Bruce Sterling (Love of Life)

Last updated

Bruce Sterling was a fictional character in the now-cancelled American soap opera, Love of Life . He was played by actor Ron Tomme from 1959 to the show's demise in 1980.

Contents

Van's soulmate

Bruce was the second husband of heroine Vanessa Dale. He was a teacher at Winfield Academy, a private boys' school in the fictional upstate New York community of Rosehill. Bruce met Van through a mutual friend of theirs named Tom Craythorne, a New York City lawyer, who had befriended Van after she helped him foil a paternity suit that her malevolent sister, Meg, foisted on him. They had fallen in love and married.

A widower with two children, Bruce felt that Vanessa would be a needed mother figure to them. Alan, his son, took to Van almost immediately; as did Bruce's former father-in-law, Henry Carlson. But Henry's wife, Vivian and Bruce's headstrong daughter, Barbara, didn't like the new situation. Vivian thought it heartless that Bruce marry so soon after the death of his first wife, Gaye (Henry and Vivian's daughter). However, the war against Vanessa was mostly on the front of snobby Vivian.

Bruce had his share of trials, especially with Barbara. She and a date went joyriding and almost injured Dr. Tony Vento, a handsome doctor (who was the son of a cleaning woman, Mrs. Vento) that she wanted to marry. Barbara told Van all about it, and then Van, out of concern, told Bruce about it. Barbara was annoyed with Van and hated her steadily since. Barbara did marry Dr. Vento, but he found her completely immature. Not surprisingly, he divorced her.

Henry offered Bruce a job at his paper company, and accepted it, feeling burned out from teaching at Winfield Academy. There was the beginning of marital problems for the Sterlings. Bruce had an affair with his secretary, a woman named Ginny Crandall (Barbara Barrie), who had been the wife of a teacher at Winfield Academy, and that caused Van to move out of the house and in with her stepson in his apartment. He also saved a girl named Sandy Porter from a rapist named Glenn Hamilton (Bert Convy). He also had an affair with Dr. Jennifer Stark (Jennifer Bassey).

A swindler named Guy Latimer tried to bilk Henry out a patent, and Bruce put an end to that scheme. However, he wasn't through with the Latimers. Guy's maverick son, Rick, had married Barbara, against everyone's best interests. The two produced a son, Hank Latimer, named after his great-grandfather, Henry (Barbara's grandfather). Rick, however, found her to be a very immature girl, and divorced her, taking Hank with him. Barbara then left Rosehill, never to return.

Bruce has worn many hats in Rosehill over the years. Besides his teaching career at Winfield Academy and his job at the Carlson Paper Company, he was also a professor at Rosehill University; the editor of the Rosehill newspaper; and also mayor of the city of Rosehill. He was also a private investigator, but despite all his work and the amount of service to his community over the years, not to mention his affairs, his one true love was his wife, Vanessa. Presumably, the Sterlings still live in Rosehill and have retired happily.

Trivia

Ron Tomme originated the role of Bruce. He wooed Vanessa (played by Bonnie Bartlett at that time), right up to the wedding day. When Van actually walked down the aisle, the next day, she was played by Audrey Peters, who stayed with the role until the show's end in 1980. Since Peters had taken over right after Bartlett quit the show, and had no idea who the characters she was interacting with were, or even knew their names, she called everyone at the reception, "dear".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Parr</span> Queen of England and Ireland from 1543 to 1547

Catherine Parr was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen. She was the first woman to publish in print an original work under her own name in England in the English language.

<i>I Want to Live!</i> 1958 film noir by Robert Wise

I Want to Live! is a 1958 American independent biographical film noir drama film directed by Robert Wise, and starring Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent, and Theodore Bikel. It follows the life of Barbara Graham, a prostitute and habitual criminal, who is convicted of murder and faces capital punishment. The screenplay, written by Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz, was adapted from personal letters written by Graham, in addition to newspaper articles written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Montgomery in the San Francisco Examiner. The film presents a highly fictionalized version of the case, indicating the possibility that Graham may have been innocent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adeliza of Louvain</span> Queen of England from 1121 to 1135

Adeliza of Louvain was Queen of England from 1121 to 1135 as the second wife of King Henry I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasp (character)</span> Marvel comics superheroine

The Wasp is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales to Astonish #44.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Sterling</span> American actress (1921–2004)

Jan Sterling was an American film, television and stage actress. At her most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty (1954) as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Her best performance is often considered to be opposite Kirk Douglas, as the opportunistic wife in Billy Wilder's 1951 Ace in the Hole. Although her career declined during the 1960s, she continued to play occasional television and theatre roles.

<i>Love of Life</i> American television soap opera (1951-1980)

Love of Life is an American soap opera televised on CBS from September 24, 1951, to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow premiered three weeks before Love of Life; he created The Secret Storm two and a half years later.

Kansas Pacific is a 1953 American Cinecolor Western film released by Allied Artists Pictures and directed by Ray Nazarro. It stars Sterling Hayden and Eve Miller. While the film was released in 1953, the title screen clearly states "Copyright MCMLII" (1952). The film offers a fictionalized account of the struggle to build the Kansas Pacific Railway in the early 1860s just prior to the American Civil War. In the film the building of the railroad in Kansas is opposed by sympathizers of the South before it forms the Confederacy.

<i>Mystery Street</i> 1950 film by John Sturges

Mystery Street is a 1950 American black-and-white film noir featuring Ricardo Montalbán, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett, Elsa Lanchester, and Marshall Thompson. Produced by MGM, it was directed by John Sturges with cinematography by John Alton.

<i>The Coming of Bill</i> 1919 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

The Coming of Bill is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse. It was published as Their Mutual Child in the United States on 5 August 1919 by Boni & Liveright, New York, and as The Coming of Bill in the United Kingdom on 1 July 1920 by Herbert Jenkins Ltd, London. The story first appeared in Munsey's Magazine (US) in May 1914 under the title The White Hope.

Vanessa "Van" Dale Raven Sterling, was the main character and the lead heroine in the now-defunct American soap opera Love of Life. She was originally played by Peggy McCay (1951-1955); then by actress Bonnie Bartlett (1955-1959) and Audrey Peters played Vanessa to the show's end.

Rick Latimer was a fictional character on the now cancelled American soap opera Love of Life. The role was originated by Paul Savior, but actor Jerry Lacy is best known in the role.

Hello! Lady Lynn is the second season of the anime series, Lady Lady!!, produced by Toei Animation Co., Ltd. It consists of a total of 36 episodes and was aired on Thursdays from May 12, 1988 to January 26, 1989 on TV Tokyo. Based on the Japanese shōjo manga Lady!!, by Youko Hanabusa.

<i>Divorce American Style</i> 1967 film by Bud Yorkin

Divorce American Style is a 1967 American satirical comedy film directed by Bud Yorkin and starring Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jason Robards, Jean Simmons, and Van Johnson. Norman Lear produced the film and wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Robert Kaufman. It focuses on a married couple who opt for divorce when counseling fails to help them resolve their various problems, and the problems presented to divorced people by alimony. The title is an homage to Divorce Italian Style (1961).

Alice Comyn, Countess of Buchan, Lady Beaumont was a Scottish noblewoman, a member of the powerful Comyn family which supported the Balliols, claimants to the disputed Scottish throne against their rivals, the Bruces. She was the niece of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, to whom she was also heiress, and after his death the Earldom of Buchan was successfully claimed by her husband Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan, by right of his wife. His long struggle to claim her Earldom of Buchan was one of the causes of the Second War of Scottish Independence.

John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer was an English peer, and the stepson of Catherine Parr, later the sixth wife of King Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rolle (died 1706)</span> English landowner

Sir John Rolle, KB, of Stevenstone, Devon, was an English landowner, Sheriff of Devon in 1682 and MP for Barnstaple (1660) and for Devon (1661–1679). The Travel Journal of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642-1723) states of him: "This gentleman is one of the richest in the country, having an estate of six thousand pounds sterling per annum, besides a considerable property in ready money".

Joseph Hanks (1725–1793) was the great-grandfather of United States President Abraham Lincoln. It is generally accepted that Joseph was the father of Lucy Hanks, the mother of Nancy Hanks Lincoln. There is also a theory that Joseph and his wife, Ann ("Nannie"), had a son named James who married Lucy Shipley, sired Nancy Hanks, but died before Lucy and Nancy came to Kentucky.

Lieutenant-Colonel John Lambrick Vivian (1830–1896), Inspector of Militia and Her Majesty's Superintendent of Police and Police Magistrate for St Kitts, West Indies, was an English genealogist and historian. He edited editions of the Heraldic Visitations of Devon and of Cornwall, standard reference works for historians of these two counties. Both contain an extensive pedigree of the Vivian family of Devon and Cornwall, produced largely by his own researches.

References