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Tuc Watkins Looks Back at the Wild Romance of ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s David and Dorian (EXCLUSIVE)

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While some couples go together like peanut butter and jelly, that couldn’t be said of ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s David and Dorian. Rather, they were like best friends Lucy and Ethel: a little contentious and superb at double-teaming on their scheming! David’s portrayer, Tuc Watkins, recalled the pairing of the con man and the wealthy woman fondly to Soaps In Depth, saying, “I remember that David would do anything to make her angry.”

Watkins’ favorite storyline took place in 1994 when Dorian and David were trying to figure out how to convince Llanview that he was Victor Lord Jr. “There were tests we had to pass, and we had to sneak around, connive, lie, cheat and steal together to do that,” the actor reflected. “And we fell in love in the process!” One of their big tests was when Viki’s alter, Jean, emerged and forced David to marry Dorian, whom he despised at that time. Given their chemistry, it might’ve eventually worked out, but she caught him with her niece, Kelly! “As soon as things seemed to be going well, David would screw it up. Or Dorian would betray him, and they’d go back to zero,” Watkins laughed. “So they never got to the point where they were comfortable with each other, which is ironic because [Dorian’s portrayer] Robin Strasser and I had the exact opposite relationship in real life. It freed us to play the conflict between the two characters.”

One Life to Live David Dorian

David and Dorian were always finding themselves in hot water! (Photo Credit: George De Sota/jpistudios.com)

Things took another crazy turn when Dorian asked her other niece, Blair, to seduce and blindfold David so that Dorian could slip in and change places with her. “I remember every moment of that scene because I was in underwear, Kassie [DePaiva, Blair] was in a corset, Robin was in a wig and a corset, and we were pouring syrup on each other and using silk ribbons to tie each other to a bed!” Watkins shared. “And I remember saying, ‘I’m your hotcake on the griddle of love!’”

While David and Dorian went on to bicker over stealing a diamond and makeup and break up over time — including when Dorian coupled up with a lesbian to boost her senatorial campaign and David left for Hollywood — they were a couple that viewers continued to invest in. “Dorian was the tree, and Da- vid was a branch of that tree… his real strength came from her,” Watkins suggested. “So when you had David out there being a silly movie producer, it was a little bananas on bananas. He needed to be grounded by someone like Dorian.”

For more on your favorite OLTL stars, keep reading the ABC edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.

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