GH: I Need A Laura History Lesson!

[JackPeyton]

So i was reading some bios on char's i dont know a lot about and came across Laura's. I know most of the stuff rom the mid 90's to today, but ahve questions about things before it.

Rataher than just askr andom questions i just pasted her bio from soapcentral.com and quoted them with questions. Hoepfully yall can give me some answers.

Okay, so was Lesley Williams a main character and this was like a made up back story? Did all of this happen on screen? Was there time between Lesley first finding her and then finding her in the cult thing? Did lesley & Rick have a history?

I got all that, no questions. But if anyone has anything to add go for it.

Was this on screen or duign when they char's were gone?

I got all that as well. Seen most of it, so no questions. But again if you have anythign to add please do...

So Mac's house is lauras old house? I never knew that.

again, i seen all that so no questions.

[Paul Raven]

Lesley arrived on GH in 73.

Denise Alexander was a big star on DAYS and ABC lured her over and the character of Lesley was written into Gh.

From what I have read,she was just imposed on the show(it was ABC's only California show) and the writers at the time(I think it was the Dobsons),had to scramble to come up with a way to fit her on the show.

The whole Laura back story was created around 75,by later writers.Was it the Pollocks?

The original Laura was played by a younger actress-Stacey Baldwin. I think that when Laura returned with the cult story it was Genie Ann Francis.

Rick and Lesley only met when he came on the show.At first,when Rick came on the show he was involved in the with Jeff and Monica.

Lesley was married to the manipulative Cameron,who went to great lengths to get Laura out of their lives.he eventually died and Lesley hooked up with Rick,thus paving the way for the Rick/Monica/lesley triangle that played out in 78/79

Here is a SOD synopsis from 76

Lesley Faulkner is now truly a rich woman. She has complete happiness and contentment, as well as dollars. She has been given back the most important thing in her world, her daughter.

Lesley is very thankful to Barbara for allowing her to see Laura once again. She tells Mrs. Vining she would like to set up a trust fund for Laura's education. Barbara graciously accepts the gift.

Up until Cameron's return (he's been away in New York on business) everything is sunshine and blue skies in Lesley's life. She's not prepared for the problem his homecoming creates. Cameron suffers an emotional cardiac arrest when he learns about Laura's return (intrusion) in their lives. He plays it cool though, for he knows he and Leslie will be leaving on their around-the-world trip soon, and that will give him a lot of time to work on his wife. Cameron tells Lesley part of their trip will include a ball to be held in her honor. The date of this gala occasion is May 5. Lesley utters: "Cam that can't be. I can't go then. That's the date of Laura's play. She's got the lead role and I told her I'd be there to see her." These words do nothing to decrease Cam's hatred and jealousy of Laura. He ponders over his next course of action.

The 5th of May, the date zooms before Lesley in large boldfaced type. What is it to be: a ball in Hong Kong or her daughter's play? Who is it to be: her husband or her daughter? How can she choose? Why should she choose? Why can't Cam see how important this play is to Laura? Why is he forcing this choice on her?

While Cam's in New York (he stormed out of the apartment in a fit of pique), Lesley has lots of time to ruminate over her situation. Lesley knows this may be the toughest decision she'll ever have to make

Following the advice given by her good friend, Terri, ("Your place is with your man"). Lesley calls her suffering husband and lets him know she has decided to go to Hong Kong with him. This is the easy part, the next step, telling Laura, is the painful side of the coin. Lesley knows it's not going to be easy letting her little girl down.

Lesley's stomach is in knots when she arrives at the Vikings'. She takes Laura aside, tenderly places her hands on her child's small shoulders, and says: "I can't attend your play. Cam scheduled a big ball in my honor in Hong Kong on that date and I wouldn't feel right making him attend the ball along." Laura's lower lip quivers as she says she understands.

A few hours later, Lesley gets a distressing phone call from Barbara. Barbara tells her that Laura dropped out of the play. The kids started teasing her when they found out Lesley wasn't going to be there. Lesley can't let that happen, she reverses her decision and tells Laura she's going to be sitting in the audience on May 5th.

[applcin]

To answer the easy question first, yes, Mac's house (which was also Robert & Anna's house) is also the house where Lesley, Laura, Rick and Amy Vining used to live. Rick also lived there (after Lesley's presumed death) with his next wife, Ginny, and adopted son, Mikey. It was also Tony & Tania Jones' house, and, later, Tony & Lucy's house.

Soon after Luke and Laura's wedding, Tiffany Hill encouraged Laura to take on the modeling job of Ms. Star Eyes, a job that took her away from Port Charles to New York City quite often. While on one of her trips home, Laura was kidnapped by David Grey and presumed dead. But in actuality, she was held captive by the Cassadines. Laura was told Luke was dead and was forced to marry Mikkos' son Stavros. She also had an affair with Stavros' brother Stefan and conceived a child, Nikolas. Stavros' evil mother Helena hated Laura. She left a Port Charles newspaper with Luke's picture on the front page where she knew that Laura would see it. Laura saw the newspaper and realizing that Luke was not dead, fled to Port Charles, escaping from Stavros, and making the choice of leaving Nikolas behind knowing that Stefan would take care of him. Afraid that Luke had moved on without her, she only wanted to see him once more. But as she walked onto the lawn of the mayor's mansion, Luke spotted her from the balcony. He screamed her name and they happily reunited. Deciding that they rather liked their privacy, Luke resigned as mayor and the pair left Port Charles for parts unknown. They wound up at Felicia's grandmother's ranch in Texas, where their son Lucky was born.

Okay, this was not shown in the sequence in which it's written, as parts of it were "revealed" or created years after. Laura was kidnapped and presumed dead (her boot was found in the water) and, for all intents and purposes at the time, to the viewers she was dead because nobody knew at the time if Genie would ever return. We knew David Grey, on order of the Cassadines, specifically, Helena, had done something to Laura but last we saw of them together was on the docks in the fog. Two years later when Genie returned, we were told she had been held captive on the Cassadine island and married Stavros. This was early-mid 1980s. There was never any mention of Stefan or Nikolas, those characters did not exist then. When Laura fled the Cassadines to see Luke, all we knew was that she was fleeing from Helena and Stavros. Eventually Luke & Laura left town together (when Genie and Tony both left). Then, circa 1993 I think it may have been, the characters were brought back on, and it was some time after this that Stefan and Nikolas were introduced and this was when Laura confessed to Luke that, while in captivity, 1) she had a child and 2) she had an affair with Stefan. This was shown via newly created flashbacks.

BTW, all that stuff about Rick's affair and a teenaged Laura catching him--basically all that stuff that led up to Rick's death--never happened. Total rewrite, and a rather insulting way, I thought, to kill off a formerly longtime character, especially at the hands of the stepdaughter who loved him. And a terrible way to send Laura off the deep end.