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Molly Conlan
12908247 ori
As the World Turns
Portrayed by Lesli Kay (1997–2004, 2009–10)
Christina Chambers (2004)
Created by Stephen Demorest
Duration 1997–2004, 2009–10
First appearance March 1, 1997
Last appearance September 16, 2010
Profile
Gender Female
Date of birth October 14 1969
Residence Los Angeles, California



Molly McKinnon (née Peterson; previously Conlan) is an fictional character on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. Actress Lesli Kay debut the character on March 1, 1997 and stayed on until July 02, 2004. Actress Christina Chambers whose know for her roles on Sunset Beach and One Life to Live took over the role on July 8, 2004 and stayed on until September 02 of that same year. Kay came back to the role on November 17, 2009, while still on contract with The Bold and the Beautiful playing Felicia Forrester. She was on the show until September 16, 2010, a day before the show's series finale.

Characterization[]

Backstory[]

Molly Peterson grew up in Luther's Corners, Illinois as the only daughter of the Peterson family. The family lived near the Snyder farm and she became friends with Holden Snyder and his cousin Jack Snyder as they were near her age. When she became a teenager her friendship with Holden became romantic. After sleeping together for the first time, Molly learned she was pregnant and told her parents. Her parents were furious with her and forbade her to tell Holden about the baby and forced her to give the baby(which was a girl) up for adoption. The family then moved away to keep the Snyder's from the knowing the truth. Her relationship with her parents deteriorated and she soon moved out and refused to to speak to them again. She eventually moved to Chicago, where she done odd jobs to make ends meet. She would soon meet Mr. Conlan, whom she would marry. However, Mr. Conlan was a shady man who was known for making trouble with the law. Molly's life would change forever when one day she picked her husband up from work and drove him to the bank, where unknowingly he robbed it, and was caught by the police, the police charged her as well and was charged with aiding and abetting. She was soon found guilty and was sent to prison, where she and Mr. Conlan later divorced.

Storylines[]

1997-2000[]

While still serving time in prison, Molly would meet new inmate Lily Walsh. Lily was serving time for the murder of her husband Diego Santana. Molly saved her from another inmate and the two became fast friends. Lily and Molly confided in each other about thier past loves. Lily was telling her about her ex-husband who she had been in love with since they was teenagers, and Molly told her about her first love and the ordeal she went through after becoming pregnant and never seeing him again. The charges against Lily was dropped as Diego's real killer was found and after being released Lily pulled some strings to get Molly freed also.

The friendship would soon sour when Molly realized that the ex-husband Lily was referring to was none other than Holden Snyder himself. Surprised to see each other after all these years, Molly finally told Holden the truth about why she disappeared and that they have a daughter together. As Molly and Holden began the search for thier daughter, Molly let Lily know that she was interested in a relationship with Holden and would do anything to get him back. Molly begin to scheme and lie to get Holden close to her, and everytime she would get caught by Holden's cousin Jack, who has had an crush on Molly every since they was kids. Molly would soon call on her cousin Carly Tenney, a former Oakdale resident to help her win Holden back and came up with a scheme that the ranch Carly was living in had horses. In truth, there had been no horses on the ranch since Carly's father was alive. Holden, Molly, and Jack(much to Molly's dismay) made it to Montana. While there she and Holden would bond, but before anything romantic can happen, Molly and Carly's scheme would be exposed, as well as their family connection to one another.

Back in Oakdale, Molly would get more desperate to get Holden away from Lily. Holden would soon catch on to her and quickly wrote her off. She would pull more dirty strings to keep them away but most of them didn't work. However, something tragic would happen to her that she would use to her advantage. One night she was brutally attacked by Teague, the arsonist who burned the church that most of Oakdale's residents were injured in. While faking that she didn't remember who attacked her at first, she would soon point the finger at Holden. Holden was soon arrested and was standing trial. Molly told him that if he would leave Lily and marry her, she would drop the charges. He agreed to it but soon he found out that Lily was pregnant with his child. He convinced Lily to marry him and they came up with a plan to get married a few days before he and Molly was supposed to wed. However, Carly found out about it the day of the wedding and went straight to Molly. With her wedding dress on(she was trying it on), Molly and Carly went to the church to stop the wedding, only to be locked in a closet by Margo Hughes. Finally let out, Molly realized that she was too late to stop the wedding and tried to attack Lily, but Holden stopped her by telling her of Lily's pregnancy. Molly would fake an memory flash again, and told authorities that she definitely remember Holden attacking her.

Time was beginning to run out for Holden, and Jack did all he can to prove his cousin's innocence. As the evidence against Molly was overwhelming, she would soon skipped town. Most of the Oakdale PD was searching for her for days, and Holden concluded that Molly probably went to Chicago to find their long-lost daughter. Sure enough, the police would find Molly at the bus stop of her daughter Abigail Williams. After calming an hysterical Molly down and talking her out of kidnapping her daughter. The police took her back to Oakdale where she confessed that Teague attacked her, and Holden was found not guilty.

Later, Molly wrote an romance novel, thinly disguising her characters as herself, Holden, and Lily. Lily's mother, Lucinda Walsh, put a stop to it and agreed to finance the broke Ms. Conlan if she finagled her way into David Stenbeck's life to spy on him. Molly begin to fall for Stenbeck, but her fear of Lucinda, as well greed, kept her from telling the truth. David found out and cruelly dumped her at the altar, before his death. Lucinda dumped her too, leaving her broke and despondent. Kim Hughes took Molly into the Hughes home, but things didn't work out very well. Molly eventually got a job from Kim and became attracted to Kim's son, Andy Dixon. Andy and Molly became friends, bonding over thier pathetic love life. They grew closer when Molly arranged an intervention that helped Andy from drinking.

When Carly was scheming to get her sister Rosanna Cabot's trust fund for her "fifty million dollar baby", Molly secretly switched paternity tests so that Carly's current husband, John Dixon, would be named the baby's father, therby insuring Carly the money. At the same time, she found herself inexplicably drawn to newcomer Reid Hamilton. Molly couldn't explain her attraction to him, but couldn't stay away either. Molly's world came crashing down on her when Brad Snyder revealed her paternity switch to the town. Also at this time, Molly figured out that Reid was really David Stenbeck. He had kidnapped Holden and Lily's daughter and was adamant that he would raise her. Molly eventually helped Holden and Lily get their daughter back, and once again became the town pariah. Andy and his family washed their hands offMolly, and Molly washed hers of David. She moved across Oakdale Court into his old apartment and talked Jake McKinnon to get her a job at The City Times. Meanwhile, Molly found herself sexually attracted to Chris Hughes, Andy's beefy teenaged brother. That sexual attraction led to a full-fledged affair rather quickly. Knowing she would never be allowed to meet her daughter if word got out about her affair with Chris, she ended it.

2001-2010[]

Molly finally did get to meet her daughter, Abigail, and was ecstatic when the girl's parents let her stay in Oakdale while they move to Saudi Arabia. Desperate not to lose her daughter a second time, Molly was determined to keep her affair with Chris a secret and keep him away from Abigail at any cost. Unfortunately for Molly, Abigail found herself attracted to Chris, and to Molly's horror, the feeling was mutual. Despite her best efforts, Molly was unable to keep her affair with Chris a secret. When the truth came out, via pictures taken by Katie Peretti and distrubuted by the head of WOAK's news division, Molly lost her job at WOAK. Soon after, Abigail learned the truth. Knowing that Abigail knew the truth, Chris hurriedly left town and Abigail confronted Molly. While trying to make Abigail understand the affair, Molly lost her balance and fell down the steps of her apartment complex. After lingering in a coma for months, Molly woke up determined to correct the mistakes of her past. To buy some time, she faked amnesia and claimed to have her memory of her and Chris's affair, or of Abigail's coming to town. Remembering that the cause of all her problems was Katie, Molly decided to use her "condition" to get revenge and humiliate her with the help of Jake, Abigail, and Rose D'Angelo at the Endicott Awards. Eventually, Molly started having visions of Jake's deceased wife Vicky.

Throughout this time, Jake and Molly had become very close and Molly was afraid that the visions were a sign that Vicky did not approve of the relationship. When Vicky's mother heard of this, she visited Molly and offered the theory that maybe Vicky was trying to tell her something. Though skeptical, Jake decided to humor Molly and investigate. Through the course of the investigation, the pair fell in love and discovered a startling fact: Vicky's babies did not die with her in the plane crash!! Vicky gave birth before she died. Learning the two girls were being raised by a farmer in Canada, Jake brought the girls, Michelle and Bridget, with him to Oakdale and ask Molly to marry him.

Soon after their engagement, Molly and Jake's life started to take a tragic turn. The trouble began with the arrival of Nick Scudder, an old high school friend(and lover) of Molly's. Molly immediately distrusted Nick and warned him to stay away from Abigail. Though he seemed to be a great guy, Molly didn't trust him for a second and when the twins disappeared, she blamed Nick. However, with Nick's help the real culprit was found, the twin's nanny, Mary. Though Nick was now a hero in Abigail's eyes, Molly was still very wary of him. At the same time, while planning her wedding to Jake, Molly was dismayed when her criminal record was plastered on The City Time's web page. Ashamed of her racy past, Molly wanted to ended her engagement to Jake, but he wouldn't let her. Instead Jake reassured her that he loved her no matter what and the two married in a beautiful ceremony at the Walsh Estate. Though ecstatically happy, Molly continued to be wary of Abigail's friendship with Nick, and for good reason.

Months after the wedding, Molly found out that Abigail was planning to run off with Nick. Disgusted, Molly warned him to stay away from Abigail, which he agreed to do with a huge sum of money. Not long after, Nick was found dead and Abigail(who had since learned of Nick's deception) was found unconscious with no memory of Nick's death. Trying to protect her daughter, Molly confessed to the crime, but soon evidence came forth showing Abigail as the prime suspect. Working with Jake to investigate Nick's death, they dicovered another suspect: their former nanny, Mary, who was in love with Nick!! Though Mary denied the charge, Abigail's memory eventually came back, and after an confrontation with Mary, she remembered that Mary was in fact the killer. Thankfully, Abigail's brother, Aaron Snyder, was on hand to hear Mary confess to the crime and the charges against Abigail was dropped. Unfortunately, the nightmare was far from over. Her secret uncovered, Mary became unhinged and took Molly hostage in exchange for one million dollars. Jake stormed in without police help to rescue Molly, and though he succeed it was at the cost of his life as he was shot wrestling a gun from Mary. After Jake's death, his twin daughters, Bridget and Michelle were(against Molly's wishes) taken by Vicky's mother and sister to Bay City.

Needing a break to get over the recent events that transpired, Molly went to New York City to clear her head. While there she would run into her cousin Carly's old lover Mike Kasnoff. The two would bond over their common ground on of being unlucky in love and during her time with Mike, she seemed to get over Jake's death and move on. Ready to move on with her life, Molly went back to Oakdale with Mike following her. The two became lovers and ended up moving in together. Unfortunately, Molly's trust in Mike was shattered when she learned he had an drunken one night stand with Carly the night before her wedding. Though the pair tried to cover up their indiscretion, the truth came out when it was learned the baby Carly was carrying could be Mike's. Shocked and betrayed, Molly moved out of Mike's place and told Carly she no longer loved her. To get revenge, Molly and Carly's husband Jack slept together and tried dating for awhile but nothing came out of it. Still reeling from the betrayal, Molly immediately sought comfort from new arrival Dusty Donovan. Wanting to hurt Mike and forget her pain, she let her be suduced by Dusty and was unaplogetic when Mike found them together. Though she later agreed to go back to Mike, he sensed she wouldn't be able to accept his connection to Carly and refused. Stung, Molly continued her relationship with, until she learned he was scamming her for money. Months later, Molly finally reconciled with Carly and was on hand when she and Jack married again in Montana. Unfortunately, her relationship with Mike was unsalvageable and she was dismayed to see him with Katie Peretti.

Trying to move on with her life, Molly decided to enter with an partnership with Craig Montgomery and Dusty, running the club "The Metro". Having clearly forgiven him for trying to scam her, Molly became very close to Dusty, although to her irritation, he was too hung up on Rose D'Angelo. Soon, Molly agreed to help Rose's ex-fiancee Paul Ryan, break up the couple, although she told Paul the deal was off when he got her and Dusty trapped in a locked vehicle. However, Paul's plan worked with Rose dumping Dusty and going back to him. Thinking she'd had her fat shot with Dusty, Dusty remained obsessed with keeping Rose and Paul apart. Though she and Dusty would continue flirting and even ended up in bed together, Dusty's thoughts centered on Rose since he was convinced that Paul would hurt her. Thinking that Dusty should let Rose make her own mistakes, Molly was deeply resentful of his concern about Rose and decided that Rose needed to be out of Dusty's life for good. Soon after, Rose would end up dead from poison and an less than sympathetic Molly decided to have Dusty get blamed for it.

Unfortunately, Dusty found out that Molly tried to set him up. Although Molly tried to explain away her actions as those of an jealous lover, Dusty refused to forgive her and told her he wanted nothing to do with her. As Dusty demanded she sell her share of the Metro, Craig asked Molly to help him hide fugitive Annabelle Fettle, a baby broker who helped engineered Craig's speedy adoption. Molly agreed to help Craig help Annabelle on the condition that he try to convince Dusty to let Molly remain a partner at Metro. However, despite his promise, Craig knew the attempt was futile and didn't even try to talk Dusty out of kicking Molly out. Later, an angry Molly called Criag and argued about their deal, with Paul overhearing about the illegal adoption!! When pressed by Paul for details, Molly blabbed about the illegal adoption to Paul, who in retaliation for the fact that Craig tried to set him up for Rose's murder, immediately informed the police.

Months later, Molly unwillingly got pulled into Dusty's drama again when she overheard him being threatend by a dangerous mobster named Starziak whom Dusty owed money to. Learing that Dusty was using the newly formed Rose Foundation to launder money to Starziak, Molly immediately told Holden and Lily. She'd come to regret that decision several weeks later when the Feds start asking her questions about Starziak. Afraid for her life, Molly told them nothing. Unfortunately Starziak thought otherwise and had Molly kidnapped. After spending days in a dark secluded prison, Molly was rescued by Holden and Jack. Unfortunately, she still wasn't safe. Although Holden offered her to stay with him and Lily, Lily objected because she was afraid that the mob would go after Molly. It turned out that Lily was right. Now at Jack and Carly's. Molly was found by Starziak who killed an police officer guarding Molly and then tried to kill her while she was alone in the house. Luckily, before he was able to kill Molly, Jack and Carly returned home and Jack apprehended the mobster.

Although Jack intended to wait for backup before he transported Starziak, Molly was hysterical and urged him to leave immediately. Tragically, Jack and Starziak never made it to the station. Jack's car would be found near the river and Starziak was found dead. Although a search was conducted for Jack, the police could not find a trace of him and he was declared dead. Heartbroken over what her hysterical behavior had done, Molly told Holden she was making plans to leave Oakdale forever. Although Holden tried to reassure that what happend to Jack wasn't her fault, his comforting matter resulted with them sharing kiss. Though she pulled away, Molly felt even more guilt, which only escalated with Lily accusing Molly of trying to destroy her marriage. Not wanting to cause trouble in the Snyder marriage, Molly went ahead with her decision and went to live with Abigail in California.

Years later, Molly had a cushy job as a news anchor in New York City and was having an affair with an very influential political figure. When the man spurned her, Molly retaliated by broadcasting his business on the air. Unfortunately, that merely got her fired and almost killed when her brakes failed. With help from an visiting Jack, Molly got her ex-lover to admit to tampering with her brakes. Later, Carly called Holden, who was divorced from Lily, to go to New York to take care of Molly. Holden convinced Molly to return to Oakdale. In Oakdale, Kim offered Molly her old job back and a furious Lily demanded that Holden keep Molly away from the kids.

Soon, Holden and Molly, begin investigating that Lily's husband Damian Grimaldi, had covered up the fact that when he married Lily, he knew that Holden might not be legally dead. Molly got Officer Grady to admit that Damian had blackmailed him. However, Damian warned her that her newfound information would only served to reunite Holden and Lily, and Molly kept quiet about what she learned. However, Molly couldn't keep quiet for long and confessed the whole truth to Holden. After a brawl with Holden, Damian disappeared and was presumed dead when a body matching his description washed up on shore. Though Holden was booked for murder, unbeknownst to everyone, Damian was in fact alive. When, thanks to Molly, the Maltese government backed down on seeking extradition on Holden, Damian returned to Oakdale in secret and manipulated Holden's daughter, Faith, to destroy the Snyder family. Later, Molly informed Holden that Damian had checked Faith out of school. Holden escaped police custody, and him and Molly arrived at Damian's rendezvous spot to find Damian tying up Faith. Damian knocked Holden out and abscounded to a warehouse with Lily. Ultimately, Holden rescued Lily and Damian was sent to jail.

Later, Molly's old lover, Silas, returned wanting her back. Unfortunately, Silas wouldn't take no for an answer and became dangerous. Silas coerced Molly to meet him at the Old Mill, where he got high and tried to rape her. Holden arrived in time to save her, but when Holden went to call the authorities, Silas taunted Molly until she shot him dead, After the ordeal, Holden ask Molly to marry him. Unable to deal with the thought of Holden marrying Molly, Lily left town. The day before the wedding, Lucinda convinced Holden to follow Lily to France and get her to come home. Holden convinced Lily to fly home from France, but bad weather grounded them in Montreal. He finally made it home, but Molly already canceled the wedding, Realizing that it would never be over between Holden and Lily, Molly left town. Molly returned a few months later to attend Jack and Carly's wedding, where she reaquainted with Rosanna and met her cousin Gwen. After briefly running into Holden at the wedding, who apologized, Molly went back to Los Angeles, where she once again stayed with Abigail.


References[]

http://soapcentral.com/atwt/whoswho/molly.php

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