Mark Toland
| Mark Toland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Life to Livecharacter | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Portrayed by | Tommy Lee Jones | ||||||
| Duration | 1971–75 | ||||||
| First appearance | February 1971 | ||||||
| Last appearance | May 1975 | ||||||
| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||
| Introduced by | Doris Quinlan | ||||||
| |||||||
Mark Tolandis a fictional character from the American soap operaOne Life to Live.He was portrayed byTommy Lee Jones(credited as "Tom Lee Jones" )[1]from February 1971 until the character's onscreen death in 1975.[2]
Character background
[edit]A young and up-and-coming doctor, Mark is first shown as a suave and gregarious bachelor with great prospects. Upon informing show producers he would permanently vacate the role in 1975, Jones said in a 1994 interview toEntertainment Weeklythat Mark morphed into "an A-one nutboy",[1]becoming a con artist and sidekick toLlanviewtown pariahDorian Lord(Nancy Pinkerton).
Storyline
[edit]1971–74
[edit]
After anervous breakdownfollowing a devastating breakup, the sororal niece of protagonistJoe Riley(Lee Patterson),Julie Siegel(Lee Warwick), meets Llanview newbieresident physicianDr. Mark Toland ofTexasin February 1971.[3]Mark and Julie soon marry months later on May 5,[4]but their marriage is soon strained as an emotionally unreceptive Julie rebuffs her husband's sexual advances.[5]
Mark and Julie seekcouples therapythrough 1972 with no avail in the bedroom. By May 1973, Dr. Toland begins to seek romantic solace in newly arrivedDr. Dorian Cramer(Nancy Pinkerton).[6][7]Her emotionally unstable sisterMelinda(Pat Pearcy), jealous of Mark and Dorian's affair, sought everything she could to break the two apart, eventually stabbing Mark's hand and leading Dorian toinstitutionalizeher sister in 1974.[8][9]
In 1974, while romancing one another in the workplace at Llanview Hospital, Dorian and Mark engage in a tense argument which leads Dorian to erroneously mark the chart ofterminally illpatient and beloved friend toDr. Larry Wolek(Michael Storm),Rachel Wilson(Nancy Barrett). The mistake causes Mark to prescribe an overdosage of Rachel's medicine, leading to herdesired death.Suspicion is soon cast on Larry, who is arrested for Rachel's suspectedmercy killing,no one aware of Dorian and Mark's involvement. Both Mark and Dorian agreed to keep quiet on their complicity in the patient death.[10][11]
1974–75
[edit]Wrought with grief and guilt, Dorian advises Mark of her decision to inform hospital chief-of-staffDr. Jim Craig(Nat Polen) of her complicity in Rachel's death. The news frightens Mark who, afraid of criminalmanslaughtercharges and revocation of his medical license, attempts to flee as Dorian chases him down a flight of stairs. Dorian clumsily tumbles down behind Mark, leading to a concussion which causes her to fall into a brief coma. Determined, Tom continues on his way and escapes to South America.[12]Eventually, Dorian emerges from her coma and testifies to police, exonerating Larry but resulting herself being charged withmedical malpracticeby the Llanview Hospital board of directors. Dorian is suspended by a near unanimous vote in December 1974,[13]save for board memberVictoria "Viki" Lord Riley(Erika Slezak), who Dorian mistakenly assumes was the deciding vote—and on whom she swears revenge.
Mark continues on his getaway toSan Franciscowhile a jobless Dorian in Llanview goes aboutcourtingailing Llanview media magnate and Viki's fatherVictor Lord(Shepperd Strudwick), in part to spite Viki for the termination she believed the media heiress caused. After moving into theLlanfair,Dorian uncovers news that newly arrivedTony Harris(George Reinholt) was Victor's long-lost son and desired male heir. Concurrently, Mark incidentally meets Viki's maternal auntDorothy Randolph,who divulges her son Tony Harris to be Victor's first-born child.[14]
Mark plans a return to Llanview to blackmail Victor for information on his long-sought male heir, but is shot dead in May 1975 by a jilted woman who mistakes him to be her cheating husband,[12][15]leaving Julie (Leonie Norton)widowed.
Reception
[edit]The pairing of Mark and Julie and subsequent storyline of marriage difficulty and infidelity gained such a regular following among viewers and critics it led producers to make Jones a featured lead[16]on the series oppositeLee Patterson(Joe Riley),Michael Storm(Larry Wolek), andErika Slezak(Victoria Lord).
References
[edit]- ^abMarill, Alvin (1999).The Films of Tommy Lee Jones.New York City:Citadel Press.p. 13.ISBN978-0-8065-1952-4.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^Schemering, Christopher(1985).The Soap Opera Encyclopedia.New York City:Ballantine Books.p. 164.ISBN978-0345324597.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 3. February 1971.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 4. May 5, 1971.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^"One Life to Liverecap (1971) ".ABC.Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 17,2013.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 5. May 1973.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^Staff writer (2012)."Recognize Me?".Soapnet.Disney-ABC.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 7. August 1974.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^"One Life to Liverecap (1973, Part 2) ".ABC.Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 19,2013.
- ^Waggett, Gerry (2008).The One Life to Live 40th Anniversary Trivia Book.New York City:Hyperion Books.p. 80.ISBN9781401323097.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^"One Life to Liverecap (1974) ".ABC.Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 19,2013.
- ^ab"One Life to Liverecap (1974, Part 2) ".ABC.Archived fromthe originalon April 23, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 19,2013.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 7. December 1974.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 7. April 1975.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^One Life to Live.Season 7. May 1975.American Broadcasting Company.
- ^Rosenbaum, Linda (1972)."C'mon, Tom... Put On A Happy Face: Tom Lee Jones rarely smiles – and here's why..."After Noon TV(January 1972).Retrieved17 January2013.
