| Alistair Ephraim Crane | |||||||||||
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 John Reilly as Alistair Crane |
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| Passions | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Alan Oppenheimer (1999 — 2004; voice) David Bailey (2004 — 2005) John Reilly (2005 — 2006; 2007 — present) |
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| First appearance | August 23 1999 | ||||||||||
| Created by | James E. Reilly | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Aliases | Charlie | ||||||||||
| Gender | Male | ||||||||||
| Occupation | President of Crane Industries | ||||||||||
| Residence | 14 Raven Hill Road | ||||||||||
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Alistair Ephraim Crane is a fictional character on NBC's daytime drama Passions. Alistair has been played by Alan Oppenheimer (voice; August 23 1999 - September 24 2004), Bill Dempsey (body double; November 11 1999 - September 24, 2004), on contract by David Bailey (September 27 2004 - January 13 2005) and John Reilly (January 21 2005 - July 17 2006; recurring August 20, 2007 - present).
Contents |
Character history
Alistair Crane is the primary villain on Passions, and is usually behind evil plots when they're not caused by Tabitha Lenox. He is head of Crane Industries. He has made constant attempts to separate Sheridan Crane and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, as well as to disrupt the lives of the Bennetts and to persecute the Lopez-Fitzgeralds. Everything about or related to Alistair has been made out to be evil. He is supposedly racist, sexist, and homophobic, and may be a pedophile, since he raped Liz Sanbourne when she was fourteen. Many of the relationships Alistair has had with women usually saw him not really loving women but possessing them, and sometimes raping them.
The faceless years (1999-2004)
For the shows first five years, Alistair's face was never seen. During this time, he was less of a primary villain, focusing his efforts on keeping his daughter, Sheridan, away from Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, whom Alistair did not want discovering the secrets of the Crane empire, and making certain that Julian and Ethan stayed in line. He disinherited both Julian and Ethan in 2000, after they dallied with women Alistair did not approve of. In 2000, Alistair tricked Sheridan into thinking that Luis had cheated on her by fitting another man with a Luis mask; in 2001, when Luis and Sheridan were to be married, he had her wedding ring poisoned, and when the couple's nuptials fell through, he had their boat in Bermuda blown up, presumably killing Sheridan. When Sheridan became pregnant with Luis's child in 2003, Alistair took the appearance of a lesbian named Charlie in order to help Luis's ex-fiancée, Beth Wallace, kidnap Sheridan and hold her prisoner in a pit until she could give birth. Once Sheridan gave birth to her son, whom Beth later named Marty, Beth threw Sheridan into the ocean attached to an anchor, and Alistair drove off a cliff; "Charlie", as well as Luis and Sheridan's child (an empty carseat was found in the back), was presumed dead. In 2004, Alistair convinced Sheridan's husband, Luis's weaker-minded older brother, Antonio, to have his wife placed in a psychiatric ward after she showed clear signs of mental distress after the death of her baby. In the psych ward, Alistair had Sheridan administered electric shock therapy until she could no longer remember her love for Luis. When Sheridan did finally remember, her husband, Antonio, kidnapped her and forced her onto the Crane jet with him; he later let her go, and Alistair blew up the plane, unaware that Sheridan was no longer on it (Antonio was killed as a result). When Luis and Sheridan traveled to Puerto Arena, Mexico, that same year, Alistair finally realized that his wife (who had ran away to escape Alistair's abuse), Katherine, was living there with Luis's father, Martin (Alistair had faked Katherine's death years earlier after she left him). Alistair attempted several times to murder the four (Luis almost killed by a falling temple, Katherine and Sheridan by snake bites, no food), plus Martin's daughter Paloma, to no avail.
A more prominent role (2004-2006)
When Alistair's face was finally revealed in September 2004, the patriarch's reign of terror truly began to start. In 2005, he helped Beth, whom he had learned was actually his biological daughter with Edna Wallace, escape with Luis and Sheridan's son, Marty. When Luis went after Beth and Marty, Alistair had his goons kidnap Luis in Tangier and hold him prisoner in Hawaii for several months; Alistair faked Luis's death during this time. Alistair also had his wife, Katherine, as well as Gwen, Jane and grandson Fox, held hostage at one of his compounds in the Atlantic. He also physically tortured Gwen (by slapping and punching her down) on the compound, after she tried to stop him from violently raping Katherine, which he proceeded to do anyway. With Luis out of the picture, Alistair began focusing on punishing the Bennett family for opposing him for so many years. Alistair had Sam Bennett fired as chief of police; he also saw to it that his associate, Spike, lead Sam's lost young daughter, Jessica, into a life of drugs and prostitution. He also had Sam's youngest son, Noah, arrested on false drug and weapon charges, fearing that his beloved granddaughter, Fancy, might fall in love with the boy. Alistair also entered into an alliance with Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, who agreed to be Alistair's mistress in exchange for his help in getting back her ex-fiancée, Ethan Winthrop, and her daughter, Jane. When Theresa later refused to sleep with him as she had promised to do, he forced her; the two were later married on October 3, 2005. Alistair repeatedly raped and tortured Theresa, he even made her do sexual things that she would never normally do. Alistair then adopted her son, Little Ethan, and made him his heir, believing him to be his grandson by his oldest child, Julian (Little Ethan was later revealed to be Ethan's biological son). At this time, Alistair disinherited the rest of his family (some members had already been disinherited) for having turned their backs on him. Though Theresa attempted to murder her husband several times, it wasn't until Liz Sanbourne stabbed him in the neck that it seemed that Alistair might finally be put out of commission. Alistair lapsed into a coma, and was put into Lyndon Hill Nursing Home. While everyone thought that he was in a coma, Alistair was really setting his omega plot into motion. Alistair began dressing as a monk and appeared several times to novice Whitney Russell, who was eager to do penance for her sins of incest. Believing he was God, Whitney followed Alistair to Rome, where she helped him to come into possession of a chalice belonging to the Pope, which would allow whomever unlocked its secrets to rule the world. Alistair also lured other people to Rome, including Chad Harris-Crane, Simone Russell, Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald, Jessica Bennett, Spike Lester, Ethan Winthrop, Gwen Hotchkiss, Theresa Crane, Beth Wallace, Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, Fancy Crane, Noah Bennett, and Maya Chinn; in addition, he hired a terrorist named Lena, along with Spike and Maya, to break up Noah and Fancy, and assisted Beth and Marty in escaping from Luis. Though Alistair was able to gain some of the chalice's powers, sleazy tabloid editor J. T. Cornell stole the chalice; it was later recovered by Chad Harris and returned to the Pope. Alistair then focused his efforts on escaping Rome with Beth and Marty. He commandeered a train for them to escape on; they were on their way out of Rome when a drone plane fired missiles at a bridge, destroying it; the train plunged into the ravine below, presumably killing Alistair, Beth, and Marty on July 17, 2006. With Alistair gone, Theresa assumed control of the vast Crane fortune.
Return to Harmony (2007-present)
Alistair returned to Harmony more than a year after his "death", dressed as a guard from the mental institution that is housing Vincent Crane. It is revealed that Alistair ordered Vincent to do the murders and attacks on the citizens of Harmony. He returned to Harmony with a hit list; in attempting to poison Theresa for passing her son off as a Crane, he inadvertently sent Ethan Winthrop into a coma, and when his son Chad Harris-Crane attempted to get help, Alistair shot him in the chest, killing him. Alistair has also explicitly threatened the lives of Vincent and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald in a quest for vengeance, preservation of the family name, and as part of his plan to take his beloved granddaughter Fancy with him when he next leaves town.
Alistiar's will
The contents of Alistair's will frequently play an important role in the program's storylines. As a multibillionaire, he has a large amount of wealth to bequeath upon his death, and, since 2005, Alistair only includes those in his will who please him. Being named his heir provides the chosen not only with immense wealth, but also power and control of Crane Industries as its president. Early in the show's run, Alistair's eldest (and only legitimate) son, Julian, was his sole heir, but Alistair eventually disowned Julian in 2000, displeased with his behavior. Upon disinheriting Julian, Alistair named his grandson, Ethan Crane, his heir, but quickly disinherited him later that year; upon discovering that Ethan was the son of Sam Bennett and not Julian Crane, Alistair removed Ethan from his will altogether. Upon his 2005 marriage to Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, Alistair adopted her son with Julian, Little Ethan, and named the nine-year-old boy his heir, hoping to mold him into his image. In 2007, further study of Alistair's will revealed that, should Little Ethan somehow be disqualified as heir, the position would go to Alistair's granddaughter and favorite relative, Fancy Crane.[1] Should it ever be revealed that Little Ethan is Ethan Winthrop's biological son and not Julian's, Little Ethan will be disinherited, and Fancy will become Alistair's heiress, though Alistair has refused to allow Theresa to reveal the truth out of fear for having been duped with regards to Little Ethan's paternity. Through the tradition of primogeniture, it would make sense that Alistair would name Julian's recently-revealed son, Vincent Clarkson, his heir. However, due to the fact that Vincent is African American, a hermaphrodite, and a confessed murderer, rapist, and arsonist, it is highly unlikely that Alistair would ever consider Vincent for the role. Chad's race also prejudiced Alistair against him, and Alistair never seriously considered Chad, nor his son, Miles (or, likely, Chad's second child with Whitney), to be a candidate for heir. Also at his 2005 wedding to Theresa, Alistair disinherited all of his relatives from his will aside from adopted son Little Ethan and wife Theresa, who would act as Little Ethan's guardian should Alistair die before Little Ethan reach majority. Alistair's known, living relatives at the time, aside from Little Ethan and Theresa, were his three biological children — Julian, Sheridan, and Beth — his five grandchildren, Chad (who was later revealed to be his son), Fancy, Pretty, Fox, and Marty Lopez-Fitzgerald — and his great-grandson, Miles (who was later revealed to be his grandson); Fancy, however, was apparently secretly reinstated at a later date. Endora Lenox is also Alistair's granddaughter through Julian, but as her paternity is not publicly acknowledged (though Alistair is aware of Endora's paternity), it is highly unlikely that she was ever in his will at all. In 2007, it was also revealed that Pretty had already been disinherited following her disfiguring accident in the late 1990s.
