Soaps Q&A: A Look at "One Life to Live"

By Lynda Hirsch

Feb 28, 2009

Q: I just started watching "One Life to Live." I love the character who just became a Buddhist. Please tell me all about him. -- Jennifer, Staten Island, N.Y. Answer: David Vickers (Tuc Watkins) came to town in 1994. In his off-again, on-again stints with OLTL he has shown a flair for comedy and drama. The actor recently told me he never asks what the writers have in store for his character. "I know it's always going to be good. My character has never had a boring moment." Cast mates say the same is true of Watkins. He is known as a jokester on the set, but is always serious when it comes to getting his work done.

Before he turned to Buddhism, Vickers was quite a criminal character. According to Soap Central, he helped Todd let everyone think Blair's son was dead; kidnapped Kelly Cramer; forged Irene Manning's diary; pretended to be Victor Lord's long lost son; held Dorian Lord hostage in an attempt to get the Bahdra diamond; and blackmailed Clint Buchanan for $10 million in exchange for donating his kidney to Jessica.

When David came to town, Dorian was in jail for killing her husband, Victor, 20 years before. David gave Dorian a forged diary by Victor's mistress, Irene Manning, which claimed she killed Victor. She also said she had had a second child with Victor, a son, and Dorian convinced David to pretend to be the long lost heir in order to validate the diary. David presented the diary and Dorian was freed, but then David met his supposed "sister," Tina Lord Roberts, and they fell in love. Tina even named her dog "doggie David Vickers."