Vanessa Bennett
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| Vanessa Bennett | |||||||||||||
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| All My Children character | |||||||||||||
| File:Vanessa Bennett.jpg Marj Dusay as Vanessa Bennett | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Marj Dusay | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | February 4, 1999 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | October 17, 2002 | ||||||||||||
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Vanessa Bennett (formerly Hayward and Cortlandt) is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Marj Dusay, from February 4, 1999 until the character's death in October 2002.
Character's background
Vanessa Bennett is little more than a golddigger, socially climbing her way into high society when she shows up in 1999 in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania. She appears at a fundraiser where she rubs elbows with society elite, particularly Erica Kane. Vanessa has an angina attack and collapses. Erica runs to get Dr. David Hayward. Once he sees it is Vanessa, he promptly walks away. Dr. Joe Martin steps in to treat Vanessa while they await an ambulance. A baffled Erica demands an explanation for David's deplorable behavior.
While in the hospital, it comes out that Vanessa is David's mother. A penniless Vanessa is in town to score cash to sustain her current lifestyle. David is not moved by his mother's pleas and berates her for passing a bad check at the fundraiser.
Erica is in a serious car crash and her face is badly scarred. Vanessa learns of her plight and visits her daily. In reality, Vanessa could not care less about Erica's state of mind and her injuries — she wants to punish Erica and mock her. Vanessa informs Erica about her face and arranges for the tabloids to cover her television interview, picking her apart like vultures.
Vanessa, a master manipulator, convinces Erica to allow her to move in with her. She keeps Erica's friends and fans at bay. She even goes as far as contacting sleazy tabloid writer Donald Steele, planning to write a tell-all book about Erica. Once Erica realizes what Vanessa is up to, she kicks her to the curb.
Vanessa moves on to her next rich conquest, Palmer Cortlandt. He is impressed with her worldliness and charm. Palmer quickly grows tired of her machinations and cuts her off. He discovers that she is financially abling a young man. Convinced that she is having an affair, Palmer plans to kill the scoundrel and set Vanessa up for the crime. Vanessa reveals to a jealous Palmer that the lad is her son, Leo du Pres, not her lover.
Vanessa's greatest rivalry comes in the form of Greenlee Smythe, Leo's lover. Greenlee ends up trapped on a deserted island after she is drugged and left for dead on a sinking boat by Vanessa. Greenlee is rescued, but it is not the last time that Vanessa tries to harm the young woman.
In 2002, Vanessa kidnaps and nearly kills Greenlee. It is revealed that Vanessa is the drug lord named Proteus, who had been terrorizing the people of Pine Valley. After Greenlee is saved again from Vanessa, Leo wants to know about the drug money she has stashed away somewhere, seeing the money as a way for him and Greenlee to eventually move to their favorite city, Paris. However, Vanessa "develops" a split personality, and is admitted to a hospital as a psych patient. Leo still cares for his mother and tends to her needs, despite her crimes. He is wary of her new lawyer, Trey Kenyon. It soon turns out that Leo's suspicions of Trey are valid, as it is revealed that he is Leo's half-brother and has plotted against Leo and Vanessa out of revenge for having been abandoned, and to get his hands on the Proteus money.
Greenlee has a difficult time facing the fact that Leo still wants to be in Vanessa's life, but the two finally marry in the summer of 2002. The couple later become embroiled with Trey and Kendall Hart, both of whom Greenlee despises, in a quest to track down the missing Proteus drug money. The paper trail ends in worthless stocks, and with Vanessa being shipped off to a federal location, Greenlee takes this opportunity to convince Leo to move to Paris with her. Vanessa, however, slips into a coma, "dies" for a few seconds, and comes back as the calm, sweet mother Leo never had. She calls herself Nessa. Leo feels close to his mother for the first time in his life, and soon accepts Trey as his brother.
Even though Vanessa is supposedly a kindler, gentler person, Greenlee does not trust this to be true. In actuality, Greenlee is right, as "Nessa", who is in federal custody, has reverted back to being Vanessa and knows that the real treasure happens to be a fortune in diamonds. Greenlee is increasingly frightened by "Nessa" and never believes her to have changed for the better. She demands that Leo finally give up his "loser" family for good, and he agrees. However, moments before their flight to Paris, he receives a call from David, whom he had been helping out after his latest arrest and imprisonment. It turns out that while Leo was away, Vanessa kidnapped Greenlee again; she took her to Miller's Falls.
Vanessa soon informs Leo that he has to find and give her the diamonds before she will release Greenlee. In a panic, Leo finds the jewels and races to the falls with Trey. When Vanessa refuses to release her hostage, Leo begins dropping the priceless gems over the falls, one by one. Vanessa agrees to do as he wishes, but actually plans to kill her hated enemy. When Leo realizes this, he dives over the falls with his mother. The bodies of Vanessa and Leo are never recovered.