Jackson Montgomery
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Jackson "Jack" Montgomery is a fiction character from the soap opera, All My Children. He has been played by Walt Willey since 1987.
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[edit] Coming to Pine Valley
Jack Montgomery first came to Pine Valley in order to help his brother, Travis Montgomery, with his campaign for Senate. He had ulterior motives in mind, though. He accepted bribes and messed with the budget of Travis' campaign in order for Travis to lose. This was to repay Travis for events in their childhood. When they were children, both brothers were involved in a boating accident that killed their sister Christine. Jack was always blamed for the death by his Southern matriarchal family. Travis was always seen as the "go-getter" while Jack was considered the black sheep. Jack had covered up the event for Travis, but finally gained revenge during Travis' campaign.
At the same time, Jack fell in love with Travis' wife, Erica Kane. The two began to have an affair. When Travis found out, he divorced Erica and won the custody of their daughter Bianca Montgomery. However, Jack refused to lie about the affair on the stand during the custody trial, ending his relationship with Erica. Jack would move onto a relationship with Brooke English. Their romance was brief, but they remained friends over the years.
[edit] Laurel & Lily
One night, Jack was driving home when his headlights came upon the beautiful Laurel Banning. She needed help, and came to Jack for it. They fell in love, moved in together, and eventually married. Jack also came to love Laurel's daughter Lily Montgomery, an autistic girl with an ability to do complicated math. Jack adopted Lily, as his own daughter. Laurel needed help hiding out from Lily's demented father Denny.
Denny came to Pine Valley, looking for Laurel & Lily. He threatened Laurel's life, and vowed to gain custody of Lily. Laurel killed Denny in self-defense, and Jack helped cover it up by hiding the body in the Marick mine shaft. The body was found, and the truth came out, causing Jack to be disbarred for six months. Jack had another affair with Erica while Laurel felt guilty of causing him to lose the ability to practice law. More problems continued to follow. Laurel's history of embezzlement, which she had done in order to keep Lily in a special school for autistic children, came to light when she embezzled money in the Mason Foundation.
Laurel soon got close to Trevor Dillon after he lost his wife Natalie Marlowe. They fell in love, and Jack bowed out to Trevor. He divorced Laurel, so she could marry Trevor. This allowed Jack the opportunity to return to his love of law. He became involved with many highly publicized cases, including the Louie Greco trial. For his work, Jack was named the District Attorney of Pine Valley. Unfortunately, tragedy struck his world, when a stray bullet claimed the life of his old love Laurel. Jack continued to raise his adopted daughter, Lily.
[edit] Jack's relationship with the Kane Women
Throughout his time in Pine Valley, Jack always tried to act as a support for Erica and Bianca, his niece. He became a strong beam in the structure of their life, often helping out both with whatever problems they may have had.
Jack was Erica's attorney in her kidnapping trial. Erica was sent to prison, but Jack still loved her. He visited her often, and stood by her side. When Bianca came to Pine Valley, and was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, Jack was the one who told Erica. He kept her up-to-date with Bianca's health. After Erica was released from prison, Jack declared his love for her, with Erica estatic. However, this was short-lived when Erica's ex-lover Mike Roy returned to Pine Valley, after being thought dead for years. He had staged his death years before due to an FBI project. Erica still cared greatly for him. She was torn between Mike and Jack. But she made a mistake by sleeping with Mike, even though she still chose Jack. Jack found out and was furious, calling it the "obligatory horizontal goodbye". Erica tried to win Jack back, but he refused to relent.
Jack then continued to practice law and remain a confidant to his niece, especially when Bianca "came out" as a lesbian. But his relationship with Erica came back to the forefront in 2001, when he was the lead prosecutor in the murder case against her. She was being charged with murder of Frankie Stone, the former girlfriend of Bianca. He took out all of his frustrations against Erica during the trial. The trial turned into a farce, with Erica being declared not guilty. Jack was left with a tarnished reputation for his behavior against her during the trial. But Erica seemed to still love Jack. She tried to get back with him, but he still refused and denied her advances.
[edit] Greenlee
Eventually, Erica wore Jack down. He could no longer deny his feelings for her. He became engaged with her, despite a past love coming back to Pine Valley. Mary Greenlee Smythe returned to Pine Valley, trying to get back into the life of her daughter Greenlee Smythe. Greenlee became suspicious of her motives, especially when Mary tried to become close to Jack.
Jack was soon hospitalized with a heart condition, and Mary rushed Greenlee to the hospital to donate blood to help him through the ordeal. Jack was able to survive cardiac arrest, but Mary remained obsessed with him. Mary told Erica that she planned to have Jack for herself. On the eve of Jack & Erica's wedding day, Mary asked Greenlee to deliver a note to Jack. Jack refused to take the note, and Greenlee kept it and read it. She realized the truth about her childhood.
Greenlee found the note was dated to Jack from before she was born, back in 1976. It also revealed that Roger Smythe was not her father, but Jack was! Greenlee was angry at her mother for allowing her to grow up with a "father" that had hated her. Mary admitted that she had lied about who the father was because Roger was wealthy at the time, and Jack was poor. Greenlee soon noticed the stationary of the note was the same as that of the Valley Inn, where Mary had been staying. Mary admitted that she had forged the note, but that the content was the truth.
Mary showed Greenlee her journal and showed the entry that was written exactly nine months before Greenlee was born. It had been the last time that Jack & Mary slept together. Mary admitted that Greenlee's blood type matched with Jack's. She had been the one who saved Jack's life following his heart condition. Greenlee was angry at all the twisted half-truths that her mother had told her over the years, and vowed never to speak to her again.
Mary pleaded with Greenlee to go to Jack & Erica's wedding, and plead with him to not marry Erica. She stated that Erica had been blackmailing her to stay away from Jack. She used it to manipulate Greenlee into going to the wedding, and hoping that Jack would leave Erica once and for all, for her. When Greenlee rushed into the wedding, Jack didn't believe her claims. He thought it was a scheme by Mary to win him back. But Greenlee read the portion of the journal that her mother had showed her. Greenlee declared she didn't want Jack as a father, and left the ceremony, ready to leave Pine Valley forever, only to be stopped by Juan Pablo Renato Ruiz de Vasquez, who went with her to Atlantic City to gamble and party, and forget about her problems.
Meanwhile, Jack went through Joe Martin's files, and discovered that Greenlee had been the donor who had saved his life. His rare blood type allowed for only family members to be able to donate blood. Therefore, Greenlee had to be Jack's daughter. Although his engagement with Erica seemed to die out, Jack went looking for Greenlee. With help from Tad Martin, Jack located Greenlee in Atlantic City. When Jack got to the hotel room of Juan Pablo, Greenlee wasn't to be found and Juan Pablo denied knowing her.
However, Jack saw Greenlee's dress from the day of wedding, and demanded to know her location. She had gone out for a walk and gotten caught in a storm on the beach. She also got her ankle caught in a rock, and began to lash out in anger. Jack found her and removed her ankle. Greenlee tried to act like she wasn't hurt, but couldn't walk. Jack picked her up and carried her to a close restaurant, where they stayed at, until the storm went away.
While the two shared coffee and soup, they began to talk about things. Greenlee realized that Jack wasn't at fault for being left out of her life. She realized he was a good guy, and decided to give their relationship a try. Greenlee began to look to Jack as the father she always wanted.
[edit] Married Life with Erica
Eventually, Jack married Erica at long last. On May 24, 2005, he and Erica were wed in a beautiful ceremony. This came just after Jack had adopted troubled teenager Reggie Montgomery. Coupled with his new relationship with Greenlee and the return of Lily from boarding school, Jack began to have a stable family life. But Lily began to give him headaches with her love life.
She fell in love with Jonathan Lavery, who had been a one-time crazed man and who had kidnapped her before, but had been declared sane after a brain tumor was removed. He was now gentle, but Jack still wasn't sure of his behavior. After Jonathan & Lily ran away to New York, they got married. Jack was furious and declared that she was incompetent of running her own life. However, Jonathan suffered another brain hemmorage, and went into a coma. When he woke up, the old Jonathan had returned. He tried to hide it from Lily, and had genuinely changed because of her.
Jack found out that Jonathan was healthy, and used it to drive a wedge between Lily & Jonathan. The two had their marriage annulled. Lily moved back into her father's house. At the same time, Jack's nephew Sean Montgomery moved in. Jack began to use Sean as a babysitter for Lily.
Meanwhile, Jack's marriage with Erica, much like her other marriages, came apart at the seems. While Erica dealt with the revelation that her long thought abortion had turned into a fully grown son, Josh Madden, she also had to deal with the return of her first husband Jeff Martin. Jeff & Erica were Josh's parents. They tried to relate to Josh, who had just found out the person that he had always thought of as his father, Greg Madden, had lied to him his whole life. While trying to help Josh, Jeff & Erica grew closer. Soon, Erica had to choose between Jeff, her first husband and love, or Jack, the man that had stood by her side for so many years. She soon moved out of Jack's house, to the Valley Inn.
Upset at Erica's relationship with Jeff, Jack invited her old rival Brooke to Thanksgiving Dinner. Brooke realized that Jack wasn't trying to start a relationship with her, but asked Jack to find happiness. Before Christmas, Sean tried to get his uncle and Erica back together, with the help of sometimes girlfriend Colby Chandler. They wooed Erica with gifts to represent Twelve Days of Christmas. Erica came home and made up with Jack. Shorty thereafter, Jack found out that Sean & Colby had sent the gifts. When Erica found out that Jack had lied about sending the gifts, she left with Jeff. Since, she has started an affair with Jeff, despite the anger of her daughter Bianca.
Meanwhile, Jack has been named the number one investigator in the Satin Slayer case. He also helped in his step-son Josh's plan to kidnap Babe Chandler, by saving her life and saving her from another attack from the Satin Slayer, and keep her away from her abusive husband J.R. Chandler. Although Greenlee has left Pine Valley after events with Ryan Lavery and Erica's daughter Kendall Hart and Reggie has also left to play basketball, both about a year ago, Jack remains the ever-loving father. He recently declared that he told Greenlee to stay away so she would be safe. He also remains as a guide to Lily and Sean.
[edit] Family & Vitals
[edit] Born
June 8th
[edit] Occupations
Pine Valley District Attorney (suspended from duties on December 2nd, 2003) Attorney in private practice Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity Former senior partner of Montgomery & Associates law firm Former poolboy for the Greenlees
[edit] Resides
1421 Plumtree Road, Apartment 5F [Also mentioned as 718 Valley Road] Formerly Belinda Keefer's old apartment Formerly in South Carolina
[edit] Parents
- Unnamed Man (father, deceased)
- Unnamed woman (mother, deceased)
[edit] Siblings
- Travis Montgomery (brother, deceased)
- Christine Montgomery (sister)
[edit] Marital status
- Erica Kane (married) (May 24, 2005 to present)
[edit] Past marriages
- Laurel Banning (divorced, deceased)
[edit] Children
- Greenlee Smythe (daughter, with Mary Smythe)
- Reggie Montgomery (son, via adoption)
- Lily Montgomery (daughter, via adoption)
[edit] Other relatives
- Bianca Montgomery (niece)
- Molly Montgomery (niece)
- Sean Montgomery (nephew)
- Miranda Montgomery (Great-Niece)
[edit] Flings & relationships
- Mary Smythe (lover)
- Erica Kane (affair/lover/engaged/married)
- Brooke English (dated)
- Angelique Marick (dated)
- Laurel Banning (dated, deceased)
