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*History*

Set in the fictional city of Llanview, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, the show originally concentrated on the wealthy Lord family, the less wealthy Siegels (the first and last attempt to showcase a Jewish family on daytime television) and the middle-class Rileys and Woleks. Since its inception, it has centered on the character of Victoria "Viki" Lord (first played by Gillian Spencer, she has been played since March 1971. As a result of the sexual abuse suffered at the hands of her father, Victor, Viki blocked out the memory his molestation, which led to the development of her Dissociative Identity Disorder, better known as DID. Over the years, Viki has weathered widowhood, rape, divorce, stroke, breast cancer, and heart disease. In the early 1970s, a feud began between Victoria and Dorian Cramer (played by since 1979 by Robin Strasser) when Dorian married Viki's father after she thought Viki was partly responsible in her being fired from Llanview Hospital and eventually losing her license to practice medicine. The show was the first soap opera to have a racially integrated cast. Additionally, it was the first to deal with interracial relationships. The character of Clara "Carla" Hall was an African American woman trying to pass for white. Her mother, who was the maid at the Lord mansion, discovered that her daughter, Clara, was pretending to be a white woman, and eventually persuaded her to reveal her true ethnicity. When Viki was pregnant with Joseph , her husband, Joe Riley was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Joe was forced to name a successor to own and editorialize Victor's former newspaper, The Banner (then, The Banner-Arizona), so he named Clint Buchanan. When naming Clint, he asked him to look after Viki post his passing. After Clint moved to Llanview, his father, Asa decided to move the headquarters of his company, Buchanan Enterprises, to Llanview; Clint's brother, Beauregard, mostly referred to by his nickname, "Bo", soon followed. Clint tried to develop a relationship with Viki following Joe's death, but she turned away still distraught over Joe's passing. They eventually became involved with eachother, married, and had a child, Jessica, who was actually the child of Mitch Lawrence; Mitch previously raped Viki, in which, she blocked out the memory, which led to the return of her alter ego, Niki Smith. Clint and Viki's actual biological child, Natalie, was stolen by Mitch, and raised by Roxanne "Roxy" Balsom. One Life to Live was the first to deal with many issues, including teenage homosexuality. Ryan Phillippe played the role of Billy Douglas, a gay teen dealing with the difficulty of coming out to his parents and friends. The resident bad girl, Marty Saybrooke, accused Andrew Carpenter of having a sexual relationship with Billy. Marty eventually had an epiphany about her ways, but it only came about after she was gang-raped, which was led by Todd Manning, Viki's half brother. Todd hired Nora Hanen to defend him when Marty filed a lawsuit. They nearly won the case when another woman claimed Todd raped her as well. He lost the case and swore revenge upon Marty and Nora. Nora's rivalry with her ex-husband Hank, also a lawyer, provided for more story. Nora and Hank had a daughter, Rachel, who was a law student but ended up becoming addicted to drugs. The storylines during this era were written by Michael Malone, who later formed a partnership with Josh Griffith. Their stint writing the show is generally regarded as the renaissance of the series. Today, Victoria "Viki" Lord still remains the center of One Life to Live.