Few would argue that YOUNG AND RESTLESS’s Patty Williams/Mary Jane Benson is downright certifiable. In “honor” of her recent reign of terror, here’s a look back at some of Genoa City’s craziest characters from yesteryear.
Sven: A master masseur at the Genoa City Hotel, Sven fell hard for Jill in 1982. Jill wasn’t interested and turned down his advances. Sven retaliated by shooting her three times while she was in the shower. To complete his revenge, Sven dragged Jill into a meat locker and turned the temperature down. Jack and Carl Williams eventually found Jill and rescued her from an icy death.
Shawn Garrett: A stalker obsessed with budding singing star Lauren, Shawn surfaced in 1984. He was determined to break up Lauren’s singing partnership with Danny, going so far as to slip Danny poison that affected his voice. Then he threatened to arrange for a hit man to murder Lauren’s husband Paul unless she divorced him and moved in with Shawn. A frightened Lauren obliged, desperate to keep Paul from harm. When Shawn learned that Lauren was only agreeing to his demands to keep Paul alive, Shawn drugged her and tried to bury Lauren alive. Lauren was rescued by Paul and Andy Richards, and Shawn was shot to death.David Kimble: David surfaced in Genoa City in 1986 and set his sights on Nina, after learning that she’d inherited a sizable fortune from her deceased husband, Phillip. When Cricket warned Nina about the scoundrel, he threatened to cut up her face, so she could never model again. Nina married David, who promptly began an affair with Diane Westin. She uncovered his secret past: David, a.k.a. Tom, had married an heiress named Rebecca and killed her. Danny and Cricket zeroed in on David’s past, and a betrayed Nina shot him, leaving David temporarily paralyzed. David went on to fake his own death, and then hired a plastic surgeon to make him look like David Hasselhoff (a former Y&R actor). Instead, the surgeon carved the word “killer” on David’s forehead. David resurfaced as Jim Adams, wearing makeup to camouflage the incision and donning gray hair and a moustache. He manipulated Nina’s mother Flo into marrying him, and Nina into changing her will to make them sole beneficiaries. David showed up at a masquerade ball with the intent to murder Nina, Danny and Cricket, but his former mistress, Diane, intercepted him. David was ultimately pursued by the police. He ducked into a garbage chute and was crushed to death by the trash compactor.Leanna Love: A former mental patient of Ashley’s new husband, Dr. Steven Lassiter, Leanna turned up on the couple’s honeymoon in Hawaii in 1987. Having fallen madly in love with Steven, Leanna was bent on killing his new bride. She bought several leis, sprayed them with toxic poison and had them delivered to Ashley, who got sick but survived. Leanna followed the newlyweds back to Genoa City, where she teamed up with Jack to destroy Victor by writing a juicy tell-all about his life. Leanna later wound up marrying Victor, but refused to sleep with him on their wedding night. Victor soon learned that his new bride was psychotic: She soon began screaming, ranting and throwing tantrums. Her hatred of all men became evident when she boiled pictures of Jack and Victor in a pot and waged an “I hate men” campaign on her own reality TV show.Lisa Carlton: In 1988, Brad’s ex, Lisa, was obsessed with him. When Brad rejected her, she bought a lodge and had a cage erected inside it. Then she locked Brad in the cage and kept him hostage so that no one else — particularly Traci Abbott — could have him. Lisa even hired someone to impersonate Brad (played by impressionist Rich Little), phone his friends, and say he left town to be with his true love. Brad tried to escape Lisa’s prison, to no avail. Eventually, Lauren figured things out and followed Lisa to the lodge, but ended up imprisoned with Brad. In the end, Lisa turned on the gas and fled from the lodge. Fortunately, Jack rescued Brad and Lauren from their cage coffin.Clint Radison: In 1989, Clint spearheaded a plot to kidnap filthy rich Katherine Chancellor and kill her. He liquidated Katherine’s assets and used a look-alike named Marge to carry out his plans. What Clint didn’t count on was Marge developing a soft spot for Katherine and ultimately helping her go free. In 2009, Clint resurfaced and kidnapped Katherine again. When Kevin closed in on the caper, he went to the motel room where Clint was holding Katherine and Esther, bent on freeing them. Instead, he became Clint’s captive. Clint and his accomplices locked Kevin in the trunk of their car and forced him to relive the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his abusive father, Tom. Clint psychologically manipulated him into robbing banks for him while dressed as a chipmunk. After one of Kevin’s heists, Clint suffered a fatal heart attack and died.Sheila Carter: Sheila drugged Lauren’s husband, Scott, and had a one-night stand with him, which resulted in her pregnancy in 1990. After she miscarried, she wore a pad and pretended she was still with child. As fate would have it, Lauren was also pregnant with Scott’s child. Sheila ended up taking Lauren’s child as her own and giving Lauren a black-market baby. When her mother, Molly, and Lauren closed in on the scam, Sheila kidnapped them and held them both hostage in a farmhouse. During a struggle between Sheila and Lauren, the farmhouse was set ablaze. Paul rescued Lauren and Molly, while Sheila was believed to have perished. Sheila resurfaced as Brenda in 2005 to wreak more havoc, poisoning a necklace Lauren’s son, Scotty, gave to her. The drug caused hallucinations, and Sheila nearly persuaded Lauren to jump off the roof. When that plot to eliminate Lauren didn’t work, Sheila teamed up with Tom Fisher. Tom planted a bomb on Lauren and Michael’s honeymoon yacht, which exploded. Lauren went missing and was presumed dead, but eventually was found. In 2006, Sheila had plastic surgery to look like Phyllis, then thanked the surgeon who had performed the operation by killing him. Sheila abducted Lauren and Michael’s son Fen, and Phyllis and Nick’s daughter Summer. Lauren, however, found both children and shot Sheila, who died.Matt Clark: Matt was introduced as a high school student who loathed Nick in 1994. Things escalated when Nick won over Matt’s girlfriend, Sharon. An angry Matt retaliated by raping Sharon. When Nick learned what Matt had done, he raced to his apartment and found him shot in a pool of blood. A vengeful Matt pinned the crime on Nick, who was sent to jail. That is, until Amy surfaced, remembered shooting Matt after he raped her, and confessed. Matt left town, returning four years later with a new face and name, Carter Mills. “Carter” teamed up with Nick’s old prison mate, Larry, to get revenge on Nick. He ended up slipping Tricia a date-rape drug and had sex with her, then used her to help set up Nick for selling drugs. “Carter” quickly moved on to Sharon, slipping the same drug into her margarita while visiting her at home one night. Nick arrived in time to save his semi-conscious wife. Weeks later, Tricia caught “Carter” attempting to rape Sharon at a cabin in the woods, but Victor arrived and sent him running. Tricia picked up “Carter” and drove her car off a cliff. She survived, but “Carter” had severe injuries and was expected to die. He ended up deliberately pulling out his breathing tube and committing suicide to make Nick look like his murderer, but not before telling Nick he raped Sharon on “margarita night.” Nick was exonerated, thanks to Tricia and Larry’s testimonies.Tom Fisher: Gloria’s ex-husband and Kevin’s abusive father surfaced in 2005. It was revealed that during Kevin’s childhood, Tom repeatedly beat him and locked him in a closet for hours. Tom resurfaced after learning that Kevin had won the lottery, and hoped to scare his estranged son into giving him the dough. Kevin bravely refused, so Tom went to Michael, who gave him $10,000 to leave town. Tom soon resurfaced, claiming he was still legally married to Gloria, and blackmailed her into secretly giving him money from her husband John’s estate. Later, Tom teamed up with fellow psycho Sheila to kill Lauren by planting a bomb on her honeymoon yacht; Lauren survived the explosion. Tom eventually met his demise at the hands of John, who was desperate to protect his family from the scoundrel.
