Dr. David Hayward is a fictional character from the ABC and The Online Network serial drama All My Children. The role has been portrayed by Vincent Irizarry, off and on, from November 27, 1997, to September 2, 2013.
The character has been a top television villain for years. His criminal actions have been alluded to by authors, as well as recognized by their own fictional characters. David evolves, but always remains a force antagonizing heroes and heroines of the series.
Contents
Casting
Guiding Light alum Irizarry joined the cast of All My Children from November 27, 1997, to March 2, 1998, for what was initially meant to be a short term role. Irizarry returned to the series as a contract player on July 8, 1998. Following nine years in the role, Irizarry exited the series on November 28, 2006, with executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers citing financial and storyline reasons. Following a two-year absence, Irizarry returned to the series on October 23, 2008, and remained with the series until it aired its final episode on September 23, 2011. On December 28, 2012, it was announced that Irizarry reprised the role on the online reboot, which began on April 29, 2013. Irizarry also portrayed the role on One Life to Live for three episodes in February 2005.
Storylines
1997–2006
Dr. David Hayward first arrives in Pine Valley in late 1997 to reclaim his ex-lover, Dr. Allie Doyle. Allie is dating Dr. Jake Martin at the time. When Allie rejects him, David tries to get Jake out of the way. He frames Jake at the hospital by giving stroke patient Adam Chandler the wrong medication. David arrives "just in time" to play hero, which provides him with enough ammunition to get Jake suspended. David ends up leaving Pine Valley for a short time, but returns less than a year later in an attempt to woo Liza Colby, with whom he has grown infatuated.
David remains a common enemy of the Martin family throughout the next several years, constantly at war with Jake and his father, Joe. But it is his obsession with Dixie Cooney, Jake's sister-in-law, which is the fuel for his greatest rival; Tad Martin.
At the time, Dixie is just one of the many women in Pine Valley with whom David has a romantic relationship. Another significant relationship he has is with Erica Kane, and although it does not end in marriage, David grows very close to Erica's daughter, Bianca Montgomery. When Bianca suffers heart problems as the result of her eating disorder (anorexia nervosa) it is David who treats her and ultimately helps her survive. When Bianca is grieving for the death of Frankie Stone, David plans a memorial for his cousin and offers to involve Bianca. To help Bianca through her pain, he reveals that his father committed suicide when he was a child.
Shortly after his relationship with Erica ends, David pours Libidozone, a drug he created and uses to arouse sexual desires, into a punch bowl at a party aboard a yacht. The drug has the known side effect of causing people to act out on their hidden, restrained impulses. Most everyone aboard the yacht is affected by the drug. The dosing of the punch bowl is eventually discovered and David is arrested. David manages to avoid being convicted of the charges against him by blackmailing Adam (David learns that JR Chandler had stolen drugs from his medical bag) into getting the judge presiding over the case to drop the charges.
David comes to meet many family members of which he is not previously aware, including a half-brother named Leo du Pres and a cousin named Maggie Stone. Leo dies in October 2002, while Maggie moves away from Pine Valley in February 2005. David's mother-Vanessa Bennett- was attempting to shoot and kill Leo's wife, Greenlee Smythe, who she had trapped on a cliff at Miller's Falls. Leo tackled his mother and pulled her off the edge of the waterfall in order to save his wife. Neither body was ever found, but both are presumed dead. Leo's death devastated David.
2008–2010
David returns to Pine Valley in the fall of 2008. Having been hiding in the tunnels of the Chandler mansion, he first reveals himself right after a series of tornadoes strike the town. He is grief-stricken to learn that his daughter Babe has died as a result of injuries sustained during the natural disaster. Blaming the Chandlers (and, to a lesser extent, Tad) for Babe's death, he decides to seek revenge by gaining custody of Babe's son, AJ. Later, David uses Amanda Dillon to get revenge on JR, knowing that the two of them are friends and Amanda was a good friend of Babe's.
Amanda becomes pregnant with David's child. Initially, she passes the baby off as JR's, but David later finds out the truth. Amanda gets help from Jake Martin to keep David away. Jake ends up falling in love with Amanda, much to David's chagrin. He tries to stop their marriage, but he ends up bound and gagged while they exchange vows. On June 12, 2009, Amanda gives birth to a healthy baby boy, David's son. David tracks her and Jake down at a clinic and they let David believe that their son died, which sends David into despair.
On August 7, 2009, his daughter, Marissa Tasker, the newly discovered twin sister to his late daughter Babe, is shot. When he goes in for her surgery, he hesitates, saying that he keeps seeing Leora in her place. He makes a vow to Krystal that he will make sure that no one in Pine Valley will hurt their daughter again, seeing as she is the only daughter he has left.
On August 28, David kidnaps Liza and gets her to admit that his son with Amanda is alive and that she (Liza) knows and helped keep him from his son, with the help of Jake, Tad and eventually Amanda. On August 31, while talking with Liza, David realizes his son with Amanda is missing.
David threatens to have Amanda, Jake, and anyone involved with the plan arrested while he raises their son, Trevor, on his own. Instead, he blackmails Amanda into living with him and their son, Trevor, despite her marriage with Jake.
David makes a contract with Amanda which lets her move out his house and share custody of their son if she agrees to have another baby with him through artificial insemination.
2011
On January 3, 2011, it is revealed that it was actually Kendall who shot David, but she repressed her memories of the incident. On January 17, 2011, David wakes up shortly after Tad convinces Liza to drop the charges against Erica. David reveals to Erica that he knows it was Kendall who shot him. Upon discovering David's awakening, Marissa offers to be his defense attorney and hopefully get him to turn over a new leaf, but assures her father that if he doesn't do exactly as she says, she will see to it personally that he is thrown in prison.
Later, Greenlee visits David in the hospital with divorce papers. Upon realizing that his selfish refusal to let Greenlee go resulted in the needless suffering of several people, including Zach's death and his own bullet wound, David agrees to sign the papers.
Ryan, wanting David in jail by his and Greenlee's wedding day, kidnaps David out of his room and sets him up to make it appear as though he is attempting a getaway, after which he is promptly arrested and thrown in jail by Jesse. However, he manages to convince Marissa of the setup. Using his one phone call to contact Kendall, David gets her to come to the police station. In the ensuing confrontation, Kendall begins to suffer from respiratory distress and passes out. After convincing Jesse and Greenlee to temporarily release him in order to help Kendall, David revives her, and she is rushed to the hospital, where it is revealed that Kendall is suffering from an aortic aneurysm and needs heart surgery to survive. After David talks Griffin through an emergency surgery on Kendall inside an ambulance, Erica convinces the Governor to grant David a pardon for his crimes in exchange for him not revealing the truth about the shooting. Marissa takes this opportunity to hopefully ease hostility towards David in town.
Later, when an increasingly unstable Annie kidnaps Emma during Ryan and Greenlee's wedding, Jesse finds a picture from the night of the kidnapping that depicts David and Annie together. When the direct approach fails, Ryan tricks him into admitting his guilt in a set-up. David is further shocked when Ryan informs him that Annie is the one who attacked and nearly killed Marissa at the Chandler Mansion. At that moment, Marissa, having been informed of the situation by Greenlee, arrives and threatens to turn David in unless he reveals Emma's whereabouts. David tells them that Annie and Emma are in a cabin in Vermont, and insists that he merely thought that Annie was taking Emma on vacation while Ryan and Greenlee were on their honeymoon. Despite David's attempts to defend himself, Marissa, having completely given up on him now, coldly states she is done with him before storming off. Ryan takes this opportunity to (arrogantly) taunt David, snidely declaring that, while they both may have lost their daughters, at least he (Ryan) is getting his back; only to discover that Annie has gotten away with Emma, as he is unable to find them.
2013
In April 2013, in the revived All My Children, David is released from prison, where he served five years for shooting JR Chandler after he (JR) shot and killed David's daughter, Marissa. David returns to Pine Valley to seek answers about the miscarriage of his baby with Cara and finds JR still in a coma from when David shot him five years prior.
Project Orpheus
As David regained consciousness, it was revealed to Griffin that Project Orpheus was not just theoretical, but that David had been experimenting on patients.
Griffin told Ryan that Maria may have been brought back from the dead as a part of Orpheus. Greenlee speculated that Leo could have been part of Orpheus as well. She had David take her to his secret lab to find out if Leo was still alive. David drugged Greenlee and when she awoke she believed she saw Leo; after reuniting with Leo it was revealed that this was just a dream. Instead, it was revealed that Zach was alive and had been part of Orpheus as well.
While David was recovering from his stab wounds; Dixie escaped from David's lab and found her way back to Pine Valley. It was later revealed that she had also been kept alive as a part of the Project.
Dr. David Hayward brought back the following people from the dead as part of Project Orpheus;
Dixie Cooney (died in January 2007; brought back on May 17, 2011) – alive.
Greenlee Smythe (died in February 2009; brought back on December 23, 2009) – alive.
Maria Santos (died in August 1997; brought back in May 2002) – alive.
Zach Slater (died in November 2010; brought back on August 5, 2011) – alive.
Stuart Chandler (died in May 2009; brought back on September 21, 2011) – alive.