OLTL: How is Dorian Lord trilingual?

[rhythmchyc]

Hey, watching Tuesday's OLTL and hearing Langston comment on how Dorian doesn't know Spanish as well French, can someone explain how she came to know French? Was a former husband French? I've never seen the show discuss her French background, if there is any.

And I know that she spent some time in some Spanish-speaking country because Adriana was born there but why was she even there? Thanks.

[Cheap21]

When Dorian left town in 2000, she moved to Paris and thats where she stayed until her 2003 return

Dorian left town in the late 80s to become the US Ambassador to Mendorra. Thats when she met Manuel Sanit, Adriana's father. How or why. Who knows. The whole thing was a horrible rewrite

[dc11786]

Adriana should have been Carlotta's daughter like Malone originally hinted at. I hate when show's do storylines where a character's lie becomes the truth without any indication beforehand.

[Tishy]

I always thought that because she was an Ambassador to Mendorra, she had to know more than one language. Plus, Adrianna. And she also is referring to Paris.

[oltl1]

The last time Dorian left Llanview (during Jill Phelps run as EP, they had bad blood) Dorian left and toured the world ending up in France where she lived until her return to Llanview. As for Adriana, that one needs more time and a lot more suspended belief. While in Mandora, acting as the US Ambassador she met Carlotta's brother, Mani Santi, they married and became pregnant with Adriana. Dorian was abused by Mani and as time passed she realized Mani was a Mob king and before he could find out she was pregnant she left him and gave Adriana up as to keep her safe from Mani and the mob. Carlotta became Adriana's Godmother, never knowing that Carlotta was also her Aunt. Adriana was raised by friends of Carlotta’s and had no contact with Dorian until 5 years ago when her adoptive parents died and she moved to the States to live with Carlotta. This story was very confusing when it played out because all of the back story happened off screen. Hope this helps.

[rhythmchyc]

Yes, all this helps. Thanks guys.

[dc11786]

I believe Adriana's adopted parents are still alive. Originally, she came to spend the summer of 2003 with her godmother Carlotta. She spent the summer falling in love with River, but returned home at the summer's end. In January, Melissa Gallo arrived playing Adriana and David and Dorian concocted a plan to keep River and Adriana away from River by claiming Adriana was her unknown illegitimate daughter, David was the one who suggested Adriana be her illegitimate daughter. This story intersected with the Aunt Betsy story, where Betsy Cramer arrived in Llanview to settle the Cramer estate before dying. Dorian and David used Adriana as the heiress to the fortune as Betsy was a bitter spinister who wanted an unmarried heir to the fortune. River and Adriana nearly married in February, which would have ruined Dorian and David's plan on the Cramer fortune front. Carlotta helped Dorian with Adriana and I believe was the one who got Dorian in contact with Adriana's adopted mother. She appeared in January or February 2004. I cannot remember her name, but I do remeber she was around.

Also, I believe in March 2004, David planned a surprise wedding for Dorian, but she revealed they couldn't marry because she was still married. In the summer 2004, a whole bunch of Santis appeared in minor and major roles. It was a convulted story and I seem to recall that it was tied into the Badhra diamond story as Natalie and Paul Cramer were involved in the story as they were searching for something. I remember there was money involved because Paul was such an opportunist; he too was after the Cramer fortune which is why he hid his marriage to Babe. For the baby switch, Babe's baby SHOULD have been Paul's child since that would have grounded the switch more in the OLTL universe.

[SFK]

Bottom line is that Dorian Lord is a pretentious character who thinks she knows a little bit of everything. The multilingual stuff is Robin Strasser's invention, one of the many idiosyncrasies she's added to the role. She talks about this in an interview, but back in the early '80s there was a scene were Dorian was facing off with a latin officer and Robin was tickled with the idea of ballsy Dorian spouting off her fractured Spanish. It stuck, and later on she'd often speak Spanish to CarLOTTA!!. I have a favorite memory of that... Dorian and Carlotta were dishing about something at the diner, and on her way out Dorian turns to Carlotta and puts her hand to her head like a telephone and says, "Llame mi!" And as her fans know, Robin's a francophile, so that's where the French came in.

Oh, here's a bit of that interview I was talking about:

Mary Lyn Henry: Can you share any other reminisces about your early days in Llanview?

Robin Strasser: A favorite story of mine involves Mr. David Pressman once again. Early on in the first six months, Dorian decides to go to a South American country to try and liberate an ex-lover who is being kept prisoner. She in turn is captured by the rebels and guarded over by a Jimmy Smits look-a-like. I am railing and railing at him. So I asked David if I could do part of the dialogue in Spanish. I speak terrible Spanish, but I thought it would be funny to hear Dorian trying to speak fractured Spanish. Dorian wants to think she is good at everything and can surmount anything and she tries to converse in her awful Spanish. The handsome guard had no lines but he looked at me like I was crazy. And so the next day I was telling the story as Dorian and there was a line "that is all water under the bridge." I had Dorian say, "Oh, well that's all agua under the bridge". And David Pressman said, "That's it! I love that. That is the key. Do this a lot." I got a little gold star from him that day.