Lorraine
Temple is the mother of Donna Temple Craig. In March of 1978,
Lorraine arrived in Salemfrom New York after hearing that Don Craig
was running for the State Senate. She arrived with the express
purpose of blackmailing Don. In 1964, when Don had been in law
school, he and Lorraine had been an item, and had even lived together
for 3 weeks. Lorraine claimed that Don had then left her suddenly
after discovering that she was pregnant with his child. Now, fourteen
years later, she wanted Don to pay her $75,000 in child support. If
he didn't, she would go public with her story, which would surely
shoot his chances at winning the election down the drain. However,
Don's side of the story was quite different. As he recalled, he
dumped her after he discovered that she moonlighted as a prostitute.
Furthermore, she hadn't been pregnant.
While waiting for Don to decide what to do, Lorraine tried to push him toward a quick decision by going to Marlena Evans, Don's then-fiancée. Pretending to need psychiatric help, Lorraine attended a session with Marlena and told her her tragic side of the story...leaving out Don's name, of course. Touched by her story, Marlena promised to help her in any way she could, including asking her lawyer fiancé to help her. Later on, Don was none too pleased when he realized that Lorraine was intent on messing with his personal life to get her money. Meanwhile, Lorraine was becoming desperate for money since Don was taking so long to pay her. Needing money fast, Lorraine hit the bars and went back to her hooker routine. She luckily managed to seduce Neil Curtis and convinced him to spend the night with her in a motel. But when she hit him up for cash before they slept together, Neil threw the money at her and left the room. Frustrated with the way things were going, Lorraine decided to bring Don's long-lost child into the picture. The following day, she contacted Arlene Harris, a gossip columnist for the Salem Chronicle, and told her the entire story. The story of "The Abandoned Mother and Daughter" was highly-publicized, and finally brought forth a response from Don. His side of the story was then printed in the papers, as well as Lorraine's past as a prostitute and her subsequent failed marriage to Mr. Temple, whom Don was convinced was Lorraine's daughter's true father. With no other recourse, Lorraine chose to bring her daughter, Donna, to Salem.
As soon as Donna arrived in Salem, Lorraine fueled the fires by slapping Don with a paternity suit. Coaching Donna on what to say, Lorraine was sure that she would win the lawsuit. However, she didn't on Donna's displeasure with her mother's lifestyle. Not long after arriving, Donna spilled the beans to Lorraine's lawyer: she wasn't Don's daughter, she wasn't a brunette (Lorraine had dyed her blonde hair to match Don's), and she was only thirteen (Don's daughter would've been fourteen.) More shocking still was the fact that Lorraine still worked as a hooker in New York. Knowing all of this, Lorraine's lawyer refused to represent her in the paternity suit and recommended that she drop the entire matter. After meeting with her lawyer, Lorraine received a call from the police station asking her to come pick up her daughter who had been arrested for shoplifting. Furious at Donna for the way she ruined her plans, and sick of the entire hoax, Lorraine decided to leave Salem. After calling a rich john of hers, Lorraine boarded a flight headed to Texas, leaving behind her daughter and one gigantic mess for Don to clean up.
The character of Lorraine Temple was
played by Francine York in 1978.
Back to the Character Histories
Back
to Beth's Days of Our Lives Page