| Steven Carrington | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Series information | |
| Series | Dynasty, The Colbys, The Reunion |
| First appearance | "Oil" (1981) |
| Last appearance | "The Reunion" (1991) |
| Portrayed by | Al Corley & Jack Coleman |
| Relationships | |
|
Married to |
Sammy Jo Deen (1982) |
|
Romanced with |
Ted Dinard (1980-1981) |
| Family links | |
|
Child |
|
|
Parents |
|
|
Siblings |
Adam Carrington |
|
Relatives |
Ben Carrington (uncle) |
|
Cousins |
|
| Occupation | |
|
Present |
• Environmental lobbyist (90's) |
|
Past |
• Laborer in Blaisdel-Lankershim's rig (1981) |
Steven Daniel was born on June 6, 1958. Growing up, he got very attached to his mother, and unlike Fallon, he didn't care much for the wealth, the forty eight room mansion, or all the servants that were there just for him. Getting older, he found himself different than the other boys. After a while he understood and accepted it; he was gay. This was a fact that Blake, as many others, couldn't tolerate. Father and son grew apart, and Steven turned out quiet and shy, quite different from his outgoing sister.
He graduated from Princeton, and lived in New York for a while, before he came back for his father's wedding. Steven was the only one who accepted Krystle in the beginning, which she appreciated, and the two of them got really close. There was still a wall between Steven and Blake, a wall which Krystle many times tried to break down, and in the end she finally succeeded. But Steven's sexuality turned out to be more complicated. In 1981, he fell in love with Sammy Jo Dean, with whom he married and got a son; Danny Carrington. In 1982, he left Denver for the Java Sea, Indonesia. He was working on an oil rig there for a while, but after an explosion he disappeared and was assumed dead.
A number of months later, however, Blake found him in a hospital in Singapore. His face had gone through plastic surgery after the heavy burning, but he was in good shape. He returned home to Denver and got a divorce from Sammy Jo. Still, they got back together again as friends and parents later (see below for details). But Steven did not give up women. His next marriage was to Claudia Blaisdel. They got married in 1983. But this marriage also fell apart, mainly because of unfaithfulness, and ended in 1985. After this, Steven never remarried. In addition to the women, he had a number of relationships with other men too, like Ted Dinard, Chris Deegan, Luke Fuller and Bart Fallmont, and it was the relationship with Bart who eventually turned out to be the most serious one.
Steven got involved in the family business and worked both with ColbyCo and Denver-Carrington. When Blake ran for governor election in 1987, Steven was the executive at Denver-Carrington for a while. He left Denver in 1988 for no special reason, but returned in 1991 (The Reunion).
Unlike his brother, Steven was a kind, fair and loving gentleman.
Season One[]
As Dynasty begins on January 12, 1981, Carrington heir Steven returns to Denver from New York City to attend the wedding of his father, powerful oil tycoon Blake Carrington. Though the details are at first unclear, father and son are somewhat estranged, and their reunion is an awkward one. The Carrington family dynamic is soon established; thoughtful and sensitive Steven resists his father's pressure to step into his role as future leader of Blake's empire, while his spoiled sister Fallon, better suited to follow in Blake's footsteps, is underestimated by—and considered little more than a trophy to—father Blake. Steven is devoted to and loved by Fallon, who sees the differences between her brother and Blake but does not understand why they cannot be reconciled.
Steven, knowing Fallon's devotion to Blake, is hesitant to open up to her. Steven befriends Krystle, Blake's former secretary and future wife, who is adjusting to life at the mansion despite chilly receptions from Fallon and the Carrington household staff. At the end of the three-hour premiere episode "Oil" Steven finally confronts his father, criticizing Blake's capitalistic values and seemingly-amoral business practices. Blake explodes, revealing the secret of which Steven thought his father was unaware: Blake is disgusted by Steven's homosexuality, and his refusal to "conform" sets father and son at odds for some time.
To Blake's chagrin, Steven goes to work for Walter Lankershim, a small-time oilman and rival to Blake, and his new business partner Matthew Blaisdel, Steven's old friend and Blake's former employee, who had previously been involved with Krystle.
Though Walter brings Steven to a brothel in a fatherly attempt to resolve his sexual confusion, he and Matthew are unfazed by Steven's supposed preference for men, and Matthew even defends him against the homophobic glares of other oil rig workers. Steven finds a kindred spirit in Matthew's fragile wife Claudia, who is trying to put her life back together after a mental breakdown, and they secretly kiss in "The Chauffeur Tells a Secret." Steven is framed for an accident at Walter's oil rig and fired. He is offered his job back when his innocence is later proven, but declines; after beginning an affair with Claudia in "The Necklace", Steven decides to work for Blake at Denver-Carrington. Despite Fallon's machinations to keep him away, Steven's ex-lover Ted Dinard appears, hoping to reconcile.
Steven spends the night with Ted, soon deciding he must break it off with both Ted and Claudia. As Steven and Ted are saying their final goodbyes in "The Separation", Blake enters to find them in a chaste embrace. Blake, whose discomfort with Steven's sexuality manifests itself in rage, angrily pushes the two men apart. Ted falls backward and hits his head; the injury proves fatal and Blake is arrested and charged with murder. Angry and upset, Steven testifies that Ted's death had been the result of malicious intent, which infuriates Blake and Fallon. A veiled surprise witness for the prosecution appears in the season finale "The Testimony" and Fallon gasps in recognition: "Oh my God, that's my mother!"
Season Two[]
In the second season premiere "Enter Alexis", the former Alexis Carrington testifies that ex-husband Blake has a violent temper, which proves damaging to his case. Blake is convicted for Ted's death but does not serve any jail time. Fallon is cold toward Alexis and Blake is openly hostile; at odds with his father, Steven is drawn to the long-absent mother he hardly remembers. He is seduced by the apparent devotion of Alexis, whom Blake had exiled from Denver and her children's lives after he had discovered her affair with another man. Steven soon gets a taste of his mother's poison in "Alexis' Secret": according to Alexis, Fallon is not Blake's daughter at all, and she later indicates that Fallon's father is in fact Blake's longtime friend and business rival, Cecil Colby.
The secret eating at him, a drunken Steven falls, hits his head and nearly drowns in the pool. Steven and Blake put aside their differences, and a convalescing Steven meets Krystle's visiting niece Sammy Jo in "Reconciliation".
When Alexis suggests that, as Blake's only heir, Steven should get married, he considers the idea and approaches Claudia about resuming their relationship. Steven and Sammy Jo begin dating, although he is unable at first to make love to her. Steven proposes to Claudia; still in love with Matthew, she declines, driving Steven back to Sammy Jo. They elope in the 1982 episode "Steven and Sammy Jo Marry." Blake and Alexis do not approve of the match; the marriage is short-lived, however, as Alexis pays Sammy Jo to leave Steven and Denver in "The Baby."
Fallon is devastated at the revelation that Blake is not her father, but a blood test proves their biological connection in "The Gun" as Steven follows Sammy Jo to Hollywood. On his way home to Denver in "The Shakedown," Steven meets an attractive male stranger who subsequently tries to blackmail him; Steven beats him up, and is arrested. In the April 28, 1982 episode "The Two Princes," Steven confronts the entire family, berating them for their intolerance and elitist values, and stating for all to hear that he is gay and unashamed. Vowing to live his own life on his own terms, he leaves the mansion.
Season Three[]
With the series now lacking a Carrington, Alexis publicly confesses a dark secret from her and Blake's past in the 1982 third season opener "The Plea": their firstborn son, Adam, had been kidnapped as a baby and had never been returned. A young lawyer named Michael Torrance soon comes to Denver, armed with items from Adam's baby carriage and claiming to be the missing Carrington heir. A silver rattle convinces Alexis, but Blake is suspicious and dismissive; by the time he begins to come around, the damage is done and Adam is subtly hostile. In the eighth episode of the season, "La Mirage," Fallon finally receives a letter from Steven, who is working on an oil rig in the Java Sea. Jack Coleman debuts as Steven (his face unseen) in the December 1, 1982 episode "Acapulco" as the oil rig explodes. Blake and Alexis rush to Indonesia to search for him, but Steven is presumed dead; Blake refuses to believe it.
In "Samantha," Sammy Jo reappears with a baby, whom she claims is her son by Steven.
Announcing her desire to seek fame as a model in New York City in the January 5, 1983 episode "Danny," Sammy Jo hopes that Blake and Krystle will take baby Danny off her hands. Meanwhile, Steven is alive in a Singapore hospital, his face bandaged after extensive cosmetic surgery. Alexis wants custody of Danny herself but is soon distracted by greedy Adam's machinations. Several episodes later in "The Mirror," Steven's bandages are removed.
He considers letting his family continue to believe that he is dead, but Steven's doctor contacts Blake. Blake recognizes his son despite the surgery, but Steven refuses to return to Denver. He reconsiders when Blake tells him about Danny. Steven makes an emotional return to the Carrington mansion in "Fathers and Sons," reuniting with his loved ones and meeting Adam and Danny for the first time. Alexis admits that she had paid Sammy Jo to leave Denver and suggests that Blake had bribed her to leave Danny behind; Steven visits Sammy Jo in New York in "The Downstairs Bride" but returns alone.
Steven finds himself in the middle of his parents' fight over a potential merger of their companies initiated by a plotting Alexis. Blake is dismayed when Steven accepts a job offer from Alexis and makes known his plan to move out of the mansion with Danny. In the March 30, 1983 episode "The Dinner" Steven visits Claudia, who had returned to the sanitarium after another breakdown during his absence. Tensions between Blake and Steven escalate further thanks to Alexis, who manages to keep her Steven away from a dinner planned by Krystle to mend fences between father and son. In the third season finale "The Cabin," Blake learns that Steven is living with his attorney, Chris Deegan. Suspecting that the men are more than friends, Blake decides to sue Steven for custody of Danny.
Season Four[]
When Steven learns of his father's plans, he and Blake come to blows. Chris represents Steven at the custody trial. Blake argues that a homosexual cannot be a good parent, while Steven argues that Blake, as a convicted murderer, is worse. Alexis testifies that Blake paid off Sammy Jo to leave the baby in Denver; while Sammy Jo testifies that Steven is promiscuous. Claudia, who has recently been released from a sanitarium, tells Steven that she has a plan to win the custody trial. Steven and Claudia fly to Reno and are married. In episode 67, "Tender Comrades", they are awarded custody of Danny. In episode 72, Steven and Blake reconcile and by episode 74 Steven and Claudia have moved back into the mansion.
Steven is concerned about Claudia's fragile emotional state when she starts receiving flowers (violets), gifts and phone calls from her missing (and presumed dead) husband, Matthew. In their investigation, Steven and Claudia travel to South America and visit the site where Matthew and Lindsay crashed. When Steven finds Dex Dexter with violets at ColbyCo, he suspects that Dex is responsible. Eventually they learn that the calls and gifts were from Morgan Hess, a private investigator with ties to Alexis. However it is Sammy Jo who is paying Hess to harass the couple. She returns to Denver and announces that she will fight for custody of Danny.
Season Five[]
Sammy Jo kidnaps Danny, and demands $30,000/month for his return. However Claudia convinces Adam to help get Danny back, and Sammy Jo returns to New York, defeated.
Meanwhile, Steven is distressed by his mother's arrest for the murder of Mark Jennings, Krystle's ex-husband. After an anonymous tip to the DA, Steven is called as a witness where he testifies that he saw his mother push Mark off her balcony. Alexis is furious and disowns Steven. Her lover, Dex, discovers that disgraced former Congressman Neal McVane, disguised as Alexis, is the real killer. After her acquittal, Steven and his mother reconcile and he returns to work at ColbyCo.
In episode 91, Steven and his family learn that Fallon has been killed in a plane crash with her lover, Peter de Vilbis. In episode 96, Steven learns that he has another sister, Amanda, born after his parents divorced and raised by Alexis' cousin. Although Alexis denies it at first, eventually she admits that Amanda is Blake's daughter.
At work, Steven meets a gay co-worker named Luke Fuller. Although Luke is attracted to Steven, their relationship is platonic at first. Claudia, however, is troubled by the growing friendship between the two men, and eventually has an extramarital affair with Dean Caldwell. When Steven learns of the affair, he sleeps with Luke.
In episode 105, "Triangles" Steven decides to end the affair and reconcile with Claudia. However, by episode 110 Steven tells Claudia that while he loves her, he also loves Luke. Claudia, prompted by Adam, flies to Mexico to divorce Steven in episode 112. Steven's affair with Luke strains his relationship with Blake, especially when Steven invites Luke to be his escort to Amanda's wedding to Prince Michael of Moldavia.
Season Six[]
Steven is heartbroken when Luke is killed in the terrorist attack at Amanda's wedding. After returning to Denver, he grows closer to Sammy Jo who has reconciled with Krystle. Steven is also needed to help Blake, who is having serious health problems. In episode 132, a frightened Sammy Jo confesses to Steven that she's been involved with a plot to kidnap Krystle and replace her with a look-alike. She has learned that her co-conspirators have been poisoning Blake. Steven saves his father from faux-Krystle while Sammy Jo frees Krystle from her captors.
After Blake recovers he announces plans to put Steven on his board of directors. As part of his job, Steven must work with state senator Bart Fallmont who does not agree with Denver-Carrington's business plans. While working together, Bart and Steven develop a romantic interest towards each other but decide not to pursue it as Bart has not come out as a homosexual. Adam, with Denver-Carrington's interests in mind, leaks to the press that Bart is a closeted gay man. In the midst of the scandal, Bart is removed from the state senate. Bart accuses Steven of betraying him for Denver-Carrington, but Steven knows the true culprit is Adam. Meanwhile, Sammy Jo and Clay, Bart's brother, are engaged. In episode 146, Steven worries that Sammy Jo may fight for custody again.
Season Seven[]
In episode 155, Sammy Jo taunts Steven with threats of a custody battle. In episode 157, Steven is distressed to learn that Danny is demonstrating troubling behavior at school. Sammy Jo continues to threaten Steven, but by episode 163 her quickie marriage to Clay is in trouble and two episodes later it is annulled. Sammy Jo and Steven agree to put aside their differences for Danny's benefit, and in episode 166 agree to live together platonically in an attempt to give Danny a normal home life. In episode 171, however, they give into romantic feelings and make love. Steven, once again, is conflicted over his emotions and sexuality. In episode 172, a frustrated Steven goes recklessly horseback riding, and is injured when he is thrown from his horse. He decides to move out of Sammy Jo's ranch and leaves Danny with his mother. He announces that he will leave Denver after Adam's wedding. Unfortunately, a not-so-dead Matthew Blaisdel and his native South American henchmen crash the wedding and take the family hostage.
Season Eight[]
After several days in captivity, Steven manages to overpower Matthew and stabs him to death in the second episode of the season, "The Siege - Part 2". The incident leaves him emotionally scarred and he is encouraged to seek psychiatric help. Deciding to remain in Denver, he takes over Blake's football team; when Sammy Jo becomes romantically involved with quarterback Josh Harris, Steven is outraged. He orders a medical screening when Josh's playing becomes erratic, and Josh, a cocaine addict, quits the team. Josh proposes to Sammy Jo, and when she refuses he overdoses and dies. Blake, who has been impressed with Steven's handling of the football team, asks him to run Denver-Carrington while Blake campaigns for governor.
Steven's management style causes great conflict between him, Adam, Fallon, and Dex; Steven also confronts Jeff, telling him to stay out of Sammy Jo's life. However, Steven bands together with his family when they learn that Alexis' new husband, Sean Rowan, is plotting to destroy the Carringtons. Struggling with the uncertainty in his life, Steven decides that he needs to leave Denver and regroup. In the March 30, 1988 season cliffhanger "Colorado Roulette", Steven pens a letter to Blake explaining his need for distance and leaves Denver. Adam subsequently burns the letter before Blake finds or reads it.
The Reunion[]
By the time of the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion, Steven is an environmental lobbyist in Washington, D.C. and is in a long-term relationship with Bart Fallmont, who returned to Denver during the three-year period between the series finale and the miniseries. Steven and Blake finally reconcile when Blake formally accepts Steven and Bart's committed relationship.
Trivia[]
- While being the only character that had an explanation to his change of face, he is the only one where the original actor return to play the character.
- He is the first of the Carringtons children to be recast. First being played by Al Corley, then Jack Coleman and then again by Al Corley for The Reunion.
Photo Gallery[]
