Eunice Gardner Wyatt
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| Eunice Gardner Wyatt | |||||||||||||||||
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| Search for Tomorrow character | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Marion Brash (1957–61) Ann Williams (1966–76) | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 1957 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 1976 | ||||||||||||||||
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Eunice Wyatt (née Gardner, previously Twining and Martin) is a fictional character from the long-running American soap opera Search for Tomorrow. The role was first played by Marion Brash from 1957–61 and then by Ann Williams from 1966 until the character's death in 1976.
Neurotic to nice
Eunice is the sister of Joanne Gardner and, at first, was very selfish and neurotic. She had a brief affair with Jo's second husband, Arthur Tate, and was so racked with guilt about it that she confessed everything to her sister. However, she fell for the affections of Rex Twining, who was involved with Arthur's wealthy aunt, Cornelia Simmons. Later, Cornelia was found dead, by her niece, Allison, and it was thought that Eunice and Rex had something to do with it. They fled for the Caribbean, and it was later discovered that Cornelia's housekeeper, Harriet Baxter, had done the dirty deed.
Years later, Eunice came back, having married and then divorced Rex Twining. She was a lot nicer and not so selfish and unstable. She met and married a man named Doug Martin who was a lawyer, and was quite happy. They had a daughter named Suzi (whom, after her parents deaths, was adopted by her Aunt Jo). Although she was indeed influenced by the women's liberation movement she did her best to make her marriage work.
She met John Wyatt (Val Dufour) whom she married after Doug died. She and John met while working at a magazine that he owned and they grew close. After Doug died (someone named Hal Conrad had pulled the plug on his life support), John and Eunice married. However, John had been seeing a girl named Jennifer Pace Phillips (played famously by Morgan Fairchild). Jennifer was quite unstable and selfish; even more so than Eunice herself had been, and she would not let anyone else have John.
In November 1976, the totally unstable Jennifer shot Eunice and killed her, effectively removing her as competition. John, although absolutely distraught, put his life back together. In 1977, Jennifer was committed to a mental hospital after it was revealed to everyone that she had killed Eunice after a murder trail that was focused on John whom people thought killed Eunice. Meanwhile, John wanted to be with Eunice's sister, Jo, but instead he was roped into a marriage with the deceitful Stephanie Wilkins who was Jo's archenemy. In 1979, John also died.
Daughter returns
After her mother's death and eventually her father's death, Suzi is taking in by her Aunt Jo (Mary Stuart) and Uncle (by marriage) Martin Touraner (John Aniston). As the 1980s arrive Suzi (at the time played by Cynthia Gibb) became friends with her stepmother Stephanie's (Marie Cheatham) daughter Wendy (Lisa Peluso). Their Sisterly friendship is challenged when they both are attracted to wealthy playboy-town villain Warren Carter (Michael Corbett), which caused a love triangle between the two step-sisters with Warren for a long time until Warren was killed (in self-defense) by Suzi in February 1985, which devastated Wendy whom she loved Warren very much, blaming Suzi for Warren's demise, though eventually Suzi and Wendy reconciled and moved on. In 1984, Suzi Met construction worker-working class Cagney McCleary (Matthew Ashford). After some turmoil with Warren and a few attempts of proposing marriage, etc. They finally get married in May 1985. Together they raise a son name Jonah (Erin Goetz, Jonathan Raskin) - Eunice's only Grandson who originally was thought to be Warren's son with Suzi. Eunice's Daughter would face more turmoil after marrying Cagney. Her cousin Patty's daughter, Sarah was killed by The Henderson Serial Killer in late 1985. The Killer would claim 2 more victims her step-sister Wendy and her mother, Suzi's Step-Mother Stephanie (now Played by Louise Shaffer) was killed. After the Henderson flood - Suzi's life began to return to normal. Suzi, Cagney, Jonah, Aunt Jo & Cousin Patty Moved into Liberty House, an apartment building that was renovated prior to the flood which Jo Operated after closing down the Caldwell House, a bed & breakfast inn, which Suzi helped with alongside her Aunt Jo.
In November 1986, ten years after Eunice's death, her daughter Suzi Wyatt McCleary (now played by Terri Eoff) was killed by Ella Hobbs (Ann Flood), who supposedly murdered Suzi's husband, Cagney's (Matthew Ashford) father Matt McCleary & Twin Brother Malcolm (Patrick Tovatt) twenty years earlier, after she framed him for a payroll robbery gone bad. Ella had murdered Suzi to get revenge on the McCleary family because the McCleary's accused Judge Jeremiah Henderson (William Prince) of killing Malcolm and Suzi. Ella kidnapped Jo and held her hostage in the elevator shaft inside Liberty House. Evie Stone (Colleen Dion),(Joanna Going), Jerry Henderson (Tim Loughrin), Stu (Larry Haines), Cagney and Jeremiah saved Jo's Life. After arguing about the past and their relationship with Jeremiah, Ella tried to kill Jo again, but in the process Ella was shot by Cagney and fell to her death down the shaft. Before her death, Ella had confessed to committing the payroll robbery and killing Matt His Twin Malcolm and Suzi. Ella's death left Judge Jeremiah heartbroken. Soon after, Matt who was thought to be dead by his wife Kate and children Adair, Cagney, Quinn and Hogan, turned out to be alive and returned to Henderson. He later revealed to his family that his twin brother Malcolm McCleary was the one who was killed by Ella. Matt went into hiding for years in Ireland with a young woman named Kat (Katrina) Fitzgerald (Mary Jo Keenen). During the Christmas Holiday, the ghost of Suzi came back to keep an eye on Cagney & Jonah.