Julie
Williams is the daughter of Ben and Addie Olson. She is the sister of
Steven Olson, and half-sister of Hope Williams, who also happens to
be her stepdaughter. In addition, she is the mother of David Banning.
Thrice married, Julie is the ex-wife of Scott Banning, Bob Anderson.
She is currently married to Doug Williams, who she has divorced twice
in one of the most turbulent, but endearing, relationships ever. She
and Doug have overcome a myriad obstacles to obtain long-lasting
happiness.
Born
in Salem to one of the most prominent families in the city, Julie
Olson grew up in a very comfortable environment. Affluence came with
a price, however, as her father Ben failed to give her the attention
and emotional support that she needed. Julie turned into a spoiled,
rebellious teenager desperate for attention. This need for attention
first catapulted her into major trouble in the winter of 1965, when
two friends goaded her into stealing a mink stole from Bartlett's
Department Store. Julie wasn't very good at shoplifting and was
promptly arrested. At the police station, Julie gave her last name as
"Horton" so that her grandparents, Tom and Alice Horton, would come
rather than her father. In any case, Ben and Addie found out about
Julie's shoplifting and grounded her. Charges were eventually dropped
against Julie, but the judge took notice that the tension in the
Olson home had gotten too high by that point. Julie endlessly
threatened to run away to Chicago to become a model; Ben and Addie
couldn't stand their daughter any longer. And so, the judge ordered
for Julie to live with Tom and Alice until March 1966. While Ben went
away to Europe on business, Steve was sent away to boarding school.
Addie tried to make things better between her and Julie, but Julie
resented her parents' lack of attention. In March, Addie informed
Julie that Ben had to stay in Europe for six months on business.
Addie wanted to bring Julie with them, but Julie didn't want to leave
Salem before she graduated high school. In fact, Julie encouraged her
mother to go to Europe with Ben while she stayed behind in Salem to
live with Tom and Alice. Addie didn't want to abandon her daughter
yet again, but Julie made a shaky peace with her mother and asked her
to go. Addie and Ben wound up staying in Paris indefinitely, and
Steven also transferred to a school there.
Julie
soon began dating David Martin, who she felt shared a lot of the same
problems she had -- uncaring parents and loneliness. After some time,
they believed they were in love and decided to get married. In order
to do so, they had to leave Salem and cross into the next state
because Julie was only 17. Fortunately, Tom discovered Julie's plans
to wed and told her that it would greatly affect her future. Julie
still wanted to marry David. As she and David were crossing the
bridge that led them to the next state, Tom's words sunk in. She
asked David to stop the car because she didn't feel it was right for
them to marry. Although David obliged, he felt extremely hurt. And
so, he turned to Julie's best friend, Susan Hunter, for
comfort.
David
and Susan quickly broke up, and Julie found her way back to David.
They were making plans to get married when Susan told Julie a
terrible secret: she was pregnant with David's baby. Julie was
devastated, but kept quiet about her ongoing relationship with David.
As far as Susan knew, David and Julie had broken up a long time ago.
Tom Horton had urged Susan to marry David to give the child a name,
and Julie reluctantly did the same. After the wedding was arranged,
Susan begged Julie to accompany her to the wedding. By this point,
Susan and David had grown to despise each other, and Susan didn't
feel that she could go through the wedding on her own. Julie agreed
to attend the wedding of her best friend and the man she
loved.
Julie
and David anguished for months keeping their love a secret from
Susan. The only comfort for Julie was Susan and David's plans to
divorce as soon as the child was born. But after many months, Julie
couldn't take it anymore. In December 1966, Julie left Salem to visit
her parents in Paris. The following month, Julie received a phone
call from Tom telling her that the baby had been born premature.
Thinking that she was finally free to marry David, Julie caught the
first flight back to Salem...only to discover that Susan, overcome
with maternal feelings, had decided to remain married to David. She
wanted her baby to have a stable family. Upon hearing this, Julie
lashed out at Susan, ending their friendship forever. Julie continued
to see David behind Susan's back; finally, she and David made love.
She constantly pressured David to divorce Susan, but he also felt
that his baby needed a family. Julie and David would never be
together. One fateful, David took his baby to the park and allowed
him to play on a swing. The baby fell off the swing a suffered a
grave injury to the head which caused his death. Susan was so
devastated by the incident that she held David responsible for the
baby's death and shot David. While grieving David's death, Julie was
shocked to find out that she was pregnant with his child!
While Julie anguished over her pregnancy, she relished at the fact that Susan was on trial for murdering David. Julie went so far as to testify against Susan, telling the court about Susan's hatred toward David both before and after the baby's death. However, her testimony was thrown out of court when her uncle Mickey, Susan's attorney, informed the court that Julie was pregnant with David's child and thus not a reliable witness. Julie was so mortified that she left Salem.
She
returned a few months later with her baby, having given birth to
David Martin, Jr. out of town. However, she was much too young to
raise a child. Tom and Alice recommended that she put the child up
for adoption so that David could be raised properly. Julie
reluctantly followed her grandparents' advice and put David up for
adoption. She regretted this decision every day, but there was
nothing she could do -- she no longer knew where her child was.
During this time, Susan, who had gotten off from the murder charges
by pleading temporary insanity, wanted to bury the hatchet with
Julie. She repeatedly asked Julie to stop by the Banning home to
talk; Susan baby-sat the Scott and Janet Banning's son, Bradley.
Though Julie humored Susan and talked with her, deep down she still
despised her. After some time, she discovered that Bradley was not
the Bannings' biological son -- they were in the process of adopting
him. Julie began to wonder whether Bradley was actually little David
Jr.
After
a few months, Julie realized that Bradley really was her son.
Meanwhile, she noticed that Susan and Scott Banning had become quite
close (Scott's wife, Janet, had recently died of a brain tumor.) If
they got married, Susan would have the delicious pleasure of being a
mother to David Martin's living son. Julie could not let that happen,
and sued for custody of the child. The courts awarded custody to
Julie, since Scott was unmarried and adoption proceedings had not
been terminated. However, Scott made it clear that he loved little
David as if he was his own flesh and blood. Julie was touched by
Scott's love for David, but only allowed him to visit him sans Susan.
After much thought, Julie and Scott came up with an idea. They both
wanted to be with David...so they married, and Scott legally became
David's father. This way, Scott was father to David, and Julie
annihilated the threat of Susan. Susan, who had truly loved Scott,
was jealous, and vowed to get even with Julie.
Just as Julie was getting settled into her marriage, she met a curious character named Doug Williams. He was one of the singers at Sergio's. Doug flirted with Julie, and she enjoyed the attention. She enjoyed spending time with someone exciting rather than Scott, who was friendly but distant. In time, she fell in love with Doug...and desired to divorce Scott. However, she saw how much Scott and David loved each other and decided not to break up the family, although she continued to see Doug behind Scott's back. After much time, Julie grew weary of the situation, as did Doug. Finally, she sought out the help of attorney Don Craig and began secret divorce proceedings.
Meanwhile, in the Spring of 1972, Julie was devastated to learn that her father had died of heart attack. As a result, Addie and Steve returned to Salem. Immediately, Addie began interfering in Julie's life again and wondered about her loveless marriage. As for Julie, just before she was to announce her desire for divorce to Scott, Julie and Doug prepared a romantic trip to Portofino, Italy, to celebrate their future lives together. But the day they were supposed to go, Doug and Julie had an argument about raising David and other children they might have; Doug didn't want children. Upset, Julie left Doug. When she returned, she discovered that her mother, who had learned all about Doug and Julie's romance, had for some reason married Doug. To add insult to injury, Doug and Addie had used the trip to Portofino as a honeymoon. Hurt, Julie asked Don to stop the divorce and she returned to Scott, who never found out that he'd almost lost a wife and son that night.
When
Addie and Doug returned, it was evident to Julie that they had an
attraction for each other. That didn't stop Julie from trying to seek
an explanation from either one. Neither giving a satisfying answer to
her questions, Julie turned her back on Doug and Addie. Things got
worse for Julie when Scott suffered a grave accident at an Anderson
Manufacturing construction site. While Scott was in the hospital,
Julie rushed to his bedside and gave him a heartfelt thanks for what
he'd given her through the years. She also apologized for the
entrapment that had been their marriage. And moments after, Scott
died. Widowed and a single mother, Julie once again sank into a deep
depression. Bob and Phyllis Anderson, the owners of Anderson
Manufacturing, felt responsible for the accident that had killed
Scott and gave Julie financial and emotional support. During this
time, Bob and Julie grew close...so close that Bob began having
problems with Phyllis and decided to divorce her.
During this time, Addie developed Leukemia and was expected to die along with the child. As a result, Julie and Addie patched up years of argument and rivalry. However, Addie did not die and she delivered a healthy daughter named Hope. Although she was happy about this and knew that Hope was proof of Addie & Doug's love, Julie still loved Doug and wished it had been her daughter. Once again, Bob gave Julie a shoulder to cry on. In no time, the middle-aged Bob asked to marry Julie. Seeing how happy Doug and Addie (whose Leukemia went into remission) were married Julie accepted Bob's proposal and married him. Phyllis, who had never quite understood Bob's reasons for divorce, now understood that he had left her for the much younger Julie. Blind with rage, Phyllis plotted an ill-fated scheme to kill Julie, though Julie was unscathed.
Despite the wealth provided by Bob, Julie felt out of place as his wife. There was no attraction between the two and for the first year of their marriage slept in separate beds. Unfortunately, just as she was beginning her loveless marriage to Bob, Julie was dealt another blow when Addie was killed one devastating March afternoon in 1974. She was struck by an oncoming truck on the street. Again, Bob was there to comfort her...and Doug as well. They still loved each other, but now Julie was trapped in a marriage to Bob. Furthermore, Doug sank into a depression following Addie's death and pushed Julie away. Julie and Bob grew closer and before long Julie found herself pregnant with his child.
Meanwhile, Julie's son David, who seemed to grow up overnight, returned to Salem after having been at boarding school. Now a grown man, David was having a hard time with his mother's past. Julie tried to fix the estranged relationship with her son and even got him a job at Anderson Manufacturing. She and David made progress, but Julie was unknowingly taking David away from his girlfriend, Brooke Hamilton. Soon after, lies began to be spread by Brooke about Julie and Doug. Brooke made everyone who would listen believe that the child Julie was carrying was Doug's, not Bob's, and that they'd been having an affair throughout his marriage to Addie. Everyone from Alice to Bob came down very hard on Julie about this even though she denied it. But this was especially hard for David and he began to hate his mother once again. Following a vicious argument between the two, David left the Anderson home and sped off in his car. Later that evening his car was found to have gone off a bridge into the Salem River. Although David's body wasn't found, the police informed Julie that there was little chance he had survived. Furthermore, they concluded that it had been suicide. All of this took a serious toll on the already-fragile Julie.
For a long time Julie was inconsolable, and only Doug was able to reach her. Very far along her pregnancy, Julie and Bob finally came to the understanding that their marriage couldn't possibly work and began divorce proceedings. They agreed to divorce after the birth of their child. In the meantime, Julie moved into Doug's house and stayed in a guest room. After some time, their relationship stopped being platonic. Having helped each other through their respective depressions, Doug and Julie began to talk about marriage. Things couldn't seem better, and by November 1975 everything was falling into place. And just then, even better news reached Julie when Bob's accountant, Paul Grant, informed her that her son was alive and well, and living in his home. The Grants had taken in David following his accident and he'd been staying in their house for months without letting them know his identity. Julie was thrilled to hear that her son hadn't died and rushed to see him. Sadly, in her haste to see David she tripped and fell down the long flight of stairs at the Anderson house. Julie immediately went into labor and was taken to the hospital, where she gave birth to a son. Tragically, Robert Anderson, Jr. was stillborn as a result of Julie's fall.
Not
long after Robert Jr's death, Julie and Bob divorced. And following
yet another long period of mourning and grieving (during which she
turned to Don Craig for comfort many times), Julie finally became
ready to join life again and become Mrs. Doug Williams. And just as
they began setting a date, a new problem walked into Doug's Place and
into their lives: Kim Douglas. Kim, a radiant Polynesian woman,
introduced herself as Doug's wife! As it turned out, Doug had been
married to Kim when he lived under his real name of Brent Douglas,
but had gotten a divorce in 1972. Or so he thought. Kim claimed that
she had never signed the divorce papers, and thus they were still
married. Although this seemed like an easy enough problem to solve,
it was complicated by the fact that Kim just happened to be princess
of a small island in the South Pacific, and Doug the island's prince!
For some vague reason or other, the two needed to remain married. Of
course this arrangement didn't please Julie in the least. To spite
Doug, who still showed some interest in Kim, Julie began dating Don.
After a month, they decided to get married. But just as they decided
to marry, Doug was able to solve the Polynesian mess and got Kim to
confess that they really were divorced after all. Unfortunately, this
was a little too late. Julie was determined to go through with the
marriage to Don. Thinking he'd lost Julie, Doug proposed to Kim,
which only enraged Julie. Over the following weeks, the two couples
constantly battled: they both picked the same date to be wed, both
picked churches on the same street, same time of day, same
bridesmaids, same wedding gown. In the end, neither wedding took
place. The night before the big day, Julie rushed to the hospital
after receiving news that Doug had been in a car accident. She stayed
with him through the morning, while Don waited for her at the altar.
Seeing how much Julie loved Doug, Don broke their engagement and
encouraged her to marry the man she loved. And 2 weeks later, Julie's
dream finally came true when she and Doug, at long last, were
married.
Following a long honeymoon in Europe, Doug and Julie returned to Salem to lead supposedly normal lives. However, she didn't have much to occupy her time with other than helping Doug with Doug's Place from time to time. As a result, Julie was usually at home. She suddenly came up with the bright idea that she should be a home decorator. At this time, she befriended her new neighbors, the wealthy Karl and Sharon Duval. Sharon was a bit odd; she constantly spoke to Julie about her dissatisfying marriage and how she often escaped it with Don. Although Julie was set back by her claim of an affair with Don, her worries were quelled when she spoke to him and he pronounced that affair as existing only in Sharon's head. Julie continued to see Sharon often, and soon decided to decorate their brand-new home. After a mighty fine job, Julie mentioned that she had a penchant for painting, so Sharon begged her to paint a portrait of her. During this time, Sharon began to show romantic feelings for Julie. When her feelings became more than obvious, Julie decided to put a stop to it. It was impossible for her to return those feelings. Unfortunately, Sharon was slightly off and twice tried to commit suicide after Julie's rejection. While Sharon was admitted to Bayview Sanitarium, Karl took the opportunity to also hit on Julie, who felt extremely guilty for Sharon's attempt to kill herself. Julie wasted no time in telling Karl that she wanted nothing with him either, and suggested therapy. In the end, the doctors at Bayview felt that Sharon's bisexual tendencies were rooted in her emotionally-abusive childhood and that Julie shouldn't feel guilty for Sharon's mental state. Following much treatment, Karl and Sharon left Salem in the summer to start their lives elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Doug began suffering problems with Doug's Place as a ruthless businessman, Larry Atwood, took an interest in it. After Doug rejected Larry's offer to implement illegal gambling as one of bar's sources of entertainment, Doug's past crimes mysteriously surfaced and caused the Alcohol Control Board to revoke his liquor license. With no liquor to be served, Doug's Place was a dead bar and in no time lost all its clientele to a rivaling bar, The Pines, which was owned by...Larry Atwood! Julie knew how much Doug's Place meant to Doug and suggested turning it into a coffee bar until they could obtain a liquor license. Meanwhile, she secretly used the inheritance Addie had left her to buy Doug's Place and a new liquor license. Unable to be involved with the running of the club until a hearing with the Alcohol Control Board, Doug took several singing gigs around the country to occupy his time, leaving Julie to run the club.
Although Julie wasn't incapable of running the club, the instability of the club caused many problems for her. Somewhat overcome with the difficulties, and unaware of Larry Atwood's ruthlessness, Julie called on him to help her since he ran a club as well. Larry was more than happy to oblige, and pretended to help her with all the business aspects. In fact, he was really sabotaging Doug's Place by going through internal files and by planting a spy, Arlo Roberts. Meanwhile, Doug continued to stay away from Salem as he got more and more gigs because the hearing before the Alcohol Board kept being postponed. Shortly after Christmas, Doug left Salem to go to a singing gig in Wisconsin. On New Year's Day, a headline appeared in the newspaper which stated that Doug had been arrested there for cocaine possession! Over the phone, Doug pleaded with Julie to believe in his innocence, and she did. But she still couldn't help but feel pain over the entire incident. During this time, she turned to Larry for comfort. With every passing day she was growing closer and closer to Larry, unaware of his true intentions of ruining Doug.
After a couple of days, the Wisconsin ski lodge where Doug had been arrested dropped the drug charges against him and he returned to Salem. Once returned, Doug lost the chance to regain his liquor license. Meanwhile, Doug took notice of Julie's new and immense trust in Larry and argued about it. Having settled nothing, Doug left on another singing on a cruise. Julie, meanwhile, continued to see Larry often and consult him on the running of Doug's Place. Before long, Larry developed feelings toward Julie. Meanwhile, after hearing from Mickey the Alcohol Control Board was going to deny Doug's liquor license again, Julie went to Larry for help. Surprisingly, he told Julie that he would be able to sway the Board's decision in Doug's favor; all she had to do was give herself to him. Suddenly, he confessed that he'd lusted for her for a long time. Nearly attacked by Larry, Julie left his apartment but kept quiet about the encounter. The following night, Julie spoke to Doug on the phone and noticed how it broke his heart when she told him that the Board would deny him a license again. Set on making him happy, Julie returned to Larry's place and told him that she'd try to work something out -- some other sort of payment -- if he could sway the Board's decision. However, Larry was no longer bargaining. He quickly locked all doors and menacingly approached Julie, confessing that he'd wanted to caress her skin since the moment he'd met her. As he said this, he brought out a clay figure of Julie that he'd sculpted while fantasizing of Julie. Horrified, Julie broke the clay figure. Furious, Larry seized Julie and violated her.
Julie remained quiet about the rape, but that didn't stop people from noticing that something was wrong with her. When Doug returned from his gig on the cruise, he, too, noticed that something had happened to Julie. Julie refused to be intimate with him. Soon after, Doug confronted her with a very serious question: had she been having an affair? He had received an anonymous letter accusing her of sleeping with Larry. Finally, Julie broke down and told Doug that Larry had raped her. Furious, Doug left the house swearing to kill Larry. Julie tried to warn Larry that Doug was coming over, but no one answered the phone. Needing to stop a tragedy from occurring, Julie went over to his apartment. When she got there, she found Larry's dead body on the floor. Nearby layed the gun used to kill him. Near hysterics, Julie knelt over the body, getting her dress stained with blood, picked up the gun and placed in her purse. Then she ran out of the apartment only to run into Amanda. After warning Amanda not to go into the apartment because Larry wasn't home, Julie sped off. Julie was afraid that Doug had shot Larry and was determined to hide that from the police. But when she got home and told Doug the news, he denied even seeing Larry that night. Someone had shot Larry, not Doug, and Julie had the murder weapon. After the police searched her house and found the gun, the dress, and the anonymous letter sent to Doug, Julie was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. To make matters worse, Jeri Clayton accused Julie of having an affair with Larry. This caused the police to believe that it'd been a crime of passion. Although Julie denied the charges against her, she refused to go into detail about what had happened that night with Larry, only making things worse. The trial went very badly with the Assistant D.A., Roy Hazeltine, painting Julie in a very bad light. The final nail was driven into her coffin when Julie took the stand in her own defense. During his cross- examination, Hazeltine managed to get Julie to confess that Larry had raped her. Now with a clear motive, it seemed that Julie would be found guilty. But at the eleventh hour, it was discovered that Arlo Roberts had killed Larry. After Larry fired him from his organization, Arlo had wanted revenge on him and shot him. With Arlo's confession, Julie the case was dismissed. With the legal troubles out of the way, Julie sought therapy with Laura. With Doug's help, she overcame the rape. As she got past her nightmare, Doug and Julie decided to take a trip to Paris in order to start anew.
More information to
follow!
The character of Julie Williams was
played by:
Charla Doherty (1965-1966)
Catherine Dunn (1967)
Catherine Ferrar (1967-1968)
Susan Seaforth-Hayes (1968-1984; 1990-1993; 1994; 1995; 1996;
1999-present)