Barbara Sterling

Barbara Vento Latimer (nee Sterling) was a fictional character on the now cancelled American Soap Opera, "Love of Life". Barbara was played by various actresses, but actress Nina Reader is the most identified actress to play her.

Character's background

Barbara was the daughter of Bruce Sterling and his first wife, Gaye. She had a half brother named Alan. (He was the product of an affair between her mother and Bruce's headmaster at the school he worked at)

As a young girl, she was raised and spoiled, after her mother's death, by her grandmother, Vivian Carlson. She, like Vivian, was aghast that her father would marry someone new after her mother's death. Barbara had a tendency to be headstrong and stubborn, always wanting her way, which bothered her father to no end.

She and a date had gone joyriding and almost ran over handsome Dr. Tony Vento, the son of a housekeeper, she fell in love with him, and had told her father's second wife, Van that she was going to elope with him. Van, worried about what could happen, told Bruce what she was going to do, and the elopement stopped. Barbara never forgave Van for her so-called "interference".

However, she did eventually marry Dr. Vento, but he found her incredibly immature, and not surprisingly, he divorced her. This began her downfall.

She eventually met Rick Latimer, the son of a corporate swindler who had been stopped by her father and grandfather. Barbara was intent on marrying the rather maverick Rick. Van tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She married him anyway, and had a child by him, named Hank Latimer (named for her grandfather, Henry Carlson). Rick was fed up with his immature wife, and divorced her, taking Hank with him. By this time, Barbara had finally found that she wouldn't ever find happiness in Rosehill and left there for good.