Betsy Crawford

Elizabeth Harper Lang (born Elizabeth Crawford) better known as "Betsy", was a main character in the now cancelled American soap opera "Love of Life". She was played by actress Elizabeth Kemp; and later on by actress Margo McKenna.

Unknowingly married to a bigamist

Betsy Crawford was the sister of Dr. Tom Crawford (Rick Weber; Mark Pinter) and the best friend of Caroline Aleata. She was sweet and compassionate, but tough when she had to be.

She had met and fell in love with Ben Harper not long after he came to the fictional community of Rosehill, New York. She was pleased that he was the half-brother of her best friend, and even his hard-to-please mother, Meg Dale thought her worthy enough for Ben to marry. In fact, she was so pleased by the match that she would give her money-hungry son a half million dollars outright if they married.

However, Betsy was falling into a trap and not of her own devising. It turned out that Ben was already married. He had married a girl named Arlene Lovett sometime ago, and she would sit back idly and collect a half-million dollars and keep quiet while Ben committed bigamy.

Meg and Arlene's mother, Carrie, who was a friend of Betsy's, knew that Ben was up to no good. Meg decided that Ben would have to prove to be a good husband to Betsy for six months before he got his dowry. Arlene was seething about this, but she had no choice in the matter.

However, deep down, Arlene was very decent, and she did what she had to do. She wisely divorced him. Betsy then soon discovered that she was pregnant with Ben's child, and then also discovered that he was a bigamist. He confessed all to everyone, and nobly took all the blame on himself, sparing Arlene any real pain. Betsy was extremely furious with him, and divorced him, however, she did give birth to their daughter, Suzanne.

Her brother, Tom, came to Rosehill to help his sister through the pain of her breakup with Ben. She eventually forgave Ben, and allowed him to see his daughter, but wouldn't remarry him.

Instead, she married a lawyer named Elliot Lang, who was very jealous of Ben. Ben saw a snake terrorizing Betsy, and swatted at it with an oar, but accidentally hit Betsy with it. She lost her baby, and Elliot wanted him arrested for assault. On the stand, Betsy was testifying, and while she was on the stand, collapsed.

"Love of Life" was cancelled without ever resolving the story.