Bernard Fremont

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Bernard Fremont is a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent, featured in the episode "Slither." He was portrayed by Michael York.

Fremont was a kind of high-society version of Charles Manson or Charles Sobhraj: A charismatic psychopath, he seduced young, impressionable women (whom he called his "blondes") and enlisted them to target rich business travellers, murder them, and ransack their expensive rented accommodations of belongings, furnishings, and even fixtures. His erstwhile partner-in-crime, Nicole Wallace, is the series' primary villain.

One member of Fremont's harem was Hilary Marsden a (formerly) wealthy heiress whom he seduced in Thailand and took under his wing, alongside Wallace, as a "pupil." Marsden, who was in love with Fremont and furiously jealous of his relationship with Wallace, planted their victims' passports on them in Thailand. Fremont served eight years in prison, while Wallace served 10. Marsden used her wealth to help Fremont get out of prison, while simultaneously getting plastic surgery to increase her own resemblance to her rival. Fremont began operating out of New York City after learning of Wallace's periodic tangles with Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames there; he hoped to rekindle his relationship with Wallace, whom he considered his soulmate.

While in New York, he "took in" a fellow con artist who offered to write a screenplay about his life — one that would omit the unflattering details of his time in prison, his youth in a Thai slum, and his fading sexual prowess. When the criminal bungled a murder, however, Fremont and his new favorite "blonde" killed him. Goren and Eames brought him in for questioning and tricked him into confessing by lying that Marsden had implicated him, and by insulting his narcissistic self-image.

At the end of the episode, Fremont was released on bail, paid for by the Marsden's still-wealthy sister Mala, who was a recent addition to his harem. Wallace ambushed the two (offscreen) in the courthouse stairwell and poisoned him before disappearing. The episode leaves one with the impression that, although Fremont was more charismatic, Wallace was the more intelligent of the two, and had come to resent the course her life had been set upon by her former mentor.