Claudia Cortez
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Yrgh 10:02, 12 December 2006 (UTC)yrgh
Claudia Cortéz was a fictional character in the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. Lilly Melgar played the role from 1996 to 1997.
[edit] Character
Claudia applied for a job as a seamstress at Spectra Fashions, but when she was unable to prove she had a green card, Macy (Bobbie Eakes) was forced to turn her down as the law required a green card. Claudia appealed to Thorne (Winsor Harmon), only to be informed by Macy that Thorne had no say in who worked for her family's company. While eavesdropping, Claudia overheard Thorne defending her, so the next day she showed up at Forrester Creations with a fake green card. Thorne took pity on her and, even knowing she was illegal, gave her a job to keep her out of the sweat shops. She went to the charity ball that night to thank Thorne for his kindness, and ended up getting on Macy's mother Sally's (Darlene Conley) bad side when Sally mistook her for a waitress and Claudia lost her tongue with her.
Claudia soon made herself noticed in the Forrester sewing room by standing up for a co-worker who accidentally knocked over a cup of coffee. She engaged Thorne's assistance, prompting Thorne to warn his managers to keep an eye out for INS. While working on a gown in Ridge's (Ronn Moss) office late one night, Claudia was surprised by Ridge, who was initially angry that she had used the wrong lace on a dress, then intrigued when he learned she had made the lace herself. Claudia could not stop fantasizing about Thorne, and finally confessed to them that the reason she and her family were there was because her father had been a high-ranking official in their country and when there was a coup, she, her mother and brother had fled, not even knowing if her father was dead or alive. It was a miracle that Claudia wasn't caught by the INS that day as they came to do a surprise raid, having been tipped off that there were illegals working at Forrester. Luckily Claudia, the only illegal on staff, had managed to elude them.
Claudia soon began to realize that her being at Forrester was causing problems bewteen Thorne and Macy. Part of her felt bad, but another part of her hoped that it meant she and Thorne would have a future together. She was shocked to encounter Enrique Alvarez (George Alvarez), who also worked at Forrester. As children, she and Enrique had been very close, but when the coup took place, it was Enrique's family who took over. Enrique had been out of the country at the time, but Claudia insisted on blaming Enrique for his family's actions and her father's possible death. Her big troubles came when Macy walked in on Claudia giving Thorne a massage to cure a headache. Macy confronted Claudia, and warned her to stay away from her husband. When Claudia didn't immediately agree, Macy gave her an ultimatum - go home, or get deported. Macy made it clear to Claudia that she wasn't about to let her have Thorne just so she could stay in the country.
To keep Claudia away from her husband and also to protect Thorne from being in legal troubles if anyone ever learned that Claudia was working for Forrester, Macy reported Claudia to the INS. Claudia was taken into custody, although briefly released awaiting her trial. Although her family tried to convince her they needed to run, Claudia was convinced that she could weather this, that Thorne would help her through. When he called her home suggesting that by marrying an American citizen she could not possibly be deported, Claudia eagerly told her family that she would be marrying Thorne, and although her brother Lucien initially had his reservations, he granted them her blessing. But when Claudia got to the courthouse and learned that the man Thorne really had in mind for her to marry was Enrique, she turned him down flat and decided she would rather take her chances with the judge.
Claudia was shocked when Thorne's mother Stephanie (Susan Flannery) approached the judge at her hearing and offered to take responsibility for her. Stephanie moved her into the mansion, where Claudia insisted on taking over Maggie's (Barbara Crampton) role of housekeeper. It was just a matter of time before Stephanie decided to use Claudia to keep Thorne out of Taylor (Hunter Tylo) and Ridge's relationship. Claudia soon caught on, but she was more than willing to help Stephanie. She went to Thorne's room to seduce him, but although Thorne was willing to go through with it, Claudia put on the brakes because she realized that it was Taylor he was thinking about and not her. Trying to help Thorne, Claudia went to see Taylor, begging her to make Thorne understand that there would never be anything between them. Although Claudia admitted to Michael Lai (Lindsay Price) that she wouldn't stop loving Thorne, she began to realize that only Taylor had Thorne's heart. This became abundantly clear after Taylor nearly died in a fire at her beach house, and Thorne was there for her.
When Ridge was arrested under suspicion of having shot Grant Chambers (Charles Grant), Claudia and Michael decided to team up and prove that Enrique was the gunman. When Grant and Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) threw a costume ball, Claudia finagled an invitation from Enrique to be his date, although her plan was to get one step closer to proving he tried to kill Grant. She tried desperately to get Enrique to admit he shot Grant and, when that didn't work, tried to convince the Forresters' private investigator, Hunter Jones, that Enrique had to be the one. She was shocked when Hunter's theories proved that Enrique was not the shooter and initially could not believe it; her hatred of his family had blinded her completely. After entering into an outfitting contest with Michael, Claudia found herself enjoying sparring with Enrique, who complimented her designs and sought her help on his own. Finally accepting that Thorne was in love with Taylor, Claudia made one last visit to see Taylor and to ask her not to lead Thorne on. After that, Claudia faded into the background.
