Cassie Newman

Cassie Newman
The Young and the Restless character
File:Cassie-Newman-Y&R.jpg Camryn Grimes as Cassie Newman
Portrayed by	Camryn Grimes
Duration	1997–2007, 2009–10, 2013–
First appearance	March 19, 1997 (1997-03-19)
Classification	Present, recurring
Created by	William J. Bell
Introduced by	Edward J. Scott
In-universe information Occupation Student at Walnut Grove Academy Family Newman Father Frank Barritt Mother Sharon Newman Adoptive father Nicholas Newman Adoptive mother Alice Johnson (former) Half-brothers Noah Newman Half-sisters Summer Newman (legal) Faith Newman Grandfathers Victor Newman Grandmothers Doris Collins Nikki Newman (adoptive) Millie Johnson (former adoptive) Uncles Adam Newman (adoptive) Aunts Victoria Newman (adoptive) Abby Newman (adoptive) First cousins Reed Hellstrom (adoptive) Johnny Abbott (adoptive)

Cassidy "Cassie" Ann Newman (née Johnson) was a fictional character from the American CBS Daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. The role was portrayed by Camryn Grimes for seven years, from March 19, 1997 to the character's death onscreen on May 24, 2005. Grimes reprised her role numerous times afterward as a ghost to other characters. Her most recent stint began on July 8, 2013, with a series of recurring guest appearances.

Character development

When she debuted, Cassie was 8 years old, having been born on January 8, 1991. She was adopted by Alice Johnson (Tamara Clatterbuck) as an infant. However, in 1994, Alice disappeared and left her in the care of her elderly mother Millie. Sharon's best friend Grace Turner (Jennifer Gareis) later tracked down Cassie and took her for herself. A writer from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that Grace wanted Cassie as a "pet" despite knowing Sharon was her biological mother. As she grew up, she went from a sweet child to a "rebellious" teen who began to lie to her parents. She also wanted to hang out with older kids at school, like Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) and Lily Winters (Christel Khalil ). She was grounded because of her "rebellious streak". Cassie was described as a "good girl" who wanted to "fit in" but began cutting classes, giving her parents attitude and "a whole host of other angsty teenage pleasantries."

Cassie died following a car crash on May 24, 2005. Grimes said that she has missed the show since leaving, and was shocked to find out that Cassie was killed off. She stated: "If it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen. Everything happens for a reason, I think." Of Cassie's last scene, she said it was "ridiculously hard [sic] If you watch my death scene, where Sharon is crying over me - I'm supposed to be dead - but I'm crying." If Cassie wasn't killed off, Grimes wanted to her to have a love interest, stating: "I always wanted a love interest. If I'd stayed on the show, I had hoped that was where it would go eventually. Liberty Kontranowski of About.com labeled Cassie's death as one of the "saddest and hardest-hitting storylines" of daytime. After her death, her parents began 'Cassie's Foundation', a movement "to prevent teenage drinking and driving."

Storylines

Cassie is the daughter of Sharon Collins (Sharon Case) and Frank Barritt (Phil Gozois), and she was given up for adoption at birth because Sharon was only seventeen years old at the time and Frank wanted nothing to do with Sharon or the baby when he found out. When Cassie was six years old, Sharon's friend, Grace Turner (Jennifer Gareis), decided to track Cassie down, as it was believed that Sharon and her husband Nicholas Newman's (Joshua Morrow) newborn son, Noah Newman, was going to die. Cassie had been adopted by a woman named Alice Johnson (Tamara Clatterbuck), who had abandoned Cassie to pursue a man, leaving her with her frail, elderly mother, Millie. Grace pleaded with Millie to let her return Cassie to her birth mother, Sharon. Millie reluctantly agreed, realizing that Sharon could give the child a better life than she ever could.

However, Noah survived, and Grace decided to keep Cassie and raise her indefinitely with her boyfriend Tony Viscardi (Nick Scotti). Sharon met Cassie, but she was unaware that she was her daughter. After well over a year, Tony pressed Grace to tell Sharon the truth. She did, and Cassie was eventually returned to Sharon and adopted by Nick. Cassie had a relatively normal, happy childhood, with the exception of almost drowning in a frozen pond at age eleven.

In 2003, when Cassie was twelve, her biological father, Frank Barritt, showed up out of the blue. At Fenmore's Boutique, Sharon was caught by surprise by him, and he then saw Cassie. Frank smiled and politely said hello to Cassie, and he said that she was a very pretty girl. Cassie ran into Frank again at the Crimson Lights, and Frank politely asked her how her life was going. Cassie, getting creeped out, left the coffeehouse. Nick, believing Frank might be after money now that Cassie was a Newman, went to Crimson Lights and confronted him. Frank said that he was concerned when he read about Cassie almost drowning in a frozen pond, and he insisted that he didn't want any money. Frank told Nick that he just wanted to get to know his daughter. Nick gave Frank a strong warning to stay away from Cassie. Cassie constantly asked Nick and Sharon who Frank was, but they only told her that he was someone that Sharon knew from a long time ago.

Later, Frank was murdered by a man named Cameron Kirsten. Cameron had killed Frank and tried to make it look like Sharon had done it. It was all a plot of Cameron's to put Sharon in prison. However, it was proven that Cameron, not Sharon, had murdered Frank. Nick and Sharon learned that on the night of Frank's murder, he had an appointment with a lawyer to discuss his rights with Cassie, but he never showed up. Nick and Sharon finally told Cassie that Frank was her biological father. Cassie was extremely upset because she now understood why Frank was being so nice to her at Crimson Lights and why he always looked at her so strangely, he was looking at her the way a father looks at his child. Cassie knew that Frank didn't want anything to do with her at first, but she thought that he may have changed his mind. Cassie was upset knowing that now she would never get to know her father. Nick and Sharon apologized to Cassie for keeping her father away from her. Although Cassie was upset about Frank, she said that Nick would always be her real father.

In 2005, Cassie turned fourteen and yearned to be one of the "popular kids" at school. She developed a crush on Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei), who was two years older than her. Cassie began to socialize with the older teens: Daniel, Lily Winters (Christel Khalil), Colleen Carlton (Lyndsy Fonseca), Devon Hamilton (Bryton James), and Sierra Hoffman (Asia Ray Smith). All five of them laughed behind Cassie's back at her attempts to act "mature" by drinking coffee, skipping classes and being rude to her mother. Cassie snuck out to a party late at night, although she told her parents she was going to a movie with her friend, Ali. At the party, she found a drunken Daniel passed out in the back of his car. She decided to drive him home herself, despite being under-age and without a license, claiming to herself that she had driven around the Newman Ranch before. She crashed the car, injuring herself and, to a lesser extent, Daniel. The two were rushed to hospital with no memory of the crash, and everyone thought Daniel was driving while intoxicated. A severely injured Cassie remembered that she had been driving, and she staggered out of the hospital to find Daniel. She found him with Lily at Crimson Lights, but she was barely able to speak. She collapsed shortly after, and she was rushed back to hospital. She died hours later after whispering the partial truth about the accident to Nick.

After her death, Cassie appeared on multiple occasions to Nick, and once to Sharon, as a hallucination or spirit. During one of his visits to his son, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), the late John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) relayed a message from Cassie for Sharon as well, confirming that Cassie's spirit was alive and well. Years later, she visited a pregnant Sharon in a dream. She told her mom that she would have faith during the pregnancy, and everything would turn out well. However, Sharon's future boyfriend, Adam Newman (Michael Muhney) made Sharon and everyone else believe that her baby was a stillborn. In reality, Adam stole the healthy baby from Sharon, and he gave her to his father's then-wife, Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson). Adam tricked Ashley into having a hysterical pregnancy, and Sharon's daughter was merely a prop in his schemes. Devastated, Sharon and Nick hoped that Cassie was looking after her baby sister in heaven.

Several episodes later, Cassie returned to Sharon, admitting that Faith Newman was alive, and her uncle Adam fooled her into believing that Faith was dead. Adam had blackmailed the doctor into lying to both Ashley and Sharon. Cassie paid Sharon a visit once again. After Cassie told Sharon that she will have her daughter in her arms, Sharon was reunited with Faith, leaving Ashley devastated. Cassie re-appeared on July 8, 2013, as an apparition to her mother.On July 15, Sharon tells Cassie's ghost that she switched the DNA test results between Nick and Summer in order to get close to Nick.

Reception

She was awarded the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2000 for her portrayal of Cassie, becoming the youngest winner to receive the award, at age 10, beating Kimberly McCullough, who won at age 11. Grimes was credited in 2009 as the medium's most talented younger actresses right up until the end, and her character's death is named #41 in the list of The 100 Most Memorable Moments in Soap History, both recognitions by Soaps Hunks.

After Cassie was killed off, fans were upset. According to Akron Beacon Journal, some fans were "depressed" and angry that Cassie was killed off. They also hoped that she could possibly be "brought back to life" like Taylor Forrester on the show's sister-soap, The Bold and the Beautiful. Liberty Kontranowski of About.com praised the character, stating "Cassie was a great character, brilliantly played by the Emmy-winning Camryn Grimes. It was devastating to see her go, but it was a story that will continue to impact the members of Genoa City for years to come."

External links

• Cassidy "Cassie" Newman @ soapcentral.com