Billy Lewis II

Harlan Billy "Billy" Lewis II is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. Jordan Clarke portrayed the character from May 24, 1983 to January 1987, June 1989 to July 20, 1993, December 26, 1996 to May 5, 1998 and February 5, 1999 to September 18, 2009. Clarke also made a guest appearance from September 5 to 12th, 1996. The role was once recast with Geoffrey Scott from August 30, 1993 to March 2, 1994.

Character information

Billy was the elder son of the Lewis clan from Tulsa. He played football before marrying the love of his little brother Josh's life, Reva Shayne. However, he arrived in Springfield alone, divorcing her after eight years, while undertaking a business merger with Alan Spaulding. This alienated him from his brother and placed him in the orbit of socialite Vanessa Chamberlin. Their relationship was complicated by Alan's interest in her. Alan went as far as hiring Reva to blackmail Billy to split them up. Fed up with Alan, Billy reunited with his brother to set the company against Spaulding. He then married Vanessa in a surprise ceremony before the town. Things did not go smoothly though; his daughter Mindy became pregnant while his ex-wife married his father and had an affair with his brother. While this caused friction between the men, there was more worry from Vanessa as she sunk into drug addiction after giving birth to their first son. He remained devoted, even covering up for her when she ran over Reva, killing what would have been his own half-brother in the process. Things went down hill from there. Vanessa started an affair with Ross and Billy became involved with the Largo gang. He was brainwashed and used as a hit-man, shooting two people in the process. His lawyer managed to get him off and he left the country for two years.

When he returned, he tried to get back with Vanessa but she rejected him, realizing that he still loved Reva. This love led him into trouble and frequent fights with his brother. Not wishing to continue the squabbling, he returned to Vanessa and a battle with Roger Thorpe over the ownership of Towers. His up and down relationship with Vanessa halted again when she was named head of Lewis Oil over him. In a fit, he married Nadine Cooper, but soon started an affair with Vanessa when she let him back into the company. Their lengthy relationship was often subverted by his wife, even during Vanessa's case against her attempted rapist. When Nadine leaked Vanessa's name to the press and set off a media circus, Billy left her and ended up living with his daughter. When his children disappeared, alone and frustrated, he was tempted to go back to alcohol, but stopped himself just in time to reunite with Nadine after learning she was pregnant. The relationship was distant and he had to continually fight his feelings for Vanessa.

Things were worsened when Mindy returned to town, still far too close to Roger Thorpe for Billy's liking. His violent temper got the better of him and led him to attack Roger with a knife. His friends convinced him to seek revenge in business and, at this, he was successful, turning Roger's son against him only to discover himself betrayed by Nadine and her ex-husband Buzz. She had faked her entire pregnancy and Buzz had blackmailed the Lewis family. Finishing with her, he remarried Vanessa just as Roger escalated their war. This culminated in Roger framing him for attempted murder. While the charges were dropped, he came to confess that he had actually shot Roger on a different occasion and he was sent to prison. When he was released, he tried to strengthen ties with Reva and Josh after his father's death. Since Vanessa was now married and presumed dead, he fell in love with Cassie, who had been hired by Alan to seduce him to steal Lewis out from under him. It came out that she was Reva's sister and all was forgiven.

The brothers grew close again, largely to help save the company and an amnesiac Reva from the turmoil on San Cristobel. Their past came back to haunt them when the Caruthers affair erupted. In an attempt to protect their own children from blackmail, they confronted and supposedly killed Carrie Caruthers, the sister of a woman they thought to have killed in the 1970s. This fiasco led to strained relations with his son Bill. As a father, he was over-controlling and often tried to break up his son's relationships. This reached its peak when Bill married Olivia Spenser and Billy did his best to destroy the relationship as he and Olivia traded blackmail threats. Soon after, he started drinking again, thanks largely to Olivia handing him some booze unawares. Things worsened when Olivia moved on from his son to his brother. During this, he felt his feelings for Reva return and encouraged her to get over Josh and move on. She continued to insist that Josh was her destiny.

While Josh and Reva went through another breakup, another reunion and another breakup, he stayed fast by her side and continued to encourage her. As Josh was busy with work on the veteran's hospital, Billy was left to discover that Reva had cancer. Though he encouraged her to look to his brother for help, he supported her and stuck with her when she refused. Conflicted over the deception, he could not help himself from falling more in love with her. She finally asked him to help her die, which he reluctantly agreed to. However, he fell off the wagon at the last moment and, hearing this, she returned from the brink of suicide to help him. She suddenly collapsed, but miraculously went into remission, pushing him away as soon as she regained consciousness. He subsequently reconciled with his brother and has gone back to work in a bid to put his life back together.

In the summer of 2007, Billy began to forge an unlikely friendship with Spaulding heiress Lizzie Spaulding. After she went through the loss of her daughter, and was being ignored by her own family, Billy watched after Lizzie. She was reluctant to take to the friendship at first, and resented the way Billy tried to parent her, but eventually gave in. Billy made her his right-hand at Lewis, taking her under his wing in the way her grandfather never would.

Their friendship continued to flourish, and Lizzie was there for Billy when he decided it was time he went to rehab. Upon his son Bill's return, he attempted to heal their broken relationship, and is still on the road to doing so. He was at first against Lizzie dating his son, due to Bill's negative ways since he returned. However, after seeing Bill still has the same heart, he is excited about their relationship, and thinks Lizzie is the perfect woman for his son.

He has proven indifferent to Ava Peralta (who is pretending to be carrying Bill's child) He promised to be there in a monetary fashion for the child, but expressed no interest in welcoming her into his family, mirroring his ex-wife Vanessa's reaction. This directly contrasted his feelings toward Lizzie's pregnancy, in which he was thrilled at the idea of being a Grandpa to Bill and Lizzie's child.

References