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Cassadine family
General Hospital fictional family
(l-r): Stefan Cassadine (Stephen Nichols), Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher), Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn), and Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers)
First appearanceAugust 10, 1981—
Created byGloria Monty

The Cassadines are a fictional aristocratic family from the American soap opera General Hospital. Created by executive producer Gloria Monty, the family was first introduced in August 1981, with the arrival of brothers Mikkos, Victor, and Tony Cassadine. The Cassadines are descendants of Russian royalty[1] and own their own private island in Greece. Various family members have been sometime residents of Port Charles, living in Wyndemere Castle on Spoon Island. The family is known for their longtime feud with the Spencer family. After the family's initial appearance in 1981, they were absent from the series until the arrival of Stavros Cassadine in 1983. The Cassadine family owns and operates the international conglomerate, Cassadine Industries, which is currently controlled by Nikolas Cassadine. The family is currently represented on canvas by Alexis, Valentin, Sam, Kristina, Molly, and Danny.

Background

The Cassadines make their first appearance in the 1980s, when Mikkos Cassadine, the patriarch of the family, along with his brothers Victor and Tony, are involved in various nefarious plans, including the Ice Princess storyline,[2] a plot to freeze the world using a weather machine. When Luke Spencer foils their plan, the great feud between the Spencers and Cassadines begins.[3] Elizabeth Taylor originated the role of villain Helena Cassadine in this era. Her curse on Luke and Laura's wedding was watched by over 30 million viewers.[4]

The Cassadines also abduct Laura Spencer and force her to marry Stavros. During her captivity in Greece, Laura gives birth to Stavros' son Prince Nikolas Cassadine. When Laura discovers Luke is alive, she leaves Nikolas in Greece to be raised by his uncle Stefan Cassadine. Once back in Port Charles, Laura is shocked to find out Stavros followed her. Luke clubs Stavros over the head, but as they try to leave, Stavros tries to shoot them. Still groggy from the blow to the head, Stavros stumbles and breaks his neck falling down the stairs.

Helena brought Stavros back to life in the early 2000s, having kept him frozen in the basement of General Hospital. Stavros wreaked havoc again on the citizens of Port Charles[5] before falling to his supposed death during a fight with Luke Spencer.

Helena shot and killed her daughter in 2012 at Wyndemere, after she sided with Luke's son Ethan Lovett, over her. Luke shot and killed Helena in 2013 on the Haunted Star yacht, which was originally gifted to Luke and Laura from Helena on their wedding day. Luke and Laura discovered Stavros alive, and it's revealed that Stavros was the one who kidnapped Lulu Falconeri and forced her to marry him. Lulu refused to consummate the marriage, so Stavros had Nikolas shot. Eventually, Laura killed him by letting him freeze to death in the same ice chamber where he held Lulu captive.

In 2014 Mikkos's brother Victor reappears in Port Charles and he reveals that he has Helena and Stavros's bodies frozen and forces Dr. Robin Scorpio-Drake to come with him to Crichton Clark Clinic using her family's lives and the frozen body of Jason Morgan as leverage to develop a protocol for revival for Helena and Stavros. Before Robin can betray Victor's trust, by reviving Jason, and escaping with him, Victor seizes Robin's work and has his henchmen use it to revive Helena and Stavros Cassadine. After kidnapping Lulu again and fertilizing one of her eggs with his sperm, Stavros is killed for good by Dante. Helena escapes the destruction of the Clinic, taking Stavros and Lulu's embryo with her.

Traditions

  • Cassadine line of succession
    The Cassadine title of "Prince" passes from eldest son to eldest son, and the authority that goes with it both symbolic and real. If a Cassadine Prince were to die without a male heir the title would die with him and the fortune he controlled would be scattered amongst the surviving family members. The current Cassadine Prince is Valentin Mikkosovich Cassadine.[6]
  • Cassadine Bacchanalia
    A traditional masquerade ball thrown in honor of a Cassadine engagement.

Family members

Characters currently on the show are noted in bold; family members through marriage are in italics. Only current spouses or those married at the time of their death appear here.

Distant ancestors

  • Anya Cassadine[7]
  • Prince Nikolai Cassadine
  • Nikolas Cassadine (I)[8]

Ancestors

  • Prince Stanislaus Cassadine[9]
  • Ivan Cassadine - Based on Mikkos's middle name, which is "Ivanovich" -- all of the children in the Cassadine family follow the Russian tradition of a patronymic.
  • Irina Cassadine - According to Stefan, his grand aunt, making her Mikkos's aunt.[11]

First generation

Second generation

Third generation

Fourth generation

Other relations

  • In 1998 Nikolas was led to believe that he was not the Cassadine Prince. During this time Stefan attempted to convince him to try and hold on to control of the Cassadine Estate. Nikolas refused, stating that the Estate didn't belong to him if he was not the Prince, it belonged to "the Belgian Cassadines, and the Baron's children in Macao, and to Helena, Alexis and Cousin Mikhail who took Holy orders -- "[12]

Cassadine Industries

This wealthy, international conglomerate was founded by the Cassadines in the late 1970s as a front to cover for their dirty dealings. But the business took off, being controlled by Mikkos Cassadine, Stavros Cassadine, Helena Cassadine, and Nikolas Cassadine among others. Nikolas is currently in charge of the business. It is planned that when he becomes of age, Spencer Cassadine will take over. In December 2005, a single Cassadine Industries account was estimated to be worth $15 million at the time. As of May 2009, Cassadine Industries was estimated to be worth over $20 billion.

Subsidiaries

  • Cassadine Drilling Company
  • Cassadine Construction
  • General Hospital
  • Emily Bowen Quartermaine Clinic
  • Equinox Corporation

Family tree

Legend

Lines Boxes
  • Dashed = Romance/Marriage
  • Solid = Child
Character is currently on the Show
Character not on the Show
Character is deceased or presumed dead

Descendants

References

  1. ^ "Dear Soaps, I have often wondered..." TV Guide. tvguide.com. 2001-10-03. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  2. ^ "Dear Soaps, On General Hospital,..." TV Guide. tvguide.com. 2001-10-17. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  3. ^ "Dear Soaps, I'm still trying to..." TV Guide. tvguide.com. 2001-10-24. Retrieved September 6, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ Aurthur, Kate (2005-11-30). "Prepare the O.R. (and A.A.): Dr. Drake Is Back". The New York Times. nytimes.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  5. ^ TV Guide News (2001-10-05). "As General Hospital abandons its..." TV Guide. tvguide.com. Retrieved September 6, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ http://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/1998/ghaug3.txt
  7. ^ http://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/2002/gh-trans-01-16-02.shtml
  8. ^ http://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/2003/gh-trans-09-08-03.shtml
  9. ^ Mentioned by Helena in a conversation with Spencer on April 28, 2010.
  10. ^ http://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/2003/gh-trans-07-04-03.shtml
  11. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStnf4bnQQw
  12. ^ http://tvmegasite.net/transcripts/gh/older/1998/ghdec29.txt
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