Stephanie Douglas Forrester
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| Stephanie Forrester | |||||||||||||
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 Susan Flannery as Stephanie Douglas Forrester (2007) |
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| The Bold and the Beautiful | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Susan Flannery (1987 - ) |
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| First appearance | Episode 1 March 23, 1987 |
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| Created by | William J. Bell | ||||||||||||
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| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 1940 | ||||||||||||
| Occupation | Co-founder of Forrester Creations and Forrester Originals | ||||||||||||
| Residence | Forrester Beach House, Los Angeles, California |
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Stephanie Forrester (née Douglas) is a fictional character on the American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful portrayed since the show's beginning by Emmy-winning actress Susan Flannery.
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[edit] Character creation
The role of Stephanie was originally created for actress Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie, of Days) fame. But after Hayes turned it down, the producers contacted Hayes' former Days co-star Susan Flannery, and she eventually won the role. Hayes did, however, appear in 2003 as Joanna Manning (Lauren Fenmore´s mother) in one episode. Stephanie Forrester has been played, since the show's beginning in 1987, by Flannery, who, besides playing Stephanie, has also directed some of the show's episodes.
[edit] Stephanie Forrester
Stephanie, who was supposedly born in the Chicago area, is best known for her strength of character and her determination to protect her family. She thinks she clearly knows what is best for her family and doesn't hesitate to guide them in the right direction. In truth, she cannot mind her own business and wants to live her grown children's lives for them.
She has been married to Eric Forrester (John McCook), whom she met while attending Northwestern University and had three children with him -- Thorne (Winsor Harmon), Kristen (Tracy Lindsey Melchior) and Angela (deceased).
Her oldest son, Ridge (Ronn Moss), was sired by Massimo Marone (Joseph Mascolo), her first boyfriend in college, but raised by Eric because Stephanie had been sleeping with Eric well after breaking up with Massimo. So when she became pregnant both assumed Eric was the father, it wasn't until forty years later that everyone learned Ridge's father was Massimo Marone. She has two stepchildren from Eric's marriage to Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), Rick (Kyle Lowder) and Bridget (Ashley Jones).
She is also a devoted grandmother. Her grandchildren include Ridge's sons, Thomas (Drew Tyler Bell) and R.J. (Trevor and Preston Shores); Ridge's identical twin daughters Phoebe (MacKenzie Mauzy) and Steffy (the latter named after her) (she is also grandmother to Ridge's adopted daughter, Hope Logan, Brooke's daughter by Deacon Sharpe), Felicia's newborn son, Dino (Eric and Jacob Steinberger); Kristen's adopted child, Zende (Daniel Smith); and Thorne's daughter, Alexandria (Harley Graham).
She is also a former full owner of Forrester Creations, a prestigious Los Angeles, California fashion design house, after discovering that a trust given by her late father, John Douglas, had given her control. Her husband Eric kept the company away from her by keeping the trust secret for many years.
Her best friend (and former arch-rival) Sally Spectra worked at Forrester Creations as the new receptionist (until Sally's portrayer, Darlene Conley, passed away in early 2007), replacing longtime receptionist Megan Conley (Maeve Quinlan). Sally now lives in St. Tropez, France and is happily living on the beach with cabana boys.
Stephanie also dealt with some residual pain which she had hidden for many years. She went to see her friend, psychiatrist and former daughter-in-law, Dr. Taylor Hayes (Hunter Tylo) about how to repair her strained marriage. It came out that while she was growing up, her father abused her terribly, and her mother, Ann Douglas (Betty White), did nothing to protect her. Since she had no control over being abused when she was a little girl, Stephanie felt she had to have control as an adult, so she wouldn't be hurt again. This would explain why she was perceived as manipulative.
With that in mind, she and Eric went to Chicago to confront Ann over the events of her childhood. However, Ann refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing on the part of Stephanie's father. A few days later, however, Ann, along with her other daughter, Stephanie's younger sister Pamela (Alley Mills), showed up on Stephanie's doorstep in Los Angeles asking for forgiveness.
At first, Stephanie didn't want to even entertain the idea of forgiving her mother, although she did accept her apology, albeit half-heartedly. Then Eric invited Ann and Pamela to their Christmas celebration. Despite pleas from Pamela and Taylor, Stephanie wanted Ann to leave. It took her youngest granddaughter, Thorne's daughter, Alexandria, to help her. When Alexandria took Ann's hand during the singing of Christmas carols, something moved in Stephanie. In a true show of strength and love, she forgave her mother and allowed her to stay.
Usually Stephanie wants nothing to do with the Logan family, given the trouble she thinks they have caused her and her family, however; she has now struck up a friendship with the youngest Logan, Katie, being grateful to her for telling Thorne the truth about his former fiancee Donna and their impending wedding being stopped. According to her, Katie is the "only decent Logan on the family tree."
[edit] Rivalry with Brooke Logan
Stephanie's main rivalry had always been that with Brooke Logan, the daughter of Eric's former college sweetheart, Beth Logan (Nancy Burnett). She first met her when Brooke and her mother were hired to cater a party. The animosity between the two is one of the anchoring themes of B&B.
To Stephanie's chagrin, Brooke has married Eric, Ridge and Thorne, over the years. She sees Brooke as a tramp, a slut, and a thief (i.e. being CEO of Forrester Creations). Stephanie is always looking for a way to keep her out of not only her family, but her company.
Stephanie sees herself as a woman of high morals and integrity, but there have been times when her methods have been less than honourable, such as trying to manipulate Brooke into committing suicide in 2005, or the time she strangled Brooke Logan with a telephone cord - not to mention the time she aimed for Brookes head with a golf club on the 26th of July in 2005. She is not above lying, withholding information and manipulating to control the people in her life, while accusing Brooke of being immoral. Many times, her actions have alienated her from those she so fiercely protects.
After Ridge suffered a near fatal heart attack, Stephanie blamed herself for it and did an about face on her attitude to Brooke. She gave her half the company as a show of goodwill. This goodwill was thrown in her face when Brooke married Nick (Jack Wagner) after Taylor Hayes sold her two percent of shares to Brooke, giving her 52 percent of the company. Despite the pain this caused Stephanie, she stood firm in her resolve to let Ridge have his Logan. Events have so transpired that the real Stephanie is now back and the vendetta is back on.
The Forresters recently sold the company to Nick Marone as an alternative to Stephanie being charged with assault on Nick's mother. When Stephanie discovered that Brooke also signed over her shares of the stock to Nick and left him for good, Stephanie was clearly touched by this and welcomed Brooke into the family with open arms, thoroughly pleased to discover that her loyalty was to the Forresters.
However, Stephanie soon turned on Brooke again due to Brooke's acceptance of Rick and Phoebe's budding romance, which Stephanie believes to be incestuous. The animosity between Brooke and Stephanie became even more pronounced and heated when Brooke was out and her children, Hope and R.J were left alone. (Brooke's sister, Donna was supposedly watching them and was called away) This spurred Stephanie to call the Children's Protective Service, who sent a friend of hers Mrs. Dorothy Bascomb, to check into the allegations. At first nothing was amiss, but after an accidental fire; caused by Hope who was playing with a lighter left by Nick Marone, Stephanie and Mrs. Bascomb took Brooke to court, which eventually caused her to lose custody temporarily to Ridge. Brooke denounced Stephanie, (to a lesser degree) Ridge, and Nick's wife Taylor, for causing her to lose her children, however temporarily.
In what some would say would be a real desperate act, Stephanie convinced a sleazy lawyer named Andy Johnson to flirt with Brooke, in the hopes that she would lose custody of the children permanently to Ridge. However, Andy chose to attack and rape Brooke, which Stephanie didn't know about. When this was discovered by Ridge, he furiously took off after Andy, who had grabbed an electrical antenna to ward him off. Andy was distracted by a security guard and a flock of pigeons which backed him into a transformer, and was immediately electrocuted. (The death was ruled an accident) Then Ridge dropped the custody suit and reunited Brooke and the children, much to Stephanie's dismay. Stephanie is the reason Brooke was raped. She even told Andy where to find the keys to Brooke's house and not to take "no for an answer". When Stephanie learned of Brooke's rape and her part in it she wrote a letter of apology to Brooke and cowardly left town without seeing anyone. This happened just as Eric, Brooke and Ridge were gathered to confront Stephanie on what she had done.
Despite Brooke telling her that she was not welcome, Stephanie went over to her house anyway, intent on apologizing to her. Brooke shocked Stephanie by telling her the whole sordid story, how Andy broke in, and attacked her in her own home. This shocked Stephanie to the core. Brooke had been dealing with recalling the horrible events; and this rocked Stephanie so badly that she tried to offer her mortal enemy comfort. Of course it wasn't a sincere act and she was soon "the old Stephanie".
[edit] Her love/hate relationship with Eric
Stephanie's love/hate relationship with her husband, Eric, is also a main part of the storyline. Eric Forrester and Stephanie Douglas have been through three divorces and has split many more times over the years, but always seem to come back together. Eric has also been married to Brooke Logan and Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown), and was "engaged" to Jackie Payne (Lesley-Anne Down) though still legally married to Stephanie. Jackie broke off their relationship saying he clearly belongs with his family. However, despite the animosity between their families, she is still extremely fond of him, still very much in love with him and yet considers him a friend.
Stephanie was angered yet again, after Eric was bullied into selling the company to Nick Marone, with the intention of protecting Stephanie. Nick had threatened to file charges against Stephanie for the accident in which his mother was seriously injured if the Forresters did not sell their company to him. When Stephanie discovered it, she was furious, but later realized that Eric was protecting her from going to jail. This solidified her animosity towards Nick and Jackie.
However, recently, Stephanie discovered that Jackie had lied about how she was injured, and discovered that when Nick was younger, she slept with sailors for money. Stephanie ended up using this as ammunition against Jackie and Nick to force them to selling Forrester back to Eric and their family.
She proceeded to do this by having Captain Jerry Kramer (Hal Linden), who was the most frequent of the men she slept with, come on to the runway at the first Fashion show that Nick and Jackie set up. However, the situation backfired on Stephanie.
Instead of Nick selling back Forrester Creations, he had lost his job as CEO of Marone Industries and sold his stock to the new owner, and bought Forrester Creations outright. This has incurred the wrath of Eric against Stephanie and has once again placed their marriage in jeopardy. After losing Forrester Creations, they helped begin Forrester Originals.
To allow things to calm down, Stephanie spent some time in Chicago, repairing her relationship with her mother, Ann, while Pamela took care of things in Los Angeles. Whilst she was in Chicago, Pamela succeeded in turning the usually cold and formal Forrester house into a home. For this, she won the gratitude of her brother in-law. She also began to have a crush on Eric.
Stephanie came back, and was stunned to discover that Eric had, behind her back, offered Ann to move to Los Angeles; (he had found a condo in Santa Monica that she would like) and has offered Pamela (and eventually Ann herself) to move into one of the two guest cottages on the Forrester grounds. Stephanie was furious that Eric would extend that to her family, but Eric pointedly explained that it was time for Stephanie to be there for her mother, and to let Pamela have a life of her own. Also, it turned out that Stephanie may have another rival for Eric's affections, that of her own sister. She and Pamela had a confrontation on that front, but Pamela, although shy, can be assertive when she needs to be, and put her foot down to her sister. However, Pamela suddenly disappeared, supposedly after an argument between her, Ann and Stephanie, which resulted in her mother and sister returning to Chicago.
The situation with Brooke and her children has caused the rift between Eric and Stephanie to widen even farther. Eric promised Brooke, Donna and Katie that no more will Stephanie harass them. In fact, Nick has offered Eric to buy back Forrester Creations once again, provided that he divorces Stephanie, a situation that seems to be coming to pass, since Eric is even more furious with her over her part in Brooke's rape. Eric accepted Nick's offer, including the divorce stipulation.
On October 19th, Stephanie returned along with Ann. (Ann had driven her back to the house, before she flew back to Chicago) The first thing she saw was her luggage which Eric left on the front step of the mansion. She tried to plead and reason with him, but it didn't matter. Eric was clearly fed up with Stephanie and her lies and manipulation over the years. To Eric, her association with Andy Johnson who eventually raped Brooke was the last straw. As far as he was concerned, it was clear that the marriage was over.
When she tried to return to work, Eric ordered that her office was to be cleared out. Eric making very clear that he means to abide by the terms of Nick's agreement. In short, Stephanie will no longer have any connections with Forrester Creations. She tried to fire Donna, but Eric turned the tables on her, and fired Stephanie. Not long after, Eric put his wedding ring on the desk, demanding a separation from Stephanie. She then moved into a hotel room, after collecting her belongings. After dealing with Brooke's angry father, Stephen Logan once again, Eric came over, and told her what she feared she would hear. That their marriage was irrepairably over. After Eric left, she sank onto the bed and mourned the loss of her marriage. Ridge advised her to stay away from the upcoming fashion show, but she did not heed Ridge's warning. She then had another confrontation with the entire Logan Family, and defiantly stated that she was going to be there, whether anyone else liked it or not.
She punctuated that statement by having Jackie thrown out in full view of the press; angering her and Nick; then conspiring with Thorne and Felicia to have Stephanie supplant Donna on Eric's arm (Thorne and Felicia are on their mother's side and don't want to see their parents marriage end, Ridge on the other hand, is for it, but only for family unity, as he also respects Eric's decision to be with Donna).
With Stephanie's encouragement, Thorne and Felicia locked Donna in the showstopper gown in a steam room, and when Eric called for the woman he loved; Felicia pushed Stephanie onstage, infuriating Eric. He then ordered Stephanie in the showroom to await his wrath. After Jake Maclaine, her former tennis coach, found Donna locked in the steam room, and Eric discovered Thorne and Felicia's hand in this scheme (they confessed it all to their father) not to mention his estranged wife's hand in it, she was confronted on all sides by everyone for ruining Donna's moment in the sun. Not long after that, Stephanie was shot by an unknown assailant. She underwent surgery and the bullet was successfully removed. There are a whole slew of suspects who wanted to see Stephanie dead. Mainly Donna Logan, who had the most to gain from her demise. Stephanie later realized that Donna didn't shoot her. However, she also had to contend with her younger sister, Pam, who had returned to L.A. She unleashed her absolute resentment towards Stephanie, who, in Pam's mind, was living it up in Los Angeles, while Pam was busy taking care of their cantankerous mother, Ann. Now, Stephanie will certainly have Pam as a competition for Eric's affections. Stephen Logan, Donna's father, and one of Stephanie's arch-enemies, was eventually arrested for the shooting; but he was released on probation. He later violated the protection order against him, when he brazenly visited the Forrester home, and was thusly rearrested. However, it was later determined that Storm Logan had attempted to kill Stephanie. Despite Storm's confession, Stephen aims to confess to the shooting to protect his son.
Finding out Storm shot her, Stephanie was determind to turn him in until Brooke talked her out of it. The two made a deal. Storm would go free if Donna broke up with Eric. At first Donna felt forced into accepting the deal, but soon after told Eric the truth and together with him schemed to beat Stephanie at her own game. They continued their affair while Eric pretended to go back to Stephanie. However, Stephanie grew suspicious upon finding a bottle of Viagra that were being used. She located the place where Eric and Donna hid out together with the help of a private eye and Eric escaped out the window and was standing naked out on a ledge. The PI spotted him and snapped pictures which he immediately sold to the press. Next day Eric was horrified to see the paper and tried wisking Stephanie off to Tahiti so she wouldn't see the picture and find out the truth. However, there was a newspaper on the plane and Stephanie swore she´d send Storm to prison. But Katie talked Stephanie into letting it go. Stephanie has promised to let Eric go and grant him a divorce if he spends their anniversary with her and the family. This Eric did, and Stephanie, if anything, a woman of her word, kept her end of the bargain. Once the divorce is finalized, Eric and Donna will marry.
Stephanie's biggest ally in her fight for Eric is her own sister, Pam, who has been playing vicious pranks on Donna. However, Stephanie realized that it is time for her to move on and to let Eric go, and because of that, she even admonished Pam on what she was doing, telling her to stop the pranks on Donna and Eric; and let him live his life.
Recently, Stephanie shocked Eric and her family by announcing that she will leave Forrester Creations and has offered that Eric and Donna can marry in the house. As an added surprise, she offered Eric to buy out her half of the house and, while she hasn't decided on what her future plans would be, she believes that it is time for her to move on with her life; and has graciously allowed Eric to move on with his new life with Donna.
On May 2nd, Stephanie and Eric signed their divorce papers, with no fanfare; and with much goodwill. The situation with Katie Logan being accidentally shot and her current medical issues, along with the death of Storm Logan has put things into perspective and is sincerely concerned with their welfare.
Despite her hopes that Eric's bout of nervousness would make him not marry Donna, he went through with it, marrying her on May 9th. After giving Eric and Donna a wonderful and sincere toast, and telling her children to go and celebrate with their father, despite their being against his remarriage, Stephanie took a last look at the house she and Eric had lived in for many years, and as she saw Eric and Donna dancing in the living room, as she had done herself many years previous, she stepped into the waiting limo, whispering "Good bye, Eric, and be happy."
Recently, Stephanie decided to downsize and reevaluate her life, and has moved into the beach house in Malibu. She has started to show a much nicer side to herself, supporting and befriending Katie Logan and indeed defending Donna Logan to her children.
[edit] Occupation
- Co-founder and former executive at Forrester Originals
- Former 10% Owner and CEO of Forrester Creations
- Former Senior Executive at Forrester Creations
- Co-founder and original owner of Forrester Creations
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