Olivia Blake
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| Olivia Blake | |||||||||||
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 Lesley-Anne Down as Olivia Richards (1997) |
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| Sunset Beach | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Lesley-Anne Down | ||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 1 January 6, 1997 |
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| Last appearance | Episode 755 December 31, 1999 |
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| Created by | Robert Guza Jr. | ||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Livvie | ||||||||||
| Aliases | Olivia Richards Olivia Blake Richards Olivia Cole |
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| Gender | Female | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Broadcasting Executive | ||||||||||
| Residence | Sunset Beach, California | ||||||||||
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Olivia Richards was a fictional character on the American soap opera Sunset Beach. Olivia was played by English actress Lesley-Anne Down during the entire run of the show.
[edit] Character history
Olivia was introduced as a wife of a rich attorney Gregory Richards, and a mother of two children, Caitlin and Sean. Olivia was an alcoholic whose marriage was kept up for show. During the first week it was revealed that Olivia was a mistress to Del Douglas, the business partner and best friend of her husband Gregory, he was also the father of Olivia's main arch-nemesis during the entire run, Annie Douglas. When Del was killed, Olivia was one of the suspects, but it was eventually revealed that Del was killed by Olivia's friend, Elaine Stevens.
Sometimes I dream about Olivia. I'm shaking her, telling her what to do. I get upset for Olivia sometimes. She's so unhappy and so miserable, and I don't like to see anybody in pain.
– Lesley-Anne Down[1]
After being disgusted at discovering her husband's latest scheme that split daughter Caitlin up from International Jewel Thief Cole St. John (it is later revealed that this is a thief alias and his real name is Cole Deschanel), Olivia with a bottle of champagne in hand went to the grotto (a cave off the beach where she used to meet her lover A.J. Deschanel. After getting very drunk and talking out loud to herself a man also thinking of another appears in the cave. The man being Cole St. John. The two, having never met before, (are unaware that he had just been dating her daughter until Gregory forced them to split up) share their pain and he takes her to a hotel to sleep off her hangover but he catches sight of her necklace (which is part of the Deschanel Jewels) and the two sleep together. Twice.
Olivia soon discovers that Cole is the son of her former lover A.J. Deschanel and her friend Elaine Stevens. As a young nurse at the hospital where Cole was born, Olivia looked the other way whilst Del Douglas stole the baby and gave it to A.J's mother. A.J was unaware of the child and had already vanished to Europe. Elaine was told the baby was dead. Caitlin and Cole eventually get back together, Cole is horrified to see a picture of Mother and daughter but still takes Caitlin's virginity. A few days later Olivia arranges to meet Cole so he can return the necklace he stole from her but Caitlin turns up. Olivia discovers that she's slept with her daughter's boyfriend.
A couple of months later Olivia discovers she pregnant and as her and Gregory become close again after son Sean had brain surgery she is unaware who the father is. She decided to have an abortion but Caitlin discovers what she's doing and talks her out of it. Olivia swears Caitlin to secrecy about the pregnancy. Meanwhile, her daughter Caitlin also finds herself pregnant. Gregory and Olivia decide to up the game on working to make Cole leave town once they discover Caitlin is pregnant. In the process they decided that their son's girlfriend Tiffany Thorne must leave town so she can not learn of their plan to split Caitlin and Cole up.
Gregory comes up with a plan to split the two young lovers up for good. First he plans to turn Caitlin against Cole for good (this involves Cole's returning to his old ways) Gregory then tells Olivia that she will pretend to be pregnant (unbeknownst to him that she really is) the pregnancy will be a troubled one in which she will go to a specialist clinic along with Caitlin for support. Olivia will then have a fake miscarriage and convince Caitlin to give Olivia her baby so she can raise it as her own. Olivia is horrified by this plan as she is when Gregory announces her fake/real pregnancy. Now she has Cole demanding to know if he is the father. After splitting Cole and Caitlin up, Caitlin agrees to go with Olivia to the clinic. But Gregory has changed the plan since he has realized how attached to the baby Caitlin is. In the new plan he tells Olivia that they will stay until Caitlin goes into labor and when she does the Doctor (who he's blackmailing) will sedate Caitlin and when she wakes she will be told her baby is dead but he and Olivia will raise it as their own.
On a trip to the clinic at Santa Barbara, Caitlin discovers via Sean the plan to steal her baby. Caitlin, shocked and disgusted, tries to speed off in the car back to Sunset Beach but Olivia gets in the car to try to explain. Speeding and not paying attention to the road the two end up in a car accident where it is believed that Caitlin has been killed. Shortly after Caitlin's "death" Annie leads Olivia to believe that she and Gregory are more than just business partners. This is just the beginning of Annie's new scheme to marry Gregory Richards. Caitlin miscarried her baby, but she decided to keep it a secret for fear of losing Cole. Caitlin spent a few months faking her pregnancy and then asked Annie to help her find a baby to present as her own. Annie helps to ensure the complete breakdown of Olivia and Gregory's marriage. Annie lured Olivia to a cabin outside of Sunset Beach, induced pregnancy and then delivered the baby herself. Annie leaves the cabin with the baby but not before setting Olivia up to make it look like she'd gone back to her boozing ways and this had resulted in the death of her baby. She gave the baby to Caitlin.
After losing her baby, Olivia was shocked and her marriage with Gregory was over soon. Then Annie got to Gregory and they eventually married. Olivia, who felt like her baby was still alive, had nothing else to do but move on with her life. During 1998, Olivia met with A.J., a long-lost love, and they eventually hooked up again. In the next few months, Olivia discovered the truth about Annie's scheme and realized that her daughter asked Annie to help her find a baby, but she had no idea that Annie stole it. Eventually, the truth came out, and Cole's affair with Olivia too. Relationships were broken. Also, at the time, Olivia was involved in a Shockwave storyline. She was in her house when an earthquake hit the town and she forced herself to protect "Caitlin"'s son Trey Deschanel.
Olivia continued her relationship with A.J. Her ex-husband Gregory (who murdered Francesca Vargas, an another villain) was presumed dead after falling into the ocean (during a fight with Cole, when he learned that Olivia's son Trey wasn't his, but actually Cole's), and he came back pretending to be Tobias Richards, a relative. Olivia, along with Annie, fought for Gregory's will, and she claimed everything belonged to her son, Trey. Annie was keen on doing anything to get the money, so she asked Mrs. Moreau to give her a potion that would force Olivia to start drinking again. The family was disappointed to see Olivia drinking again, and most of her family left her. Annie's scheme was revealed by Gregory, who confronted Mrs. Moreau. Gregory's final battle was meant to be his victory, but he ended up in prison, where Olivia was sad to see him end up. She loved him. Olivia's broken family returned and she was happy to see everything normal again. She raised Trey, her daughter was happy with Cole, Gregory was behind bars, her best friend Bette ended up with A.J., and she finally made peace with Annie.
[edit] References
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