Janet Dillon

Infobox soap character
series = All My Children
name = Janet Dillon


caption = Kate Collins as Janet Dillon
first= May 24 1991
last= December 18 2007
alias= "Natalie Dillon" (while impersonating Natalie)
"Jane Cox" (after receiving experimental facial surgery)
"Janet From Another Planet" (nickname given by Pine Valley residents)
"The Crowbar Killer" (nickname given by Pine Valley residents)
creator= Agnes Nixon
residence = Oak Haven Sanitarium, Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
portrayer = Kate Collins
Robin Mattson
color=#C80815

Janet Dillon (née Marlowe; previously Green) (often referred to as Janet From Another Planet) is a fictional character on the daytime soap opera "All My Children". The role was originated by Kate Collins in 1991, and later played by Robin Mattson. The character is known to terrorize Pine Valley while under psychotic delusions.

Portrayed by

*Kate Collins: May 24th, 1991 to June 5th, 1992
December 12th, 2005 to March 10th, 2006
February 9th, 2007 to May 7th, 2007
November 21st, 2007 to December 18th, 2007
*Robin Mattson: February 10th, 1994 to May 9th, 2000

Character overview

Janet arrived in Pine Valley after escaping an abusive relationship from her husband, Axel Green. She moved into the Chandler Mansion, a large estate which was owned by her sister, Natalie. Unlike her sister, Janet was awkward, overweight and frumpy. After years of verbal and emotional abuse by her mother, Wilma Marlowe, Janet had virtually no self-esteem and showed signs of mental disorder (having conversations with her mirror reflection, etc.). She developed a crush on Natalie's fiancé, Trevor Dillon, and relentlessly pursued him. He wasn't interested in her, but that didn’t stop Janet from drugging Trevor and attempting to make love to him. Eventually, Janet hatched a plot to win Trevor permanently. She lost weight, dyed her hair blonde, replaced her eyeglasses with contacts and had a "birthmark" tattooed on her leg to match her sister's. Janet kidnapped Natalie and placed her at the bottom of an empty well. Janet, posing as her sister, went on to marry Trevor and convince the entire town that she was Natalie. Later, Timmy Dillon (Natalie's son) and Harold the Dog (Timmy's pet) began to grow suspicious. Months went by, with Janet's scheme finally falling apart when Hayley Vaughan, Trevor's niece, discovered the truth. Janet kidnapped Hayley and shot her boyfriend, Brian Bodine. She then planned to murder Hayley by shooting her in the face, but was stopped just in time by the police. At her court hearing, Janet fainted while giving testimony on the witness stand, and it was revealed that she was pregnant with Trevor's baby. Janet was allowed to stay in the hospital under police guard to await the birth of her child. After overhearing Trevor and Natalie discussing Hayley's abusive husband, Will Cortlandt, outside her hospital room, Janet sneaked out through a window and bludgeoned Will to death with a crowbar. In Janet's mind, she was doing Trevor a favor by killing Will. Janet also made time to kidnap Natalie again and attempt to murder her. It was at this time, however, that she started having contractions, and Natalie was forced to deliver her sister's baby. A baby girl, Amanda, was born and Trevor was overjoyed. With Janet placed in prison for various crimes, Amanda was raised believing that Natalie was her mother. Tragedy struck when Natalie was later killed in a car crash. Meanwhile, Janet was in prison and was chosen to receive experimental plastic surgery on her face. Janet was released early for good behavior, and with a new face, returned to Pine Valley under the name 'Jane Cox'. She wormed her way back into Trevor's life and eventually the two became engaged, but at the wedding Harold the Dog interrupted the ceremony and exposed 'Jane' as Janet. Janet was ostracized by the community and fired from her job. Her only ally during this time was Kendall Hart, who emphasized with Janet's dilemma over Amanda. Dixie Cooney, Will Cortlandt's sister, started a campaign to get Janet thrown back into prison, but Janet retaliated by hiring an actor who looked identical to Will (with the help of makeup) to stalk Dixie. She also slept with Palmer Cortlandt and blackmailed him for money.

Janet became insanely jealous when Trevor began to date Laurel Banning. She tried to kill Laurel multiple times, even planning to set off a bomb at Trevor and Laurel's wedding. After running out of the church, though, she was struck by lightning. She was discovered in the woods near the church by an ex-military man living as a hermit named Pierce Riley. Janet was presumed dead by the residents of Pine Valley, but was actually living in a secluded cabin with Pierce and a former homeless girl named Laura Kirk. Janet fell in love with Pierce, and along with Laura, the three of them lived together as a family in the wilderness.

Janet was eventually discovered alive by the residents of Pine Valley and was arrested following the unintentional fatal shooting of Laurel Banning on the set of "The Cutting Edge" talk show. As it turns out, Janet was innocent. While Janet was in jail, Pierce started seeing Brooke English and fell in love with her. Brooke later adopted Laura Kirk, infuriating Janet. She vowed to get even with Brooke for "stealing" her new family and concocted a plot to take over Brooke's life. Janet was eventually cleared of Laurel's murder and released from jail, taking a job as secretary for Dr. Jonathan Kinder. When Janet discovered incriminating evidence against the doctor, she decided to use it against him. She threatened to expose him unless he help her get plastic surgery to look exactly like Brooke. This plan never came to fruition, however, because Dr. Kinder kidnapped Janet and imprisoned her in a church attic. Janet eventually escaped with the help of Skye Chandler and they both eventually formed an alliance with Erica to make Kinder pay for all the misery he had caused for all of them, which resulted in a strong bond of support and unlikely friendship between the trio. Eventually after a series of misadventures and schemes, the three women were able to capture Kinder and send him to jail. By now Janet was more determined than ever to be a part of Amanda's life, but this time she intended to do so the right way and abandoned her revenge plans against Brooke.

Amanda learned of Janet's evil past and decided to check out the well where she imprisoned Natalie. While looking down the well shaft, Amanda lost her balance and fell in. Janet discovered Amanda and attempted to rescue her, but she, too, became trapped in the well. Amanda and Janet bonded while being trapped and formed a friendship. Trevor eventually saved both of them from the well and Amanda was taken to the hospital for injuries. While there, she saw a special television report which declared Janet as her mother. Amanda vehemently denied this fact for some time, but she eventually came to accept the truth and their relationship improved greatly. The rift between Trevor and Janet also seemed to lessen, with him allowing Janet to spend time with Amanda.

The unthinkable happened when Trevor and Janet became close and started a romantic relationship. Trevor proposed marriage to Janet, but she was reluctant to accept. Trevor’s stepson, Tim, was determined to break them up and started framing Janet for various crimes. But after Tim ran away from home and was later saved by Natalie, who had appeared on Earth at the time as an angel, Tim realized how wrong he had been and finally accepted Janet as part of the family. But even after this, Janet became very intent on not marrying Trevor because of a promise she had made to Natalie at her grave, and hired an actor to pose as her first husband, Axel Green. She and the fake Axel planned to marry so that she would be legally unable to marry Trevor. When the real Axel showed up, things fell apart and Trevor discovered the truth. Natalie had appeared once again, and released Janet from her promise, giving her sister her full blessing. Trevor and Janet eventually married for real with the blessings of everyone in town.

The couple's married life proved happy and stable until the arrival of Janet's former cellmate in prison, Sophie Malinowski. Sophie demanded a large amount of money from Janet. If she didn't receive it, she threatened to kill both Trevor and Amanda. Janet started to revert back to her old lifestyle and began talking to mirrors again. Janet gave Sophie the money she demanded, but she then demanded even more. Janet then drew a plan to murder Sophie. She first tried to dispose of her by striking her with a large candy cane, but this was unsuccessful. Later, Janet set a trap at an old warehouse. A showdown between the two women ensued, with Janet finally killing Sophie by bashing her in the skull with a crowbar. Trevor discovered Sophie's dead body and planned to dispose of all evidence. Trevor was discovered by the police and taken to the station for questioning. He signed a confession, taking the fall for Janet's murder. After being prompted continuously by her mirror persona to murder Jackson Montgomery, Janet lashed out with a crowbar and smashed her living room mirror, apparently driving the other persona away forever. Jackson had seen the incident and Janet confessed everything to him. Wanting to do the right thing, Janet, with Jackson's help, went to the police and told them everything that had happened, including Sophie's blackmail. Trevor was cleared and Janet faced no charges as the killing was clearly in self defense. He decided to move the family to Denver, Colorado.

Janet resurfaced after Amanda returned to Pine Valley as an adult. Janet was living in an abandoned warehouse in town, and it was at this time that strange "accidents" started happening all around Pine Valley. It was soon revealed that Janet was off her medication and was responsible for the strange occurrences. She apparently had never truly recovered from the emotional trauma caused by the incident with Sophie. The biggest shock came when Janet set off explosives at Erica Kane's Mardi Gras Ball, resulting in the death of Ethan Cambias. It was also discovered that she murdered her husband and Amanda's father, Trevor. Janet was arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. Janet, with the help of Adam Chandler, kidnapped Krystal Carey's daughter Jenny Carey, but she was later found by Jamie Martin and Babe Chandler in a doll store.

External links

* [http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/whoswho/janet.php Janet Marlowe Dillon] from [http://www.soapcentral.com/ soapcentral.com]