Could Roguish Roger Really Be Reformed?
Read About His Past Deeds and Decide For Yourself.
By Lynda Hirsch, researched by Donna Hoke
Soap Opera Digest, October 17, 1989
Why is it that everyone in Springfield is having trouble deciding whether to commend or condemn Roger Thorpe? True, he's been in the service of his country for the past fifteen years. But it's what went on before that has created nagging doubts in the hearts of Springfield citizens. As for the fans, Roger Thorpe has always been captivating. So much so that Guiding Light scripters have risen him from the dead not once, but twice.
When Roger Thorpe first arrived in Springfield, he had
just finished college. The only child of respected widower Adam Thorpe, Roger was a
connoisseur of fine art and women. Holly, the spoiled daughter of divorced Barbara Norris,
caught his eye. Her looks and naivete appealed to him. And despite her mother's warnings
that Roger was a dangerous Eddie Haskell, Holly was instantly smitten.The other boys in Springfield seemed callow to Holly when she compared them to Roger, who could look at a vase and know to which Chinese dynasty it had belonged. Dating him also had an edge of danger. It meant disobeying her mother and her dictatorial brother, Ken, who despised Roger almost as much as Barbara did. That, combined with Roger's black angel curls, brown-amber eyes, and strong artistic hands, meant few teenage virgins could resist him, and Holly was hardly an exception.
But Roger was only using Holly; he really had eyes for her sister-in-law, Janet. When Holly saw her beloved Roger leaving Janet's apartment one night (nothing happened), she ran into the street and was struck by a car. Holly's recovery at Cedars was aided by Dr. Ed Bauer, who took special interest in this vulnerable girl. Barbara was thrilled with the prospect of Holly teamed with the stable, impressive medico, Ed. And she got her wish when, one night, Holly got Ed drunk and coerced him into a quick marriage in Las Vegas. When Ed suggested an annulment, a crushed Holly falsely informed him that the marriage had been consummated. Since Ed couldn't remember, he did his best to make the accidental marriage work, but Holly was too immature for him and soon got restless. More, she still harbored fantasies of a life with Roger, who had left town following her accident and was now back.
His second time in Springfield, Roger was supposedly a changed man. Even Barbara, who was now married to Adam Thorpe, was impressed and told Holly so, unaware that she was feeding her daughter's futile flights of fancy. Then Roger met Nurse Peggy Fletcher. Miss Fletcher and her young son had been deserted by Peggy's husband, the emotionally unbalanced Dr. Johnny Fletcher. Roger, knowing what it's like to be raised by just one parent --- even if that one parent was loving and caring --- spent his free time taking Peggy's son to baseball games, scout meetings and school events. As Roger played surrogate father, Peggy fell in love with him.
But Peggy wouldn't marry Roger until she was legally divorced from Johnny. This made Roger vulnerable to the flirtations of restless Holly and the old lovers resumed their affair. When Peggy finally told Roger her divorce was final, Roger told Holly they could only be friends. Holly set out to save her marriage to Ed, and was only temporarily thrown when she learned she was pregnant with Roger's child. She promptly seduced Ed and announced her pregnancy.
Peggy and Roger's happiness was short-lived when loan sharks started coming after Roger as a result of shady business dealings. Peggy left him to protect her son, and Holly, still clinging to threads of Thorpe, paid off his loans with her inheritance. Peggy came back. Soon after, Holly's daughter, Christina, fell ill and Roger donated blood anonymously. A guilt-wracked Holly finally confessed all to Ed, who told Roger he had two weeks to tell Peggy or he would. Roger told Peggy, who was hurt, but eventually forgave him. They finally married. When Barbara found out the truth about the baby, she resented Roger so much that she and Adam eventually divorced.
Not long afterward, Ed realized that his marriage to Holly couldn't work and began seeing a lot of Rita Stapleton. The fell in love and Ed divorced Holly. But it turned out that Rita had also slept with Roger Thorpe. Both Roger and Rita thought is was best kept a secret, but Roger was forced to reveal their past to clear Rita of murder charges. This newest revelation caused the divorce of Peggy and Roger and a temporary estrangement for Ed and Rita.
When Roger Thorpe learned he was sterile, he went after Holly. He resented the fact that his only child, Christina, was the legal daughter of Ed Bauer. He taunted Ed by sleeping with his sister, Hillary, and flirting with, and finally raping, Rita. Convinced that no one would believe her, Rita told no one. Slimy Roger continued to sleep with Hillary both before and after he convinced Holly to marry him.
In the beginning, Holly and Roger sizzled. Christina adored Roger, but Holly refused to tell her that he was her natural father. It wasn't long before Roger became abusive and raped Holly, too. But, unlike Rita, Holly had no intention of letting him get away with such a thing and pressed charges. Lawyer Ross Marler nearly got Roger off, but Rita stepped forward and admitted that Roger had raped her also. Thorpe was released on bond and began a series of threats. When he began beating on Ed, Holly pumped three bullets into her husband.
As Holly served her jail sentence for the murder of Roger, a very much alive Roger was plotting his revenge. Having feigned his death, Roger flew to Paris, where he hatched a plan to get even with Holly, Ed and Rita. Dressed as a circus clown, he tried to kidnap Christina, but ended up abducting Rita instead. In a cabin in the woods, a pregnant Rita admitted that she didn't know whether her baby's father was Ed or her old flame, Greg Fairbanks. Thorpe allowed her to phone her doctor. When Roger learned the baby was Ed's, he set fire to the cabin. Rita was saved, but she lost the baby. Ed vowed revenge. But until Roger was caught, he flew Holly (out of jail because of an injury) and Christina to Santo Domingo for safety. Roger was waiting there.
When Holly refused to let Roger get his hands on Christina, an angry Thorpe dragged her for miles through the jungle. Mike and Ed rescued Holly, and Ed shot Roger. As Ed and Roger grappled near the edge of a cliff, Roger fell. The valiant Dr. Bauer grabbed Roger's arm and tried to pull him to safety, but Ed lost his grip and Roger seemingly fell to his death.
Although Ed loved Holly and Christina, he decided that life with Rita was what he desired and they married. Holly felt it best that she leave town. For fifteen years of soap time [an nearly ten years in real time] thoughts of Roger ceased for the residents of Springfield. Roger was history. Then Blake Lindsey came to town and it was discovered that she was Christina, adopted daughter of Ed Bauer and natural child of Roger and Holly.
While on a deserted island with Phillip Spaulding (who was searching for his aunt Alexandra, missing in a plane crash), Blake met the mystical Adam Malick and a bond formed. Adam, who was really Roger, realized that Blake/Christina was the one person in the world whom he loved. Miss Lindsey was unaware that the man who offered words of wisdom from behind a mask was her father --- a father whom she idolized and whom her mother loathed.
Learning that Phillip's adoptive father, the malevolent Alan Spaulding, would stop at nothing to halt the marriage of his son to Roger's daughter, Thorpe (now a member of the CIA) risked all to make sure Blake would get her wish --- marriage to Phillip. Knowledge that Roger was alive, but considered by some to be a hero, brought mixed responses --- continued loathing from Holly and Ed; vengeful obsession from Alan; wide-eyed admiration from Maureen; newsy interest from Chelsea; romantic intrigue from Sonni Carrera; wary and confused happiness from Blake. After all, the man she had needed and adored as a child had never contacted her. And her mother's hatred for Roger made Blake feel that as his daughter, she was not to be loved for she had his genes.
Roger is still a mercurial character, but he loves his daughter. Is it a love so boundless that Roger would go back to his less than honorable ways if it meant giving Blake anything or anyone she desires? Perhaps. *