Rita Stapleton
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rita Stapleton Bauer is a fictional character from the
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
(Columbia Broadcasting System) soap opera ''
Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...
.'' The character was played by Lenore Kasdorf and created by
Bridget and Jerome Dobson Bridget ( Hursley; September 1, 1938 – January 3, 2024) and Jerome Dobson were an American husband-and-wife duo of television award-winning screenwriters and artists. Through their company Dobson Productions, they are notable for their work a ...
, shortly after they became ''Guiding Light's'' head writers in 1975. Rita was written out in 1981, as Kasdorf announced she was leaving the show, but she had been so popular in the role, that producers decided against recasting.


Character's background

Rita was born and raised in
Bluefield, West Virginia Bluefield is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,658 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bluefield micropolitan area extending into Virginia, which had a populatio ...
, and is the eldest of two sisters. She grew up under modest circumstances. Her father was a coal miner, and her mother was a schoolteacher. When she first arrived in Springfield to take a job as a nurse at Cedars Hospital, Rita began dating Dr. Tim Ryan ( Jordan Clarke). However, she soon became interested in the Chief of Surgery, Ed Bauer (Mart Hulswit), and the two began dating. The two became closer, particularly after Ed helped Rita's elderly mother Viola (
Kate Wilkinson Kate Wilkinson (October 25, 1916 – February 9, 1993) was an American stage, film and television actress. Career She is best known to TV audiences for her roles as Viola Stapleton in the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'', a role she played ...
) recover from a stroke, and he soon asked Rita to marry him. However, unbeknownst to him, Rita shared a past with his nemesis Roger Thorpe (
Michael Zaslow Michael Joel Zaslow (November 1, 1942 – December 6, 1998) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as villain Roger Thorpe on CBS's ''Guiding Light'', a role he played from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1989 to 1997, earning ...
) (who Ed had just found out was the biological father of the child, who was thought to be his, Christina). Unfortunately, her past with Roger would come out while she was on trial for the murder of a wealthy, elderly Texas oil man, Cyrus Granger, for whom she had worked as a private duty nurse prior to coming to Springfield (she also became a suspect in the death of Granger's son Malcolm, who had followed Rita to Springfield, and then died under mysterious circumstances, after being admitted to Cedars). Roger had also worked for Cyrus Granger. (These events had occurred off-screen before Rita arrived in Springfield and during a three-month period during which Roger was said to have left town in early 1975.) He and Rita had a brief fling, and then both went their separate ways after Granger's death; both coincidentally ended up in Springfield independently of one another. Though she was hesitant to provide an alibi, it eventually came out that Rita couldn't have committed the crime, for she was involved in a sexual tryst with Roger at the time. While Rita was acquitted, Ed, upset and angry to learn of her past with Roger, broke things off with her. Rita briefly dated Dr. Peter Chapman, though he turned out to be more interested in Ed's ex-wife Holly Norris Bauer ( Maureen Garrett). Eventually, Ed got over his anger. He and Rita reconnected. He grew closer to Rita during a period where she had to contend with an apparent stalker, who pushed Rita down a flight of stairs, tampered with her brakes, and attempted to set her apartment on fire (trapping Rita's then-blind sister Eve ( Janet Grey) in the burning apartment). Ultimately, the stalker was revealed to be Georgene Granger (Delphi Harrington), Cyrus Granger's deranged daughter-in-law, who held Rita and Eve at gunpoint in their apartment building laundry room. Granger then confessed that it was in fact she who had murdered Cyrus (She was trying to prevent her father-in-law from changing his will to include Rita, unaware that he had in fact already done so)and that she was also indirectly responsible for the death of her husband Malcolm (she snuck into his room at Cedars and began berating him over her incorrect presumption that he and Rita had had an affair, causing him to have a fatal heart attack). By this time, Ed, along with Eve's fiancé Ben McFerren ( Stephen Yates) and Springfield Police Chief Larry Wyatt had pieced together that Georgene was the stalker, and were tipped off that she was holding Rita and Eve at gunpoint. Ed and Ben showed up at the laundry room just in time to rescue Rita and Eve, overhearing Georgene's confession. With Georgene arrested, Ed and Rita became engaged. However, before they were married, Roger appeared at Rita's apartment, angry over how providing an alibi for her during her murder trial had cost him his own marriage. Becoming increasingly enraged, he raped Rita. Afraid that no one would believe her, Rita remained silent. She and Ed married in November 1978. A few months later, Roger also raped Holly and Rita became overcome with guilt at having not come forward earlier. Holly did press charges, and when it looked like Roger would be acquitted, Rita finally revealed that Roger had raped her too. However, at the same time this was happening, Holly pointed a gun at Roger and, in a moment of post-traumatic stress, shot him. She was convicted of the murder (despite the extenuating circumstances) and Ed came to resent Rita for not telling him about the rape, causing a strain in their marriage. Alienated from Ed and under pressure to be an active stepmother to Christina (which necessitated her leaving nursing), Rita began a reckless fling with an old boyfriend, Dr. Greg Fairbanks, who had just relocated to Springfield (and who also began seeing Rita's younger sister Eve, though neither sister knew Fairbanks was dating the other). When Rita found herself pregnant, she was unable to determine whether Ed or Greg was the father. Though she briefly considered terminating the pregnancy, after a discussion with her mother Viola, she decided to keep the baby. Toward the end of her pregnancy, Rita decided to undergo paternity testing on her fetus in order to try to determine whether Ed or Greg was the father (which, in 1980, before DNA testing, consisted of comparing the baby's blood types with the potential fathers'). Before she could get the results, however, Rita spotted a clown at a charity carnival to benefit Cedars as Roger Thorpe (who was presumed to be dead, after having been shot by Holly). After thwarting Roger's attempt to abduct Christina, Roger chased after Rita, cornering her in a
hall of mirrors The Hall of Mirrors () is a grand Baroque architecture, Baroque style gallery and one of the most emblematic rooms in the royal Palace of Versailles near Paris, France. The grandiose ensemble of the hall and its adjoining salons was intended to ...
(all the while
Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...
and
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
's disco hit "
No More Tears (Enough is Enough) "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" is a song recorded by American singers Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer, released in October 1979. It was written by Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts (singer), Bruce Roberts, and produced by Giorgio Moroder and G ...
" playing, in a sequence that would win Guiding Light its first "Best Daytime Drama"
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
). Roger abducted Rita and brought her to a remote cabin. Eventually, Ed and his brother, attorney Mike Bauer, tracked Roger and Rita down. Roger fled, but Rita went into premature labour and accidentally kicked over a kerosene lamp. Ed and Mike were able to save Rita, but she lost her baby (who it had since been revealed was Ed's). For months, Rita recuperated at home with her mother in West Virginia. In the early summer of 1980, Rita returned to Springfield and reconciled with Ed. The couple tried to patch their marriage up, but the resentment and hurt were too difficult for them to overcome. Ed remained emotionally distant, and Rita began to have a torrid affair with
Alan Spaulding Alan Spaulding is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light''. He was played by Christopher Bernau from the time of the character's introduction in 1977 until 1984, and from 1986 to June 1988, when Bernau left the role due to ...
(
Christopher Bernau Christopher Bernau (born Herbert Augustine Bernau, June 2, 1940 – June 14, 1989) was an American actor. Life and career Christopher Bernau was born in Santa Barbara, California to Herbert Bernau, a physiotherapist, and Emma Bernau (née Verce ...
), who was at the time married to her niece Hope Bauer. When the affair was revealed in the spring of 1981 by blackmailer Andy Norris, Rita left Springfield for good. The last glimpse of her was as she sat in an aeroplane, taking off for parts unknown, wondering if she would ever come back to Springfield. It was suggested at the time of her departure that she might be pregnant, but this was never confirmed (nor was it confirmed whether the baby would have been Alan's or Ed's). After her departure, Ed and Alan both tried to locate Rita, independently of one another, though her whereabouts were unknown. (She was said to be headed to
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, but Alan's private investigator was unable to find her there). Eve informed Ed that she believed Rita had left San Francisco a few months after arriving there because she feared she was being followed and that she'd then lost contact with her sister. Neither Eve nor Rita's mother, Viola, had any further knowledge of Rita's whereabouts. Eventually, Ed was granted a divorce from Rita on the grounds of abandonment. The character was last referred to by name on ''Guiding Light'' in the late 1980s, during a conversation between Ed and Alan; she was subsequently referenced (referred to as "Ed's third wife") on two additional occasions during the 1990s.


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Rita Guiding Light characters Fictional nurses in soap operas Television characters introduced in 1975 American female characters in soap operas Fictional characters from West Virginia