Coordinates	17°1′23″N72°0′53″N
name	John Irving
birth name	John Wallace Blunt, Jr.
birth date	March 02, 1942
birth place	Exeter, New Hampshire
occupation	novelist, screenwriter
awards	Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
notableworks	''The World According to Garp'', ''A Prayer for Owen Meany''
influences	Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Günter Grass, Thomas Hardy, Robertson Davies, Kurt Vonnegut
website	}}

John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt, Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.

Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to Garp'' in 1978. Some of Irving's novels, such as ''The Cider House Rules'' and ''A Prayer for Owen Meany,'' have been bestsellers and many have been made into movies. Several of Irving's books (''Garp'', ''Meany'', ''A Widow for One Year'') and short stories have been set in and around Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire where Irving grew up as the son of an Exeter faculty member, Colin F.N. Irving (1941), and nephew of another, H. Hamilton "Hammy" Bissell (1929). (Both Irving and Bissell, and other members of the Exeter community, appear somewhat disguised in many of his novels.)

Irving was in the Exeter wrestling program both as a wrestler and as an assistant coach, and wrestling features prominently in his books, stories and life.

He won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1999 for his script ''The Cider House Rules''.

Career

Irving's career began at the age of 26 with the publication of his first novel, ''Setting Free the Bears''. The novel was reasonably well reviewed, but failed to gain a large readership. In the late 1960s, he studied with Kurt Vonnegut at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. His second and third novels, ''The Water-Method Man'' and ''The 158-Pound Marriage'', were similarly received. At around this time, in 1975, Irving accepted a position as Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College.

Frustrated at the lack of promotion his novels were receiving from his first publisher, Random House, Irving offered his fourth novel, ''The World According to Garp'' (1978), to Dutton, which promised him stronger commitment to marketing. The novel became an international bestseller and cultural phenomenon, and was a finalist for the American Book Award (now the National Book Award) for hardcover fiction in 1979 (the award went to Tim O'Brien for ''Going After Cacciato''). ''Garp'' won the National Book Foundation's award for paperback fiction the following year. ''Garp'' was later made into a film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Robin Williams in the title role and Glenn Close as his mother; it garnered several Academy Award nominations, including nominations for Close and John Lithgow. Irving makes a brief cameo in the film as an official in one of Garp's high school wrestling matches.

Though it is not a widely known fact, ''The World According to Garp'' was, along with ''Continental Drift'' by Russell Banks, considered a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1979, which was awarded to ''The Stories of John Cheever''.

''Garp'' transformed Irving from an obscure, academic literary writer to a household name, and his subsequent books were bestsellers. The first was ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1981), which sold well despite mixed reviews from critics. Like ''Garp'', the novel was quickly made into a film, this time directed by Tony Richardson and starring Jodie Foster, Rob Lowe, and Beau Bridges. "Interior Space," a short story published in "Fiction" magazine in 1980, was given an O. Henry Award (and thus collected in its eponymous anthology from 1981).

In 1985, Irving published ''The Cider House Rules''. An epic set in a Maine orphanage, the novel's central topic is abortion. Many drew parallels between the novel and Charles Dickens's ''Oliver Twist''. Irving's next novel was ''A Prayer for Owen Meany'', another New England family epic about religion set in a New England boarding school. The novel was influenced by ''The Tin Drum'' by Günter Grass, and the plot contains further allusions to ''The Scarlet Letter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the works of Dickens. In ''Owen Meany,'' Irving for the first time examined the consequences of the Vietnam War—particularly mandatory conscription, which Irving avoided because he was a married father when of age for the draft. ''Owen Meany'' became Irving's best selling book since ''Garp'', and is now a frequent feature on high school English reading lists.

Irving returned to Random House for his next book, ''A Son of the Circus'' (1995). Arguably his most complicated and difficult book, and a departure from many of the themes and location settings in his previous novels, it was dismissed by critics but became a national bestseller on the strength of Irving's reputation for fashioning literate, engrossing page-turners. Irving returned in 1998 with ''A Widow for One Year'', which was named a ''New York Times'' Notable Book.

Irving has had four novels reach number one on the bestseller list of ''The New York Times'': ''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (September 27, 1981), which stayed number one for seven weeks, and was in the top 15 for over 27 weeks, ''The Cider House Rules'' (June 16, 1985), ''A Widow for One Year'' (June 14, 1998), and ''The Fourth Hand'' (July 29, 2001).

In 1999, after nearly ten years in development, Irving's screenplay for ''The Cider House Rules'' was made into a film directed by Lasse Hallström, starring Michael Caine, Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, and Delroy Lindo. Irving also has a cameo appearance as the disapproving stationmaster. The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and earned Irving an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Soon after, Irving wrote ''My Movie Business'', a memoir about his involvement in creating the film version of ''The Cider House Rules''. After its publication, Irving appeared on the CBC Television program ''Hot Type'' to promote the book. During the interview, Irving criticized bestselling American author Tom Wolfe, saying Wolfe “can’t write,” and that his writing makes Irving gag. Wolfe appeared on ''Hot Type'' later that year, calling Irving, Norman Mailer and John Updike his “three stooges” who were panicked by his newest novel, ''A Man in Full''.

When ''The Fourth Hand'' was published in 2001 it became a bestseller. ''A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound'', a children's story originally included in ''A Widow for One Year'', was published as a book with illustrations by Tatjana Hauptmann in 2004. Irving's novel, ''Until I Find You'', was released on July 12, 2005.

On June 28, 2005, ''The New York Times'' published an article revealing that ''Until I Find You'' contains two specifically personal elements about his life that he has never before discussed publicly: his sexual abuse at age 11 by an older woman, and the recent entrance in his life of his biological father's family.

In his most recent novel, ''Last Night in Twisted River'', published in 2009, Irving's central character is a novelist with "a career that teasingly follows Irving's own," as one journalist put it (e.g., including the aforementioned reference to Irving's own mandatory conscription).

Other projects

Since the publication of ''Garp'' made him independently wealthy, Irving has been able to concentrate solely on fiction writing as a vocation, sporadically accepting short-term teaching positions (including one at his alma mater, the Iowa Writers' Workshop) and serving as an assistant coach on his sons' high school wrestling teams. (Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as an “Outstanding American” in 1992.) In addition to his novels, he has also published ''Trying to Save Piggy Sneed'', a collection of his writings including a brief memoir and unpublished short fiction, ''My Movie Business'', an account of the protracted process of bringing ''The Cider House Rules'' to the big screen, and ''The Imaginary Girlfriend'', a short memoir focusing on writing and wrestling. In 2010, Irving revealed that he and Tod "Kip" Williams, director and writer of ''The Door in the Floor'', are co-writing a screenplay for an adaptation of ''The Fourth Hand''.

Recent

In recent years, his three most highly regarded novels, ''The World According to Garp'', ''The Cider House Rules'', and ''A Prayer for Owen Meany'', have been published in Modern Library editions. ''Owen Meany'' was adapted into the film ''Simon Birch'' (Irving required that the title and character names be changed because the screenplay's story was "markedly different" from that of the novel; Irving is on record as having enjoyed the film, however). In 2004, a portion of ''A Widow for One Year'' was adapted into ''The Door in the Floor'', starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger.

In a New York Magazine interview in 2009, Irving stated that he has begun work on a new novel, which will be his thirteenth. It is based, in part, on a speech from a play by Shakespeare, "Richard II." The novel is titled, "In One Person." In Fall 2010, in "The Vermont Quarterly," "The Daily Free Press," "The Republican" and "The Harvard Crimson," transcripts of Irving's Q&As; while making appearances at several New England colleges revealed the following: "In One Person" will have a first-person view point, Irving's first such narrative since ''A Prayer For Owen Meany'' (Irving decided to change the first-person narrative of ''Until I Find You'' to third person less than a year before publication); "In One Person" will feature a 60 year-old, bisexual protagonist named William, looking back on his life in the 1950s and '60s; William falls in love with a transgender, a female librarian, and spends time studying in Vienna, where he falls in love with an American girl trying to become a professional opera singer. The novel will share a similar theme (and concern) with ''The World According to Garp'', which was, in part, says Irving, about, "People who hate you for your sexual differences."

Simon and Schuster recently confirmed that they will publish Irving's next two novels, and that "In One Person" will publish by summer, 2012. (In a recent press release, Irving's new publisher—taking over from Random House—stated that another book is tentatively scheduled for 2015).

Recurring themes

Recurring themes, symbols or character types in Irving's work include New England, prostitutes, wrestling, Vienna, Iowa, bears, deadly accidents, a main character and/or supporting characters who are writers of some sort (novelists, journalists, children's book authors, diarists, family historians, etc.), a main character dealing with an absent or unknown parent, a main character who is involved in film making, sexual relationships between young men and older women and other variations in sexual relations. Severing of body parts (tongue, finger, other) appears in several novels. Oddly, although they only play a significant part (symbolically and narratively) in three of Irving's novels ("Bears, "Garp" and "Hotel"), and matter-of-fact part in two others, most interviewers and readers seem to think that bears are a commonly recurring metaphor in his novels, as are large breasts. In fact, the role of the writer (novelist, essayist, journalist, diarist, historian, etc.) is the most oft-used symbol and/or character-type in John Irving's oeuvre. Broadly-speaking, Irving's novels tend to involve characters in the recent past (particularly, the twentieth-century), often outsiders (particularly in terms of sexuality, politics, and..sexual politics), and their attempts to find their way in life.

Title !! New England !! Prostitutes !! Wrestling !! Vienna !! Bears !! Deadly accident !! Absent Parent !! Film-making / Screen Writing !! Writers !! Sexual variations
''Setting Free the Bears''		|
''The Water-Method Man''	|									adultery
''The 158-Pound Marriage''	|									swinging, ménage à trois, adultery
''The World According to Garp''	|									asexualism, rape, pedophilia, transsexualism, swinging, adultery
''The Hotel New Hampshire''	|									Rape#Gang_rape>gang rape, older woman/younger man, incest, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality
''The Cider House Rules''	|									buggery, lesbianism, adultery, rape, incest, bestiality
''A Prayer for Owen Meany''	|									asexualism, incestuous desires
''A Son of the Circus''	|									transsexualism, homosexuality
''A Widow for One Year''	|									older woman/younger man, rape, lesbianism
''The Fourth Hand''	|									older woman/younger man
''Until I Find You''	|									older woman/younger man, lesbianism, pedophilia
''Last Night in Twisted River''	|									older woman/younger man, Ménage à trois

Irving has often used the literary technique of a story within a story.

Bibliography

''Setting Free the Bears'' (1968)

''The Water-Method Man'' (1972)

''The 158-Pound Marriage'' (1974)

''The World According to Garp'' (1978)

''The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1981)

''The Cider House Rules'' (1985)

''A Prayer for Owen Meany'' (1989)

''A Son of the Circus'' (1994)

''The Imaginary Girlfriend'' (non-fiction, 1995)

''Trying to Save Piggy Sneed'' (collection, 1996)

''A Widow for One Year'' (1998)

''My Movie Business'' (non-fiction, 1999)

''The Cider House Rules: A Screenplay'' (1999)

''The Fourth Hand'' (2001)

''A Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound'' (2004)

''Until I Find You'' (2005)

''Last Night in Twisted River'' (2009)

''In One Person'' (2012)

Personal life

In 1964 Irving married Shyla Leary, whom he had met at Harvard in 1963 while taking a summer course in German, before traveling to Vienna, Austria with IES Abroad. They had two sons, Colin and Brendan, and divorced in the early 1980s. In 1987 he married Janet Turnbull, who had been his publisher at Bantam-Seal Books and is now one of his literary agents. They have a teenage son, Everett. Irving has homes in Vermont, Toronto, and Pointe au Baril.

Irving's biological father, whom he never met, had been a pilot in the Army Air Forces and during World War II was shot down over Burma in July 1943, but survived (an incident incorporated into the novel ''The Cider House Rules''). Irving did not find out about his father's heroism until 1981.

Irving was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, and subsequently had a radical prostatectomy.

In 2010 Irving confirmed that he is a second cousin of Amy Bishop, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who is facing murder charges after allegedly shooting six colleagues, killing three, during a department meeting on February 12.

Quotes

"The building of the architecture of a novel—the craft of it—is something I never tire of."

"In this way, in increments both measurable and not, our childhood is stolen from us—not always in one momentous event but often in a series of small robberies, which add up to the same loss."

"I spend about two to three months planning the path of the book in my head before I write the last sentence of the novel. From there I work back to the beginning. From the day I think of the last sentence to the book's publication date, not more than a semicolon has changed."

[on his process for writing novels:] "I can't imagine what the first sentence is, I can't imagine where I want the reader to enter the story, if I don't know where the reader is going to leave the story. So once I know what the last thing the reader hears is, I can work my way backward, like following a roadmap in reverse."

"A reader told me recently, in London, said that ‘well, I read that you write the last sentence first, so I always read your last sentence first.’ And I said, ‘oh, no, you're not supposed to do that.’"

"Ted Seabrooke, my wrestling coach, had a kind of Nietzschean effect on me in terms of not just his estimation of my limited abilities, but his decidedly philosophical stance about how to conduct your life, what you should do to compensate for your limitations. This was essential to me, both as a student—and not a good one—and as a wrestler who was not a natural athlete but who had found something he loved."

"When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened."

"I feel more a part of the wrestling community than I feel I belong to the community of arts and letters. Why? Because wrestling requires even more dedication than writing because wrestling represents the most difficult and rewarding objective that I have ever dedicated myself to; because wrestling and wrestling coaches are among the most disciplined and self-sacrificing people I have ever known."

"As a child, when something is denied you—when there is a subject that is never spoken of—you pretend it's for the best. But when I was denied information about someone as important as my actual father, I compensated for this loss by inventing him."

"The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable—some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control."

"When I feel like being a director, I write a novel."

"Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel."

(What he calls his incredibly popular novel "The World According to Garp"): "An artfully-disguised soap opera."

(In reference to Vermont's Act 60): "This is Marxism. It's leveling everything by decimating what works ... It's that vindictive 'We've suffered, and now we're going to take money from your kid and watch you squirm'... There's a minority which is an open target in this country which no one protects, and that's rich people"

"I don't go out of my way to find or invent things that are bizarre. It just seems to me that I notice more and more how commonplace the bizarre is."

"I write repeatedly—against my will—of those things I fear most happening. Losing a loved one, losing a parent, losing a child. I'm in terror of losing a child. It's never happened to me, but I am clearly compelled to write about it over and over again, and in a way I think, psychologically at least, this says more about me autobiographically as a novelist than the fact that Danny Angel goes to the Iowa Writers Workshop and has Kurt Vonnegut as a teacher, which I also did."

Further reading

''Book'' Magazine, July/August 2001 ("John Irving Wrestles Fate" by Dorman T. Shindler)

''Pages'' Magazine, July/August 2005 ("The Creative Crucible" by Dorman T. Shindler)

References

External links

Literary Encyclopedia

John Irving Is God (information, including large bibliography)

Becoming John Irving

The New York Times — Featured Author: John Irving

John Irving interviewed by Jonathan Derbyshire on New Statesman about his book "Last Night in Twisted River"

Category:1942 births Category:Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:American feminist writers Category:American novelists Category:American screenwriters Category:Living people Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:Mount Holyoke College faculty Category:National Book Award winners Category:People from Exeter, New Hampshire Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Category:Writers from New Hampshire Category:University of Iowa alumni Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Category:University of Pittsburgh people Category:21st-century novelists Category:Postmodern writers

an:John Irving cs:John Irving da:John Irving de:John Irving et:John Irving es:John Irving fr:John Irving hi:जाह्न अर्विंग it:John Irving he:ג'ון אירווינג lt:John Irving hu:John Irving nl:John Irving ja:ジョン・アーヴィング no:John Irving pl:John Irving pt:John Irving ro:John Irving ru:Ирвинг, Джон Уинслоу sk:John Irving sh:John Irving fi:John Irving sv:John Irving zh:約翰·艾文

Coordinates	17°1′23″N72°0′53″N
Name	Ernie Manouse
Birth date	September 01, 1969
Residence	Houston, TX
Nationality	American
Known for	InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
Employer	HoustonPBS
Occupation	Television Host
Website	ernieontv.com }}

Ernie Manouse (born September 1, 1969 in Binghamton, New York) is an American television host, radio personality, writer and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous KATIE awards and regional Emmy Awards

Early life

Manouse was born Ernest David Manouse in Binghamton, New York. He is of Greek descent. He attended Loyola University Chicago and studied to be a music video director. While in college, he guest-hosted Outlook, a Chicago-based radio show, with a classmate. Their radio presentation received such a positive reaction that Outlook hired them permanently.

Career

Manouse began his career in television with NBC Network News, then moved into radio withWLS and WLUW in Chicago, and then back to TV at HoustonPBS. Ernie has since worked his way through many aspects of talk shows – from producing sex therapy call-in radio shows ''Sex Talk'' and ''The Phyllis Levy Show'' to hosting his own brand of chat and magazine programs. He can also be seen on PBS Stations across the country hosting numerous pledge and entertainment specials, including three of public television’s most successful pledge events with financial guru Suze Orman.

In 1996, Ernie moved to Houston, Texas and spent six years hosting and producing the daily magazine program ''WeekNight Edition'' which evolved into ''WeekDAY'' and became Houston’s most celebrated local television program, earning multiple Emmy and Houston Press Club awards. Manouse shared with Matthew Brawley the 2006 Katie Award for "Outstanding Interview/Talk Show" for the Southern region. In October 2002, Manouse helped to create and produce the local prime time magazine show The Connection, which he hosted for two years. In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse. This award winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country, and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as Patti LuPone and Jamie Foxx. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them, and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion. Another area of broadcasting that Manouse has explored is late night talk, and on February 9, 2005, Manouse launched The After Party, combining arts coverage and light-hearted interviews reminiscent of Johnny Carson and Jack Parr. The show received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, garnering the coveted Emmy nomination for "Best Entertainment/Variety program" in its first season. The program ended its run on November 15, 2006 after over 50 episodes.

In 2006, Manouse produced and anchored A Conversation on RACE for HoustonPBS. He also produced the political Red, White & Blue and moderated the 2002 Houston Mayoral Debates, the 2008 Texas Supreme Court Judicial Debate, and the 2008 Texas US Senate Debate. In 2009, Manouse became the anchor and producer of Houston 8, a weekly current events discussion series. He also hosted the 2009 HoustonPBS Spelling Bee, the largest regional qualifying spelling bee for the national Scripps Spelling Bee.

After seven nominations for the Lone Star (Texas) regional chapter of the Emmy Awards, Manouse won three Emmys in 2009. He won for Best Information Series and Best On-Air Talent. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Houston Spelling Bee in the category of Best Event Coverage. Manouse is also a voice actor. He has done the English voiceovers for over a dozen Japanese anime videos produced by ADV Films including ''Gilgamesh'', ''Le Chevalier D'Eon'' and Cromartie High School.

Community involvement

Manouse is an active member of the Houston LGBT community. Manouse has hosted community events such as the U.S. Military Ball, and The Cattle Baron’s Ball. He serves on the advisory board of both Stages Repertory Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He served as Vice President of Public Affiars for the Greater Houston United Services Organization (USO). He was also vice president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

References

External links

USO Houston

InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse

Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Ernie Manouse's website

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:LGBT television personalities Category:Loyola University Chicago alumni Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American television talk show hosts Category:People from Binghamton, New York

Coordinates	17°1′23″N72°0′53″N
name	Billy Abbott
series	The Young and the Restless
portrayer	David Tom(1999–2002)Ryan Brown(2002–2003)Scott Seymour(2006)Billy Miller(2008–2011)
first	July 7, 1993
years	1993–2003, 2006, 2008–2011
last	August 4, 2011
cause	Left town
creator	William J. Bell
image1	Image:BillyMiller.jpg
image1 size	270px
caption1	Billy Miller as Billy Abbott (2008)
image2	Image:Billyabbott2001.jpg
caption2	David Tom as Billy Abbott (2001)
image3	Image:Billyabbott2003.jpg
caption3	Ryan Brown as Billy Abbott (2003)
nickname	Billy, Bill
alias	Sonny Crawford
gender	Male
born	July 7
occupation	Former Owner, Editor and CEO of Restless Style Magazine
residence	Hong Kong, China
parents	John Abbott, Sr. Jill Abbott Fenmore
siblings	Jack Abbott (paternal half-brother)Ashley Abbott McCall(legal paternal half-sister)Traci Abbott Connolly (paternal half-sister) Phillip Chancellor III(maternal half-brother)
spouse	Mackenzie Browning(annulled) [2003]Chloe Mitchell(divorced) [2009] Victoria Abbott[2010, first time, invalid] [2010–present, separated, second time]
romances	Brittany MarsinoAmber MooreLily WintersMackenzie BrowningSharon NewmanHeather WilliamsSkye LockhartVictoria Newman
children	Cordelia "Delia" Abbott (daughter, with Chloe) Unnamed child (sex unknown, with Victoria, deceased) Lucy Abbott (adopted daughter, with Victoria) Eve Howard (step-daughter, deceased) Reed Hellstrom (step-son)
grandparents	Robert Abbott(paternal grandfather, deceased)Neil Fenmore(maternal grandfather, deceased)William Foster(adoptive; deceased)Elizabeth Foster(adoptive; deceased)
aunts/uncles	Ivan AbbottLauren Fenmore BaldwinSnapper Foster(adoptive)Greg Foster(adoptive)
cousins	Scott Grainger, Jr.Fenmore BaldwinJennifer Foster(adoptive)Chuck Roulland(adoptive)
nieces/nephews	Keemo Volien AbbottColleen Carlton(deceased)Chance ChancellorKyle Jenkins AbbottAbby NewmanNoah Newman(by marriage)Summer Newman(by marriage)Faith Newman(by marriage)
relatives	Nikki Newman(mother-in-law)Victor Newman(father-in-law)Nicholas Newman(brother-in-law)Tucker McCall(brother-in-law)
color	darkred
color text	white }}

William Foster "Billy" Abbott is a fictional character in the American soap opera ''The Young and the Restless''. He is portrayed by Billy Miller as of September 19, 2008; other actors that have played the part include a set of child actors, and three contract actors: David Tom, Ryan Brown and Scott Seymour. Miller was already a soap veteran with the role he had as Richard Novak on All My Children.

Conception and casting

Billy was born on-screen in July 1993 and grew up naturally until 1999, when the producers decided to revise the birth date to 1983. Up to 1999, the character was played by child actors, first by a set of twins named Katrin and Margret Ingimarsdottir,then by Brett Sherman, Shane Silver, Blake Pontello, Josh Michael Rose and Scotty Leavenworth. When the character was SORASed, the character was first played by David Tom from July 26, 1999 to August 15, 2002. Tom opted not to resign his contract in 2002, but agreed to stay until August when Billy was written out. The character was absent from the show from August to December, even though he was supposed to return much sooner, but apparently the casting department had trouble finding a suitable replacement for the original actor. In 2000, Tom won a Daytime Emmy Award for playing Billy.

The character was recast with Ryan Brown, who first aired on December 26, 2002. During the actor's portrayal, rumors started floating around about the actor being dismissed, but when the actor was actually fired, the producers said it was storyline dictated. Ryan last aired as Billy on July 16, 2003.

In 2006, a newcomer named Scott Seymour was reported to be taking over the role, and he first aired on August 15, 2006, but the actor was fired after only three months, and last aired on November 9, 2006. In 2008, Billy Miller was cast as the fourth contract actor to play the role. He first aired September 19, 2008.

In 2011, Billy Miller announced that he would like to leave the series by the end of the summer. However, after months of contract negotiations, Billy agreed to one more year on the show.

Storyline

Teenage Years and Relationship with Mackenzie

Billy Abbott is born in 1993. Before his birth John Abbott wants his wife Jill Foster Abbott to abort the baby she is carrying because he thinks he is too old to be a father. Jill chooses to have her baby anyway. John learns to love the child and is forced to fight for him when his marriage to Jill falls apart. John takes Billy to New York City. When they return in 1999, Billy is a teenager. He attends Walnut Grove Academy and surrounds himself with friends and enemies, including a rich girl named Brittany Hodges, party boy J.T. Hellstrom, Mackenzie Browning, Raul Guittierez and Rianna Miner.

To make his place in school, Billy brags to J.T. and Brittany about partying and is invited to a party that results in him getting alcohol poisoning. Raul comes to Billy's rescue. Billy has a rocky friendship with Mackenzie, but they begin to feel romantic feelings developing when she keeps by his bedside while he recovers. At the Junior Prom, they are both crowned King and Queen and realize they have feelings for each other. Billy's mother Jill is not pleased to learn that Billy is hanging out with Katherine Chancellor's granddaughter, so Billy and Mackenzie are forced to meet in secret. Brittany wants Billy for herself so she tricks Mackenzie into thinking she and Billy are having sex. J.T. eventually spilled that it was all Brittany's plan.

Jack Abbott traps Billy and Mackenzie in an elevator together and they finally sort out their feelings. Jill has to cope with the fact that Mackenzie is better for Billy than Brittany is. At the time, Billy also tries to give Colleen Carlton advice on how to handle her life in Genoa City. Mac and Billy stay together until Billy feels that they should move their relationship to a higher level by having sex, but Mac is not ready for it. They break up, but stay good friends. Billy comes to Mac's rescue when her abusive stepfather, Ralph, tries to molest her. He is attacked by Ralph, but Larry saves him.

Billy decides to do something different with his life so he decides to go to Louisiana to help Brock Reynolds build houses for the poor. Jill is not happy with the idea. Billy returns after a few months and reunites with Mac. They decide to share a loft with Raul and Brittany, who are in a relationship at the time. They plan to get married. After their wedding ceremony, they are both shocked to learn that Billy's mother Jill is actually Kay's daughter, meaning Billy and Mac are first cousins. The marriage between the two is annulled, and they both leave town.

Return, Relationships with Lily and Chloe, and Feud with Family

Billy returns to Genoa City in August 2006 for his father John's funeral. He begins to flirt with a waitress named Jana Hawkes, making Jana's boyfriend, Kevin Fisher, jealous. When it is revealed that Billy has developed an internet gambling problem, Jack relocates him to Hong Kong.

In September 2008, Billy makes a surprising return at Daniel Romalotti's art showing, when it is revealed that Daniel's ex-girlfriend Amber Moore's new boyfriend "Liam" is actually Billy. Billy teams up with his niece, Colleen, to ensure that Daniel and Amber stay apart, but Colleen's plan falls through. Billy is then revealed to be the father of Chloe Mitchell's unborn child. Prior to Billy's arrival, Chloe married Billy's half-brother Cane. Billy is also disappointed to hear that Cane got a CEO position at Jabot before him, and he confronts Jill about it. Billy teams up with the Abbott side of his family and the Bardwells to take over Jabot. The take over is successful, but it causes a rift between Billy and Cane. Billy pursues Cane's former fiancee, Lily Winters. As part of pursuing Lily, Billy created an online alias named Sonny so he could get closer to her, which he later revealed to her, and she reluctantly started dating him.

On Valentine's Day, Billy and Lily go to the Abbott cabin, where a pregnant Chloe follows them and walks in on Billy telling Lily the truth about the paternity of Chloe's baby. Chloe's water breaks and she was forced to give birth to the baby there with the help of Billy and Lily. Chloe is taken to the hospital where Billy watches as Cane acts as the baby's father. Billy gets drunk and has sex with Jack's soon-to-be ex-wife, Sharon. The following morning Cane learns the truth about the paternity of the baby and decided to fight for it. Lily dumps Billy after he confessed to fathering Chloe's baby. After the truth came out Cane refused to allow Billy to be a father, but Billy consulted a lawyer about his paternal options. After he brought a toy to Delia, Billy was punched by Cane and intended to marry Chloe Mitchell and get his paternal rights.

On April 2, just as soon as Billy and Chloe were pronounced husband and wife, Mackenzie walked into the Chancellor Mansion marking her return to Genoa City. Billy appeared shocked as he had just married Chloe, and in another part of the house it was revealed that Katherine and Jill were not related. Billy then starts flirting with Mac which does not make his wife Chloe very happy. Later on, Billy admits to Chloe that he slept with Sharon and possibly impregnated her, much to Chloe's (and Jack's) dismay and disgust. After telling Chloe, she moves back in with the Chancellors. After admitting her feelings for him, Billy and Mac began dating. They haven't told anyone they have gotten back together. Chloe attempted to make Mac and Chance a couple. Finally, Mac told Chloe she and Billy were seeing each other. Hurt Chloe agreed to divorce Billy only if he took custody of Delia but Billy said Delia belonged with her mother. Chloe started flirting with Billy's nephew, Chance Chancellor, who later asks Chloe out on a date.

Billy also became very angry at his mother, Jill Abbott, for welcoming Cane into the family after he deceived everyone by pretending to be Phillip Chancellor III. Billy confronted Jill about making a secret deal with Victor Newman to make Billy CEO of Jabot Cosmetics when Jill believed Cane was the better choice. Billy exposed Victor's plan to kick Colleen Carlton off the Newman Board of Directors and replace her with Ashley Abbott. This created major tension between Billy and Victor over Ashley's mental health, due to Adam's schemes. Billy told Jack Abbott of his concern for Ashley and the Abbott brothers attempted to take Ashely away from the Newman Ranch but failed. However, Jack Abbott told Billy that the fight to save Ashley's sanity has just started. In the September 4 episode he went to Victor Newman's house and takes his sister, Ashley Abbott Newman out of the Newman Ranch.

Billy is devastated when his favorite niece, Colleen's, heart is donated to Victor Newman, who Billy blames for Colleen's death. Following Colleen's death, Billy resigns from Jabot and purchases Restless Style from Nick and Phyllis Newman. He publishes stories about Victor's role in Colleen's death and one about Victoria Newman's affair with Deacon Sharpe. The stories anger the Newman family and Billy's siblings. His girlfriend, Mackenzie, breaks up with him over his behavior with the magazine and his negative reaction to her news that she plans to act as the surrogate for Lily and Cane Ashby. Billy continues alienating his family until he receives a visit from his dead father, John Abbott, who shows him how badly his future will turn out if he continues on the same path. After the visit from his father, Billy attempts to make changes by altering his attitude towards Cane and spending time with Mackenzie and Delia. Becoming suspicious of Adam Wilson, Billy plans to write an article to expose Adam, and is teaming up with Rafe and Heather, the two people Adam betrayed. Along with digging up dirt, he has sex with Heather.

Marriage to Victoria Newman and Adopting Lucy Abbott

After ringing in the New Year, Billy and Victoria, the sworn enemies, are slowly creeping together. They continuously bond over somewhat similar family strife, including Victoria's brother, Nick's baby, Faith. When Victoria is in the courthouse for business reasons along with Billy , he kisses her. Victoria afterward slaps him and runs out. After the paternity of Faith Newman is revealed, Billy admits his feelings for her and they kiss. Victoria claims the kiss should have never happened. Billy agrees, and they depart. The next day Victoria shows up at Billy's trailer; they admit strong feelings for each other, and then they go in and have sex.

While Victoria is on the verge of being denied bail, Billy attempts to save her, citing that they were together and that he's her alibi. Meanwhile, Vicki tells him to shut up and denies everything he says. Billy goes to see her after the fiasco. They argue and part ways. Vicki's charges were dropped as the DA set his sights on two more likely suspects, her brother Nicholas and her father, Victor.

Victoria and Billy cross paths while at the 'Newman-Abbott Meeting' held by Sharon and Phyllis, attempting to rally support against the District Attorney in the form of a lawsuit. Later, Vicki apologizes for the argument while she was in lockup. She admits that she enjoys spending time with him. Victoria stops Billy from kissing her, saying not to do it in public, despite the cat being out of the bag. He asks if she's playing hard to get, and she responds that she is.

Billy convinces Victoria to hop on a plane to Jamaica with him. They crash a wedding party and start drinking. While intoxicated, a Jamaican priest marries them and they are officially declared husband and wife. They are greeted at the airport on their return home by Victor and Jack, who do not realize that the couple are now married and are horrified to find them together.

Thanks to Billy's niece, Abby Newman, everyone, especially Chloe and J.T., finds out about the marriage and are furious with both Billy and Victoria for what they perceive as a lack of concern and consideration for both Delia and Victoria's son, Reed. However, by July, Billy and Victoria finally make their relationship official.

In August 2010, Victoria ends her relationship with Billy, who later tells Jack and Ashley that he blames Victoria's father, Victor, for the breakup. Billy and Victoria makeup after Adam Wilson's trial, and they get back together. They get tattoos together and, thanks to Billy's ex-stepmother, Gloria Bardwell, get a house together, which they hope to share with Reed and Delia. They also get engaged, and Victoria finds out that she's pregnant, which has Billy happy and her parents Victor and Nikki in complete shock.

Billy and Victoria get married on September 8, 2010 despite Victor's attempts to stop the wedding by having Victoria arrested for bribing a foreign official, which Victor later took the blame for which resulted in Victoria getting out of jail and being with Billy. Victoria suffered a miscarriage on September 27, 2010 due to abdominal pains caused by an argument with Victor. Billy then goes to Victor's house and yells at him about the miscarriage and tells him to stay away from Victoria and his family.

On January 3, 2011, Victoria tells Billy that, according to her doctor, she may not be able to have any more children. Billy is heartbroken over the news & angry at Victoria for not letting him go with her for support. After arguing for a bit, they make up. Billy, now concerned with Victoria grieving over not being able to have any more children, gets in contact with the black market for a baby. Daisy Carter, who recently gave birth, left her newborn daughter at a church. A couple found the baby & gave it to Primrose DeVille who showed her customer, Billy, the baby. Billy paid $2 million for the price of happiness, and on January 14, 2011 she gave him the baby. Victoria was shocked & surprised to see the baby when Billy came home with the newborn. After going through a series of names to find one that was retro but non-traditional, they finally decided on Lucy, because it seemed as though the baby was going to have red hair, like Lucille Ball, and her trademark character from the 1950s/1960s, I Love Lucy; and the fact that they love her.

Aftermath of Custody Over Lucy and Delia

The truth regarding the adoption of Lucy Abbott comes out that the parents are actually Daniel Romalotti and Daisy Carter. Their nanny, Jana Hawkes was actually behind uncovering the whole scheme and ends up kidnapping Lucy and Delia Abbott in hopes of reuniting with her ex-husband, Kevin Fisher. Billy's ex-wife, Chloe Mitchell blames Billy and Victoria for the whole thing, and she reminds them that they were warned of Jana's scheming ways. Soon, Billy is forced to come clean regarding the adoption. Daniel Romalotti also has to come clean with the fact he knew all along that Lucy was his daughter. Although Daniel signs his parental rights away to Billy and Victoria, his mother, Phyllis fears that Daniel could be making a huge mistake and wants Lucy to know about her and Daniel. In addition, Phyllis wants visitation rights once a month. Despite some concerns, Billy and Victoria agree. Suddenly, the police and child services came into the house and demand information about the adoption of Lucy. Apparently, Chloe filed a custody lawsuit against Billy for Delia and mentioned how Lucy was illegally adopted. The police and Child Services grab Lucy away from a sobbing Victoria. Although Billy is terribly sorry for what has happened, Victoria ends up kicking Billy out for the night. Lucy passes into Daniel's custody, but knowing he's not ready to be a father and that Billy and Victoria will provide for her, Daniel signs away his parental rights along with Daisy's. Her rights were terminated since she abandoned Lucy right after birth. However, Phyllis hated the fact that Daniel gave up his daughter, and she claimed Billy and Victoria were not 'fit parents'. She brought Daisy Carter back to Genoa City and made an court date to get Daisy's rights back. She did so and on June 17, 2011, after showing the court and judge how much Daisy has 'changed', and the judge overruled the adoption, and Lucy is given to Phyllis, while Daisy goes back to jail. Billy and Victoria go back to their home without Lucy, and Billy decides to leave Victoria on his own accord after seeing how upset she is with him. Billy still wants to fight for Lucy, but Victoria says that no one will give Lucy back to them now that everyone knows that Billy bought their daughter off the black market from Primrose. Billy starts drinking and gambling again, even though Jack is supposed to be keeping an eye on him. He is drinking in Jimmy's Bar, when a blonde girl tries to seduce him. She gives him a ride back to where he is staying and starts to strip for him, but Billy pushes her away and tells her that he is married, just as Victoria walks in on the two of them. The girl tries to tell Victoria that is was all her fault that she tried to seduce Billy, but Victoria is still extremely upset at him. Billy tells her that the only thing he wants is to go back home with her.

Now, Billy is faced with another custody hearing, this time against Chloe over their daughter, Delia. The hearing is not going in his favor until Victoria comes unexpectedly to testify on his behalf. The judge is greatly impressed with her plea for Billy when she tells the court that he is an excellent father. The judge tells Chloe and Billy that he will make his ruling the following morning. That night, Billy goes to a bar where another attractive woman tries to make the moves on him. She tells him that since he is wealthy enough to throw his money away on drinks, he surely can afford a night with her. Uninterested, Billy throws a hundred dollar bill at her for a ride home, after she asks him if he can give her one. As he is leaving the bar, Billy is arrested for soliciting a prostitute. In reality, he did no such thing, but Victor framed him. He is thrown in jail and is late for the ruling in the custody hearing, and he loses custody of Delia, likely because of his stint in jail the night before. After hearing the decision, Billy runs home to Victoria, where they have a painful embrace and subsequent conversation. Victoria says that she wants to reconcile with him, but he needs to show her that he cares.

Heartbroken that he lost both of his daughters and his wife, Billy goes to Jimmy's Bar where he sees the new bartender, Cane, who tries to help set Billy straight. Cane tells Billy that he knows from experience what it is like to lose your children (Mattie and Charlie) and your wife (Lily Ashby), and he does not want the same thing to happen to Billy. After arguing, Cane gives in and tells Billy to just give up, and begins to pour him shots of tequila, leading the audience to believe that Billy will get drunk. At Jabot's launch party, Jack receives news that Billy was in a car accident. After Jack, Ashley and Jill see that Billy is badly bruised, yet alive in the hospital, Victoria visits him at his bedside. The doctors confirm that Billy was not drinking at the time of the accident, revealing that he never drank the shots that Cane poured him. While Victoria believes he is sedated from medication, she talks to Billy about how she misses her old life with him, when they used to have fun and laugh with each other and their children. Now, she is not laughing anymore and they do not have their children, and she cannot handle all of Billy's mistakes on her own. She kisses him on the forehead and leaves, and after the door closes behind her, Billy opens his eyes, revealing that he heard every word that she said.

Billy tries to leave the hospital and call a cab, telling the nurse that it is his birthday. Jack and Ashley arrive to take him home instead. They go to Ashley and Tucker's house for a small party with the four of them. Ashley runs into Victoria, who gives her a card to give to Billy because she didn't want him to think she forgot his birthday. When Ashley gives him the card, he hopes Victoria will come to the party, but she never shows. Ashley and Jack give Billy their father's ring as a gift, saying that it always made them feel as though their father was superman. Ashley tells Billy he is a great dad, and he is just like their father. Billy leaves the party and walks over to Victoria's house, but decides not to knock on the door after he peeks in the window and sees her playing happily with Reed. While walking through the park, Delia runs up to Billy, and he isn't aware that she is playing in the park with one of her friends when she finds him. Chloe gets a call that Billy is at the park and comes with Kevin to take Delia home. When Victoria and Abby show up at the end of his encounter with Chloe, Billy tells Victoria to stay out of his problems because all he wants to do is have a drink and check his bets. Victoria cannot understand why Billy has changed so drastically, but he tells her that he was always like this, and she doesn't like him now like she did before.

Billy continues to troll around town from bar to bar, drinking his problems away. He goes to the Athletic Club for a drink, where most of the Newman family currently is, discussing the disappearance of Nikki Newman due to Diane Jenkins' schemes. Billy sits down at the bar while talking on his cell phone, unknowingly sitting next to Victor Newman. When he realizes who is next to him, Victor begins to yell at Billy and tells him to stay away from his daughter. Billy retorts that ever since Victoria started getting closer to Victor, she's gone back to being uptight and unhappy like her old self. Jack interferes to hold Billy back from fighting Victor, and Michael Baldwin has to hold Victor back from, in turn, fighting Billy. The police arrive on the seen and arrest Billy, and he is thrown in jail. His bail is not able to be posted until the next day. When he is able to leave, he assumes that Jack is the one that bailed him out, but he is surprised to find Victoria there. She gives him a ride to the Athletic Club and asks him if he will stay with her so they could talk, but Billy wants nothing to do with her and tells her to leave him alone.

Billy goes back home to collect the rest of his belongings, and Victoria finds him there. She tells him that they are worse apart than they are together, and Victoria leans in to kiss Billy, who says that what they are doing is wrong. Still, he gives in to her, and on August 4, 2011, they make love. Afterwards, Victoria goes to get herself and Billy some coffee from the kitchen, and when she comes back Billy is gone. Later, she gets a phone call from Billy's cell phone, but the person on the other line works at an airport in Hong Kong, where Billy has left his phone. Billy made it a point to e-mail Jack and Ashely to let them know where he was, but he neglected to inform Victoria, who is left beside herself. When Chloe finds out where Billy is, she further backs up her decision to take full custody of Delia because Billy is an unfit parent. Victoria and Abby both blame Chloe for running him out of town, while Chloe blames Victoria for breaking his heart. Billy sends Delia a jade bracelet from Hong Kong, and Chloe is unsure of how to give it to her. In the end, she tells Delia that her daddy went away on business for a while, and he loves her very much. Then, she lets her have the bracelet.

References

External links

Billy's profile at soapcentral.com

Category:The Young and the Restless characters Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1993 Category:Fictional business executives Category:Fictional gamblers

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