Brooke English
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| Brooke English | |||||||||||||
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 Julia Barr as Brooke English |
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| All My Children | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Elissa Leeds (1976) Julia Barr (1976 - 1981, 1982 - 2006) Harriet Hall (1981) |
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| First appearance | 1976 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | December 20, 2006 [1] | ||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||
| Aliases | Brooke Cudahy Brooke Chandler Brooke Martin Brooke Grey |
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| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | Reporter | ||||||||||||
| Residence | 774 Pine Road [2] | ||||||||||||
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Brooke Allison English is a fictional character on the television soap opera All My Children. She is most memorably portrayed by Julia Barr, from 1976 to 1981 and again from 1982 to 2006. She has been the bitter rival of Susan Lucci's Erica Kane on the show from the outset.
The character has thus far been portrayed by three different actresses: Elissa Leeds (who originated the role in 1976), Harriet Hall, and most recognizably by Julia Barr, who carried on the part for nearly 30 years.
Julia Barr earned eight Daytime Emmy nominations for her portrayal of Brooke English, and won twice in 1989 and 1998 for Best Supporting Actress.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Arriving in Pine Valley
Brooke English arrived on the doorstep of Phoebe Tyler, her aunt, in 1976 as a wild teenager who was struggling to find her true love. She moved into the Tyler Mansion and started dating Dan Kennicott. She also continued to see her old boyfriend, the dangerous Benny Sago. She pitted the two men against each other, fighting for her affections. She was out of control, so much so that Phoebe nearly shipped her home. Benny had tried to blackmail Phoebe into letting Brooke stay.
[edit] Brooke vs. Erica
Brooke soon stopped caring about Dan and Benny and fell for Tom Cudahy. He was also being pursued by Erica Kane, and the two women's longstanding rivalry was born. Erica managed to win Tom's heart and he married her. Brooke returned to her relationship with Dan, where she was the mistress, as he was seeing Devon Shepard.
Phoebe, faking paralysis, caught Dan & Brooke in a compromising situation, and threatened to throw out Brooke again. This was offset when Brooke found out about Phoebe's fake paralysis and blackmailed her into keeping her in the Tyler Mansion. Dan eventually broke up with Devon and wanted to try a relationship with Brooke again.
Brooke, however, soon started sleeping with Erica's half brother Mark Dalton. Mark made it clear that the relationship was only about sex. Dan discovered the relationship and left town. Brooke, still trying to find the right man, began to have an affair with con artist Eddie Dorrance. He ended up raping her. When he was killed, Brooke learned that was pregnant with his child. She chose to terminate the pregnancy.
Brooke and Tom began to have an affair, as Tom had separated from Erica. When Erica returned from California as an unsuccessful actress, she convinced Tom to give their marriage another try. Her lies finally caused Tom to divorce her and propose to Brooke. The two married.
[edit] Motherhood
Brooke had slightly grown out of her teenage rebellious phase, and took a job as a reporter. She made the discovery that her mother, Peg English, was the leader of an international drug cartel known as The Cobra. It was yet to be revealed that Brooke was adopted. her father Phoebe's brother died and Peg was sent to prison. Before she could reveal who Brooke's real mother was she was killed. This compounded onto the problem of Tom's drinking. He and Erica Kane, Brooke's archrival, had an affair the night before Erica was to marry Adam Chandler. This is while Brooke was pregnant with her and Tom's child. Brooke was helped through the pregnancy by Mark, and gave birth to a daughter, Laura Cudahay.
Brooke had become a rising TV anchorwoman, but ran into problems with this. She exposed a municipal scandal and refused to reveal her source, and was sent to prison. When she got out of prison, there was an assassination attempt on her and Mark's lives at a party. Erica's fiance, Mike Roy, took the bullet instead of Brooke & Mark. After a while, Brooke's busy schedule led to her break up with Mark.
She briefly dated Giles St. Clair, a stuntman. But his lifestyle was too wild and interfered with her role as Laura's mother. She also learned that her biological mother was a homeless woman named Jane Dorbin. Brooke tracked her down and the two built a relationship.
Brooke met one of Erica's exes, the wealthy Adam Chandler. The two fell in love. Brooke married Adam quickly. Their happiness was very short-lived when Brooke's beloved daughter, Laura, was killed by a drunk driver. It is an event that stayed with Brooke for the rest of her life, as she continued to mourn the loss of her pride and joy.
When Brooke discovered that she could not bear any more children, Adam began to get anxious to have an heir to the Chandler fortune. He hired Dixie Cooney, the niece of Palmer Cortlandt, his bitter business rival, to be a nanny. He began to have an affair with her. She soon gave birth to his son, J. R. Chandler. The affair cost him his marriage to Brooke. They divorced, and Brooke began to work closely with Dixie's true love, Tad Martin.
Tad and Dixie married after Dixie's brief marriage with Adam ended. But the marriage between Tad & Dixie also soon ended. When Tad was finally a single man, Brooke slept with him. Tad was soon "killed" on a blown up bridge, fighting with Billy Clyde Tuggle. Soon after, Brooke discovered, much to her surprise, that she was pregnant! She told everyone that her pregnancy was because of artificial insemination to protect Dixie, after Tad had reconciled with her before he "died".
[edit] Brooke in the early 90s
While Brooke was pregnant, she began to rely on Jackson Montgomery, another one of Erica's old flames. The two grew close in friendship. Brooke nearly lost her baby when she and Jack were hit by Arlene Vaughan, who was driving drunk at the time. However, Brooke gave birth to a healthy baby boy, James Edward Martin, whom she called "Jamie". Her miracle child has become Brooke's pride and joy, following the death of Laura.
Erica began to figure out a way to win Jack back. She prodded Brooke until Brooke saw that Jack still cared deeply for Erica. Brooke also went public with the fact that Jamie was Tad's son. Brooke continued to raise Jamie. She began to see Edmund Grey, whose hot and cold behaviour left her angry and his obsession with discovering his lineage and birthright strained the ties between them. Brooke experienced a jolt when Tad returned to Pine Valley in 1993. Tad wanted to become a good father to Jamie, and married Brooke.
Once again, Tad's love with Dixie would not be denied and they started to have another affair. Tad lied to Brooke about his whereabouts. Edmund knew the truth, and wanting to win back Brooke, he told her about Tad's affair in hopes of breaking up Brooke's marriage. Brooke vowed to stay with Tad. She became pregnant again, but tragedy would strike when it was discovered the pregnancy was ectopic. The termination of the pregnancy was necessary to save Brooke's life. Shortly after, Brooke realized that Tad would never love her the same way he loved Dixe, so she ended their marriage. Brooke continued to have a cordial friendship with Tad, as Tad became Jamie's father. Brooke began to focus on her career and raising her son.
[edit] Adopting Laura
Brooke was chosen as Pine Valley's Woman of the Year, and at the ceremony, Laura Kirk, a homeless teen, came and publicly accused Brooke of not doing enough to help the cause of the homeless. Brooke vowed to do more. She began to work close with Laura, and developed a bond. Adam Chandler started to want Brooke back, but she was still reeling from her previous marriage to him that ended with his affair with Dixie. She stayed away from him and guarded herself. Adam and Liza Colby put together a scheme for Brooke to return to Adam and Tad to return to Liza. Brooke realized that she didn't love Adam enough to put up with everything he had to offer.
Brooke met and fell for Pierce Riley in 1996. He lived in the woods with Laura and Janet Green, an ex-con. When Pierce and Brooke began to date, Janet attempted to steal Brooke's identity as she also had feelings for Pierce. Her scheme didn't last. Brooke also brought Laura to her home and adopted her as her second daughter. However, Brooke felt the need to devote time to Jamie and Laura, so the two broke up. Pierce would leave for New Mexico, returning a few months later. Things began heating up for the couple, and they became engaged.
But Pierce was a troubled man, who was suffering from flashbacks from his past. These flashbacks were disturbing, depicting gunshots and a woman from Pierce's past. He painfully confessed to Brooke that he may have shot the woman in the flashbacks. She urged him to seek help and gave her support while he underwent psychological therapy. Undergoing hypnosis, Pierce remembered that the woman in his flashbacks, Christina, was a woman he had fallen in love with in Central America. They had a daughter named Amelia. He also remembered being forced to shoot either Christina or Amelia by a soldier. The soldier pulled the trigger of the gun in Pierce's hands, shooting Christina. Pierce suffered a breakdown due to the memory, and Brooke vowed to look for Amelia.
No one knew that Christina was still alive. She survived the gunshot wounds and spent two decades in a Central American jail. When Brooke began looking for Amelia, the captors released Christina, who headed to Pine Valley under the name "Diana Martinez" to tell her story to the world-renown reporter Brooke English. She didn't know that Brooke was in love with Pierce and when the truth was exposed. Pierce had to choose between Brooke and his long forgotten feelings for Christina. Pierce soon left Pine Valley with Christina, leaving Brooke devastated yet again.
[edit] Standing trial for murder
Brooke devoted her time to her work. She was nominated for an award in New York. On the way home to Pine Valley, her plane crashed. Everyone aboard was killed except for Brooke, Edmund, his daughter Maddie Grey and another man. Brooke tried to save the life of Edmund's wife Maria Santos Grey but Maria made Brooke save Maddie's life instead. The plane went over the cliff and into the water. Maria's body was never found and was presumed dead, much to Edmund's sadness. While searching for the truth behind the plane crash, she met a man that would help her through the ordeal, as he was the fourth survivor, Jim Thomasen.
Jim had trailed Brooke from New York, because he knew that she was a wealthy woman and had just adopted Laura. Laura and Jim had a past in New York. Jim took pornographic pictures of Laura when she was younger. Laura had posed for the pictures for money to help take care of her sick mother Terry Kirk. Laura discovered that the photos remained on the Internet.
Brooke teamed with Jim to find out about why the plane crashed. Jim was with her every step of the way, and they learned that the plane's crash was attributed to faulty turbine blades and that Adam Chandler was behind it.
Soon after, Luara was kidnapped by a drug addict named Ricky, who had posed in the pictures with Laura. He, unknown to Brooke, was hired by Jim. Brooke would find the pictures thanks to a tip-off and receive a ransom note demanding that the police were not to be notified about Laura's disappearance. She obeyed and told Jim she would drop the money herself. Jim "saved" Laura, became a hero in Brooke's eyes. Though she told Brooke that she knew Ricky, the former didn't tell her mother that Jim had been the photographer after declaring a truce with him to keep it a secret between themselves.
Wanting Brooke for herself, Jim told Laura that she should move to Boston where no one would know her. Laura would leave Pine Valley after the New Year's in 1998. Brooke was soon notified that there was new evidence in the plane crash. It was a luggage fragment that contained explosives.
Despite Jim's warning to leave it alone, Brooke wouldn't let it rest. While in Jim's apartment, she went through his closet trying to find something and stumbled across the same style luggage found in the wreckage. She confronted him, and he explained it with lies. Brooke hired Mateo Santos to do undercover work and find out as much as he could about Jim.
The truth about Jim shocked Brooke. She arranged a meeting with him at the Chandler Gallery. She showed him the photos of Laura that he had taken. Jim promised that if she called the police, he would take the same type of photos of Jamie. This drove Brooke over the edge and she took out a gun, shooting Jim several times in the back.
Scared about the murder charges and convinced that she wouldn't win the trial, Brooke went on the run with Jamie. Finally, Tad convinced her to return to Pine Valley and stand trial. Thanks to Tad's secret maneuvering, Brooke was able to get an acquittal of murder. However, the event still haunted Brooke.
[edit] Brooke in the 2000s
Laura would soon leave Pine Valley to study in China. Brooke began to date Dimitri Marick, again another old love of Erica. Erica succeeded in quickly ending the relationship. After that Brooke began to refocus on her career and raising Jamie.
In early 2000, Brooke began to work at the community centre, working herself to the bone. Reverend Eliot Freeman soon found that this was for the guilt she felt about her real daughter Laura's death years before. It came to the surface when Arlene Vaughan was drunk and crashed her car into a telephone pole that broke through the community centre's wall. Eliot comforted and consulted Brooke about the pain that she was still holding for her daughter's death.
However, Brooke was unaware that Eliot had a secret he was keeping from her, his real identity. Before "finding God", Eliot went by another name, Josh Waleski. He was the man who had killed her daughter. Eliot was eventually forced into telling Brooke that he was the man who had taken her daughter from him. Brooke erupted in a fury and lashed out at Eliot for having lied to her for months. More importantly, Brooke was left to question herself for allowing herself to fall in love with the man who had killed her daughter. Eliot decided to leave town to help Brooke heal. Before Eliot left for good, Brooke finally found a way to forgive Eliot.
The next year, Brooke's adopted daughter Laura suffered an Ecstasy overdose. It aggravated a pre-existing heart condition. The only surgeon that could perform the risky operation was Dr. David Hayward, who was in prison. Brooke was helped by of all people, Erica, in order to free David. Laura survived the surgery but still needed a heart transplant.
That spring, Brooke begged Leo du Pres to pretend to be interested in the dying Laura in order to give Laura motivation to fight for her life. At first, Leo refused. But he soon grew closer with Laura. He seemed to really care for Laura and wanted to see her fully recover. Laura's condition would soon worsen, and Brooke paid a married couple to donate the heart of their dead nephew.
On June 18, 2001, Leo proposed to Laura, and she accepted. They married two days later in her hospital room with Brooke, with friends and hospital staff in attendance. Laura's health continued to worsen and the only way to save her life was for a heart transplant. Laura eventually received a heart transplant from Gillian Andrassy, who passed away after she was shot. In early 2002, Brooke convinced an unwinding Laura to seek out professional help.
Soon, Brooke began to suspect that Maria Santos Grey was still alive. She had seen a painting of Wildwind, the estate in Pine Valley that belonged to the Grey family, drawn by a Maureen Gorman. Brooke was convinced that Maureen Gorman was an alive Maria. She and Tad traveled to Nevada to find Maureen. When Brooke saw Maureen and realized it was indeed the long thought dead Maria, she fainted. Later that night, Tad went to find Maria, but saw a different girl and assumed that was who Brooke saw. He tried to convince Brooke that she just "thought" she saw Maria.
Brooke and Edmund finally married. At their wedding, Maddie saw Maria and followed her. She burst into the chapel moments later, announcing that she had been with her mother. This was just after the marriage ceremony was complete and Brooke & Edmund were officially married. Brooke finally admitted that she knew Maria was really alive, causing Edmund to find Maria. Their marriage was annulled, but Brooke continued to help Edmund reunite with Maria.
Following this, Brooke began an affair with Adam Chandler. Brooke told Adam that she would only continue the affair if it remained a secret. But soon Brooke realized that others knew about it, and she quickly ended the relationship.
Brooke began to rebuild her friendship with Edmund, after all of her deception. But she also began to worry about Jamie. Unknown to anyone, Jamie had slept with a newcomer to Pine Valley, Babe Carey, the night before it was announced that Babe had married Jamie's former step-brother J.R. Chandler (Adam, Jr.) in San Diego weeks before. Both had been drunk, but Babe still took Jamie's virginity. Babe soon became pregnant, and Brooke worried that Jamie might be the father.
When it was revealed that the father of Babe's daughter, Bess, was indeed J.R. and not Jamie, Brooke was relieved. However, it was then figured out that Bess was really Miranda Montgomery, the newborn daughter of Bianca.
Brooke's world was rocked when Edmund was killed in the Wildwind barn one night. Brooke had to tell Maria that she was the executor of Edmund's estate, and had more control over Maria's children and the Wildwind estate than Maria. The two women remained at odds, until they found a way to co-exist for the sake of Maria's children.
When her Aunt Phoebe died, Brooke was inconsolable. She soon found out that Phoebe had left everything to Jamie provided he dumped Babe. Jamie had a though time letting go of Babe but eventually did. Jamie would later start a relationship with the recently returned Amanda Dillon, but after Amanda's unstable mother Janet wreaked havoc on Pine Valley, Brooke welcomed a devastated Amanda into her home as if she were her daughter.
Eventually, Jamie and Amanda stopped seeing each other. Over the last couple of months in Pine Valley, Brooke remained in the background, focusing on raising Jamie and Amanda. She also became a stepping stone in the renewed relationship of Erica and Jack. While the two were separated, Erica invited her first husband Jeff Martin to Thanksgiving dinner, while Jack invited her bitter rival, Brooke. Brooke quickly realized that Jack didn't love her like Erica. Quietly, Brooke left Pine Valley at the tail end of 2006. There is no telling when and if she will be back.
[edit] Exit
In 2006, Barr was taken off contract, she was asked to remain with the show on a recurring basis, but she declined the offer. All My Children has since decided not to recast the role after her departure. For many years, Brooke had floundered in the background. Her last major story was her interrupted marriage to Edmund Grey which occurred in 2002. [3] Despite 30 years of service to All My Children, Barr and Brooke, received no formal farewell. The character simply vanished, and has been mentioned only infrequently since. [4]
| “ | I am so proud to have been a part of a show that was once a television icon | ” |
[edit] References
- ^ Julia Barr. soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
- ^ Brooke English. soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
- ^ Julia Barr Exiting All My Children. soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
- ^ Barr, Brooke to Simply Vanish from Pine Valley. soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ Julia Barr Exiting All My Children. soapcentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
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