Robin Strasser
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Robin Victory in Europe Strasser (born May 7, 1945 in New York City, New York) is an American actress. Her middle name comes from V-E Day, which was proclaimed the day after she was born.
She is best known for her Daytime Emmy Award winning portrayal of the conniving Dorian Cramer Lord Callison Santi Vickers Hayes Laurence on One Life to Live (1979-1987, 1993-2000, 2003-present).
Prior to her role as Dorian, she played Rachel Davis on Another World from 1967 to 1972, as well as the role of Dr. Christina Karras Martin on All My Children, from 1976 to 1979. After she left One Life to Live in 2000 because of a friction with then executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, she played the role of Hecuba (a 300 year old witch) on Passions from 2000 to 2003. She also apeared in the film Shoot or be Shot with William Shatner.
When she experienced menopause at the age of 47 she found a new awareness of women's health issues and became a spokeswoman for menopause awareness. She wrote, produced and hosted a health video called "Menopause S.O.S." in the late 1990's. She suffers from claustrophobia which over the years has been written into the character of Dorian Lord. This is explained that her mother used to punish her by locking her and her sisters in a trunk when the misbehaved. This is also used to explain the streak of insanity in the Cramer family.
She has two sons, Nicholas (b. 1971) and Ben (b. 1975) from her marriage to Laurence Luckinbill (1965-1976). From 1983-1985 she was married to Richard Hogan. Today she lives with her third husband in New York City.
She keeps her Daytime Emmy Award (which she won in 1982 for her work on OLTL) on the mantel of her living room fireplace. She has also received three additional Emmy nominations in 1981, 1983, 1985. She has won two Soap Opera Digest Awards first in 1996 as "Outstanding Lead Actress" on One Life to Live and her second in 2001 as " Outstanding Female Scene Stealer" for Passions. She has had five additional Soap Opera Digest Award nominations, most recently in 2005 for "Favorite Couple" with Tuc Watkins. She also won the Soap Opera Update Award for Best Actress in 1996.
Although OLTL character Dorian has always had great friction with Erika Slezak's Viki the two actresses are the best of friends in real life to the point that when Slezak was asked in the 1980's which character she would bring back if she wrote the show she immediately said "Dorian" and added that she would give Robin Strasser whatever she wanted to return. When she refused to return to the show in 1989, the role of Dorian was recast with Elaine Princi. During this time Strasser took on the role of Diane Kirkwood on Knots Landing.
When she returned to One Life to Live in 2003, writers surprised the fans by having Dorian marry Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born), the man who had attempted to rape her daughter Cassie (Laura Koffman) in the 1980's. To give her some purpose on the show her grandson River Carpenter was SORASed to be a teenager and played by Matthew Twining. River fell in love with Adriana Colon (Amanda Cortines). When the actress was unpopular with fans, Dorian kidnapped her and sent her to Puerto Rico. The character was recast with Melissa Gallo taking over. The intention of this storyline was for Dorian to pretend to be Adriana's biological mother to gain 30 million dollars. When producer Frank Valentini and writers Michael Malone and Josh Griffith realized the physical similarities between Strasser and Gallo they decided to make the family ties permanent and the shocking twist was that Dorian really was Adriana's mother (and still legally married to her drug lord father). This rewriting aggravated some long time viewers who saw this as rewriting history. This also caused storyline problems when River was sleeping with his aunt. After the relationship between River and Adriana was broken off fans warmed to this new addition to the Cramer women and Gallo continues to appear on the show although Matthew Twining's River Carpenter was written out in 2004.
In late 2003 and early 2005, she played Dorian in crossover apearances on All My Children during the babyswap storyline. In her spair time she practices and teaches yoga.
Television Filmography
- Passions as Hecuba (2000-2003)
- Knots Landing as Dianne Kirkwood (1990)
- One Life to Live as Dr. Dorian Cramer Lord (1979-1987, 1993-2000, 2003-present)
- All My Children as Dr. Christina Karras Martin (1976-1979)/Dr. Dorian Cramer Lord (2003, 2005)
- Somerset as Rachel Davis (1970)
- Another World as Rachel Davis (1967-1971, 1972)
- The Secret Storm - Character and Year Data Unknown
- If you are aware of what character she played on TSS please update
Awards (Won)
- (1982) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for One Life to Live
- (2001) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Female Scene Stealer for Passions
- (1996) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Lead Actress for One Life to Live
- (1996) MVP Award Best Actress for One Life to Live
Awards (Nominated)
- (1985) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for One Life to Live
- (1983) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for One Life to Live
- (1981) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for One Life to Live
- (2005) Soap Opera Digest Award Favorite Couple for One Live to Live
-Shared with Tuc Watkins
- (1995) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Lead Actress for One Life to Live
- (1994) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Supporting Actress for One Life to Live
- (1988) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role: Daytime for One Life to Live
- (1986) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Daytime Serial for One Life to Live
- (1986) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Contribution by an Actor/Actress to the Form of Continuing Drama who is currently on a Daytime Serial for One Life to Live