Palmer Cortlandt
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| Palmer Cortlandt | |||||||||||||||
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| All My Children character | |||||||||||||||
| File:Palmer Cortlandt.jpg James Mitchell as Palmer Cortlandt | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | James Mitchell | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | June 1, 1979 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | January 5, 2010 | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||||||||||
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Palmer Cortlandt (born Pete Cooney) is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, and has been played by James Mitchell since 1979. He was forced to step down as a major character in 2002, but continued to appear reguarly until May 2007 when he left due to poor health. He made a chain of appearances in 2008 and one last appearance in 2010.
Mitchell has earned seven Daytime Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Palmer Cortlandt, all for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Despite not being a main character, his image still appears in the AMC opening sequence. This stems from the fact that even though he retired in 2008, he is still a contracted cast member. Last appearing regularly on September 19, 2008, he made one final appearance before his death during the 40th anniversary episode on January 5, 2010.
Brief Character History
Palmer first appeared in 1979 as a powerful businessman who always made sure he had control of everything in his life, including his daughter Nina. When Nina went blind and fell for her doctor, Cliff Warner, Palmer convinced Nina that she wasn't right for Cliff. Despite his plotting he failed and in 1980, Nina and Cliff married. The couple would evenutally leave Pine Valley in 1989 due to Palmers continued pressures.
Palmer married to Donna Beck in 1984 and they divorced in 1985. Palmer later remarried his ex-wife Daisy and were happy for a few years. In 1988, they had divorced and Palmer married his nurse, Nat Marlowe, after she nursed him back to health. Palmer and Nat married and divorced soon after as she had an affair and he couldnt quite get over losing Daisy.
In 1989, Palmer got a whole new family when his neices, Melanie and Dixie, and his nephew Will moved in with him. Palmer became a father figure to Dixie and tried to keep her away from marrying Tad Martin. Despite his plotting, it failed but Palmer fell in love with his one true love, Opal Gardner, and they married on Thanksgiving Day, 1990.
Palmer lost all his money in June 1992 and Opal and him ran a chicken shack to regain his profits. In 1995, Palmer slept with Janet Dillion and Opal left him and dated Seabone Hunckle. But the Cortlandts love survived and they reconciled. In late 1998, the Cortlandts marriage crumbled into ruins and they would divorce a year later.
Despite divorcing Opal, Palmer never stopped loving her. He was briefly married in 2000 to a drug lord, Vanessa Bennett, but the marriage ended when she perished over a waterfall. Palmer wanted to reconcile with Opal but she was now in love with a young musician.
In 2002, Dixie was killed in a car crash and Palmer was left devestated. Her death nearly caused him and Opal to reunite. But he was lead astray again in 2004 by Krystal Carey but she would marry his archrival Adam Chandler in 2005. In 2006, Palmer was devestated to learn Dixie had staged her own death in 2002 and lied to everyone. But he got over his hurt and reconciled with his beloved niece and stood by her as she was wrongly accused of murder. They spent a wonderful Christmas together in late 2006.
In early 2007, Dixie was murdered. Palmer was left devestated and lashed out at Kenny Alden when he was suspected of being Dixies killer. Later when the real killer turned up, Palmer had a heart attack and had to miss the trial. Palmer and Opal bonded again. During late 2007 and into 2008, Palmer was offscreen as his grief over losing Dixie made him shut himself from the world. He did reappear in early 2008, to help Erica Kane out of prison. He later reached out to Opal when her son was nearly killed and appeared at the end of the year to welcome his son Petey back to Pine Valley.
In early 2009, Palmer invested with a shady banker and was forced to leave town when his money went broke (He was last seen onscreen in September 2008).
On January 5, 2010, Palmer was seen again on Hayley Santos documentary. In it he proclaimed he knew Opal still loved him and with a smile made hit plain he still loved her.
Palmers potrayer, James Mitchell, died on January 22, 2010.
Palmer has always been a major rival in the life and dealings of Adam Chandler.
Portrayer
Actor James Mitchell who originated Palmer Cortlandt, died on January 22nd, 2010. He was 89 years old.
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