Roger Thorpe first came to Springfield as an employee of wealthy business man Stanley Norris. Stanley was Holly Norris's father and he thought that the slick and ambitious Roger would do anything to climb the ladder to success so he gave Roger the mission to bring naive Holly into line with her stocks. Roger was eager to do this and he began wooing Holly. Holly found Roger quite irresistable and fell for his smooth line. During a tumultuous murder investigation of her father, Holly even found herself in New York with Roger and losing her virginity. However, as much as Holly wanted Roger, he was too busy eyeing Holly's brother's (Ken Norris) wife, Janet. Roger went so far as to even force his way into Janet's room one night, however, she managed to fend him off. Unfortunately, Holly, found saw Roger coming out of Janet's apartment and in a dazed, shock, she ran into the street and got hit by a car. When Holly relayed the truth about Roger's aggressive intentions to Ken, he beat Roger up and Roger's father, Adam Thorpe berated his son for his adolescent behavior. Disgraced, Roger left Springfield and began a series of both failed business ventures in Texas and affairs with numerous women. Meanwhile, Holly, still smarting from her embarrassing infatuation with Roger, began to fall for her doctor, Ed Bauer. She eventually got Ed to marry her, albeit while he drunk and had no clue what was happening.
Holly soon became somewhat bored with her marriage and as soon as Roger returned to Springfiled she approached him. Though Roger was trying to prove he had changed, he fell for Holly's charms and they conceived a child, Christina. At first, Holly was horrified and tried to pawn the child off as Ed's while Roger began to see a lot of Peggy Fletcher. After getting into severe trouble with loan sharks who had Roger beaten up, Ed's brother Mike and Holly bailed Roger out and Roger decided to marry Peggy. However, when Christina came down with a rare blood disease which required a transfusion, Holly had to come clean with Ed about her indiscretion and Roger donated the blood. The revelation cost Holly her marriage to Ed, enraged Ed and embittered him towards Roger, and nearly cost Roger Peggy. However, Peggy did get over it and did agree to go ahead and marry Roger in a small ceremony with only Bert Bauer and Adam Thorpe in attendance.
Things became extremely complicated with the arrival of nurse Rita Stapleton. She immdeiately caught Ed Bauer's eye, but she seemed to have some sort of a secret that she was keeping Unfortunately, for her, the secret would come out as she was on trial for a murder. Her alibi for the night she was supposed to have committed the crime in Abileene Texas, she was actually with Roger Thorpe. When Roger came forward and testified to this in court it shook things up considerably for Rita and Ed and Peggy, finally tired of Roger's lies, divorced him and moved with her son to Boise, Idaho. Once again, with his life in shambles, Roger ha to build himself back up and did so by working for Alan Spaulding when Spaulding Enterprises moved their corporate headquarters to Springfield. Roger became Alan's right hand man despite the fierce competition of Dean Blackford who would at onepoint go as far as to run Roger down with his car. Howevr, as Roger continued improving his position at Spaulding, he embarked upon a seemingly paranoid capaign against Ed Bauer. Apparently, Roger was diagnosed as being sterile, meaning Christina was to be his only child, and Roger was insanely jealous that Holly allowed Chrissy to continue seeing Ed. At first, Roger seduced Ed's vulnerable half sister, Hillary, but he soon became much more dangerous. One night, Roger approached Rita, who was now engaged to Ed, and demanded that she pay him back for saving her at the trial and also demeaned Ed. When Rita refused to have sex with him, Roger threw to the floor and raped her! Rita kept quiet about Roger's assault, afraid that it might cost her Ed, meanwhile Roger continued sleeping with Hillary up unitl the incident with Dean Blackford. While recovering in the hospital, Holly came to see Roger. Convinced that marrying Holly would keep him close to Christina, Roger got Holly to do so.
At first Holly and Roger's marriage was very passionate, but Holly soon became disenchanted with Roger and refused to have sex with him. This incensed Roger, but he became even worse after Hillary finally decided to no longer be the "other" woman. Convinced that Holly was holding out on him for Ed, Roger brutally raped Holly. A confused and battered Holly turned to Ed for help and Ed suggested that she bring charges against Roger. With Mike Bauer as her attorney, Holly did just that. An astonished Roger used anew hotshot lawyer, Ross Marler to defend him. Ross did a wonderful job, depicting Holly as the villain, not Roger, however, Rita, who had felt horrible about keeping quiet, came forward. Her testimony that Roger had raped her also, was enough to convict Roger, but he was let on bail. Like a mad dog, Roger was threatening everyone and began to beat up on Ed. Holly came accross the two and while experiencing flashbacks of the rape, shot Roger three times. Yet this was not the end of Roger. Roger woke up at Cedars and forced Alan to come to his aid (Roger knew all about some highly illegal dealings of Alan). Having no choice, Alan had Roger flown to his own private clinic in Puerto Rico. Adam Thorpe followed and was saddened as Doctor Gonzalo Moreno informed him that his son had died.
Mike Bauer was investigating Roger's supposed death and was convinced Alan was involved. He was especially curious when an IV unit turned up at Alan's villa in St. Lucia and when he heard that Alan had been recieving calls on his private line from Puerto Rico. The truth was that Roger had survived Holly's shooting and had left Puerto Rico for Paris. It was there he met plastic surgeon Renee DuBois. Roger thought she could help him by altering his face so that he could return to Springfield and get Christina. Renee, like many other women before and since fell for Roger's charms and believed him to be a decent man. However, Roger soon did make way back to Springfield and shocked Alan with his audacious scheme to kidnap Chirstina from a recently released from prison Holly and Ed. Roger disguised himself as an elderly, bearded, European professor and took up residence at the Reardon boarding house. Roger palnting a listening device at Barbara Thorpe's (Holly's mother and Adam's wife) house. Roger'sw first attempt to abduct Chrissie took place at a carnival sponsored by Cedars where he dressed up like a clown in an effort to get close to his daughter. When Chrissie was called away by Ed, Roger was dissappointed, but was very concerned when Rita noticed him and realized who the clown was. Roger pulled a gun on her and chased her though a hll of mirros, finally catching her and then dragging her up to a deserted cabin. Roger tied Rita, who was pregnant with Ed's child to a bed. When Roger heard over a police scanner that the police were closing in on his hideout, he fled. Rita went into labor and while thrashing to free herself, knocked over a lantern, setting the cabin on fire. Ed and the police arrived and saved Rita, but in the ordeal, she miscarried the baby. Meanwhile, in Paris Renne DuBois was stunned to see that Roger had become an international fugitive. She went to Springfield in order to help catch Roger. Unfortunately, for her this would prove a fatal decision for Roger overheard that Ed had flown Holly and Chrissie out of the country, but he wasn't sure where. Certain Renee knew he confronted her inher hotel room. When she refused to tell him Chrissie's whereabouts, Roger used his scarf to try and choke her to death, Renee escaped, but fell down a stairwell. She went into a coma and susequently died. Ed and Mike both vowed to bring Roger in and were dismayed when Nola Readron came in with Roger's listening device. Certain that the old professor was Roger, Ed and Mike flew down to Santo Domingo where Holly and Chrissy were. But Roger had already gottent there and in another bungled kidnapping attempt wound up dragging Holly through the jungles of the Dominican Republic. Ed and Mike were in hot pursuit and eventually caught up with Roger. Cornered, Roger shot Ed in the shoulder, but while struggling with Mike, Ed regained enough composure to shoot Roger. Roger nearly fell off the side of an enormous cliff, but a wounded Ed, valiantly tried to save the life of the man who had basically killed his child, raped his wife, and tried to murder him. Despite Ed's efforts, Roger's hand slipped, and he fell to his second presummmed death.
Instead of dying when he fell from the cliff in Santo Domingo, Roger bounced and was rescued by the CIA who inreturn for saving his life got Roger to become an agent. During his time in the agency, Roger traveled all across Europe and the Mid East. He had an affair with a fellow agent, Laura Jessup which produced a son, Hart, whom Roger wouldn't learn about until years later. He also raised a girl named Tangie Hill while in Switzerland a couple of years. Roger was apparently (from stories he told at various times) shot while fleeing the KGB in Vienna and killed a double agen in Berlin. Roger's latest CIA assignment sent him to a carribean island which, ironically, is where a plane crashed with Fletcher Reade and Alan's sister Alexandra Spaulding on board.
After a vicious storm separated Alex and Fletch, Roger took Alex into his underground fortress and began wooing her intellectually while hiding his face behing a phantom of the opera like mas and calling himself Adam Malik. Roger was very concerned when he learned of Chrissie's (now using her middle name Blake) impending wedding to Alan's son Philip. He was even more concerned after learning of Blake's near suicide. After Philip and Balke arrived on his island to save Alex, Roger lagged behind, but after seeing his beloved Chrissie, he couldn't help but go back to Springfield after his island paradise was destroyed by the army who invaded it looking for him, despite the warnings of his superioir, a man named Vaughn. An elated Alex hid Roger in the Spaulding wine cellar when he showed up, unfortunately, after an ugly confrontation between Alan and Blake, Roger intervened and Alan recognized who the man behind the mask was. In an effort to flush Roger out of hiding, Alan set up a series of "accidents" aimed to look like Roger's doing, among which was a bomb that Roger managed to get to and dismantle. The climax of this situation occured at Blake and Philip's weddin where Alan (who was faking paralysis) approached a still masked Roger with a gun and told him that he had to reveal himself to the crown otherwise a bomb would go off killing everyone in the church. Roger lunged at Alan asnd as the two struggled, the gun went off, hitting Philip in mid vow. Roger grabbed onto a vine and as he was swinging into the sanctuary below, was shot by Alan. As Ed was attending to Roger's wounds, Roger lost the fake accent he had been using and a petrified Holly immediately recognized his voice. Ed peeled off Roger's mask and he was revealed to everyone present. Holly told Ed to kill Roger, Ed did entertain the notion of letting Roger die on his operating table, but he went ahead with the surgery. Later, as Roger was recuperating, Holly sneaked into his room and attempted to smother him with a pillow. Roger sat up, but didn't tell the security what Holly had tried to do. Blake was so shocked that her long presummed father was actually alive, she fainted. Meanwhile, Alan told the police that Roger had shot Philip and as Roger was about to be transferred to a maximum security facility, he escaped, bent on proving Alan's guilt. Blake tracked Roger down and they had a brief father-daughter interlude before Ed called the police, it was at this point Roger was revealed to be a CIA agent. Philip and roger cooked up a scheme to expose Alan. One night, Roger walked into the Spaulding Mansion and proceeded to "shoot" both Alan Michael and Philip. A determined Alan jumped from his wheelchair and tried to stop Roger, but his jumping up was enough to prove he had set up the accidents and shot Philip. Alan was sentenced to jail time.
Roger soon began an affair with Josh Lewis's former wife, Sonni and almost got her to move in with him after he had been exhonerated from his previous crimes due to his service in the CIA. Roger began to try and reestablish a relationship with Blake and also tried to make inroads with Holly. They wound up in several awkward positions, one after they were in a car wreak together, the other when Holly pushed Roger off a bridge, into the river. Meanwhile, Alan plotted to get of jail and came up with an elaborate plot to extort $1 million from Philip. However, Roger got wise to the scheme and wound up with the money himself. Roger's next move towards redemption or at least towards aquisition of power came when Alexandra returned to Springfield. In an effort to hurt Alan, Philip named Roger Vice President of Spaulding Enterprises and Roger knew the power that Alex wielded.
Roger eventually seduced Alex while they were on a business trip in Saudi Arabia. While having an affair with Alex, Roger set up a series of bogus poker games with powerful Spaulding exec Henry Chamberlain. When Henry lost, he handed over all his stock as collateral until he could pay off the debt, but Roger held on to the stock even after Henry got the cash. A devastated Henry planned to commit suicide, but Billy Lewis and Henry's daughter, Vanessa barged in on him right after Henry tied the noose around his neck and stopped him. But Roger wasn't done trying to get more. He embarked upon a developement scheme along Springfield's waterfront. He planned to erect a huge skyscraper and name it after Blake. He hired a thug named Scully to do his dealing, when Harley Cooper (who owned a trinket shop) refused to sell, Scully tied her up and set fire to her store. The fire quickly spread and though Harley and a couple of her friends were saved, Harley's grandfather, Pops Cooper did not survive. Concerned about being linked to the lethal fire, Roger arranged a meeting with Scully, bringing a gun. Fletcher, who had become jealous of Roger's relationship with Alex caught the two together and tried to get Scully to implicate Roger. Scully got nervous and pulled a gun on Fletch. Roger "saved" the day by shooting Scully. Before dying, Scully confessed to setting the fire but didn't say he was working for Roger. Soon afterward, Roger and Alex arranged a marriage with an intricate prenuptial arrangement hinging upon Roger not being unfaithful, should he cheat, he would lose everything. After the marriage, Alex made Roger the President of Spaulding Enterprises. It was in thisposition that Roger would wage war with Lewis Oil and Billy Lewis who vowed to get Roger's goat. Little did Billy know that his own housekeeper, Ruth Price (who had been left homeless after the fire) had a deed which proved the land Roger was building his skyscraper on didn't belong to Spaulding, it was hers! She intended to give the deed to Billy, but Roger found out first. He confronted her and she had a heart attack. Roger then stole the lease and had Ruth moved to his apartment where she later died. Roger flew the body out of state to produce it to a suspicious Billy.
A new phase of Roger's life was about to begin when Billy sent his daughter, Mindy to spy on Roger. Both were equally charmed by each other, though at first Roger strayed from his previous philandering days. A crazy Reva picked Roger up one night and Roger took nude photos of her with the intention of blackmailing Billy. Too bad Reva got the lease Roger had stolen from Ruth. Finally, the night Roger's building was about to open to the public, Billy and Vanessa got Roger distracted and he wound up burning the Reva photos instead of the lease. Billy then produced the lease and kicked Roger out of the builiding he had erected. An infuriated Alex began to question her wisdom in marrying Roger and threw him out of her house until further notice. At this point Roger gave in to his desire and he seduced Mindy. Mindy fell for Roger very hard. However, Alex was intent on getting rid of Roger. To test his loyalty she approached Holly with a plan for Holly to seduce Roger (not knowing of Rog's indiscretion with Mindy)! When Blake's new husband, Alan Michael was kidnapped while on their honeymoon in Costa Verde, Roger and Holly came to comfort their daughter. Roger rescued Alan Michael and threatened the culprit, Gary Swanson, one of Blake's former lovers. Before heading out from Costa Verde, Roger and Holly had a heartfelt talk and Holly almost began to see Roger as someone different from the monster who had tormented, raped, and nearly killed her. Alex was still desperate to know of Roger's fidelity so she arranged for him and Holly to go to Acalpulco together on a "business" trip.
While both an anxious Mindy (who wanted Roger to leave Alex) and Alex waited, Roger and Holly came to a tearful truce. Roger explained the motive for why he had raped her and showed that he wanted nothing more in the world than to able to take it back. Stunned by the new situation, Holly came to a forgiveness of sorts and the two actually had a good time in each other's company until Alex and Holly's fiancee (Ross Marler the man who defended Roger years before for raping Holly) rained on their parade. Alex was thrilled Roger had passed her test, but a spiteful Ross told Roger of the plot. Roger was hurt by Holly and enraged by Alex.
No sooner had Roger returned from Acalpulco than Gary Swanson kidnapped Blake! After coming to her rescue, Roger, and new cop in town AC Mallet kidnapped Gary. At Roger's gunpoint, Gary confessed to his own dirty dealings. Meanwhile, Alex was determined to make her marriage work. However, Roger wanted nothing to do with her and he wanted to marry Mindy. The question was how to leave Alex without giving up all the money he had tied up in their marriage. He called in an old CIA pal, John Davis and the two began embezzling millions from Spaulding Enterprises.
As part of their scheme, Roger had Davis con an old farmer named Peter Jessup out of his land. Little did Roger know that the old man's grandson was actually HIS son, Hart! Peter Jessup suffered a heart attack after learning that he had been scammed and Hart was devastated when his grandfather died. HArt soon found a letter from his mother that told of his paternity. A determined Hart set out to tell Roger the truth, but Roger was embroiled in a complex situation with Mindy, she was pregnant with his child (apparently his infertility was misdiagnosed)! Roger began doing business with New York mafia man Marco Vizzini and agreed to help Vizzini find his enemy Tony Camaletti (who was really Mallet).
Roger promised Mindy that he would end his ill fated marriage to Alex and would raise their child. Meanwhile Alex found an earring under her bed and after sleuthing, realized Roger was cheating on her and that Mindy was his mistress. Just as Alex was about to confront Mindy, Mindy doubled over in pain and began to miscarry her and Roger's child. When Roger heard this he set out for the hospital, but was stopped cold in his tracks when Hart announced that he was Roger's son. A stunned Roger forgot about Mindy and left her high and dry at the hospital. A livid Alex was about to tear Roger apart when Henry and Alan Michael stopped her with the information that someone was embezzling from Spaulding. Henry told her that it was probably Roger. Alex enlisted the help of Henry, Fletcher, Alan Michael, and Mallet to bring Roger down and find out where he had stashed the stolen money. A disgruntled and devastated Mindy broke up with Roger.
Alex and crew realized that Davis was the key to nailing Roger so they set out to get him to crack after Mallet caught him illegally transferring funds out of Spaulding. Cornered, Roger turned to Marco Vizzini and sold Mallet's true idntity out. In return, Vizzini got a man inside the jail to intimidate Davis (Roger sweetened the deal later by offereing him millions when he got out of prison). Mallet got beaten to pulp by Vizzini and his thugs and also lost the woman he loved (Vizzini's daughter who he married away upon learning Mallet's identity). Mallet vowed to get even with Roger for ruining his life, meanwhile Alex was discouraged by Davis's refusal to implicate her cheating husband. Accepting that she wasn't going to put Roger behind bars, Alex gathered all of Roger's immense fan club to the country club and publicly berated him for being a gold digging social climber. She also intimated he was behind the embezzlement. Roger was forced to give up all his power except WSPR (the local TV station Roger co owned with Holly, but had never really had much time to do anything with). Alex also kept the Jessup files, hoping to one day blackmail Roger, knowing that Hart could never know it was his own father who was responsible for killing his grandfather.
Without his power, Roger returned his focus on to Holly and running WSPR. Roger was intensely jealous of Holly's new romance with neurosurgeon Daniel St. John. Sensing something was Daniel's past, Roger followed a lead to Jean Wetherill in Boston. Jean was convinced that Daniel had years before murdered her sister and was eager to get even with Daniel. Roger brought her to Springfield with the intention of breaking Holly and Daniel up. However, Jean was quite irrational and even Roger couldn't control her or her fierce desire to hurt Daniel. At one point she came to a party for Daniel at the country club drunk and threatened to kill Holly, feeling she was the key to Daniel. Roger threatened her back, but was very surprised when Blake found Jean floating face down in the country club pool, murdered!
A vengeful Alex was livid to learn that Nick McHenry (who she was surew was her son) was sleeping with Mindy the woman who destroyed her marriage to Roger. When she discovered this fact, she went right to Billy with the entire sordid story of Mindy and Roger's sordid affair and the miscarriage. Stunned, an almost zombie like Billy disowned Mindy and sought Roger out. When he found Thorpe, he beat him to a bloody pulp and would have choked him to death if it weren't for Hampton Speakes intervention. As Roger was recovering from his near fatal experience, Ross (who was now D.A.) and Mallet teamed up to prove Roger was the one who had murdered Jean. Mallet was more ready than ever to nail Thorpe when his kid sister, Julie, began to see a lot of Roger's son Hart.
Roger insisted in his innocence and pointed the finger at Daniel. Numerous times Roger tried to convince Holly that Daniel was the culprit and was a homicidal lunatic, but Holly always rebuffed him. Finally, to Roger's horror, Holly even agreed to marry Daniel. With Ross and Mallet ready to put him in the slammer, Roger, with the help of his ambitious protegee Gilly Grant at WSPR, concoted a plan to prove to Holly how dangerous Daniel was. Daniel did crack when he attacked Thorpe right in front of Holly, but when Holly realized that Roger was the one who had set the whole thing up, she angrily rejected Roger and eloped with Daniel!
Fearing for Holly's life, Roger set out to find where her and Daniel had gone, but Blake first had to help him elude Mallet and the police. Soon after Roger got away, Ross received evidence (a bloodstained plaque) that proved that Daniel indeed was the killer. Meanwhile at Ed Bauer's cabin, Holly began having second thoughts about becoming Mrs. Daniel St. John and when Daniel realized she wasn't going to marry him, he confessed to the murder and pulled a gun on Holly, intending to marry her at gunpoint. Roger and Ross both arrived at the cabin and Roger slipped inside disguised as a priest, armed with a pistol. Daniel caught on though and forced Holly to tie Roger up so he could be their witness. As the real priest began the ceremony, Roger used a pocketknife to cut free of the ropes. Outside, Ross cut the power to the cabin, and Roger used the darkness as he jumped Daniel. The two struggled and the gun went off. However, Holly inadvertantly distracted Roger and Daniel grabbed her. When Daniel decided to kill Holly, Ross distracted him and Roger shot and killed Daniel. At first Holly was grateful to Roger for rescuing her, but when Ross told her that Roger had set the series of events in motion, she again turned away from him.
Smarting from Holly's rejection, Roger was shocked when Alex came to him with a proposal that he break up newly engaged Nick and Mindy. At first Roger refused to help his ex wife, but the combination of getting most of his money back and the Jessup farm files (which Hart still had not yet seen), convinced him. Thorpe began to cozy back up to Mindy and even partially befriended Nick. Mindy soon confided in Roger that Nick was Alex's son and that she altered the DNA tests that proved it. Roger held the trump card and then proceeded to go to civil war torn European nation Cambrai to find Nick's former lover. Roger found Eve Guthrie hiding in a convent and promised to rescue her if she would do an interview for him at WSPR (where Nick woked). Roger did rescue her and then arranged for Nick and Eve to meet right in fornt of Mindy. Yet Mindy took the truth about Nick and Eve well and Roger was forced to alter the plan. He convinced Nick that Nick's buddy in Cambrai was about to be killed and sent Nick on what amounted to being a wild goose chase. Roger then arranged for Nick to be kidnapped in Cambrai so that he would miss his wedding. Devastated, Mindy left Springfield not knowing Roger and Alex were behind her woes. As Roger and Alex celebrated their destruction of Nick and Mindy's wedding, jewel thief Jenna Bradshaw robbed the Spaulding mansion and stole the Jessup farm file that Alex was preparing to finally return to Roger. The file wound up in Ross's office where a devastated Hrt read it. He confronted Roger, and though Thorpe beat around the bush, he came clean that he had been the one who had hired Davis and stolen Peter Jessup's farm. Hart turned on Roger and left Springfield, but not before sleeping with and impregnating Bridget Reardon.
Hurt that Hart was now gone, Roger returned his fatherly love to Blake and planned to build a media empire that he would hand to her. The only thing standing in his way was Ross Marler who was now running for a senate seat against the incumbent, Leo Flynn. Ross refused to give Roger the zoning Roger needed to build a new skyscraper next to Billy's Towers. Roger was also secretly wanting to ruin Ross because Marler allowed Hart to see the files. Roger tried to get Blake to dig up any dirt she could Ross, not knowing his daughter was sleeping with Ross and had fallen in love with him. When Gilly left provactive photos of Blake and Ross on Roger's desk, he exploded. He threatened to kill Ross and disowned Blake. However, Blake tried to win back Roger's love. Not wanting to completely alienate her, Roger devised a test of loyalty for Blake. He left phony documents in Flynn's office, set up a video camera and waited to see if Blake would break in in order to help Ross win the election. Much to Roger's dismay, she did. After winning the senate seat Ross was confronted by Roger who showed him the video. Thorpe gave Ross two options: step down from the senate seat and prosecute Blake or be his stooge in Washington. Ross called Roger's bluff and convinced Thorpe that he would prosecute Blake. Not wanting Blake to really go to jail, Roger destroyed the videotape, but Ross did step down from the senate seat.
Roger had been having an affair with Jenna Bradshaw (the former jewel thief who was now trying to go straight). He liked her feminine wiles, but liked her even more when Henry Chamberlain claimed to be her father. However, something didn't seem right to Roger and so investigated Henry's claim. He found out Henry really wasn't Jenna's dad, but that Spaulding had stolen Jenna's real dad's inventiuon and made a fortune off it. Roger told Jenna, who at first refused to believe what Roger was telling her. However, Henry did tell the truth and a hurt Jenna became Roger's pawn to reclaim Spaulding Enterprises. With Alex out of town and Alan Michael losing one of only two documents that proved Jenna's claim to Spaulding was indeed fraudulent (Jenna's dad had actually signed his invention over), Jenna won her lawsuit. This happened also in large part to the fact that Roger had bribed Brandon Spaulding's old secretary (who had the other document) into keeping quiet and moving her to Richmond Virginia so no one could find her. Meanwhile Hart returned to town after Bridget gave birth to their son. Bridget told no one at first about her baby Peter's true paternity however. Roger went to see Hart to mend their relationship, but Hart would have nothing to do with his father, still bitter that Roger stole the farm. Instead of turning to Jenna, Roger turned to Holly for comfort. This made Jenna jealous. Meanwhile, Billy offered Hart a construction job at Lewis Oil, and of course, Roger perceived this as a threat. With Buzz Cooper's help, Roger found evidence that Billy's dad, H.B. had spent time in prison. Thorpe then blackmailed Gilly (he had incriminating info on her beloved brother David) into exposing H.B. at a banquet being held in his honor. The plan worked, H.B. was humiliated and Gilly founf herself in a struggling marriage. Later, after Roger spilled the beans about her brother, she would join forces with Alan Michael to try and reclaim Spaulding Enterprises.
John Davis got released from prison and immediately went to Roger to collect the money Roger had promised him for taking the fall in the Spaulding embezzlement/Jessup land scam. Roger refused to pay Davis which made Davis angrier than ever. After Jenna, finally tired of Roger's growing relationship with Holly, thre him out of the Spaulding mansion, Roger followed Holly to a cliff house where Holly and Ed Bauer's daughter Michelle were staying. Davis tailed Roger and after sabotaging Thorpe's engine, took Holly hostage in return for the money Roger owed him. Ed came to cliff house and together he and Roger concocted a plan to lure Davis outside and jump him. When Davis appeared outside, Ed jumped him. Roger punched a disoriented Davis, who the went over the side of the cliff to his death and then had to grab Ed who was dangling perilously over the edge himself. In much the same way Ed had tried to save Roger all those years before in Santo Domingo, Roger now save Ed. After Ed and Michelle left, Roger and Holly impulsively made love for the first time since the rape. The next morning a tender Roger asked Holly to marry him, promising that everything would be different in his life if he could only have her back in it. Holly refused, saying she couldn't take the roller coaster ride Roger represented. Blaming Ed, Roger stormed off. At a hero's party for Ed, a drunk Roger arrived and after pleading with Holly again, told Ed that he and Holly had slept together. An enraged Ed lunged at Roger and sent him sprwaling to the ground righjt at Jenna's feet.
Jenna took pity on Roger and brought him back to the Spaulding mansion where the two made love. The next morning, Roger disappeared, but resurfaced a few days later in Holly's house. After a frightened Holly banged him with a phone over the head, Roger told her he wanted nothing to do with a hypocrite like her ever again (she loved him, he felt but because of everyone else, she refused to give in to the truth). Roger immediatly went to Jenna and proposed. Jenna accepted and despite Hart's efforts to stop the wedding, it went off, aired live over WSPRfor all of Springfield to see.
Trouble was brewing for the newlyweds though, Jenna was still fascinated by Buzz Cooper and the truth about Roger manipulations was soon to explode when Bess Lowell (the secretary Roger had bribed) resurfaced demanding more money from Roger to keep her quiet. Roger went on off on his honeymoon, but sent an agent to deal with her. Bess had a stroke and the agent moved her to a nursing home in Springfield, but died before telling Roger where she was. After Roger and Jenna's return, Alexandra came back and was shocked to find them in her bed! She vowed vengeance and to reclaim the Spaulding throne. Meanwhile Hart left town again after Billy's son Dylan bought the Jessup farm, promptiung Hart to leave. Roger set Dylan up and forced him to bankruptcy to get even, adding more fuel to the fire between him and BIlly.
Roger hired a psychotic henchwoman named George to locate Bess Lowell. After Eleni Cooper (Frank Cooper's wife) befriended Bess at the nursing home, George kidnapped her. Alan Michael tried to rescue her, but George locked them in a sauna, turned the heat all the way up and left them to die. Frank came to their rescue and Buzz Cooper wound up with the elusive document that Bess had actually hidded in a stuffed lamb. George took Lucy Cooper hostage, but as the police arrived, Roger managed to help her escape so she wouldn't implicate him. Meanwhile, Alex showed Jenna proof that Jenna didn't have a claim to Spaulding and that Roger had used her to take control. Jenna was enraged, but she was also pregnant with Roger's child!
Roger finally located Bess and tried to pay her off. Bess decided to play both sides against the middle and offered both Alex and Roger an equal chance of getting her testimony in a retrial for Spaulding ownership. Roger and Holly had a strange meeting whenthe two got locked in a medical vault inside Cedars, and it caused Roger to miss a meeting with Bess. Roger arranged for another one later that night. Before Roger headed to the country club to meet with her, Jenna told him she wanted a divorce. Roger coldly threatened her and told him she would never be rid of him and keep his child from him. Roger then went to the country club where all the Spauldings and Lewises were gathered to celebrate Nick and Mindy's reengagement. Roger came in and engaged in a vicious war of words with Alex, catching Mindy in the cross fire. Roger flipped Dylan over some railing ontop of some of the watchers. A mysterious woman involved with Josh, named Tangie Hill watched on. Later, Bridget Reardon who was angry at Roger, voiced how she was the mother of his grandchild, Peter (Billy Lewis and Vanessa Chamberlain, his wife, had adopted Peter without knowing Hart was the father). Someone overheard her. Later after everyone in town, except Holly, voiced their hatred of Roger, Roger was stalked and shot in the country club potting shed while waiting for Bess Lowell. The suspect list was enormous: Billy Lewis (whose feud went so far back with Rog), Alexandra Spaulding (mad that Roger had stolen her company and about her marriage to him), Gilly Grant (who was still trying to even the score), Tangie Hill (who seemed scared of Roger), Dylan Lewis (angry about Roger's treatment of Mindy, ruining his business and taking up his father's vendetta), Jenna (who brought a gun to the country club after her confrontation with Roger), Buzz Cooper (who wanted to protect Jenna), and Bess Lowell (who had mysteriously vanished before meeting with Roger).
Alexandra was soon arrested after her bracelet showed up in Roger's pool of blood. Everyone thought Thorpe was dead this time, but in reality, Roger was hiding in Holly's basement with the bullet still embedded in his shoulder! While Holly was away, Roger sneaked out of the basement and skulked around Springfield, listening in at different people's doorways, trying to gain a handle on the identity of the person who shot him. It was during this time, Roger realized that Spaulding Enterprises had been returned to it's rightful owners and that the police were searching for him to arrest him on fraud charges in conection to the takeover.
On Christmas, Roger, not having anyone else to turn to, revealed himself to Holly. At the sight of a wounded and feverish Roger, Holly's paternal instincts were brought out. When it became obvious that Roger was about to die from the wound, Holly called Ed to treat him. Ed did give Roger medication, but fearing that Ed would call the police (which he did), Thorpe fled from Holly's. Roger confronted Jenna and vowed to take their child from her after she gave birth. Frightened Jenna pulled a gun on him and threatened to shoot him again! However, she couldn't pull the trigger and after Buzz came in on them, Jenna doubled over in pain. Buzz called the paramedics and Roger was on the run again. He krept into a car being driven by Tangie and at gunpoint forced her to take him to safety. The two engaged in a strange conversation that revealed they had known each other well before. Tangie left and Roger called the hospital only to discover Jenna had miscarried their child. Devastated, Roger left his hiding place and nearly ran into Billy and Nick. There, he overheard Billy tell Nick that Peter was HIS grandson. Immediately, Roger came up with a new plan to wrest Peter away from Billy. Roger broke into Billy's house, stole his gun, fired a bullet and picked it up. Then he caught Billy in a shed taking a drink and vowed to get Peter. A drunk Billy lunged at him but fell down.
Roger returned to Hart's farm and convinced Bridget to find Holly but Eve Guthrie followed. At gunpoint, Roger forced Eve to remove the bullet from his shoulder without anesthetic. Then as Holly and Eve went outside, Roger switched bullets, rubbing his blood from the real bullet onto the one he taken from Billy's gun so he could frame Billy and get Peter. The next morning, the police narrowed in on Roger and Holly and they fled only to run into Josh Lewis and Tangie Hill. Josh called the cops and, finally, Roger was arrested. After he was carted off, Tangie admitted that Roger had raised her in Switzerland after buying her from her parents (it turned out Tangie's parents were spries that Roger had busted and he used Tangie as a substitute daughter for his beloved Christina).
Roger relished the spotlight at police headquarters as he was swamped by reporters asking to know who had shot him. As the entire town sat transfixed to their tv screens, Roger played up to the cameras and after calling Vanessa to threaten her and demand that she and Billy return Peter to the Thorpe family fold, he told detective Patrcik Cutter (the officer in charge) that Billy was the culprit. Billy was arrested and attacked Roger in the middle of the headquarters but was pulled away.
Meanwhile, Holly, payed Roger's bail. Roger went immediately over to see Peter and yet again vowed to Vanessa that he would take Peter from her. Holly's feelings for Roger were reawakened after his (yet another) near death experience. Holly allowed Roger to move in with her and they began sleeping together again. To the surprise of everyone in Springfield, Roger hadn't needed to frame Billy, because Billy confessed to shooting to Roger on his own and was carted off to jail for nine years. Roger got off on the fraud charges after cutting a deal with the Spaulding family and then divorced Jenna. Now, with Billy out of the way, Roger focused his attention on reclaiming Peter in Hart's name (Hart still had yet to find out about the truth). Roger began maniupulating Bridget to bring suit against Vanessa and then tried to locate Hart. However, Hart managed to elude Roger's pursuit.
After many attempts to get Peter away from Vanessa, Bridget and she came to a resolution where they would both raise him and allow Roger visitation rights. Though not exactly what he wanted, for once Roger let up and then forund a new situation to focus on. As Roger and Holly continued to renew their decades old romance, Thorpe made contact with a mysterious Asian businessman name Tashiwa who wanted to enlist Roger's help in taking over Spaulding Enterprises. Tashiwa never revealed himself to Roger and got Roger to meet him in strange places like WSPR after hours and at the reptile house at the zoo. Roger was asked to get Alexandra's trust (not easy considering their history), but he made inroads after "saving" Alex from a poisonous snake that he had planted near her.
Soon, Roger began wondering who the mysterious Tashiwa was and then Holly supplied the vital piece of information: Tashiwa was really Alan Spaulding who had been let out of jail and was trying to reclaim Spaulding while getting even with Roger for helping put him in jail 5 years before. At a tension filled meeting on the roof of the Towers, Roger exposed Alan, desperate to use Thorpe, the bitter rivals made a deal. Roger would get close to Alex and use his powers of persuasion to get Alan back into the company and in turn, Alan would give Roger a powerful position in his old stomping ground.
Holly grew tired of Roger's fierce desire to gain control of Spaulding again and nearly broke up with him. However, Roger promised to marry her as soon as he got what he needed to secure their future. He nearly seduced Alex who, amazingly was succombing to his charms. However, as soon as Alan had what he wanted, he sold Roger out and told Alex that she had again been manipulated by her ex husband. Livid Alex set it up to look like Roger had slept with her the night he was to propose to Holly. Devastated Holly and Fletcher had sex and Holly broke up with Roger. Thorpe, not realizing what had happened crashed Ed's Christams party to talk to Holly but was literally dragged out by three people.
Roger confronted Alan on New Year's Eve. He handcuffed Alan to the furniture and then threatened him with a syringe full of deadly medication. Fearing that Roger was going to kill him, Alan promised to get Alexandra to admit that Thorpe had been faithful to Holly. Begrudgingly, Alan did so, and Holly was shocked that Roger had honored her, however, she was beginning to have serious feelings for Fletcher. Holly went back to Roger, but Roger immediately knew she had been unfaithful. Jealous, he finally discovered it was Fletcher.
Angered that Roger hadn't trusted her about Fletcher, Holly broke up with him again and then took up with Reade. A lovelorn Roger tried a variety of tactics to get back into Holly's good graces, going so far as to stage a car accident and faking amnesia so Holly would take pity on him. However, none of it worked and Holly eventually married Fletcher with an uninvited ROger in attendance, though he did manage to behave.
Reeling from losing Holly, Roger returned to past form as a user and abuser of women, especially his new flame Dinah Marler, the daughter of Ross and Vanessa. Hating Vanessa for having Peter and hating Ross for marrying Blake, Roger slept with Dinah (who was actually a vindictive daughter who was using Roger to get even with her parents too). However, Dinah did start to care about Roger, especially after he saved her from a fake kidnapping gone wrong.
In an effort to get Thorpe away from their daughter, Ross and Vanessa used Roger's visitation rights for Peter as a weapon. Livid at their using Peter, Roger vowed to find Hart and tell him about Peter and then use him to get custody of Peter. Roger hired a bevy of private investigators to find Hart while he was busy marrying Dinah.
Wondering why Roger was so hot to find him, Hart returned to town and overheard the truth about his parenthood before seeing his father. Blown away, Hart went to see his father, but quickly realized that Roger had been planning on using him. So Hart set out to finally get even with his old man for stealing the farm and killing his grandfather years before. So when strain in Roger's marraige to Dinah emerged (Roger had framed Dinah's best friend for a theft he didn't commit) Hart got Dinah to sleep with him and then gleefully revealed the fact to his enraged dad.
Little did anyone realize that Thorpe had been busy embezzling all of Dinah's trust fund money (most of which had been given to her by her grandfather Henry Chamberlain who had as has been mentioned tried to commit suicide after being conned by Roger before). Roger tried to patch things up with his wife, while his lawyer and confidante, former DA Leo Flynn was "doctoring" his financial books to make it look like Roger had lost the money in a bad investment (it was actually stashed away in the Cayman islands). When he was about to have to go to court to reveal what he had done with the money, Roger took some pills and faked a heart attack to dodge court. His ploy nearly worked, Dinah almost fell back into Roger's grasp, but Hart learned that his father had stolen Dinah's money and showed Dinah the proof. Already angry at Roger for his thievery, Dinah got wose when she was told Thorpe had faked his heart attack. She bought a gun and went into Roger's hospital room with the intention of plugging him. Luckily Hart dragged her off before she pulled the trigger. It was then they concocted a plan to make Roger believe he was losing his mind.
Dinah decided not to divorce Roger and then she and Hart did all kinds of things to make Roger question his mentally faculties. Roger didn't realize what was happening because he thought Dinah and Hart hated each other and that she was an air head. Unfortunately, for him, Dinah and Hart began to fall in love.It was a slow process, but it began to drive Roger to the edge. Roger grew more and more violent, attacking Hart several times and choking Dinah with a scarf. He went so far as to start drugging Dinah with a psychoactive drug, Lonatrat, that destroys people's brains. He tried to convince Dinah (while she was under the drug's influence) to jump off the roof of their penthouse. Hart caught on to his father's malevolent plot and saved Dinah. Now, they both decided to kick their plan into high gear.
Hart confronted Roger at Laurel Falls with a vial of Lonatrat and threatened to the police Roger had been trying to drive his wife insane in an effort to cover up the fact he robbed her blind ever since he had married her. A fearful Thorpe pulled a gun on Hart and the two struggled. The gun went off and Hart was shot. A despondant Roger, believing he had "murdered" his own son buried Hart. However, this was merely part of the clever plot against him, Hart was dead, the bullet had been a blank and he had been wering a blood pack. Now, Hart began popping up all over town to flare up Roger's guilty conscience (he showed up at Roger's TV station, WSPR, in a coffin, at a jail cell after Roger had been arrested for assaulting a police officer and in a hospital room). Roger's mental state dramtaically declined and got worse after he accidentally drank an entire vial of the Lonatrat he had been poisoning Dinah with. The drug was pumped out of his system, but he was left strapped down to a hospital bed after he had tried to strangle Dinah.
Finally, at a fair, Hart revealed himself to Roger in front of the entire town. A wacked out Thorpe couldn't believe his eyes and admitted to everyone that he had shot Hart. Suddenly after Dinah refused to corrborate Roger's story, he realized he'd been set up all along and attacked his son. It took two cops to subdue him and he was again strapped down to a bed to await a mental competency hearing the next day.
Roger represented himself at the hearing, but after becoming violent on the stand, the judge ordered him placed into the Midland Hills psychiatric hospital. A vengeful Roger fumed. After learning Dinah had retrieved her money from the Cayman islands, Roger set out to escape the looney bin and prove he'd been set up. He created a paper mache head, placed it in his bed and then (using those CIA sklls) picked the lock to his room. He then disguised himself as an exterminator and broke into Hart's apartment and found a picture of Hart and Dinah together in the Caymans, disproving their claim they hated each other and validating his argument they had been in collusion all along. Hart forund Roger, but Thorpe pinned his treacherous son to the wall and went to fing the judge. Too bad, Bridget (fearing that Hart might go to jail) switched photos and when Roger showed it to the judge, it was reaaly a pic of Peter. Rog was carted back off to the looney bin.
Roger attempted escape again, knocking out a doctor. But when he saw Dinah, he grabbed her and while tying her up, she broke free and set off a fire alarm, so his second escape failed. After that attempt, Dinah authorized the psychiatrists to give Roger "shock treatment" to cure him of violent impulses. Before the doctors could do so, Roger incited a riot inside the psych ward and escaped again amongst the confusion. After that he broke into the Spaulding Manision, made a pass at Alan's daughter Amanda, stole a necklace he had given Alexandra when they were married and pawned it to fund his escape from the country. Disguised as a pilot Roger was again tracked down after he held a couple of security guards at gunpoint at the airport.
The docs back at the psych ward again tried to give Rog "shock treatment" They thought they had succeeded, especially when Roger awoke and suffered from amnesia. However, it was another ploy, Roger had actually unhooked the machine before they gave him the treatment so he was still his good old kind self.
At a second competency hearing, Hart and Dinah were discovered together and a "kind, benevolent" Roger was finally released from the looney bin without having to attack anyone else. Within a couple of weeks Roger decided to get back in his son's good graces, so he made some street thugs mad, got beat up and used Hart's sympathy to worm his way back into Hart's life. Dinah wasn't quite so trusting, so Roger set it up for her to get locked in a grain silo on the Jessup farm. She nearly suffocated as the silo filled up with grain, but just in time, Thorpe "rescued" her.
Now, partially reformed from that rather unbelievable past few months, Roger hooked up with Amanda in an effort to, you guessed it, take over Spaulding again. Roger tracked down an ailing Vanessa to a convent and blackmailed her into giving him sensitive info on the Spauldings. He and Amanda got engaged. It was as this story was taking off (and Roger was again exploring his feelings for Holly) that Michael Zaslow began to have speech difficulties. P&G forced him to vacate his role and Roger was recast. At the end of 1997, 26 yeras after Zaslow began playing Roger Thorpe, it was revealed he had Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). Due to the intolerance of fans with regard to the recast, TPTB wrote Roger off the show, having him and Amanda move to California. Obviously, a weak ending to such a fascinating and legendary character, but without Michael Zaslow, Roger Thorpe simply wasn't the same character.