[cite news| title=1970s Guiding Light|publisher="Soaps In Depth"|date=2001-03-18|accessdate=2008-03-09] Roger was portrayed by Michael Zaslow and Holly was portrayed by Maureen Garrett.]toryline
Roger Thorpe and Holly Norris met in 1971. Roger worked for Holly's father Stanley Norris' company. Stanley chose Roger to date his 19 year old daughter Holly to keep her out of his hair. Roger saw it as a way to get ahead in the company so he agreed to date Holly. Holly lost her virginity to Roger but he had eyes for Holly's sister-in-law Janet instead. Roger became a suspect in Stanley Norris' murder after it was found out the gun used to kill Stanley was bought with Roger's credit card. But when Holly announced that she had seen Roger with Janet the night of Stanley's murder (which he was), the charges against Roger were dropped. Soon after that Roger left town.
Roger returned for his father Adam Thorpe's (Robert Milli) wedding to Holly's mother, Barbara Norris (Barbara Berjer). Roger tried to convince everybody he was a changed man. By this time Holly was married to Dr. Ed Bauer (Mart Hulswit) but she still had strong feelings for Roger and they started having an affair. Not wanting to return to his old "playboy" ways Roger broke off the affair with Holly and started dating nurse Peggy Fletcher (Fran Myers) and became a father figure to her son Billy Fletcher. Roger asked Peggy to marry him but she was still married to Billy's father Johnny Fletcher. Peggy wasn't ready to divorce Johnny even though Johnny had left Springfield long ago. Roger grew tired of waiting for Peggy's answer and started having an affair with Holly again. Peggy finally decided to divorce Johnny and accepted Roger's marriage proposal. After that Roger broke off the affair with Holly. Holly soon found out she was pregnant with Roger's child but led her husband Ed to believe she was having his child. Holly eventually gave birth to a baby girl she named Christina. When Christina became sick and needed a blood transfusion to live Holly was forced to tell Ed the truth that Christina was Roger's daughter not his. Ed forced Roger to tell Peggy the truth about Christina's paternity leading Peggy to break off the engagement. Roger once again left Springfield. Ed filled for divorce and started seeing a new woman in town, Rita Stapleton (Lenore Kasdorf), a nurse at Cedars Hospital. Even though Ed and Holly were divorced he continued to raise Christina as his own child.
But Roger soon returned and started to bond with Billy and Christina. Peggy forgave Roger and they finally got married. But Roger and Rita had a secret, they'd had an affair before Rita moved to Springfield. Rita went on trial for the death of Cyrus Granger but on the night in question Roger and Rita were making love. Roger convinced Rita to keep their night together a secret even though it was costing Rita her freedom. (Rita had by this time become engaged to Ed and, aware of the animosity between Ed and Roger, Rita herself was also in no hurry to divulge her sordid past with Roger.) Rita's lawyer Mike Bauer (Ed's older brother) found out the truth and forced Roger to confess the truth in court. The charges against Rita were dropped but Peggy was tired of Roger's secrets and lying and divorced him. Once again Roger left town and not to long after that Peggy took her son Billy and left Springfield also.
Roger wasn't gone for to long and returned to Springfield and took a job at Spaulding Enterprises. Roger started dating Ed's sister Hillary Bauer. But that didn't last because she knew Roger still had feelings for Holly. Roger was becoming angry and jealous of all the time Christina was spending with Ed and wanted to get back at him. He tried to sleep with Rita (Ed's fiancee at the time) but she rejected his advances. Roger's anger erupted and he raped Rita. Afraid that no one would believe her, Rita remained silent. Not long after that Roger was hit by a car and while injured Roger convinced Holly to marry him for Chrissy's sake. Roger and Holly got married. But trouble in their marriage started when Holly began to suspect that Roger was having an affair. But Holly really knew that the only reason Roger married her was to get close to Christina. Holly refused to tell Christina that Roger was her real daddy and she stopped having sex with him too. Roger thought that Holly was still in love with Ed and that she made him feel like less than a man. All of this boiled over and Roger raped Holly.
Unlike Rita, Holly came out and pressed marital rape charges against Roger. Roger was arrested and he blackmailed his boss Alan Spaulding (Christopher Bernau) into hiring him a lawyer, Alan hired Ross Marler (Jerry ver Dorn) to be Roger's attorney. During the trial Ross tried to make it look like Holly misunderstood and that it wasn't rape but just wild sex. Rita, who could no longer live with the guilt of not having come forward earlier, finally admitted that Roger had also raped her and told Ed. Ed went after Roger and the got into a fight in Roger's office. Holly soon arrived and saw Roger beating on Ed. Holly grabbed the gun Roger kept in his office and told them to stop fighting. When Roger started to walk towards Holly she began having flashbacks of the rape, Holly shot Roger three times. Roger was declared dead and Holly was arrested for his murder. But really Roger blackmailed Alan again and Alan helped Roger fake his death and sent him to a private clinic in Puerto Rico to be treated. With Roger believed to be dead and Holly in prison, Chrissy was sent to live with Ed and Rita.
Holly had trouble dealing with prison life though she got to work with an old flame of hers, Dr. Peter Chapman. Peter and Holly worked together in the prison infirmary where Peter fell back in love with her. But Holly was being bullied by another inmate named Gail. But she befriended another inmate named Carla Jones who would help her deal with Gail. Gail was extremely jealous of Holly's relationship with Peter and her "cushy" job in the infirmary. One day Gail and Carla got in a fight and Gail pulled out a knife. Holly begged Gail to put away the knife but Gail just ended up stabbing Holly in the abdomen. Peter had Holly sent to Cedars Hospital for treatment. Mike Bauer (Holly's lawyer) got a temporary injunction so Holly wouldn't have to go right back to prison. Mike believed Roger was still alive and that Roger's old boss Alan Spaulding helped Roger fake his death. Holly was finally cleared of Roger's murder and released from prison. Holly convinced Mike to handle her friend Carla's case and Mike was able to get Carla released from prison too.
After months of faking his death Roger returned to Springfield with plans to kidnap Christina and take her away so that he could raise his daughter. Roger hid out at the Reardon boarding house disguised with a beard and glasses going by the name Professor Schneider who had a European accent. Roger saw his chance to take Christina at the "Cedars Winter Carnival." Disguised as a clown Roger's plan was to abduct Christina. But the plan fell apart when at the carnival, Roger's voice was recognized by Rita. Rita, who was eight months pregnant at the time, tried to get to Ed to tell him Roger was alive and there at the carnival. But Roger started chasing after her and chased her right into the "Hall Of Mirrors." The loud disco music inside the "Hall Of Mirrors" muffled Rita's screams and Roger finally caught her. At gunpoint Roger took a pregnant Rita to a cabin outside of town. When Ed, Mike, and the police found out Roger was alive they sent Holly and Christina to Santo Domingo with Peter Chapman. When Roger found out Ed and Mike were on there way to the cabin he rushed out the back door and knocked over a lit kerosene lamp. The cabin caught on fire with Rita tied up inside. Ed and Mike were able to save Rita from the fire but Rita suffered from smoke inhalation and ended up losing her and Ed's baby. As a result of this, Ed hated Roger even more than he already had.
While listening to a bug he had planted in Ed's house Roger found out Holly and Christina were hiding out in Santo Domingo. Roger went down to Santo Domingo to get Christina. But his attempt to get her failed and he took Holly as a hostage instead. Roger dragged Holly through the jungles of Santo Domingo with Ed and Mike hot on their trail. Ed and Mike finally found Roger and Holly. Roger shot Ed and went after Mike. Roger and Mike were struggling when Ed shot Roger in the back. As Roger tried to reach for Mike's gun Ed kicked him over a fence that covered the edge of a cliff. Ed grabbed on to Roger's arm and tried to pull him up and save his life. But Roger lost his grip and slipped out of Ed's hands. Roger fell over the cliff to his presumed death.After a while Holly took Christina and left Springfield and moved to Switzerland.
Roger was alive and well but stayed away from Springfield and away from Holly and traveled the world by joining the CIA. While Holly married a rich man named Dietrich Lindsey in Switzerland.
In 1989, Holly and Roger's daughter Christina (now called Blake) was engaged to marry Phillip Spaulding. Roger, who showed up on a remote island, disguised himself as Adam Malik. As this new character, he was able to get to know his daughter.
During Blake and Phillip's wedding, Alan threatened Roger, telling him that a bomb had been planted and that all the people at the wedding were going to be killed. Roger attempted to stop the bomb from going off by swinging down on a vine, but before he could, Alan shot him. Now back in Springfield, Roger caused trouble, not just for others but for Holly too.
References
ee also
*List of fictional supercouples
External links
* [http://www.soapcentral.com SoapCentral]
