Phillip Chancellor III

Phillip Chancellor III was a fictional character in the soap opera "The Young and the Restless". He was played by actor Thom Bierdz from 1986 to 1989, returning briefly in 2004.

Character's background

Phillip was the illegitimate child of Jill Foster (then played by Brenda Dickson) and Phillip Chancellor Sr. (Donnelly Rhodes), as Phillip's father was married to Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) at the time of conception. Though Jill and Phillip Sr. were married on his death bed, Katherine had the marriage legally invalidated, insuring that neither Jill nor her son had any rights to an inheritance. Because of the ruling, the baby was legally known as Phillip Foster.

Between Jill's job at Jabot Cosmetics and her efforts to secure a future for her son by constantly getting involved with rich men, she had little time for "Little Phillip." Jill's mother, Liz (Julianna McCarthy), practically raised him herself. When Jill married John Abbott (Jerry Douglas), and she could afford it, Phillip was shipped off to a Swiss boarding school.

In 1986, Phillip Foster returned from boarding school for the summer as a teenager with a low self-esteem and a drinking problem, apparently caused by his resentment of Jill for dumping him in the boarding school. Rather than move into Jill's hotel suite, where she was living since her divorce from John, Phillip chose to stay with Jill's nemesis, Katherine, at the Chancellor Estate. Kay persuaded Phillip to enroll at Genoa City University rather than return to boarding school. An enraged Jill (played by Brenda Dickson) fought for custody, which brought out all of the secrets surrounding Phillip's birth and Kay's revenge of taking away his Chancellor birthright. Because Phillip expressed the security and attention he got from Kay he had never had with Jill, the judge granted Kay temporary custody. Phillip forgave Kay and no longer felt the need to drink. Kay arranged for his name to be legally changed to Phillip Chancellor III.

Phillip was befriended by Christine Blair (Lauralee Bell) and Nina Webster (Tricia Cast), who were best friends. Phillip fell for Christine, but didn't think he could compete with rock star Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian). Nina campaigned heavily for Danny, but lost when Danny decided Christine was too young to be involved with only him. During Phillip and Chris' romance, Phillip began drinking again for confidence. One evening, they had an accident while Phillip was driving drunk, but Chris told the police she was driving in order to keep him from being arrested again. The negative publicity nearly cost Chris her job as the Jabot junior model. But Phillip, who had no recollection of the accident, turned himself in after Danny told him what actually happened. Christine temporarily moved in to the Chancellor Estate to lend Phillip emotional support in his struggle with alcoholism. One evening, while Chris was visiting Danny, Nina got Phillip drunk and seduced him. Then Phillip and Danny both proposed marriage to Chris. After Chris decided to accept Phillip's proposal, Nina broke the news that she was pregnant with Phillip's baby, much to both Kay and Jill's horror.

Kay and Jill teamed up, allowing Nina to live in Kay's attic, while they secretly schemed to keep Nina from ruining Phillip's life. When Phillip IV was born, they tried to prove the baby was not his, offered her money to move away, and arranged for Chase Benson (Stephen Gregory) to romance her so they could charge her with neglect. All failed because tests proved that the child was Phillip's, and Nina believed that he would eventually marry her. Sure enough, he did, after Nina dramatically changed her personality, with help from Chris, Danny and Rex (Quinn Redeker).

Phillip quit college and went to work at Chancellor Industries. Due to the pressure of being a husband and father, he once again hit the bottle. In a surprising turn of events, driving home from an office party, a drunken Phillip crashed his sports car and was killed. Jill held Nina responsible for Phillip's death and challenged her right to his inheritance. The judge ruled that Phillip's estate would be put into a trust for baby Phillip, to be administered by Nina. He also let Nina decide visitation terms for Jill with her grandson.

In 2004, Phillip briefly returned as a ghost, appearing in a vision to an alcoholic Kay, and warned her to stop drinking.

In a 2007 retcon, it was revealed that the real Phillip Chancellor was switched at birth by Kay and taken away by a woman named Violet Montgomery. The real Phillip Chancellor III is an Australian named Cane (Daniel Goddard), who returned to Genoa City in 2007 to find his birth mother, Jill. This means Phillip Chancellor and Nina's baby, Phillip IV, is not the heir to the Chancellor dynasty.

References