Dinah Marler
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Dinah Adele Chamberlain Marler is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character is the daughter of the late lawyer and mayor of Springfield, Ross Marler, and his former fiancée, wealthy businesswoman Vanessa Chamberlain Reardon. The character of Dinah has been portrayed by four different actresses over the years beginning in 1986. As of 2004, Dinah Marler is played by Gina Tognoni who was brought onto the show's canvas when writers brought back the character after a lengthy absence. Tognoni won Outstanding Supporting Actress (it was also her first nomination) at the 2006 Daytime Emmys for her portrayal of Dinah.
Early years
Vanessa gave birth to Dinah at the age of seventeen in 1970 and felt she was incapable of being a good mother to her newborn at the time. With no one to turn to for help, she gave Dinah up for adoption and was reassured that her child would be adopted by a great family who would love and care for her. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Dinah would have to endure a turbulent childhood and when she was reunited with her biological parents in her teenage years, the hurt and resentment she felt towards Ross and Vanessa for giving her up as a baby made it hard to forgive them. Vanessa especially received the brunt of Dinah's wrath when she learnt her mother had placed her for adoption without Ross even knowing about her existence.After her initial adoptive parents (the Carter family) were killed in a car accident, her adoptive uncle, the late Gordon Matthews placed her at the Little Angels Foundling Home in Springfield. In time, she would be adopted again; this time by the Morgan family. The Morgans also took in another girl, Adele, whom Dinah became very close to. When she became a teenager, however, she ran away from the Morgans feeling that they no longer wanted her. She took up with a carnival family, the Kowalskis. By 1986, Dinah was tired of the carnival life and left for Springfield to find her sister, Adele.
Eventually, Adele (now known as Dorie Smith) and Dinah would be reunited thanks to Phillip Spaulding's help. Dorie would go on to be adopted by India von Halkein and Dinah moved into the von Halkein residence as well. When she was abducted by the Kowalskis (who now knew Dinah's true identity) for money, Ross and Vanessa realised that Dinah Morgan was their daughter when Vanessa's father, Henry Chamberlain, received a ransom note demanding money for the safe return of his granddaughter. Vanessa was abducted as well when she arrived to deliver the ransom. From their initial demands of $500 000, the Kowalskis raised the ransom to $1,000,000. However, Ross refused to pay without having some form of evidence that the hostages were alive and well. Dinah would leave a clue for Ross on where to find them when she talked to her father on the phone and they were soon rescued by the authorities.
Though still resentful of him, she accepted Ross faster than Vanessa and moved in with her father eventually. Although she could hardly be civil to her mother, Dinah became very attached to Henry. On the romantic front, Dinah became involved with Cameron Stewart who would break her heart when he had an affair with Lacey Bauer on the side. Hurt, she turned to Alan-Michael Spaulding. Her relationship with her mother was further strained when Vanessa discovered her teenage daughter was socialising with alcoholics at wild parties thanks to her new boyfriend's influence.
Whilst on a motorcycle tour with Alan-Michael one night, her boyfriend accidentally collided with Frank Cooper's car. Frank was on his way to the hospital so his pregnant kid sister, Harley Cooper, could give birth. With no way to get to Cedars on time, Dinah delivered Harley's newborn whom the latter would name Daisy. Dinah and Harley became fast friends and the former would be there for emotional support when Harley gave Daisy up for adoption.
Family, marriages, romantic entanglements and children
Family
- Ross Marler (deceased) and Vanessa Chamberlain Reardon (parents)
- Mr. and Mrs. Carter; Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (adoptive parents; deceased)
- Blake Thorpe Marler and Matt Reardon (step-parents)
- Emily Marler and Henry Chamberlain (grandparents; deceased)
- Kevin Marler, Jason Marler, Clarissa Marler, Bill Lewis, Peter Lewis (adoptive) and Maureen Reardon (half-siblings)
- Dorie von Halkein (foster sister)
- Emma Spencer Lewis (adoptive niece and first cousin once removed)
- Justin Marler, Lainie Marler Bowden, Ben Warren (deceased) and Quint Chamberlain (aunt & uncles)
- Gordon Matthews (adoptive uncle; deceased)
- Jackie Scott Marler (deceased) and Carter Bowden (aunt & uncle by marriage)
- Phillip Spaulding, Samantha Marler, Drew Jacobs, Stacey Chamberlain, J. Chamberlain and Jessie Matthews Hall (cousins)
- Simon Hall (cousin-in-law)
- Lizzie Spaulding, Zach Spaulding, James Spaulding, Emma Spencer Lewis, Max Jacobs and Brandon Hall (first cousins once removed)
Marriages
Marital status: Widow
- Roger Adam Thorpe (divorced; deceased)
- Hart Jessup (deceased: dissolved by his death)
Significant relationships
Engaed to A.C. Mallet
- Cameron Stewart (dated)
- Alan-Michael Spaulding (dated)
- Jean-Luc (lovers)
- Hart Jessup (lovers; deceased)
- Rob Layne (one-night stand)
- Jeffrey O'Neill (lovers)
- Jonathan Randall (lovers)
- Edmund Winslow (lovers)
- A.C. Mallet (lovers)
Children
- Laura Layne (daughter; with Rob Layne: one-night stand; deceased: miscarriage)
- Unnamed child (with an unknown man; deceased: miscarriage)
- Unnamed child (surrogate daughter; biological child of Edmund & Cassie Winslow; deceased: miscarriage - 2005)
Trivia
- Dinah holds the distinction of successfully delivering two Springfield babies without any prior professional medical training. The first was Harley Cooper's firstborn, Susan LeMay, in 1987. The second was hated archrival Cassie Winslow's second child, Roger Joshua "R.J." Jessup...ironically the son of her late husband and the love of her life, Hart Jessup.
- Dinah was held at gunpoint by Cassie Winslow shortly after her return to Springfield in 2004. Prior to that, Dinah had been masquerading as Princess Cassie Winslow in Europe since 2002. Through identity theft, Dinah ran up huge bills for Cassie to pay. Dinah was eventually persuaded by her father to turn herself in for the murder of Hart Jessup. Though Cassie testified that Hart's death was caused by an accidental shooting at Dinah's murder trial, she would later drive Dinah out to Laurel Falls after the latter was set free. Consumed by fear that Dinah would harm her family, Cassie attempted to off her but would later be talked out of it by Edmund Winslow and Jeffrey O'Neill.
- Dinah revealed to Jonathan Randall that she had miscarried her third child in June 2005. She kept up the charade by using an apparatus to simulate pregnancy though this scheme was blown out of the water by Edmund when he found out in July. Edmund was so angry that he nearly choked Dinah to death but then stopped himself when Dinah started crying and revealed how devastated she was to have lost his unborn daughter.
Actress history
- Jennifer Gatti (1986–1987)
- Paige Turco (1987–1989)
- Wendy Moniz (1995–1999)
- Gina Tognoni (2004–present)
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