Carla Grey
Encyclopedia
Carla Gray is a fictional character
on the American soap opera
One Life to Live
. The role was portrayed by Ellen Holly
from October 1968 to December 1980 and again from May 1983 to September 1985.
Carla was one of the original characters created for the show and was featured in a ground-breaking and very controversial storyline about race relations. Carla was a multi-ethnic part black
and white American
passing
as a white. The fact that Carla (and Holly) were actually black was not revealed to the show's audience until about six months into the show's run. The revelation was a major shock to viewers, and the series was boycotted by several Southern affiliates. Nevertheless, the controversy attracted much attention and ratings shot up for the fledgling soap very quickly because of it.
and worked as the manager of housekeeping for Llanview Hospital. Sadie acted mainly as a confidante for troubled heroine Anna Wolek, but made several passing references to a daughter that she vaguely said was 'lost to her.' Anna and the rest of the Woleks assumed that Sadie's daughter Clara was dead.
Several weeks into the series' run, Dr. Jim Craig began treating a young woman named Carla Benari, whose illness seemed to be psychosomatic — her physical symptoms stemmed from some unstated mental conflict. Carla (whom everyone assumed to be Italian-American
) began working as Jim's receptionist. Very quickly, Carla began dating an African-American intern named Dr. Price Trainor. ABC received several angry letters decrying the portrayal of a black man dating a white woman.
Carla (who had struck up a friendship with Anna herself) went to visit the Wolek apartment and ran into Sadie. It was then abruptly revealed that "Carla Benari" was in fact Clara Grey, who had not died but run away from home at an early age. Sadie was furious to learn that her daughter was pretending to be white, and Carla herself was mortified — but not enough to end her ruse there and then. Although heartbroken, Sadie did not reveal her daughter's secret.
While Carla and Sadie tried to work out their issues, Carla became embroiled in a love triangle
. Her employer Jim Craig also fell in love with her, and she reciprocated his feelings. Carla divulged her secret to Jim, who not only was fine with it, he asked her to marry him. She briefly accepted the proposal, but eventually returned his ring, after realizing she would only be marrying him in order to keep perpetuating a lie. After breaking up with Jim, Carla came clean to everyone in Llanview about her true heritage, including Price. Unfortunately Price was not in the least sympathetic to Carla's predicament. If anything, he was even angrier than Sadie at Carla's ruse. The revelation ruined their relationship once and for all. Price left town soon afterwards. Carla was able to mend fences with her mother though.
In 1970, Carla found herself in another love triangle - this time being courted by high-flying politico Bert Skelly, and police lieutenant Ed Hall. Bert was a slick career politician who seemed to promise the good life that Carla desired. Ed was a blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth workingman who initially considered Carla to be a stuck-up princess. In time though, Ed proved to be the love of Carla's life and the two became engaged in 1973. However, the road to the altar was not an easy one. Ed blamed himself for the death of his good friend Meredith Lord Wolek, who was killed during a hostage crises at the Lord family
estate, Llanfair at the same time Carla found her life on the line. This forced them to postpone the wedding as Carla was first nearly killed when her brakes failed and again when she was lured to the jeweler's by a mysterious man posing as a policeman. Carla went to meet with the man, who pointed a gun at her and tried to kill her until Joe Riley came to her rescue. The man after Carla was revealed to be Lester Brock, the brother of Earl Brock, who blamed Ed for the murder of his brother. Ed and Carla alas made it to the altar in October and surrounded by friends and family, they were married. Carla and Ed had also made proceedings to adopt Josh West, a little street urchin that Ed had taken in while romancing Carla. Josh soon took the surname Hall and became a son to Ed and Carla.
By the mid-1970s, One Life to Live began straying from the social issues
storylines for which it was initially known. The storylines increasingly featured the rich Lord family at the expense of the blue-collar Woleks and Halls. Carla, as well as Ed, Sadie and Josh, were featured less often. Toward the end of the decade, Carla did get the spotlight in one more love triangle: she divorced Ed to marry Dr. Jack Scott, a surgeon who operated on Ed to fix his heart condition. Jack, however, was always planned to be a short term character, and was finally killed off in 1980. The same year Carla left Llanview. She returned in 1983 and, after having attended law school
in her absence, Carla became an Assistant District Attorney
. In this new position, she later had to prosecute Ed on manslaughter charges for a police drug bust gone wrong. Also during this time she was also involved with another love triangle. Carla still had feelings for Ed, but she fell in love and nearly married a football star-turned night club owner Alec Lowndes (Roger Hill
). It took time for Carla to get over that situation. Then after Alec was out of the picture, she eventually came back to Ed.
In September 1985, Carla accepted a job in Arizona
similar to what she was doing in Llanview. She left with her mother Sadie and moved to Arizona. Soon after Ed and their son Josh, left town and moved to Arizona to be with them. Sadie died off-screen in the 1990s - but Carla, Ed and Josh came back to Llanview after Ed and Carla's grandson (Josh's son), Jared Hall (Herve Clermont) came to town and fell in love with Rachel Gannon
in 2000.
had worked as head writer on the NBC soap Another World
and already attempted to integrate African-American characters and actors into that show, with limited success. A CBS soap Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
featured an Asian American
as a central leading heroine. However that character be written out after only six months on the air. Carla was the first non-white lead to be featured in a front-burning, sustained storyline.
Nixon has said she was inspired to create the Carla Gray character after seeing singer Eartha Kitt in a television interview. Kitt expressed her own frustration at facing prejudice from both Caucasian and Black audiences because of her light complexion, and the feeling of not belonging to either group. (Even Carla's surname 'Gray' reflects the in-between nature of the character - not black or white). According to actress Ellen Holly's own memoirs (One Life: An Autobiography of an African American Actress), Nixon based Carla's mother Sadie on a maid who worked for Nixon's family when she was growing up (much the same way that Sadie on "Life" initially worked as a maid for the Lord family).
Unfortunately, Holly depicts a backstage story that diverges far from the ideal storyline shown on air. She claims that despite the Carla Gray storyline being a major reason for the series' early success, she faced racist attitudes behind the camera. In her book, Holly is vocal about her frustration at her character being pushed into the background to make way for white characters, and about being summarily dismissed in the mid 1980s by then-producer Paul Rauch
, who fired all the African-American actors from the show during his tenure there (including Lillian Hayman
, who portrayed Sadie, and was at that point the only actor to appear continuously on the show since its debut).
were preempting
daytime television
. This forced OLTL to push the wedding into the fall. In its place the story of Lester Brock attempted to kill Carla on numerous occasions would test Carla and Ed's commitment to each other for a final time before they were to marry.
Famous pianist and jazz singer Hazel Scott
made a deal with the show's head-writers to make an appearance on OLTL as well. She would play a famous relative of Carla's who would sing a song to the newlyweds. Hazel Scott wrote the song herself and appeared in the October 3 and 4 episodes of 1973, in which Carla and Ed married. The wedding was also the first on-screen soap opera wedding of two African American characters.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the American soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
. The role was portrayed by Ellen Holly
Ellen Holly
Ellen Holly is an American actress.-Career:Holly began her career on stage appearing in the Broadway productions of Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright and A Hand Is on the Gate before embarking on a television and film career...
from October 1968 to December 1980 and again from May 1983 to September 1985.
Carla was one of the original characters created for the show and was featured in a ground-breaking and very controversial storyline about race relations. Carla was a multi-ethnic part black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and white American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
passing
Passing
Passing is the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of social groups other than his or her own, such as a different race, ethnicity, social class, gender, intelligence, age and/or disability status, generally with the purpose of gaining social acceptance...
as a white. The fact that Carla (and Holly) were actually black was not revealed to the show's audience until about six months into the show's run. The revelation was a major shock to viewers, and the series was boycotted by several Southern affiliates. Nevertheless, the controversy attracted much attention and ratings shot up for the fledgling soap very quickly because of it.
Carla's storyline
African American Sadie Gray lived in an apartment next door to the Wolek familyWolek family
The Wolek family were one of the fictional core families on the American soap opera One Life to Live when it debuted in 1968. They were the working class reflection of the affluent Lords, with early storylines exploring the ways these families interacted and contrasted. The family was created...
and worked as the manager of housekeeping for Llanview Hospital. Sadie acted mainly as a confidante for troubled heroine Anna Wolek, but made several passing references to a daughter that she vaguely said was 'lost to her.' Anna and the rest of the Woleks assumed that Sadie's daughter Clara was dead.
Several weeks into the series' run, Dr. Jim Craig began treating a young woman named Carla Benari, whose illness seemed to be psychosomatic — her physical symptoms stemmed from some unstated mental conflict. Carla (whom everyone assumed to be Italian-American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
) began working as Jim's receptionist. Very quickly, Carla began dating an African-American intern named Dr. Price Trainor. ABC received several angry letters decrying the portrayal of a black man dating a white woman.
Carla (who had struck up a friendship with Anna herself) went to visit the Wolek apartment and ran into Sadie. It was then abruptly revealed that "Carla Benari" was in fact Clara Grey, who had not died but run away from home at an early age. Sadie was furious to learn that her daughter was pretending to be white, and Carla herself was mortified — but not enough to end her ruse there and then. Although heartbroken, Sadie did not reveal her daughter's secret.
While Carla and Sadie tried to work out their issues, Carla became embroiled in a love triangle
Love triangle
A love triangle is usually a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two...
. Her employer Jim Craig also fell in love with her, and she reciprocated his feelings. Carla divulged her secret to Jim, who not only was fine with it, he asked her to marry him. She briefly accepted the proposal, but eventually returned his ring, after realizing she would only be marrying him in order to keep perpetuating a lie. After breaking up with Jim, Carla came clean to everyone in Llanview about her true heritage, including Price. Unfortunately Price was not in the least sympathetic to Carla's predicament. If anything, he was even angrier than Sadie at Carla's ruse. The revelation ruined their relationship once and for all. Price left town soon afterwards. Carla was able to mend fences with her mother though.
In 1970, Carla found herself in another love triangle - this time being courted by high-flying politico Bert Skelly, and police lieutenant Ed Hall. Bert was a slick career politician who seemed to promise the good life that Carla desired. Ed was a blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth workingman who initially considered Carla to be a stuck-up princess. In time though, Ed proved to be the love of Carla's life and the two became engaged in 1973. However, the road to the altar was not an easy one. Ed blamed himself for the death of his good friend Meredith Lord Wolek, who was killed during a hostage crises at the Lord family
Lord family
The Lord family is the core legacy family on the American soap opera One Life to Live, having appeared since the series debut in summer 1968. Initially introduced as the affluent WASP foil to the working class Wolek family, early storylines explored the ways these families interacted and...
estate, Llanfair at the same time Carla found her life on the line. This forced them to postpone the wedding as Carla was first nearly killed when her brakes failed and again when she was lured to the jeweler's by a mysterious man posing as a policeman. Carla went to meet with the man, who pointed a gun at her and tried to kill her until Joe Riley came to her rescue. The man after Carla was revealed to be Lester Brock, the brother of Earl Brock, who blamed Ed for the murder of his brother. Ed and Carla alas made it to the altar in October and surrounded by friends and family, they were married. Carla and Ed had also made proceedings to adopt Josh West, a little street urchin that Ed had taken in while romancing Carla. Josh soon took the surname Hall and became a son to Ed and Carla.
By the mid-1970s, One Life to Live began straying from the social issues
Social issues
Social issues are controversial issues which relate to people's personal lives and interactions. Social issues are distinguished from economic issues...
storylines for which it was initially known. The storylines increasingly featured the rich Lord family at the expense of the blue-collar Woleks and Halls. Carla, as well as Ed, Sadie and Josh, were featured less often. Toward the end of the decade, Carla did get the spotlight in one more love triangle: she divorced Ed to marry Dr. Jack Scott, a surgeon who operated on Ed to fix his heart condition. Jack, however, was always planned to be a short term character, and was finally killed off in 1980. The same year Carla left Llanview. She returned in 1983 and, after having attended law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
in her absence, Carla became an Assistant District Attorney
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
. In this new position, she later had to prosecute Ed on manslaughter charges for a police drug bust gone wrong. Also during this time she was also involved with another love triangle. Carla still had feelings for Ed, but she fell in love and nearly married a football star-turned night club owner Alec Lowndes (Roger Hill
Roger Hill
Roger Hill is an American actor who played Cyrus in the 1979 cult classic The Warriors. Hill has had parts in One Life to Live and The Education of Sonny Carson before The Warriors. He now works in a Manhattan business college library. In 2006, Hill filed a lawsuit of $250,000 against Take-Two for...
). It took time for Carla to get over that situation. Then after Alec was out of the picture, she eventually came back to Ed.
In September 1985, Carla accepted a job in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
similar to what she was doing in Llanview. She left with her mother Sadie and moved to Arizona. Soon after Ed and their son Josh, left town and moved to Arizona to be with them. Sadie died off-screen in the 1990s - but Carla, Ed and Josh came back to Llanview after Ed and Carla's grandson (Josh's son), Jared Hall (Herve Clermont) came to town and fell in love with Rachel Gannon
Rachel Gannon
Rachel Gannon is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. The daughter of attorneys Nora Hanen and Hank Gannon, the role was originated and most notably portrayed by actress Ellen Bethea.-Casting:...
in 2000.
Groundbreaking issues
Before Carla Gray, there had been no major mixed race African-American or African American heroines (or heroes) on any daytime soap opera. Prior to creating One Life to Live, Agnes NixonAgnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children...
had worked as head writer on the NBC soap Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
and already attempted to integrate African-American characters and actors into that show, with limited success. A CBS soap Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from September 18, 1967 to March 23, 1973. The series was created by Irna Phillips, who served as the first head writer. She was replaced by Jane Avery and Ira Avery in 1968, who were followed by Don Ettlinger,...
featured an Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
as a central leading heroine. However that character be written out after only six months on the air. Carla was the first non-white lead to be featured in a front-burning, sustained storyline.
Nixon has said she was inspired to create the Carla Gray character after seeing singer Eartha Kitt in a television interview. Kitt expressed her own frustration at facing prejudice from both Caucasian and Black audiences because of her light complexion, and the feeling of not belonging to either group. (Even Carla's surname 'Gray' reflects the in-between nature of the character - not black or white). According to actress Ellen Holly's own memoirs (One Life: An Autobiography of an African American Actress), Nixon based Carla's mother Sadie on a maid who worked for Nixon's family when she was growing up (much the same way that Sadie on "Life" initially worked as a maid for the Lord family).
Unfortunately, Holly depicts a backstage story that diverges far from the ideal storyline shown on air. She claims that despite the Carla Gray storyline being a major reason for the series' early success, she faced racist attitudes behind the camera. In her book, Holly is vocal about her frustration at her character being pushed into the background to make way for white characters, and about being summarily dismissed in the mid 1980s by then-producer Paul Rauch
Paul Rauch
- Another World :Rauch is best known for his work on Another World, which he produced from 1971 to 1984. For much of that time, he worked in conjunction with Head Writer Harding Lemay, and the team garnered the show critical acclaim and strong ratings....
, who fired all the African-American actors from the show during his tenure there (including Lillian Hayman
Lillian Hayman
Lillian Irene Hayman was a Tony Award-winning African American actress and singer.-Career:Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Hayman graduated from Wilberforce University with a BA before she began her career in the Broadway theatre...
, who portrayed Sadie, and was at that point the only actor to appear continuously on the show since its debut).
Wedding of Ed and Carla Hall
Ed Hall and Carla Gray were initially supposed to marry in the summer of 1973. However, several news breaks chronicling the Watergate scandalWatergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
were preempting
Blackout (broadcasting)
Blackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events, television programming, that is prohibited in a certain media market.The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV...
daytime television
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
. This forced OLTL to push the wedding into the fall. In its place the story of Lester Brock attempted to kill Carla on numerous occasions would test Carla and Ed's commitment to each other for a final time before they were to marry.
Famous pianist and jazz singer Hazel Scott
Hazel Scott
Hazel Dorothy Scott was an internationally known, American jazz and classical pianist and singer.-Early years and education:...
made a deal with the show's head-writers to make an appearance on OLTL as well. She would play a famous relative of Carla's who would sing a song to the newlyweds. Hazel Scott wrote the song herself and appeared in the October 3 and 4 episodes of 1973, in which Carla and Ed married. The wedding was also the first on-screen soap opera wedding of two African American characters.