| Bo Buchanan | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Robert S. Woods as Bo Buchanan | |||||||||||||||||||||
| One Life to Live | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Robert S. Woods | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1979–1986, 1988–present | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | November 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Gordon Russell and Sam Hall | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Aliases | Beaufort Oglethorpe Buchanan (full name) Bo Ralston Bill Brady Asa Buchanan[1] |
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| Gender | Male | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Residence | Buchanan Apartments 459 Wakashin Street, #38 Llanview, PA 19100 |
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Beaufort Oglethorpe "Bo" Buchanan[2] is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.
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The role was originated in 1979 by Robert S. Woods, who briefly left the series in 1986 but returned in 1988, and currently portrays the role.[3][4] A 2008 time travel storyline transplants Bo and Rex Balsom (John-Paul Lavoisier) back to 1968, where Woods portrays his character's father Asa Buchanan, and Lavoisier plays a young Bo from July 21 through August 26, 2008.[4][5][6][7][8] As Bo and Rex return to the present, Woods' real-life son Tanner plays young Bo on August 26, 2008 as he departs to serve in the Vietnam War.[4][9]
Woods won a Daytime Emmy Award for Lead Actor for the role in 1983,[10] also earning nominations in 1986,[11] 1993,[12] 1994,[13] 1999,[14] and 2000,[15] multiple Soap Opera Digest Award nominations, and four MVP trophies from Soap Opera Update.[3]
Vietnam War-veteran Bo (Woods himself being a veteran of the war) arrives in the fictional city of Llanview in 1979, following his brother Clint from their native Texas. Clint had secured a position at Llanview's flagship newspaper, The Banner, replacing Victoria Lord Riley's then-ailing husband, Joe Riley.
Somewhat unlucky in love, over the years Bo suffers many breakups, as well as the deaths of two wives (Didi O'Neill in 1988 and Sarah Gordon in 1992) and a fiancée (Gabrielle Medina in 2004). He also pursues many occupations, including becoming a music record executive and a movie and television producer. In the late 1980s Bo produces Llanview's own soap opera, Fraternity Row, on which it is said in 2008 that he had given rapper Snoop Dogg his break in show business, cementing a lifelong friendship between them.[16] In 1995, Bo becomes Llanview's Police Commissioner.
Bo meets attorney Nora Gannon in October 1992; that Thanksgiving he and Sarah are involved in a hit and run accident and Sarah is killed. Over the next several months Nora and Bo work side by side trying to track down the killer. The case is finally closed and the two had become best friends; slowly their relationship grows into romance after a kiss on New Year's Eve. The couple's first date is at Serenity Springs, and is soon followed by a slew of junk food eating and jitterbug dates. Bo and Nora first make love in April 1993 and say "I love you" in May 1993. However, Nora's chronic headaches worsen, leading her to believe that she was the one who had caused the accident leading to Sarah's death. Bo soon proves this to be false, and proposes marriage. Nora is diagnosed with a brain tumor, but recovers. Bo and Nora marry on June 1, 1995 at St. James Church, the ceremony officiated by Reverend Andrew Carpenter, Rabbi Heller, and rock & roll legend Little Richard.
Bo is devastated when his son Drew Buchanan, a police officer, is killed in the line of duty on September 16, 1998.[17] Nora hopes to conceive a child to give her husband a reason to live; out of desperation she turns to former flame Sam Rappaport. The pregnancy pulls Bo back onto his feet, but he and Nora later divorce in 1999 when it is revealed that Nora's son Matthew had been fathered by Sam. It is not until Sam's death in 2003 that the truth comes out: Matthew is Bo's son, and Sam had been aware of it and kept the secret.
In July 2008, Bo and young Rex Balsom travel back in time to 1968; Bo finds himself reliving his past as his own father Asa Buchanan, while Rex is Bo.[7][8] They both ultimately return as history writes itself with one exception: Rex (as Bo) sleeps with Asa's ex-mistress Emma Bradley. This proves significant in February 2009 when a paternity test determines that David Vickers — whom a previous DNA test had supposedly established is Asa's son by Emma — is actually's Bo's son.[18][19]
In 2009, Nora and Clint begin a relationship. Bo and Nora spend more time together when Matthew is in an accident and becomes paralyzed; soon Clint senses that Bo and Nora still harbor feelings for each other. Clint proposes and Nora accepts, but she kisses Bo the night before her wedding to Clint. Nora loves Clint and goes through with the wedding to Clint, but she becomes further wrapped up with Clint when Matthew sues his parents for the right to have a dangerous surgery that may help him walk again. Bo and Nora finally confess their love for each other and fall into an affair. When Clint finds out, he furiously throws Nora out and demands a divorce, blackmailing her into signing over the Buchanan mansion, which Asa had left to her in his will.
In April, 2010 Bo is shot by Schuyler Joplin but survives, soon asking Nora to marry him on April 9, 2010. In June 2010, after 10 years apart, Bo and Nora are remarried by David.