Carpenter, Paul Cramer, Tony-Harris Lord, Mitch Laurence, Todd Manning, Julie Toland, David Vickers, Jenny Wolek, and Clint Buchanan. Although Dorian has had many rivals over the years, her most famous and longest rivalry has been with Viki.
Dorian vs. Viki
For decades, Viki has been One Life to Live's primary heroine, with Dorian as the primary villainess. The two had been fussing and feuding about almost everything, stemming largely from Viki's contention that Dorian had something to do with her father's death. However, it was later proven that Dorian had had nothing to do with Victor Lord's death, but Viki, in one of her alters, (she has Dissociative Identity Disorder) had killed him to prevent him from sexually abusing her again. In fact, it was Dorian herself who had told her that Victor had been sexually abusing her. Although her motives may be questionable sometimes, Dorian, like most people, really does mean well. However, in August 2007, Dorian made the startling (and vague) claim that she had actually killed Victor after all. Having planted a seed of doubt in Viki's mind, she refused to elaborate.
Sometimes, however, the feuding rivals often have helped one another in a crisis, such as with Viki's breast cancer, and her heart transplant. (For that, Viki extended to Dorian the job of Chief of Staff at Llanview Hospital.)
One very good example was when the two of them were trapped in an avalanche. Dorian confessed to her arch-rival that she was claustrophobic. And Viki never left her side for a second. However, more often as not, the two women will always be mortal enemies.
Dorian, at some times, often stokes the flames of the feud, to try to get Viki rattled. Examples included Dorian seducing Viki's son, Joey Buchanan; and framing Viki for embezzlement, when Dorian herself had done the dirty deed.
Dorian currently controls one half of Lord Enterprises, including The Banner, the WVLE station, as well as a life interest in the Lord Llanfair mansion. As of 2006 Victoria Lord Davidson discovered the truth about Dorian Lord's blackmail scheme and came to a decision not to turn Dorian in, if Dorian relented her control in Llanfair Mansion. Dorian therefore was forced to move out of Llanfair and into La Boulaie (Dorian's name for the estate once owned by Marty Saybrooke).[2]
You've spent most of your life being a "Viki wanna-be" ... taking her last name, running a newspaper like hers, naming your house, landing her lover — even her son Joey.
— Addie Cramer, February 5, 2008
Dorian dated Clint Buchanan, breaking up with him after he caught her in bed with David Vickers, which she did out of revenge for what she believed to be an affair between Clint and Nora. Dorian, solely for the sake of revenge for their breakup, organized a hostile takeover of Buchanan Enterprises, setting a series of events in motion which led to the death of Jessica Buchanan's husband, Nash Brennan. When Jessica (in her alter as Tess, which came about as a relapse) tampers with the brakes on Jared and Natalie's car, Viki gets in the car, and dies in the crash. However, Dorian comes to her arch-enemy's aid and, with her medical know-how, brings her back from the dead. To her and David's delight, Viki pulls through and is slated to make a complete recovery. David even offered to annul his marriage to Addie, which Dorian demands that he follows through on. Dorian and Viki have a heart to heart and the two form another tentative truce. Ever since then Dorian has been visited by her the ghost of her husband and a close friend of Viki, Mel Hayes, who oddly manifests himself as an African American woman working various odd jobs.
References and notes
- ^ a b Though Victor Lord "died" in 1976, he appeared alive (and then died again) in 2003. At that time it was noted on-air that Victor and Dorian's marriage would have been dissolved anyway seven years after his "legal" death (1983), making her marriage to Herb Callison invalid but subsequent marriages legal.
- ^ a b La Boulaie is the former Saybrooke estate, renamed by Dorian. She asserts that the mansion is historical, but at one point Viki Lord Davidson notes, "Oh Dorian, this house was built in 1958."
- ^ a b c d e f Dorian Cramer Lord profile - SoapCentral.com
- ^ Nancy Pinkerton - IMDb.com
- ^ Claire Malis - IMDb.com
- ^ Elaine Princi - IMDb.com
- ^ One Life to Live (1974) - DixieCarter.com
- ^ a b Robin Strasser awards - IMDb.com
- ^ Elaine Princi awards - IMDb.com
External links
- Dorian Cramer Lord profile - SoapCentral.com
- "In the Name of Cramer" - SoapOperaDigest.com
- Branco, Nelson (February 9, 2009). "Viva La Strasser!". TVGuide.ca. Retrieved February 17, 2009.
