Victor Dalby Lord is a fictional character and
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...
of the
Lord family
The Lord family are fictional characters from the American soap opera ''One Life to Live''. They were introduced in the show's July 15, 1968 debut episode on ABC, and featured for the entirety of its run until the series ended on August 19, 2013 ...
from the American soap opera ''
One Life to Live
''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...
''.
An original
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
on the series, Victor is introduced in the first episode as the preeminent
mass media magnate[ of fictional ]Philadelphia Main Line
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and Social class in the United States, social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's onc ...
suburb Llanview, Pennsylvania. Victor was originally and most notably played by actor Ernest Graves. Graves debuted July 15, 1968, and played the role until he left the series and last appeared in March 1974.
Series creator Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon ( Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas ''One Life to Live'', ''All My Children'', as well as '' Loving'' and its spin-off '' The ...
and executive producer Doris Quinlan subsequently recast Victor to Shepperd Strudwick
Shepperd Strudwick (September 22, 1907 – January 15, 1983) was an American actor of film, television, and stage. He was also billed as John Shepperd for some of his films and for his acting on stage in New York.
Early years
Strudwick was ...
, who first appeared in December 1974 and played the role until the character's initial onscreen death in June 1976.
Character background
Conception
Series creator and then-scriptwriter Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon ( Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas ''One Life to Live'', ''All My Children'', as well as '' Loving'' and its spin-off '' The ...
originally created the character of Victor Lord based on her father, Harry Eckhardt. She crafted the role in an attempt to understand the reserved, domineering Eckhardt patriarch, an entrepreneur who financially thrived during the Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
manufacturing funeral garments.
Casting and development
Ernest Graves played the role from show's first episode in 1968 through March 1974. Shepperd Strudwick
Shepperd Strudwick (September 22, 1907 – January 15, 1983) was an American actor of film, television, and stage. He was also billed as John Shepperd for some of his films and for his acting on stage in New York.
Early years
Strudwick was ...
took over the role in December 1974, playing Victor continually through the character's onscreen death June 16, 1976. Tom O'Rourke briefly stepped into the role as a mirage in 1985, and Les Tremayne
Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was a British-born American actor who performed in Vaudeville, film, theatre, radio and television.
Early life
Tremayne was born in Balham, London. He moved with his family at the age o ...
played the role of Victor in Heaven in 1987. Bill Moor and Terry Caza both appeared in the role in flashbacks from 1994 to 1995. The character was briefly brought back to life 26 years after his original death in January 2003, portrayed by William Stone Mahoney; the resurrection set the soap opera record for the longest span between a character's onscreen death and resurrection. Mahoney went on to play resurrected Victor through his second onscreen death in March 2003, reappearing as a vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
for an episode in 2004.
Storylines
1968–76
In the summer of 1968, Victor Lord (Graves) is introduced as the owner of Lord Enterprises
The Lord family are fictional characters from the American soap opera ''One Life to Live''. They were introduced in the show's July 15, 1968 debut episode on ABC, and featured for the entirety of its run until the series ended on August 19, 2013. ...
founder and publisher of the Philadelphia Main Line
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and Social class in the United States, social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's onc ...
newspaper, ''The Banner'', serving the fictional town of Llanview, Pennsylvania. A widower, he is the domineering single father of daughters Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
or "Viki" (originally Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer (born December 18, 1939) is an American soap opera actress and writer.
She had supporting roles on the soaps ''The Secret Storm'' as Lynn Wilkins Warren from 1961-1962 and ''The Edge of Night'' as Leora Davies in 1963 before joi ...
) and Meredith or "Merrie" (originally Trish Van Devere
Trish Van Devere (born Patricia Louise Dressel; March 9, 1941) is a retired American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the film ''One Is a Lonely Number'' (1972), and won a Genie Award for the film '' The Changeling'' (1980 ...
). The family inhabits Victor's inherited family estate
An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which generates income for its owner.
British context
In the United Kingdom, historically an estate comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, tenanted buildings, and ...
, Llanfair. His wife, Eugenia Randolph Lord, died while giving birth to Meredith and was, ultimately, unable to produce his desired male heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
to his estate (a painting of her hangs above the mantle of the Lord library in early episodes). Victor thereby goes about grooming his eldest child, Viki, to assume the role of running the estate by hiring her as an editor for his newspaper.
Victoria desperately seeks her father's approval and gleefully assumes the role of heiress to the family fortune. Victor eventually grows weary of Victoria's admiration for one of his star reporters, working class executive editor Joe Riley (Lee Patterson
Lee Patterson (March 31, 1929 – February 14, 2007) was a Canadian film and television actor.
British career
He moved to the UK, where he specialised in playing virile American types in British films. He appeared in a number of films during ...
). In the early years, Victor is also unhappy at the growing relationship of his younger daughter, Meredith, with upwardly-mobile doctor Larry Wolek (Paul Tulley, Jim Storm). He meddles in the personal relationships of his daughters, causing a rift between him and Victoria. In November 1968, unable to reconcile her feelings for Joe and for her father, Victoria develops multiple-personality disorder, manifesting in an alter-ego, "Niki Smith," and begins dating Vinny Wolek (Antony Ponzini
Antony Ponzini (June 1, 1933 – December 30, 2002) was an American actor. Some of Ponzini's credits include roles on soap operas ''The Edge of Night'', '' Another World'', and being a member of the original cast of ''One Life to Live'' as Vinc ...
).
As Victoria recovers from her first bout with multiple personalities, Victor concedes to the relationships of his white collar
White collar may refer to:
* White-collar worker, a professional who performs office-based or similar service-based jobs, as opposed to a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor
* White-collar boxing
* White-collar crime
The term ...
daughters to working class gentlemen when he uncovers that he had a long-lost son. Victor embarks on a search for the son he had long yearned for. Viki and Joe first marry in December 1969, and Merrie (Lynn Benesch
Lynn Benesch, born Lynn Benish in Westchester, New York, aka Lynn Chester, is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Meredith Lord on the daytime drama ''One Life to Live'' from 1969 to 1973. In 1972 she won praise for her ...
onward) and Larry (Michael Storm
Michael Storm (born August 9, 1939) is an American musician and actor.
Music career
After playing in a folk music trio called the Other Singers, Storm founded the Good Time Singers, a band formed to replace the New Christy Minstrels on ''The ...
onward) in June 1970. A short time later, Joe apparently dies in a car crash while reporting in California, giving Victor the opportunity to set his widowed daughter up with a suitor more to his liking. With a vacant editor-in-chief position available, Victor replaces Joe with promoted upper-crust writer Steve Burke (Bernie Grant).
In 1971, Victoria ( Erika Slezak onward) announces her engagement to Steve, which her father approves of; Victor is, however, unhappy when he discovers his continually frail daughter Meredith is seeking to conceive a child with Larry. Merrie is prescribed bedrest
Bed rest, also referred to as the rest-cure, is a medical treatment in which a person lies in bed for most of the time to try to cure an illness. Bed rest refers to voluntarily lying in bed as a treatment and not being confined to bed because of ...
and later gives birth to Victor's first onscreen grandchildren, twins (one which dies a childbirth and the other, a grandson named Daniel
Daniel commonly refers to:
* Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname
* List of people named Daniel
* List of people with surname Daniel
* Daniel (biblical figure)
* Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...
). In the summer of 1973, in the midst of Victor's search for his son, Meredith is held hostage in the Llanfair carriage house
A ''carriage house'', also called a ''remise'' or ''coach house'', is a term used in North America to describe an outbuilding that was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and their related tack. Carriage houses were often two ...
with brother-in-law Vinny
Vinny or Vinnie is a masculine given name, usually a shortened version of Vincent, Vincenzo, or Vicente, which may refer to:
Vincents
* Vinnie Anderson (born 1979), New Zealand rugby league footballer
* Vinny Appice (born 1957), American rock ...
when burglars try to steal Victor's prized art collection. A distressed Victor pleads with the robbers to release Meredith during hostage negotiations with Llanview Police Department Lt. Ed Hall ( Al Freeman, Jr.). Meredith is viciously assaulted by the thieves, who are killed by the police, and later dies at Llanview Hospital. Victor is devastated by her death, and he (Graves) leaves Llanview in 1974 in search for his heir-presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...
son.
The hostage crisis of Meredith and Vinny in 1973 saw the introduction of newly minted Dr. Dorian Cramer (originally, Nancy Pinkerton
Nancy Pinkerton Peabody (May 7, 1940 – March 4, 2010) was an American actress.
Pinkerton is perhaps best known as the original actress to play Dr. Dorian Lord on the ABC daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live'' from 1973 to 1977, a period whic ...
), who Viki dislikes at first sight. Dorian, at first, dates Llanview Hospital co-worker Dr. Mark Toland ( Tom Lee Jones), and in the midst of the romance on-the-job in summer 1974. Dorian is suspected of medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...
, and all of the hospital board of directors (except for Viki) vote to fire her. Dorian assumes that Viki's was the deciding vote to fire her and vows revenge. When Victor (Strudwick) reappears in December 1974 and suffers a heart attack, and an unemployed Dorian decides to use him to get even with the Lord family.
Dorian becomes Victor's personal physician in 1975, and the two quickly elope
Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...
in May. Soon afterward, Tony Harris (George Reinholt
George Kilpatrick Reinholt (August 22, 1940 – November 11, 2013) was an American actor.
Reinholt played the character of Erik Fulda in ''The Secret Storm'' for a year starting in 1967.
His greatest fame came with two subsequent soap r ...
) arrives in Llanview, and Dorian quickly realizes he is Victor's long-sought son. Tony quickly becomes friends with Victor, and when Tony uncovers a diary from Viki and Meredith's mother, Eugenia, and realizing Victor to be his estranged father, to the chagrin of a greedy Dorian. Dorian connives and succeeds in creating a rift between Victor and his new son. When Tony and Victor learn of Dorian's scheme, Tony first confronts Dorian, who denies having done anything wrong. On April 30, 1976, when Victor begins questioning Dorian, the ensuing argument leads Victor to have a debilitating stroke which leaves him unable to speak or dictate alterations to his will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
. Determined to keep her Victor from speaking to anyone, Dorian brings him home and succeeds from keeping everyone away from him. Soon, Victor suffers a second stroke which sends him back to the hospital. Despite his attempts to speak to Viki, Victor apparently dies on June 16, 1976, and Dorian inherits half of his wealth.
Postmortem
In 1985, Viki commences celebrations of the 50th anniversary of her father's newspaper. During preparations for the celebration, Viki's goddaughter, Tina
Tina may refer to:
People
*Tina (given name), people and fictional characters with the given name ''Tina''
Places
* Tina, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran
* Tina, Tunisia, a town in Sfax Governorate, Tunisia
* Tina, Guadalcanal, Solom ...
( Andrea Evans), happens upon a hidden door in the Llanfair library, leading to a secret room. While in the room, Tina stumbles upon a letter written by Victor addressed to Viki, telling of his affair and brief marriage with Viki's former college friend Irene Manning Clayton and the siring of his daughter Tina. When Tina divulges the revelations, Viki reverts to alter-ego "Niki Smith" and Tina, for the following year, embarks on a mission to gain what she believes to be rightfully hers as a member of the Lord family. Recovered, Viki later uncovers in 1988 that she had a daughter, Megan Gordon
This is a list of characters from the ABC Daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live'' that began their run between the beginning of 1980 and the end of 1989.
Austin Buchanan
Austin Buchanan is a fictional character on the ABC Daytime soap opera '' ...
(Jessica Tuck
Jessica Tuck (born February 19, 1963) is an American actress, best known for her performances on television as Megan Gordon Harrison on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC soap opera ''One Life to Live'', Gillian Gray in the CBS drama series ...
), while under the hypnosis insisted upon by Victor and delivered by her longtime friend and brother-in-law, Larry. Megan dies of lupus
Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...
in 1992.
Viki engages in an extramarital affair in 1993 with writer Sloan Carpenter (Roy Thinnes
Roy Thinnes (; born April 6, 1938) is an American former television and film actor best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC 1967–68 television series ''The Invaders''.
He starred in th ...
), who authors Victor's biography, "Lord of ''The Banner''". While penning the book, Dorian (now, Robin Strasser
Robin Victory in Europe Strasser (born May 7, 1945) is an American actress, best known for her role as Dorian Lord on the ABC daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live''.
Life and career
Strasser's middle name is a tribute to her being born the d ...
onward) nervously plots to prevent its publication as Sloan's papers allude to Dorian's complicity in Victor's death, a tale which became a Llanview urban legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
in the years following Victor's apparent death. Intrigued by Dorian's intense interest in the book, Viki implores the Llanview Police Department to investigate the circumstances of Victor's death. They comply, leading to the arrest (and conviction, after trial) of Dorian for Victor's murder. When Dorian is sentenced to death by lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...
, con man David Vickers
David Vickers is a fictional character from the American soap opera ''One Life to Live,'' portrayed by Tuc Watkins.
Casting
The character David Vickers was first introduced in 1994 by Tuc Watkins, who played the character until 1996. He then bri ...
(Tuc Watkins
Charles Curtis "Tuc" Watkins III (born September 2, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles as David Vickers on ''One Life to Live'', Mr. Burns in ''The Mummy (1999 film), The Mummy'', Bob Hunter (Desperate Housewives), Bob Hunter on ''Des ...
) arrives in town in 1994, claiming to possess the alleged diary of Viki's late friend and Tina's mother, Irene. Later revealed to be a forgery, the diary claims dead Irene smothered Victor, exonerating Dorian at the eleventh hour. Soon afterward, an actual diary entry from Irene reveals she bore Victor another son, reformed rapist Todd Manning
Thomas Todd Manning is a fictional character from the American daytime drama ''One Life to Live'' (''OLTL''). Created by writers Michael Malone (author), Michael Malone and Josh Griffith, the role was originated in 1993 by actor Roger Howarth. T ...
(Roger Howarth
Roger Howarth (born September 13, 1968) is an American actor. He played character Todd Manning on the daytime drama ''One Life to Live'' (''OLTL''); the character earned Howarth a Daytime Emmy Award in 1994, and is cited as an icon in the soap ...
).
When Viki learns of the initial forgery, Viki, still loyal to her late father, vows to send Dorian back to jail for Victor's death in 1995. Dorian then divulges the source of Viki's multiple personalities—Victor had long molested his eldest daughter Victoria and her repressed memories of the molestation led to the creation of her initial alter-ego, Niki. Victoria then suffered a recurrence of her multiple personality disorder, subsequently releasing several new personalities, who accost Dorian and hold her hostage in Victor's secret room. Upon recovery, Viki comes to terms with her father's inappropriate behaviors.
Because of the pain she had to endure and dark secrets that were revealed, Viki, who had once worshiped the ground her father walked on and idealized him, now has nothing but contempt, rage, and disgust at Victor's depravity and actions.
Finally in 2003, following the arrival of Viki's long-lost daughter, Natalie
Natalie may refer to:
Places
* Natalie, Michigan, an unincorporated community
People
* Natalie (given name)
* Natalie (singer) (born 1979), Mexican-American R&B singer/songwriter
* (born 1999), better known as Natalie Zenn, Indonesian act ...
(Melissa Archer
Melissa Jean Archer (born December 2, 1979) is an American actress and writer. She is known for playing the roles of Natalie Buchanan on the ABC Daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live'' (2001 to 2013) and Serena Mason on the NBC Daytime soap oper ...
), an ailing Victor (William Stone Mahoney) resurfaces. It is during this time when Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born
Roscoe Conklin Born (November 24, 1950 – March 3, 2020) was an American actor and songwriter. He is best known for his roles on various television soap operas, most notably as archenemy, archvillain Mitch Laurence on ''One Life to Live'' in six ...
) marries Natalie in a plot spearheaded by Victor to kill his granddaughter and harvest her heart, as he was dying of old age and heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
. Viki foils Victor and Mitch's plot, saving Natalie from impending death. Victor is again rushed to the hospital. Larry tells Victor's present children, Viki and Todd (Howarth), to say their final goodbyes to their dying father. Victor dies on-screen in March 2003, a month before a shocked Dorian returns to Llanview.
In 2007, during the funeral of Asa Buchanan
Asa Buchanan is a fictional character and patriarch of the Buchanan family on the American serial drama ''One Life to Live''. The Texan industrialist father of newly arrived characters Clint and Bo Buchanan, Asa was originated in late 1979 by Phi ...
, Dorian and Viki are trapped together in Asa's wine cellar
A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae, or plastic containers. In an ''active'' wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control s ...
. The two argue and Dorian tells Viki that she, not Viki, killed Victor. Viki, flabbergasted, reminds Dorian that neither she nor Dorian had killed Victor because he had returned from the dead a few years before. Dorian then plants a seed of doubt in Viki's mind, responding "if that really was him." During the episode first aired on November 26, 2008, Viki visits her father's grave, and the date of death shown is "June 16, 1976", the date of the episode in which Victor originally died. It was never mentioned onscreen whether or not the Victor who appeared in 2003 was an imposter, and the 2003 storyline is not mentioned again in the series, leading to speculation that it was simply retconned out of continuity.
In 2011, it was revealed by a back-from-the dead Irene that the man known as Todd ( Trevor St. John) since May 2003 was in fact his twin, Victor Lord, Jr. (St. John), and the real Todd Manning (Howarth) had been held hostage by her since his disappearance in March 2003. Victor, Jr. is later seemingly killed on the episode that first aired August 31, 2011. On the original finale January 13, 2012, however, Victor, Jr. is revealed to be alive and being held captive by Allison Perkins
Allison Perkins is a fictional character on the United States of America, American soap opera ''One Life to Live''.
Barbara Garrick originated the role from 1986 to 1987, returning from August 15, 2001 to August 27, 2002 and then making brief ap ...
(Barbara Garrick
Barbara Garrick is an American actress. Garrick has appeared on stage, television and in film.
Life and career
Garrick appeared in several New York-based television soap operas, including the roles of villainous nurse Charlotte Wheaton on ''Gu ...
).
A seed of doubt
During an interview with ''TV Guide Canada'' in February 2009, "Dorian Lord" actress Robin Strasser
Robin Victory in Europe Strasser (born May 7, 1945) is an American actress, best known for her role as Dorian Lord on the ABC daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live''.
Life and career
Strasser's middle name is a tribute to her being born the d ...
, offered a belated explanation for the recent reversal about Victor's murderer:
The notion that Dorian is Victor's true murderer is bolstered in the August 16, 2011 episode of ''One Life to Live''. When David Vickers Buchanan mentions that the (albeit forged) entry from Irene Manning's diary cleared Dorian of a murder she did not commit, Dorian comments to herself, "... or so Viki chooses to believe."
Reception
From the outset, the original portrayal of Victor Lord by actor Ernest Graves was received as ruthless and overbearing, playing a role introduced as the powerful center of the fictional town of Llanview
Llanview, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera ''One Life to Live''. The city exists in the same fictional universe as cities from other existing or defunct ABC daytime dramas, including Pine Valley, Pen ...
, and of the lives of his daughters Victoria and Meredith. For his portrayal of a dying Victor, actor Shepperd Strudwick earned a Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
nomination for Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1976.
Leading series actress and onscreen daughter Erika Slezak reflected on Victor's transformation at the 25th anniversary of ''OLTL'' in 1993 recalling, "Once, Victor Lord was a paragon of virtue
A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...
, then producer Paul Rauch
Paul Rauch (December 23, 1933 – December 10, 2012) was an American television and film producer. Rauch's work was primarily in American soap operas.
Career
Rauch's earlier jobs included Vice President, Programs-East Coast for CBS, Supervising P ...
said, 'let's turn him into a dirty old man who sleeps with young women and keeps pornography in the basement.'"
References
Notes
External links
Victor Lord, Sr. profile – SoapCentral.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Victor
One Life to Live characters
Television characters introduced in 1968
Fictional reporters and correspondents
Fictional characters from Pennsylvania
Fictional newspaper publishers (people)
Fictional pedophiles
American male characters in soap operas
Male villains
Fictional business executives
Fictional characters incorrectly presumed dead