Victoria Lord Banks
Actor History
Gillian Spencer (1968 to 1971)
Joanne Dorian (1971)
Erika Slezak (1971 to present)
Christine Jones (1981; temporary replacement)
Judith Barcroft (1986; temporary replacement)
Amanda Davies (2003, as teenager in flashbacks)
Occasional appearances by other actresses during the 1970s for Slezak's time off.
Lifeline
Died and went to heaven during operation [1987]
Died and went to heaven in a car accident [2008]
Occupation
Candidate for mayor of Llanview (2009)
Publisher/Owner of The Banner
Former president of Llanview University
Board member at Llanview Hospital
Former mayor of Llanview (1990)
Resides At
Llanfair (1177 Regency Drive, Llanview, Pennsylvania)
Marital Status
Married to Charlie Banks [Engaged: Jun 8, 2009; Married: Aug 4, 2009]
Past Marriages
Roger Gordon (pre-1968, annulled)Joe Riley (1969-1970; presumed widowed)
Steve Burke (1972-1974; divorced)
Joe Riley (1974-1979; widowed)
Clint Buchanan (1982-1985; divorced)
Clint Buchanan (1986-1994; divorced)
Sloan Carpenter (1994-1995; widowed)
Ben Davidson (2000- 2004; widowed)
Relatives
Victor Lord (father; deceased)
Eugenia Randolph (mother; deceased)
Meredith Lord (half-sister; deceased)
Tony Lord (half-brother deceased)
Tina Clayton Lord (half-sister)
Todd Manning (half-brother)
Brian Kendall (half-nephew; deceased)
C.J. Roberts (half-nephew)
Sarah Roberts (half-niece)
Starr Manning (half-niece)
Jack Cramer Manning (half-nephew)
Sam Manning (half-nephew)
Daniel Wolek (half-nephew)
Hope Manning Thornhart (great-half-niece)
Powell Lord Sr. (uncle; deceased)
Gwendolyn Lord (aunt; deceased)
Dorothy Randolph (aunt; deceased)
Powell Lord II (cousin; deceased)
Richard Abbott (cousin)
Powell Lord, III (first cousin once removed; deceased)
Children
Megan Gordon (daughter; with Roger; born 1963; died 1992)
Kevin Lord Riley Buchanan Sr. (son; with Joe; born 1976; adopted by Clint)
Joseph Francis Riley Buchanan (son; with Joe; born 1980; adopted by Clint)
Jessica Buchanan (daughter; with Mitch; born 1986; adopted by Clint)
Natalie Buchanan (daughter; with Clint; born 1986)
Demerest Buchanan (grandson; deceased)
Kevin Riley Buchanan Jr. (grandson; deceased)
Megan Victoria Buchanan (granddaughter; deceased)
Brennan "Bree" Buchanan (granddaughter)
Zane Buchanan (great-grandson)
Flings & Affairs
Ted Clayton
Tom Dennison
Harrison Brooks
Charlie Banks
Crimes Committed
Believed to have murdered her father under the influence of alter Tori [1976]
Killed Johnny Dee under the influence of alter Niki Smith [1990]
Kidnapped Dorian and held her prisoner in the secret room at Llanfair under influence of alter, Jean Randolph [1995]
Set fire to Llanfair under influence of alter, Tori [1995]
Various crimes against Ben and Natalie, including pushing Ben out a window [as Niki, April to August 2002]
Alternate Personalities
Niki Smith (carefree party girl, sexually promiscuous)
Tommy (angry teenage boy)
Jean Randolph (control freak and gatekeeper)
Princess (Young girl who suffered the abuse of Victor as a child)
Tori (a cunning, young adult version of Viki; tried to kill Victor in 1970s)
Victor Lord (a representation of Viki's father; tried to convince Viki to kill herself)
Maladies & Hospitalizations
Diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder
Sexually assaulted by Mitch Laurence [1986]
Suffered memory loss [1987]
Developed a brain aneurysm [1987]
Shot and suffered a stroke [1990]
Donated a kidney to daughter Megan [1992]
Diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy [2000]
Suffered a mild heart attack [2004]
Received a heart transplant [2004]
Died in a car accident and was revived by Dorian Lord [2008]
Miscellaneous Information
Blood type is AB+ (revealed May 26th, 2004).
Brief Character History
Viki has been a central figure in Llanview since 1968. She lost her mother when she was five years old and was raised in a strict WASP home by a domineering father, who longed for a son but instead was saddled with two daughters. Viki spent her formative years trying to please her father and be everything he ever wanted. Victor groomed Viki to take over the family business, local newspaper The Banner. Then she became involved with Joe Riley, defying her father's wishes. Joe was from the wrong side of town, but he was an ace reporter. Shortly after they were married, Joe went on assignment to California and was reported killed in an accident. Enter Steve Burke, a man her father approved of and encouraged her to marry. After the wedding, Joe Riley turned up alive, suffering from amnesia. After many twists and turns, Viki decided to divorce Steve and remarried Joe. They had a son, named Kevin, and then Viki found out she was pregnant again. But Joe learned he was dying from brain cancer, and brought in an Arizona newspaper man named Clint Buchanan to help run The Banner and console his wife after he was gone. Joe died, and Viki then gave birth to a son she named after Joe.
Clint Buchanan and Viki had a rocky relationship at first but soon realized they were meant to be together. Clint and Viki married, and Clint adopted her two sons from Joe. Clint was a rock during her many life struggles. Niki Smith, Viki's wild child alternative personality, resurfaced after it was revealed that Victor had had an affair with Viki's college roommate Irene Manning and had sired a daughter, Viki's godchild Tina Clayton. Even after Niki Smith divorced Clint, Clint was there for her and helped bring Viki back to the surface. Just before remarrying, Viki announced to an overjoyed Clint that she was expecting their first child together. Jessica would soon be born, and despite a brief scare where she was kidnapped, the baby was returned and the Buchanans seemed to be settling into a comfortable existence. Viki then was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm and underwent complicated surgery. She died on the operating table and went on a fantasic journey to Heaven, where she was reunited with deceased family members and friends who encouraged her to return to Earth. Viki survived, but then Clint was shot and lost his eyesight. While recuperating at the Buchanan Ranch in Texas, Clint went horseback riding and was thrown from his horse. He woke up in 1888, and went through his own fantastic journey where he had to reunite Viki's greatgrandparents, Eugenia and Randolph Lord. Viki managed to find her way to Clint in the past, and together they made the return trip to the present. Viki then was rocked with the revelation that she had given birth during her senior year of high school to a daughter, and that Victor and her brother-in-law Larry Wolek had covered up the incident. The baby turned out to be Megan Gordon, who was already known to the family through Megan's sister Sarah, who cared for Clint when he was blind. It even turned out that Viki and Megan's father, Roger Gordon, had been secretly married when they were teen-agers, the marriage had been annulled. As a teen-ager, Roger and his family had lived in a secret society underneath Llantano Mountain that was the brainchild of Victor Lord. The society was called Eterna. Viki, Tina, Roger and others got trapped down there and barely made it out alive. Viki and Megan soon forged a close mother and daughter bond, made all the more tragic when Megan contracted Lupus and died.
The strain of Megan's loss, and the years of heartache Viki had endured, began to wear on Viki and Clint's marriage. Viki got close to Sloan Carpenter, an Army general who was writing a book about Victor Lord, and Viki allowed herself to have an affair with Sloan. Viki's arch-nemesis Dorian Lord arranged Clint to discover Viki and Sloan together, and Clint and Viki soon divorced.
Viki became determined to prove that Dorian had killed her father some 20 years earlier. Dorian was convicted and incarcerated, but eventually won her freedom. During a bitter argument, Dorian revealed to Viki that she had been sexually abused as a child by Victor. Dorian believed Viki had known the abuse and suppressed it, but Viki was unaware of it and the revelation caused Viki's mind to fracture into a series of personalities heretofore unseen. The main gatekeeper, Jean Randolph, locked Dorian in a secret room beneath Llanfair and forced Dorian to break off her relationship with Viki's young son, Joey, before setting her free. When Viki finally realized that she had been the one to kill her father, she accepted her punishment and started a painful therapy in which all of her multiple personalities were integrated.
Viki finally decided that she wanted to marry Clint again, but it was too late, he had just married Lindsay Rappaport. Viki literally found herself at the Crossroads of her life. The Crossroads bar, that is. While out on a drive one night, Viki inexplicably felt herself drawn to the Crossroads and she ventured inside. Viki then met the handsome bartender Ben Davidson, who affectionately nicknamed her "Blondie." What Viki didn't know was that Ben was also the mysterious "Hamlet," a man who had very dangerous enemies.
As it turned out, a man named Hugo was after Ben and he wouldn't stop until Ben was dead! One night, gunfire erupted at the Crossroads and Viki forced a wounded Ben to return to Llanfair with her. Viki treated Ben's gunshot wound and learned that he was actually a very skilled surgeon who had gone into hiding. Ben then told Viki the truth about his mob connections and his past. At this same time, Dorian made a pact with Hugo in order to get revenge on Viki. Dorian blamed Viki for her husband Mel's death and didn't like seeing Viki happy with her new boyfriend, Ben. Dorian and Hugo kidnapped Viki and held her hostage as a way to get to Ben. Hugo then turned the tables on Dorian and ended up holding her hostage with Viki. In the end, Viki and Dorian escaped and Hugo was killed in a deadly confrontation with Ben on the roof of The Palace Hotel.
Viki and Ben were finally free to have an open and public relationship. Viki and Ben soon felt like soul mates, but it was interrupted when Skye Chandler came to town and announced she was still Ben's wife. Viki left Ben until he got divorced. After briefly leaving town, Ben retuned to Llanview for Christmas and shared a happy reunion with Viki On New Years Eve they got engaged.
In February of 2000, Viki was diagnosed with breast cancer and left Ben. After Viki's surgery and going through chemo, Ben and Viki reunited and married in November 2000. But there was trouble even on the couple's wedding day. Still pursing his vendetta against the "Rappa-Davidsons", Asa had ordered a hit on Ben, which was carried out during the wedding reception while Ben and Viki were dancing. Fortunately, the bullet hit a coin that Renee had given Ben and he survived with barely a scratch. Worried about another attempt on his life, Ben went to his old girlfriend, Gina Russo, for help, but as Viki soon learned, Gina was really the head of the Russo mob family and wanted to get Ben back. Gina kidnapped Viki and held her hostage in a room in her basement, threatening to kill Viki's daughter, Jessica, if she didn't go along with Gina's plan to win back Ben. The stress of the situation caused Viki's alters to re-emerge and one of the alters, Jean, tried to make a deal with Gina to win her freedom. Viki's alters continued to toy with Gina, and when Gina was eventually captured, Viki revealed that she had faked her personalities in order to rattle Gina, who fell from a cliff to her death, but Viki's troubles were far from over.
Jessica had found love again with Seth Anderson, and a new friend in Natalie Balsom. Natalie even moved into the guest house. Then Viki learned that Natalie and Seth were working in tandem with Allison Perkins -- who had recently been released from St. Anne's asylum against Viki's wishes-- to con Viki and her family out of money. Natalie then claimed that she was Viki's true daughter, not Jessica. Allison claimed that she had switched babies the night she kidnapped Jessica, and had given Natalie to a drunken floozy named Roxy Balsom. Viki and Natalie took DNA tests, and to Viki's horror, Natalie really was her daughter! Jessica was heartbroken, but Viki legally adopted her. Natalie was hell bent on revenge and caused constant turmoil in the mansion, which she had legal rights to stay in. Slowly, she and Viki began to grow closer, but for every step forward there were two steps back.
As Viki tried to deal with these headaches, she began having nightmares and visions of Niki Smith taunting her about a secret. Viki went to see her good friend Dr. Rae Cummings for help, not realizing Rae was a fraud and didn't have a medical degree. Rae hypnotized her to uncover the secret, briefly talking to Niki Smith. Rae found little, if anything, to help Viki, but she unknowingly unearthed a monster. Niki was back and she was going to do her best to never go away again! Niki faked being Viki, and over a period of months, tried to disrupt Viki's life. She eventually began to make Natalie think she had developed DID, and that her split personality was violent and untrustworthy. Ben saw Viki behaving suspiciously and realized she was really Niki. Niki pushed him out a window and framed Natalie for the crime.
Within a few weeks Natalie and Cristian Vega had deduced that Niki was in control. Niki went on the run, and was then kidnapped by a vengeful Allison Perkins. In the ensuing chaos at the family's cabin, Allison held her hostage as the cops swarmed in. Ben raced into the room to try to get to his wife, and Antonio Vega inadvertently shot him while aiming for Allison. The sight of her husband critically wounded finally brought Viki back. Unfortunately, Ben fell into a permanent coma, and Viki traveled to Switzerland to set him up in a hospital and to visit her old therapist Susannah Hanen to help clear up her alter issues.
When Viki returned she hoped for a bit of peace and quiet, but instead she faced one of the ugliest chapters of her life. Natalie had been through constant emotional trauma for months on end and felt she had no one to turn to. She married a mysterious man named Michael Lazarus. One day Viki finally met him face to face. He was none other than Mitch Laurence, who had been presumed dead since 1986! Mitch, who had been responsible for Jessica's kidnapping, told a horrified Viki that he had drugged and raped her one night, resulting in Jessica's conception. He was Jessica's natural father, and Natalie was Clint's biological child! He had spirited Jessica away from Viki soon after she had given birth, and Viki, numb from hospital drugs, had been unable to stop him.
Viki sent Jessica out of town to keep the news from her, but within a few days she had come back on her own, and without Viki to protect her, Mitch quickly located her and filled her in on every nasty detail. Jessica confronted Viki and learned that every word was true. Even though Viki had had no way of stopping Mitch from stealing her as a baby, Jessica saw this as the ultimate betrayal and cut all ties with her mother. She soon left town to visit with Clint in London, and as Viki anxiously waited for her to return, she had to help rescue Natalie from nearly consummating her sham marriage to Mitch. Over a year after Ben had slipped into his coma, he suddenly awoke. Still weak, and knowing he had no right to have Viki wait until he fully recovered, he told her to go on with her life.
Viki received the shock of her life when she learned that not only did she not kill her father, but he was alive and well. She soon learned that Mitch had been secretly keeping Victor alive all these years. Mitch planned to transplant Natalie's healthy heart into Victor, allowing the Lord patriarch to live on. Viki managed to stop Mitch's plan, and saved her daughter. But when Victor died for real this time, a newfound will left everything to Mitch. Dorian Lord then showed up as Mitch's wife, and took over Llanfair. Mitch terrorized the citizens of Llanview for months until he was finally murdered, and Viki's one consolation was that her half-brother, Todd, was alive and well, pretending to be Mitch's long-lost brother Walker. She was named president of Llanview University and began to see Governor Brooks. But after spending some time marooned on an island with Dorian, Viki realized Brooks was corrupt and broke things off with him.
At the same time, Viki began having troubles with her heart. After seeing a doctor, she learned she was suffering from heart disease and needed a transplant. After the donor heart intended for Viki was contaminated by dirty chief of staff Dr. Long, her family realized they may have to say goodbye, until they heard that Ben, whose heart was a perfect genetic match for Viki, flat-lined after a conversation with Dorian. Her family begged her to accept his heart, which she finally did, knowing that now Ben would always be with her. After recovering from her surgery, Viki was forced to tell Dorian that she had been removed from the position of Chief of Staff at the hospital after the Paul Cramer murder, which again started up the feud they had decided to end while on the island. Dorian then framed Viki for embezzling funds from the university, and Viki was forced to resign as president, not long before she started feeling ill again, and was told that she had a mild infection in her heart.
As Viki rested to recover from her illness, Jessica began struggling with the secret of her DID. She kept it a secret until one day when Tess was pretending to be Jessica and yelled at Viki, causing her to have a heart attack. While at the hospital, Viki had an experimental procedure to get blood to her heart. It eventually came out that it was not Jessica who yelled at Viki but Tess. Viki was devastated when she learned that Jessica had DID. Later, Viki and Clint learned that Tess existed because of Niki's actions during Jessica's childhood. While struggling with Jessica's DID, Clint and Viki got closer and began dating again. Dorian got involved in breaking the two up and eventually Clint chose to be with Dorian over Viki, which added further fuel to their fiery rivalry. In an attempt to upset Dorian, Viki even invited David Vickers to stay at Llanfair with her. The two women continued to bicker and fight until Monte Carlo night when Viki lost $10M against Dorian in a poker game (for charity). At Asa Buchanan's funeral, Viki and Dorian were trapped together in the wine cellar and Dorian taunted Viki for having an empty life. Dorian even made the startling claim that she had killed Victor Lord all those years ago, and that the man who showed up recently must have been an imposter. Viki ignored Dorian's confession, although Viki realized that her life was not as full as she thought and left Llanview right after Asa's funeral.
Viki turned up months later in Paris, Texas, a small town not far from the Buchanan family ranch. She was working as a waitress at a local diner. There she met Charlie Banks, a recovering alcoholic who was searching for the son he had lost contact with during his drinking days. Charlie and Viki soon began dating, although Viki knew Charlie only as "Charlie B." Charlie's son turned out to be Jared Banks, who was secretly dating Viki's daughter Natalie and masquerading as Asa's illegitimate son (who was really David Vickers). Charlie tracked Jared down in Llanview, although Jared rejected him in favor of pretending to be Asa's son. Charlie fell off the wagon, but Viki soon convinced him to get sober again.
In an effort to resume a relationship with Jared, Charlie agreed to protect Jared's true identity from everyone, including Viki. Dorian, however, knew the truth. Charlie was guilt ridden about lying to Viki, however, and confided to Dorian that he planned to tell Viki the truth. Knowing that this would get in the way of Dorian's plans to take over Buchanan Enterprises, Dorian drugged Charlie and brought him to her home. There she plied him with liquor and then dumped in the alley behind Rody's Tavern. A bartender discovered Charlie and called Viki from the cell phone found in Charlie's pocket. Charlie was brought to the hospital, at the same time that Nash Brennan was rushed into the ER after falling through a skylight during an argument with Jared and Natalie following Dorian's announcement that Jared was a fraud. Jared rushed into Charlie's room and called him Dad, shocking Viki.
Charlie recovered but was unable to remember falling off the wagon or how he ended up in the alley. Disillusioned by his lies, Viki broke it off with Charlie. Following Nash's death, Jessica's alter Tess resurfaced and tampered with the brakes on Natalie's car in an attempt to kill her. Viki instead got behind the wheel and picked up a stranded Dorian on the road. While on the road the two got in a bitter argument about Charlie. Dorian claimed that she had slept with Charlie. Distraught, and with the brakes failing, Viki crashed the car and subsequently died. When David Vickers happened upon the accident, he convinced Dorian to save Viki's life in exchange for him divorcing Dorian's sister Addie. Dorian reluctantly complied and brought Viki back from the brink. Charlie visited her in the hospital and declared he would not stop fighting to get back in her life.
Viki went to Africa to promote heart transplants and when she returned, she discovered that Tess had been running around Llanfair for months. Natalie and Jared were missing, and Viki suspected that Tess had done something with them. Viki went to see Todd and discovered that Jessica's child Bree was there with Todd. Viki was livid at Todd for helping Tess, not realizing Todd kept quiet because Tess knew he was keeping Marty in his home. Viki and Clint tracked Jessica down at the cabin she shared with Nash, and were overjoyed to discover that Jessica was herself and had given birth to a healthy baby girl (not realizing that Jessica's baby had died and had been switched by Jessica's alter, Bess, with Starr Manning's baby). While at the hospital with Jessica and the baby, Viki was "visited" by her alter Jean Randolph and figured out that Tess had taken a page out of Jean's playbook and had locked Natalie and Jared in a secret room beneath Llanfair. Viki and Charlie raced to the home, where Tina (who had known all along what Tess had done) led them to the secret room. Charlie managed to grab the bomb that Tess had set to go off and got it outside, just before it exploded. Viki was overjoyed that Natalie and Jared were safe, but her joy turned to anger when Tina admitted she had helped Tess with her evil scheme. Viki banished Tina from the house and from her life. As Jessica struggled to understand what Tess had done and become whole again so she could return home to her daughters, Viki offered Jessica her understanding and support - raising Natalie's ire.
Bonding over the problems with their children, Viki and Charlie grew close once again. Charlie surprised Viki by remodeling Carlotta's diner, which had been burned in a fire, into the spitting image of the Bon Jour Café from Paris, Texas. Viki and Charlie were shocked to learn from David Vickers, who had returned to town as a converted Buddhist, that Dorian had drugged Charlie and plied him with liquor to keep him from telling Viki about Jared pretending to be Asa's son. Viki and Charlie confronted Dorian, who admitted nothing.
Viki and the rest of the family were stunned when Jessica discovered Chloe had been kidnapped from Llanfair. Natalie and Jared ad admitted to Viki, Clint and Charlie that the baby Jessica delivered had died and had been switched with Starr and Cole's baby. When Jessica and Chloe were reunited at the hospital, Bess emerged and escaped with Chloe before Viki could tell Jessica that the baby wasn't hers. As the family searched for Jessica, Natalie and Jared revealed to Viki, Charlie and Clint that they had gotten married the night before. After Brody tracked Jessica and the baby down at the West Virginia home of Nash Brennan's parents, the family converged on the home. Viki pretended to be her alter, Jean Randolph, to gain access to Bess, who had barricaded herself and the baby in an upstairs bedroom. Viki eventually got through to Jessica, who painfully admitted that her baby had been born dead and returned the baby.
In the aftermath of Jessica returning the baby, Charlie stunned Viki by proposing to her, and Viki readily accepted. Later, while dining at the Palace with a newly engaged Nora and Clint, Viki and Charlie acknowledged that they were also engaged. When the couples realized that they had picked the same wedding date, Renee suggested a double wedding, and they hesitantly agreed. Viki and Charlie later reluctantly went to La Boulaie to help Dorian resolve a conflict between herself and Markko Rivera's parents that threatened to keep Markko and Langston apart. When Markko confronted his father and said he would move out rather than split up with Langston, Viki offered to take in Markko. Viki was delighted to become Mrs. Charlie Banks, as the couple wed during a double wedding with Clint and Nora. Not even a drunk Dorian and Blair crashing the wedding could mar Viki's special day. Viki raised the ire of Mayor Stanley Lowell when she refused to have The Banner endorse his re-election bid. Dorian, who aligned herself with the mayor in the hopes of getting her old job back as chief of staff at Llanview Hospital, told Viki she would love for her to run against the mayor, just so she could suffer a humiliating defeat. After discussing it with Charlie, Viki decided to do just that and in August 2009 announced she was running as an independent candidate for mayor. Viki and Mayor Lowell were in the middle of a televised debate when John McBain came into the room and announced he was placing the mayor under arrest for running a drug ring and ordering Cole Thornhart killed. After the mayor resigned in disgrace, Viki was sure she had the election in the bag. But then Dorian announced she was running as well, pitting the two bitter enemies against each other once again.
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