C.C. Capwell

Channing Creighton "C.C." Capwell, Sr. is a fictional character on the American soap opera Santa Barbara, most notably portrayed by Jed Allan. C.C. is the town's patriarch, a wealthy businessman and a father of four other prominent characters, Kelly, Eden, Ted and Mason Capwell.

Casting

The first actor hired to play the role of C.C. Capwell was Lloyd Bochner, but he suffered a heart attack which prevented him from starring in the series. Instead, the producers cast Peter Mark Richman, who played the role from July 30 to September 12, 1984, after which he was fired by the producers who didn't think he was right for the role. Paul Burke was cast next, but the actor thought the dialogue was too stupid and ended up leaving. He played C.C. from September 13 to October 18, 1984. The fourth actor hired to play the role was Charles Bateman. Bateman played the role from October 22, 1984 to January 7, 1986, when he was replaced with Jed Allan, who stepped into the role on January 8, 1986 and played it until the end of the show on January 15, 1993.

Character background

A complex character, the patriarch of the Capwell family, an authoritative and protective family father is a short description of C.C. Capwell. The 'protective' part has a significant role in the series because C.C. never liked any of his children's relationships. He was against Kelly's lovers Joe Perkins, Nick and Dylan Hartley, Jeffrey Conrad and others. He also never cared for Eden's lover Cruz Castillo. He also loved his grandchildren, Brandon DeMott, Channing Jr. and others. In the past, C.C. had many wives, Pamela Pepperidge, Sophia Wayne, Gina DeMott and had many other girlfriends. C.C. was very attached to his children, so every time something happened to them, he had a huge reaction. The most memorable was when he learned that his deceased son Channing Capwell Jr. was gay. He fell in a coma afterwards. He also had a heart attack at one point in the show.

He also had illegitimate children. In 1987 he learned that Elena Nikolas (who kidnapped and tried to kill his daughter Eden) was actually his daughter with Pamela. Later, when his ex-girlfriend Megan Richards came to town, he learned that Greg Hughes was his son. He was also the father of Gina's child, a product of Gina stealing C.C.'s sperm from the Santa Barbara sperm bank. C.C. was known to have a very tough relationship with his son Mason, who always seemed to find himself on the other side of the road. C.C. disapproved of almost everything Mason did, but from time to time they found themselves interfering in each other's lives, professionally or romantically.

At the beginning of the series, C.C. was involved with Gina DeMott. He gave her a home to stay after learning that she adopted the child of his deceased son Channing. Things started to change when C.C.'s ex-presumed-dead-wife Sophia Wayne returned from the dead. Gina was later, in 1986, revealed to be a big plotter and C.C. openly confronted her about it. C.C. remained faithful to Sophia even though he had various relationships during the series. In the beginning, C.C. started a relationship with Santana Andrade, but their love was stopped by Gina, who had Santana's child. Santana then left town, but later, in 1991, Santana and C.C. started a brief relationship together until she miscarried and decided to leave town. At the very end, C.C. and Sophia reunited.

Notes and references