| Catherine Harrington | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peyton Place | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Mary Anderson | ||||||||||
| First appearance | September 17, 1964 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | November 24, 1964 | ||||||||||
| Cause/reason | Died in surgery | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||
| Occupation | None | ||||||||||
| Residence | Europe | ||||||||||
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Catherine Marie Peyton Harrington[1] (November 15, 1918 - August 29, 1964) is a fictional character on the television drama Peyton Place. She was portrayed by Mary Anderson. She appeared in 12 episodes in 1964. She first appeared in the second episode. Her final appearance was in the twentieth episode.
Catherine is unluckily married to Leslie Harrington and is the mother of Rodney Harrington and Norman Harrington. She is the daughter of the powerful Martin Peyton. In the series, Catherine soon noticed she was not feeling well.
She soon makes remarks of her suspicion of Leslie having an affair with his married secretary Julie Anderson. Leslie himself is willing to leave Catherine for Julie, but she does not want to leave her husband for Leslie, so Leslie stays on Catherine's side.
When her son Rodney marries Betty Anderson, Catherine looks down on her and makes sure she knows it. When she starts feeling more and more sick, she demands to be treated by her old friend Dr. Robert Morton. Dr. Morton tells her and the Harrington family she is not dangerously sick. Because of that, the Harrington family does not worry about her health.
At one moment, Catherine collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Dr. Morton cannot be there on time, so it is Dr. Michael Rossi who treats her. This happens with a lot of controversy, because Leslie does not want Dr. Rossi to treat her. Dr. Rossi notices she is in a bad shape and tells Leslie she has to be operated immediately. Leslie responds this can only be decided by Dr. Morton.
Dr. Rossi decides to operate her anyways. When Dr. Morton arrives at the hospital, he walks into the surgery room. He interrupts Dr. Rossi, which endangers the surgery. Catherine finally dies while in surgery.
Dr. Rossi is blamed for Catherine's death, but he soon makes Dr. Morton admit he was wrong. Nobody seems te be really upset with her death, except for Norman. When her will is read out loud, she seemd to have demanded Leslie will not have partnership over the Peyton Mills anymore.
Leslie is outraged and decided to try proving Catherine was incompetent when she made her will, so he will remain the owner of the Peyton Mills. Norman is angry at his father for doing this and decided to testify against him in court.
It is later revealed Catherine has murdered Elizabeth Carson in 1946. Elizabeth had an affair with Leslie in that period and Catherine could not handle it. She never got sentenced for it, because Paul Hanley, Elizabeth's sister, testified against her husband Elliot Carson. Elliot finally served eighteen years in prison for the murder Catherine committed.[2][3]
Finally, it is revealed Catherine had an affair with a man named Brian Howard. At age 17, she gave birth to his twins. The girl, Ann Howard, went to him and the boy went to her father's maid Hannah Cord. Hannah raised the kid, named Steven Cord, as her own.