Ed Bauer

William Edward "Ed" Bauer Jr. is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. While having been portrayed by five different actors, Ed has been portrayed by a number of actors, including Robert Gentry, Mart Hulswit and Peter Simon.

Early life and career

William Edward "Ed" Bauer Jr. was born and raised in Selby Flats, California as the youngest son of Bill and Bert Bauer, the former of which he hated due to his alcoholism and extramarital affairs. Little did Ed realize just how much like his father he had become. Following his graduation from medical school in 1966, Ed arrived in Springfield, Illinois determined to make a name for himself in medicine. Spending virtually every waking hour at Cedars Hospital, Ed attempted to impress the hospital administrator, Dr. Jim Frazier and the Chief of Staff, Dr. Paul Fletcher through becoming a brilliant and successful surgeon. Around this time, Ben Scott was rushed to Cedars, where he was examined by Ed. In his delirium, Ben rambled on about his wife Maggie's affair with Ed's father. Disgusted by this revelation, Ed confronted his father and demanded that he confess the affair to Bert, but neither of them already knew that she was already aware of this fact. Bert walked in on their argument and lashed out at Ed for his lack of sympathy and compassion towards his father. Touched by Bert's compassion, Bill showed her more love and tenderness than he had for many years.

TV series

Season 1

In 1967, following Maggie's death and still reeling from Ed's rejection, Bill was convinced by a business associate to have a few drinks to bolster his spirits. Following many years of sobriety, Bill was now off the wagon and dealing with tremendous guilt as a result. Fighting to regain control of his life, Bill continuously pleaded with Ed for his love and forgiveness, which were met with verbal attacks which shattered Bill and angered Bert. With a chilling sense of detachment, Ed attempted to convince Bert to leave his father in the hopes that Bill would hit rock bottom and put down the bottle. However, Bert remained committed to Bill, and blamed Ed for Bill's drinking through his coldness and emotional detachment towards his father. Luckily, Bill hit rock bottom through mistaking Maggie's teenage daughter, Peggy, for her mother and confessed his affair with Maggie to her. This allowed Bill to quit drinking and for him and Ed to begin to repair their relationship. As impressed as Ed was with his father's turnaround, Ed began to find a father figure in Dr. Stephen Jackson, the career driven, well respected and far more authoritarian Chief of Surgery. Jackson was so committed to his work, that he viewed his daughter, Leslie, as little more than an inconvenience. All Jackson mentioned about his personal life was that Leslie's mother had died in childbirth and his colleagues had the distinct impression he was less than devastated by the loss.

Out of pure opportunism rather than infatuation, Ed allowed himself to be pursued by the spunky Leslie Jackson, a relationship which gained Stephen's approval. Ed would continuously break off dates with Leslie, in order to follow Stephen around Cedars all hours of day and night. Around this time, Ed's closest friend in medical school, Joe Werner arrived in Springfield. Werner came from a far less privileged background than Ed and had struggled longer than his friend to get where he was in the medical world. Werner, having become a resident at Cedars, was envious over the fact that Stephen was bestowing an increasing number of professional favors upon Ed and that the way was being paved for Ed to become Stephen's son-in-law. Not one to be passed over, Werner promised to get a piece of Ed's action through any means necessary. Meanwhile, Ed ended things with Leslie, convinced that a marriage would not serve his illustrious surgical career. This move allowed Werner to move in on Leslie and she soon accepted Werner's marriage proposal. Soon after, Stephen suffered from a coronary and Ed became assigned to the case, allowing for Ed and Leslie to rediscover their feelings for one another. The jilted Werner vowed revenge against Ed and began to sabotage his work at the hospital, but Ed was cleared in every mishap. In September 1967, Ed and Leslie married in a quiet ceremony at the Longview Nursing Home where Stephen was convalescing. During Stephen's absence, Werner used his Chief Resident position at the hospital to saddle Ed with menial duties. The enmity between Ed and Werner reached a climax with the voluptuous Tracy Delmar, who had introduced herself as the long-lost niece of Sara McIntyre and ingratiated herself with the lonely lady doctor. Tracy was immediately attracted to the coolly ambitious Werner and charmed him into going out on a date one night, when he was supposed to be on duty. While out for dinner, one of Werner's patients died and Werner used this opportunity to pin the responsibility for this on Ed, who had forgotten to sign out earlier that day when Werner relieved him.

Ed's marriage to Leslie suffered due largely to his alcoholism, and even after the birth of their son, Frederick "Freddie" Bauer (known in adulthood as Rick Bauer) did not improve things. Ed's state of mind suffered, particularly in July 1969, when news reached Springfield that the plane that Bill Bauer, Ed's father, was scheduled to have been on, had gone down, and there were no known survivors. Ed was involved in a drunk-driving accident, and as a result, was suspended from his position at Cedars, sending him even further into the abyss. Through all of this, Leslie was growing closer to Ed's brother Mike Bauer, who, himself, was in an unhappy marriage to self-centered Charlotte Waring. Throughout much of this period, Ed had been carrying on an affair with another woman, Janet Mason, and when news of this reached Leslie's father, Dr. Jackson, he forced Ed to reveal the truth to Leslie; angry, Leslie divorced Ed, and for a time, forbade him to have any contact with Freddie. (Leslie would eventually marry Mike, when his own marriage to Charlotte ended).

Season 2

Alone and facing 30, Ed finally attempted to become sober. He was reinstated to his position at Cedars and began treating a patient Holly Norris, who had been temporarily paralized after a car accident. In late 1973, Ed and Holly made an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, and not realizing Ed was an alcoholic, Holly began serving champagne to Ed, getting him drunk. They spontaneously married, and the following morning, Holly lied to Ed, telling him they'd consummated the marriage. Feeling regretful about how he'd treated Leslie, Ed vowed to remain married to Holly and make their marriage work. Unfortunately, Holly was extremely neurotic and was given to fits of jealousy, whenever Ed interacted with other women, particularly Janet Mason (now married to Holly's brother Ken).

By this time, Ed and Joe Werner had resolved their professional differences and had become good friends. When Charlotte Waring was rushed to Cedars in November 1973 after an apparent heart attack, Joe was unable to save her life, and was blamed for her death. (He would later be vindicated, when it was eventually revealed that Charlotte had been poisoned.) Joe was suspended from his duties, and the Chief of Staff position was given to Ed, who felt guilty at having acquired the position due to his friend's misfortune.

Season 3

Things were seeming to improve with Ed's marriage to Holly, particularly after the birth of their daughter Christina in July 1975. However, during a jealous rage, Ken Norris shot Ed, incorrectly fearing that he and Janet had resumed their affair. Though Ed recovered, the shooting impacted Ed's hand mobility, rendering him unable to perform surgery. To make matters worse, Christina had suddenly taken ill and required a blood transfusion. Holly, who'd had hepatitis as a child was thus unable to help, was forced to reveal that Ed also could not provide his blood because he was not Christina's biological father. Holly had been having an affair off an on with Roger Thorpe (Michael Zaslow), and Christina was, in fact, his daughter. Livid, Ed immediately asked for a divorce, though he agreed to continue to raise Christina as his daughter, provided Roger played no part in her upbringing. He moved out and waited for his divorce from Holly to finalize.

Season 4

Toward the end of 1975 and into 1976, Ed found himself falling for a new nurse at Cedars, Rita Stapleton (Lenore Kasdorf), who had just relocated to Springfield from Waco Texas, where she'd spent three years working as a private duty nurse to an elderly rancher, Cyrus Granger. Though their relationship was at first strictly platonic (and Ed was actually considering salvaging his marriage to Holly), they grew closer when Ed helped to diagnose and treat Rita's elderly mother Viola (Kate Wilkinson), who was suffering from a brain cyst. Ed eventually fell for Rita, and when Holly had a change of heart, and left a message asking Ed to postpone finalizing their divorce until they could discuss it, Rita intercepted the message and made sure that it never reached Ed. They grew closer and Ed proposed.

However, on the same day that Ed proposed, Rita was arrested and charged with the murders of Cyrus Granger and his son Malcolm (who had followed Rita to Springfield and died mysteriously at Cedars). Throughout the trial it came out that Rita had been very close to Cyrus, and that he had left the bulk of his fortune to Rita (which accounted for Rita's seemingly endless source of funds, unusual for someone living on a nurses' salary), and it was alleged that Rita had coerced Granger into changing his will and then murdered him. Though Rita initially refused to divulge her alibi, it eventually came out that Rita could not have murdered Granger, for she was having a fling with Roger Thorpe at the time. (It turned out that Roger, who'd left Springfield after his affair with Holly, also ended up briefly in Texas, working for Granger.) Though Rita was acquitted, Ed, who by now despised Roger over his affair with Holly, was outraged to learn that his fiance shared a secret past with his nemesis and called off the engagement.

He grew closer once again to Holly, and attempted to resume his relationship with her, but when Holly realized how much Ed still loved Rita, she did not let their relationship progress, though they still continued to raise Christina together.

Season 5

During the later part of 1977, and into 1978, a mysterious man began appearing around Springfield. When questioned, he turned out to be Bill Bauer, Ed's presumed dead father. He eventually revealed that for a few years prior to his presumed death, he had been having an affair with a woman in Vancouver, and together they had a daughter, Hilary (Marsha Clark) (who coincidentally had recently moved to Springfield to do her nursing internship at Cedars). He revealed that, though he was indeed scheduled to be on the plane that had crashed in July 1969, he had in fact missed the flight. In a drunken stupor and tortured over his double life, he decided not to return to Springfield, and instead went to Vancouver, where he'd been living ever since. Ed was shattered to learn of his father's deception, and went on drinking binge; he became even more angry when he learned that Rita had know of his father's return to Springfield, and had not told him (Rita, who learned of Bill's existence, thought it should be Bill himself who revealed himself to Ed, and had encouraged him to do so). However, Ed was eventually able to forgive his father. He and Mike were also able to accept Hilary as their half-sister.

Ed also eventually got over his anger toward Rita and the two reconnected, particularly after Ed and Ben McFerron (Stephen Yates) were able to help save Rita and her younger sister Eve (Janet Grey) from Malcolm Granger's crazed widow, Georgene (Delphi Harrington), (who had been stalking Rita for months). In May 1978, Georgene was holding Rita and Eve in their apartment building laundry room at gunpoint, and after confessing that it was in fact she who had killed Cyrus and Malcolm, Ed, Ben and Springfield police chieft Larry Wyatt, were able to overtake Georgene. Ed and Rita went on a romantic weekend in New York, during with Ed proposed. The two set a date to be married in November 1978, but a few weeks before their wedding, Roger Thorpe showed up at Rita's apartment, angry at how providing her with an alibi during her murder trial had cost his own marriage. When Rita attempted to get Roger to leave her apartment, and berated him, telling him he "wasn't half the man Ed Bauer is", he became enraged and raped her. Afraid no one would believe her because of her past relationship with Roger, she remained silent and she and Ed were married.

Season 6

A few months after Ed and Rita were married, Roger and Holly also had a wedding. Though Ed still despised Roger, he tried to remain civil for Holly and Christina's sake. However, shortly after they were married, Roger raped Holly. Though she was at first reluctant to press charges, Ed convinced Holly that she should do so. Though Rita now felt an enormous sense of guilt at not having come forward herself when Roger raped her, she could not bring herself to reveal the truth until it looked as though Roger would be acquitted. When Ed learned the truth, he stormed into Roger's office to confront him, but at that very moment, Holly was pointing a gun at him, and in a moment of post-traumatic shock, shot Roger in front of Ed. She was convicted and sentenced in Roger's shooting, despite the extenuating circumstances, and Ed and Rita raised Christina while Holly was in prison. The tension surrounding their marriage prevented them from being physically intimate, and Rita turned to Dr. Greg Fairbanks for sexual comfort. Rita found herself pregnant, and was not sure who the father was. She left Springfield and returned near the end of her pregnancy. Tests showed that Ed was the father, but before Ed and Rita could learn the news, Rita, attending a Cedars charity carnival, recognized one of the clowns as being the presumed-dead Roger Thorpe. (He'd been attempting to abduct his daughter Christina.) Upon being recognized, Roger pursued Rita, cornering her in "hall of mirrors", and kidnapping her at gunpoint. Roger held Rita captive in an isolated, cabin, but eventually Mike and Ed put the pieces together. As they were closing in, Roger fled, knocked over a lantern, trapping Rita in the flames. She survived, but the baby did not. Distraught at losing the baby, Rita abruptly left Springfield for several months (it was explained that she'd gone to West Virginia with her mother Viola for a visit), leaving Ed alone to mourn the baby who he had just learned was his. When Rita returned to Springfield a few months later, she and Ed tried to give their marriage another try, but many of the same problems that had plagued their relationship before were still present. Still alienated from Ed, Rita found herself falling for Alan Spaulding (Christopher Berneau). Eventually they began a torrid affair for several months. When Ed finally learned the truth in July 1981, he attempted to confront Rita, but she had already left town (she was being blackmailed by Andy Norris (Ted LePlat), who'd learned of the affair). Unable to locate Rita, Ed was eventually granted a divorce on grounds of abandonment.

Season 7

On the rebound from Rita, Ed dated shallow, flighty socialite Vanessa Chamberlain for a few months in 1981 and into early 1982, but the relationship ended when Ed learned of Vanessa's true scheming nature.

Season 8

In 1982, Ed met Maureen Reardon, a sensible woman who became the rock of the Bauer family over the next few years, as Mike and Hope left town and Hillary and Bert died. Ed and Maureen married and survived many trials, including Ed's fling with Claire Ramsey (which resulted in a daughter, Michelle) and his brief affair with Holly when she returned to town in 1989. Maureen loved Michelle but desperately wanted to conceive a child, which caused some tension between husband and wife. Maureen and Ed became known as an ideal couple to many in Springfield, but Ed was unable to resist his attraction to longtime friend Lillian Raines, who had leaned on him following her bout with breast cancer. Ed and Lillian soon decided to remain friends, but Lillian wrote Ed a letter which fell behind the Bauer refrigerator and which Maureen discovered while cleaning in early 1993. Maureen was crushed to learn her friend and husband had been lovers, and she went to the Bauer cabin to try to find peace. Ed followed her, but she was in no mood to talk. Her last words to him as she left the cabin were that he had broken her heart. Tragically, Maureen was killed as she drove down the snowy mountain roads. Ed was devastated, but had to fight through his pain to be a good father to Michelle, who lashed out at Ed when she learned the circumstances of her mother's death.

Season 9

Holly again took a central role in Ed's life, as Michelle leaned on her for support, but Ed was disgusted when he learned of Holly's brief encounter with Roger in July 1993. He then devoted himself to helping colleague Eve Guthrie as she tried to overcome her obsession with Nick McHenry. Ed and Eve fell in love, and Eve moved in with Ed and a resentful Michelle. Over time, Eve won Michelle over, and Ed proposed to her. Their happy ending was spoiled when Even suddenly fell ill with cancer. She realized she did not have long to live, and tried to make sure Ed knew she did not want to be left on life support. Ed fought the idea of letting her go, but when Eve lapsed into a coma and Ed realized she did not have a living will, he took Eve off life support. His son Rick, recently returned to Springfield, helped him cover up his crime. Ed felt he had little left in Springfield, and a year later, decided to try to help with medical care in Africa.

Season 10

Ed returned to Springfield for several years, again rekindling a friendship with Holly but never taking the next step. He left again for Africa. He eventually returned to America, and in July 2009, Rick's close friend Phillip Spaulding asked Ed for help in battling a terminal illness. Phillip managed to pull through, and Ed again made plans to depart. In September, he asked Holly to go on a trip around the world with him, and they left town together.

References