Todd Manning and Blair Cramer
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Todd Manning and Blair Cramer Buchanan Manning are a supercouple on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. Previously portrayed by Roger Howarth, the role of Todd is currently portrayed by Trevor St. John. The role of Blair is played by Kassie DePaiva.
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[edit] History
Blair Cramer met Todd Manning after being dumped by Cord Roberts. When she found out that Todd was an heir to the Lord fortune, she schemed her way into his heart and life by faking a pregnancy.
When Todd first appeared on the show he was an arrogant, cruel fraternity brother who led his gang of friends to participate in the brutal rape of Marty Saybrooke. After being sentenced to prison for eight years, Todd developed his burning desire to seek revenge on the two women who put him there, Nora and Marty. After escaping from prison, Todd caused more terror when he held a knife to Nora, who was blind at the time, and threatened to rape her. Luckily, Nora was able to escape the attack, but in the midst of it all, Todd escaped again. In time, Todd's run from the law soon ended on the night of the annual Costume Ball at Serenity Springs. Bo was able to corner Todd and he had no other choice but to surrender. In a bizarre twist of fate, Todd was given a pardon after saving the lives of Marty, and Tina and Cord's two children, C.J. and Sarah. But Todd's trouble was only about to begin.
"...Todd Manning was really heir to none other than Victor Lord, and was now worth an estimated $30 million!"
After becoming a free man once again, Todd faced his next obstacle. A string of rapes in Llanview become another thorn in Todd's side, as all suspicions were pointing to him. After doing some detective work on his own, Todd was able to find out who the true culprit was; his old fraternity brother Powell Lord III. The next shockwave to hit Todd was the sudden death of his father, Peter Manning. It was a bittersweet goodbye to the man who had abused Todd as a child, but upon his death, Todd learned something even more startling. It was in his mother's old letters that Todd finally learned the truth that he had been adopted, and not only that, but there was also a large sum of money for him. It was David and Dorian who discovered that Todd Manning was really an heir to none other than Victor Lord, and was now worth an estimated $30 million!
Todd's love life took an unexpected turn as well after he met up with the very conniving Blair Daimler, who later learned of his "hidden" Lord fortune. Blair first met Todd at Rodi's bar who had gone there that night to lose her problems in a couple of drinks, which is exactly the same reason Todd had been there. These two bonded almost immediately, and before long they were making love. It was after Blair discovered the truth about Todd really being the Lord heir that she set her plan into motion of marrying him. Blair told Todd she was pregnant with his child, which started out as a lie, but to the amazement of Blair was actually true. It wasn't long after that Todd and Blair were married, and Todd also found out he was Victor Lord's son, and now worth 27.8 million dollars. Again, Todd's troubles were just about to take another turn when he found out that his wife Blair had known all along about the fortune he was going to inherit. Todd filed for divorce from Blair, who had already lost the baby she had been carrying. Little did Todd know that in fact, Blair had become pregnant a second time by him, and was keeping it a secret from him.
They married, and Todd later made her take a pregnancy test; it was positive, she had gotten pregnant after they were married. When Blair was attacked by Javier and miscarried again, Todd learned Blair wasn't pregnant when they got married. Their marriage was annulled, but they got back together and were married again.
In the fall of 1995, Todd and Blair reconciled, and once again became man and wife. Unfortunately their happiness was very short lived, as tragedy was about to step in again. Wanting to set things right with the woman he had once raped, Todd took a short trip to Ireland in order to track down Marty to tell her that the young girl she knew named Paloma was dying of AIDS, and help her new friend Patrick Thornhart out of a jam. After being mistaken for Patrick, Todd was shot, stuffed into the trunk of a car, and driven off a cliff. Meanwhile, back in Llanview, Blair heard the terrible news that her husband was dead, and she resorted to blaming Marty. Blair's plan of revenge against Marty sent her straight into the arms of Patrick. Little did Blair know that one of her nights of passion with Patrick was going to be witnessed by none other than her "dead" husband Todd.
While Todd was gone, Blair gave birth to her and Todd's daughter, Starr. She then took up with Patrick Thornhart to get back at Marty Saybrooke (who was now a central figure in Todd's life; he had raped her, then saved her life, and went to Ireland to bring her back to Llanview to fufil the request of a young girl dying of AIDS, Paloma) and became pregnant by him.
By this time, Todd had come back from the dead and spied her in a clinch with Patrick. He was repulsed at her carrying Patrick's baby, but Starr needed a bone marrow transplant and the unborn baby was a match. A few weeks before delivery, Blair and Patrick were slammed into head-on by another car (driven by Blair's cousin Kelly, sparking a rivalry that has never truly faded away). Blair woke up long enough to cast Todd from her life, then had a severe stroke. While recuperating, Todd sued for custody of Starr.
Todd married his lawyer, Téa Delgado, to help him win custody of Starr, which he did. Téa originally married Todd because of the money he paid her, but the two have became much closer and recently Todd admitted that he loved her and proposed they get married for real. Todd hired Blair to work for him again and tried to prove Bo Buchanan guilty of Georgie Phillip's murder to get revenge on the Buchanans. When the evidence started making Todd look guilty, he kidnapped everyone involved with Georgie and held them all at the Buchanan lodge, determined to make the real murderer confess and thereby clear him. Rachel Gannon did finally confess to Georgie's murder and Todd ran off, taking Téa with him. Todd hit Téa, but she turned the tables and knocked him out, called the police and had him arrested.
Todd escaped soon after, said goodbye to Starr and cornered Tea in a cabana. Sam Rappaport went in to talk to Todd and learned that Todd had been sexually abused as a child. When Sam tried to introduce that fact in court, Todd collapsed and went into a catatonic state. When he awoke, he appeared to have DID, split personalities, like his sister Viki. The personality called "Tom", a more childlike and gentle personality, was in control and was determined to have Téa give him a second chance and admit she loves him. Todd and Téa eventually did get married again, but at the reception, Starr unknowingly played a tape over the country club loud speakers on which Todd confessed that he was faking the DID to keep from being prosecuted. Todd quickly left town in 1998 and Téa filed for divorce.
Blair, desperate for money for a lawyer, tried to steal "The Sun" newspaper from Todd with the help of Ian Armitage and Max Holden. She also tried to woo Ian for his millions, but he loved Kelly. Then Ian was killed in a plane crash. Blair tried to steal Kelly's inheritance from Ian. She then apparently gained a conscience and gave the money back. Blair went back to work for Todd as a reporter at The Sun and decided to go by the name 'Blair Cramer'. It seemed that she was in a healthy relationship with Sam Rappaport, when she and Max got trapped in a wine cellar and made love. Max then betrayed her by spying on her for money. She dumped him and went back to Sam for a while, but Sam dumped her due to her deceiving him about Todd faking split personalities. Max eventually won her forgiveness.
Blair started having fainting spells, but refused to go to the doctor. Max finally convinced her to go by agreeing to have an MRI at the same time she did. Blair's problem turned out to be only an allergy, but they learned that Max had an aneurysm. Blair tried numerous times to have Max see a doctor, but he refused. All he wanted to do was to get enough money to secure his children's future, so he and Blair came up with a plan to make Asa and Renee believe he was their long-lost son. Renee found out the truth and Blair worried that she would tell Asa. Blair also worried about Max, who had an operation after his aneurysm burst and had been acting strangely ever since.
A few months passed and Blair found out the truth about Max sleeping with Skye Chandler and faking his brain damage. She tried to get revenge by destroying Max and Asa using the company B&B United, which she formed with Ben Davidson. But Blair didn't leave Max until Todd Manning showed up back in town. Just as Blair had started to forgive Max for sleeping with Skye and they were reconciling, Todd made sure that Max found out about Blair's plot against him. Max threw Blair out and she went crazy, literally "seeing red" and shot Max in the back. Todd helped Blair hide the evidence of the crime and pinned the blame on Skye. Blair accepted Todd's marriage proposal and they made love. Todd rushed Blair's divorce through by bribing a judge and the couple planned to marry in the near future.
But Max set them up, making it appear that Blair slept with him the night before the wedding by drugging her and making sure that Todd saw them together. Todd didn't let on that he thought Blair cheated on him until the wedding itself, when he announced to everyone that he couldn't marry Blair because she'd shot her last husband in the back. Blair was stunned at Todd's betrayal and couldn't understand why Todd would do this. She later forced Max, at gunpoint, to tell her what he had done. Blair went to Todd to tell him the truth, but it was too late. Todd had already made a deal with the DA and had turned in the clothes she wore the night of the shooting in return for a deal where he got no jail time. Blair was arrested for shooting Max and was put in jail. Blair lied and told Max that she was pregnant with his child in the hope that he would testify on her behalf to keep her and the baby out of jail. What Blair didn't know was that she really was pregnant, which was discovered when Max dragged her to the hospital for a pregnancy test. Max did agree to testify on her behalf, but Starr locked him in Asa's wine cellar on the day of the hearing so he never made it there. Instead, Todd testified that Blair was totally out of her mind the day that she shot Max. The judge sent Blair to St. Ann's instead of to jail and she saw her mother there. After talking with Addie, Blair realized that Todd had actually been trying to help her by keeping her out of jail. Blair wondered if she should try again to tell Todd the truth.
Blair went back to Max and they planned on marrying since Blair was carrying Max's baby. But Blair found out the child was actually Todd's. Blair flew down to Mexico to have the child, since she was afraid Todd would take the baby away the way he took Starr. But Todd followed her to Mexico. There, Todd delivered her baby, unaware that it was his, since no one else was around. Todd thought it was Max's and arranged for Paloma Sanchez, the woman who owned the hacienda, to "get rid" of the child. The child was given to David Vickers, who took the baby and gave it to a rich couple in Texas.
This whole time, Blair thought her baby was actually dead, since Todd told her it was. Blair thought that Todd would be upset when he found out the baby she had let "die" was his, so she told Starr not to tell him. Finally Blair told him the truth and Todd brought the baby home, telling her it was an "adopted" child. Blair almost found out the truth several times, when David popped up, demanding more cash, and Paloma came, trying to tell Blair in broken English that the baby was alive after all.
Gabrielle Medina, whom Blair hated, found out the child was alive, and blackmailed Todd into giving her a job. Blair thought that Gabrielle was blackmailing him because Todd had gone through some "illegal procedures" in "adopting" their baby. But Todd's deception was discovered when baby Jack developed aplastic anemia, just like Starr had, and Todd had to bring Alex Olanov to town to be the bone marrow donor. Sam Rappaport, learning from Nora that Alex had been Starr's bone marrow donor too, put everything together and told Blair the truth, that Jack was her biological son that Todd had told her was dead.
Blair was furious with Todd, and she hired bodyguards to keep him away from the baby and she and Sam even secretly took the family away to Hawaii to get away from Todd. But the bodyguards were working for Todd and he followed them to Hawaii and planned to kidnap the kids. However, he ran into Téa Delgado there, who warned Blair about Todd's plans and she was able to bring Starr and Jack safely back to Llanview. Once there, Blair decided to repay Sam for his help by getting his "true love", Nora, back for him by seducing Troy MacIver and making Nora break up with Troy.
Blair's plan failed and Troy and Nora found out what she had been trying to do. Sam was angry at first, but then forgave her because she only did it to try and help him. Sam and Blair grew closer during Todd's absence (they didn't know he was stranded on an island) and she began to depend on him more and more, he helped her through signing her divorce papers from Todd. When Todd returned to town, Blair was worried that he would try to steal her children again and called the police when she found him alone with Jack, but she struggled with her feelings about Todd.
Blair ran an expose of a mob family in The Sun, which brought death threats against her. She didn't take them very seriously until one day in the park, her daughter's nanny, Suzanne, was shot and killed by a hitman who thought she was Blair. The hitman came face to face with Blair when she rushed to Suzanne's side, but the sound of approaching sirens caused the hitman to flee. Blair was taken to a local police station, where Sam, Cassie Callison(who was in town to see Viki) and Todd went to see her. They came up with a plan to protect her, they would tell everyone she had lost her mind and was sent to a clinic in Switzerland, but in reality she went to stay in Todd's penthouse where she could hide and still be with her children. Sam and Blair grew closer, but eventually she realized that Todd was the only one she really loved. After Todd saved Blair from the hitman, who was arrested, Blair and Todd admitted their feelings for each other and Todd surprised Blair by calling Rev. Andrew Carptenter to come over and marry them right away. But Sam was suspicious about Todd "saving" Blair and decided to investigate further into Suzanne's death. During the middle of Todd and Blair's marriage ceremony, Sam showed up at the penthouse with a very much alive Suzanne in tow and interrupted the wedding.
Blair moved back into the Cramer mansion and recoiled from Todd's latest betrayal. She demanded that he stay away from her and their children. Soon after, the reprehensible Mitch Laurence attempted to kidnap Starr in order to have a hold over Todd. Blair caught him in the middle of the act and begged him to take her instead. He did, chaining her up in an abandoned theatre. Todd rescued her, but she was still ambivalent about their relationship. Before she could come to a decision, Todd mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, her confidante and close friend Sam Rappaport was shot and killed while watching over a sleeping Blair. After initial speculation towards Todd, the blame shifted to Blair. Blair sensed immediately that Mitch was involved. Frustrated beyond the breaking point, Blair knocked Mitch out, dragged him to Llanfair and planned to shoot him as payback for all he'd done to her and Todd, but a just-back-in-town Dorian stopped her. Blair was cleared when she, Troy MacIver and the cops realized that Mitch must have manipulated unstable Lindsay Rappaport into killing Sam, because she thought he was Troy. Lindsay confessed and was sent to St. Ann's. Dorian (whose only reason for marrying Mitch was to bring him down and get his money) and Blair worked with her to kidnap and use Jessica Buchanan, Mitch's daughter with Viki, as bait for Mitch. Mitch fell off a cliff while attempting to get her back.
Blair breathed easy for a brief moment, and had Todd legally declared dead to free up his funds. She learned she would co-own the Sun with Viki and act as editor-in-chief until Starr was in her 20's. She also turned down Troy's romantic overtures. Blair was jarred when a mysterious stranger showed up in town claiming to be Mitch's brother. This man, Walker "Flynn" Laurence, was secretly working with Mitch, but sided with Blair when he learned of his brother's long list of crimes. Blair and Dorian both took a shine to him and Blair agreed to make him a reporter at The Sun. Blair found herself the prime suspect in yet another murder when Mitch was killed days after his arrest. Blair - not realizing she was being manipulated by Walker - began to suspect Dorian as the killer.
The killer was actually Jessica, and Walker was trying to protect her. With that mess resolved, Walker and Blair grew closer and closer. Blair was also being pursued by Kelly's husband, Kevin Buchanan. Not wanting to break up their marriage or give in to her lust for him, Blair flung herself into a relationship with Walker. Walker surprised her by rushing a wedding. She initially hesitated, but finally agreed. Todd was finally gone from her life, she felt...not realizing that Todd was standing right beside her!
After being brutally beaten and left near-death by Mitch's goons, Todd convinced doctors to make him over to resemble Mitch's brother, Walker. As Mitch hadn't seen Walker in several years, Todd fooled him, along with all of Llanview. Kevin was the first to discover the secret, but kept quiet for Blair's sake. When Blair realized Todd's scheme, all hell broke loose. She refused to let him near their children and divorced him. Extremely drunk on New Year's Eve 2003, Blair had a sleazy roll in the sheets with Kevin. Disgusted with herself, she prepared to leave the Palace Hotel. Todd spotted her, realized what her rumped clothes meant, and followed her back to her room.
A short time later, Todd fled. Blair claimed she had been raped. She filed charges as well as custody papers. Throughout the trial, Todd went easy on her, and Blair stuck to her story, even as old nemesis Marty Saybrooke returned to town to testify and then told her she felt Todd was innocent. Soon after Todd's prison conviction, Blair passed out. She was suffering from a brain tumor! She realized that she may have been wrong about what happened that night with Todd. As Todd got a retrial (due to a juror's hearing aid not working), Blair pondered changing her story, not knowing of Todd's plan to tear her credibility and life to shreds. After a fire at the community center, Blair finally realized she still loved Todd, and the two again began to plan their lives together.
Todd disappeared on the eve of their wedding in December of 2004, leaving Blair devastated. At first she was furious with herself for falling for his lies again, but it wasn't long before she realized he was kidnapped by an insane Margaret Cochran, who was in love with and obsessed with Todd. Blair set out to rescue Todd, but ended up being taken prisoner herself. She thought she had been rescued when Asa Buchanan appeared, but Asa was still angry about Blair and Todd trying to take his home from him a few months earlier. Asa had her committed to a mental institution, where Todd found her as she was standing on a window ledge. He took her back to Llanview, where a newly nervous Blair has spent most of her time in their apartment, bonding with new next door neighbor Ginger Foley, and trying to help Todd get over being raped by Margaret.
Blair got to meet new doctor in town, Spencer Truman, when Jack needed to have an emergency tracheotomy performed. Blair and Spencer became fast friends, and their friendship helped her deal with Todd's arrest for the murders of Margaret Cochran and their unborn child. She and Todd eventually split over her growing belief that Todd had committed the murders, which also strained her relationship with her daughter Starr, who believed Todd was completely innocent. Blair and Spencer eventually became lovers, but Blair couldn't let Todd out of her heart, and was heartbroken when he wouldn't speak to her shortly before his execution. Blair watched as Todd was executed for the murders of Margaret Cochran and their infant son, and was as shocked as everyone else to learn Margaret was alive and well. Blair felt horrible for believing, even for a moment, that Todd had been guilty, and begged him to forgive her. Todd, upon being brought back to live by Spencer, after Detective John McBain, Natalie Vega and David Vickers had brought a very much alive Margart Cochran into the the room where the execution was being held, refused to forgive Blair.
But Blair refused to give up on Todd. Determined to prove her love and loyalty, she embarked on a Mata Hari-like plan to prove that Spencer was the one behind everything. Spencer was eventually jailed and eventually tried, not for anything he had to Todd and Blair, or any of the Buchanans, but for killing John and Michael McBain's father Thomas McBain 25 years ago. Halfway through the trial however, he faked insanity, including intentionally repeatedly banging his head on a table in his cell and writing WHORE, referring to Blair, on a wall in the cell in his own blood. He even went as far to hire Marty Saybrooke, who was a psychologist, to be his doctor; they had several sessions together, and she testified in court that "in her professional opinion Dr. Truman was not mentally stable, not fit to stand trial". By that time, Blair had yet to earn Todd's forgiveness, but she was keeping from him the fact the she had just discovered that she was a few months pregnant with his son. As a result of Marty's testimony, Truman was sentenced to go to a mental facility instead of jail time. Furious over this, Todd kidnapped him on his way to Wingdale, and held him captive while performing Chinese water torture on him, in a building for about a week. Recently Blair got in an accident when Truman had lured her to the building and when she arrived she found he and Todd fighting on the roof; she got in the middle of them and Todd pushed them both of the roof faling to the ground 3 stories below. After her accident, which caused her to miscarry her and Todd's unborn child, Todd forgave her, and immediately planned on proposing to her yet again when she awoke from her coma. Todd proposed to Blair, but she however turned him down saying they they are "toxic" to each other and they just don't work. When Blair got out of the hospital she and Starr and Jack moved to La Boulaie with Dorian, and Todd is trying to move on with his former lawyer and current ADA Evangeline Williamson.
[edit] Trivia
- Todd and Blair were nominated for "Most Irrestible Combination" at the 32nd Daytime Emmy Awards.[1]
