Having
given birth to the child, Kate and Victor asked Vivian to move back
to her own house. They were even nice enough to give the Alamain
mansion a new, brighter look by redecorating it (and getting rid of
the suit of armor.) Vivian hated being ousted from the Kiriakis home.
So she had Ivan burn down the Alamain mansion and make it look like
it was caused by a furnace malfunction. Naturally, Victor and Kate
invited Vivian to move in with them until she found a new place to
live.
By this time, Kate had grown weary of Vivian's presence. She'd also begun to get suspicious. Kate finally learned the whole truth. She overheard Vivian speaking to Ivan on the phone about her plan to get Victor. After getting everything out of a drunk Ivan, and seeing the wedding video, Kate confronted Vivian. Vivian admitted everything. Kate swore to tell Victor the truth and decided to board the Kiriakis jet to Bermuda, where Victor had gone for a conference. Vivian tried to beat her to Bermuda by dumping an entire bottle of sleeping pills in Kate's pot of coffee, hoping that Kate would fall asleep in the limo on the way to the airport, giving her time to get to Victor first.
Vivian's plan to drug Kate into a deep slumber failed miserably. Kate had given the coffee to Steve, her pilot. Thus, Vivian and Ivan were at the airport when they heard that the Kiriakis jet had crashed into the Eagle River. Worried for Kate's safety, Vivian chartered a helicopter and had Ivan fly it to the area of the wreckage, despite the horrible rainy weather they encountered. They did not find Kate and had to return to the airport. After many searches conducted by the Salem Police, Kate was declared missing...then dead. No one knew that she was still alive, chopping fish heads aboard a Spanish freighter.
Vivian initially came under suspicion for causing Kate's accident. Steve, the pilot, survived the crash and explained to Victor that he didn't know how he could've fallen asleep after drinking an entire pot of coffee that Kate had given him. This sounded suspicious to Billie, who had known about Kate's growing suspicions of Vivian. Billie pushed Bo to investigate Vivian and soon, he came searching for that pot of coffee to have it analyzed. Vivian had Ivan bury the pot in the garden. However, her own pet dog, Noelle (she had been a Christmas gift from Ivan), dug up the darn thing and almost got Vivian in trouble. Fortunately, Vivian buried the thing back in the garden and had a cement path constructed over it. She also burned a letter Kate had left written to Lucas, in which she told him to watch out for Vivian.
With
Kate out of the way, Vivian decided to take her place in both
Victor's personal and professional life. She hoped to win Kate's
position in Titan in order to become closer to Victor. While she
sabotaged candidates for the job, Vivian knew that the only way
Victor would hire her would be if she made a monumental task proving
her abilities as a "people person." Finally, she realized the best
way to do this was to make peace between all of Kate's kids. Though
this was a tall order, Vivian schemed with Lucas. She told him that
if he helped her win Kate's former position in Titan, she would help
him win Carrie away from Austin. Lucas agreed to help her and soon
they both convinced Victor to give her Kate's position at Titan,
reminding him of her business sense in running Alamain Industries.
Soon, Vivian was impressing Victor, and they once again grew very
close. But annoying Lucas kept getting in the way. Vivian's efforts
to keep Austin and Carrie apart were futile, and Lucas threatened to
expose Vivian because her part of the deal had fallen
through.
Lucas, who had gone out of town to find Sami Brady, returned with the news that she'd been arrested in Seattle. He blackmailed Vivian into getting Sami out of her jam and back to Salem in order to stop Carrie from marrying Austin. With no other way out, Vivian and Ivan traveled to Seattle to help Sami. Sami had been arrested for stealing & crashing a car. The car's owner, John Penetta, was torn whether to press charges against Sami or not. Vivian discovered that Mr. Penetta was a very religious man who was devoted to the memory of his late mother. Disguised as a nun, Sister Mary Vivian, Vivian tried to convince Mr. Penetta to drop the charges against Sami. That didn't quite work, but she did see a picture of Mr. Penetta's mother and surprised to see that she had very Slavic features. So she sent Ivan to finish the job. Ivan dressed up like a woman and claimed to be Sami's mother, Mrs. Brady. "Mrs. Brady's" pleas convinced John Penetta to let Sami go. Vivian posted Sami's bail and provided with a room in Seattle's finest hotel. She told Sami that a flight had been booked for her for the following morning. Sami distrusted Vivian and left that very night. Although slightly ticked at Sami's insubordinance, Vivian decided to just return to Salem and wash her hands of this mess.
For months, Vivian worked at getting closer to Victor by working hard at Titan Publishing and by taking care of Phillip. Soon after returning from Seattle, she organized a charity event at the Penthouse Grill to honor the memory of Kate. She called it "A Night of Magic", and the highlight of the show was a magician named Fantastic Theodore, who would perform Houdini's infamous Chinese Water Torture trick. Tony asked Vivian to coax John into volunteering for that trick since he was an influential man in the town. Vivian thought it was a pretty good idea and convinced John to participate in the act. To everyone's horror, the mechanism in the water tank malfunctioned and John almost died. Later that evening, John Penetta from Seattle showed up and stirred more trouble. He swore that Vivian was Sister Mary Vivian, the nun he had met in Seattle. Vivian convinced him that he was mistaken, but it was too late. Sami had overheard Vivian and Mr. Penetta's conversation. Using this information as ammunition, Sami blackmailed Vivian into getting her a job at Titan.
Finally, Vivian and Victor made a breakthrough in their relationship. She asked him to make love to her, and he decided that he had mourned Kate long enough. While in bed, Olga, Vivian's former nurse, barged in and told Victor that he had been tricked into marrying Vivian (Olga had just been rejected by Ivan, for whom she had a crush.) Victor was furious at this revelation and kicked Vivian out of the house. Vivian tried to get Sami and Lucas to help her win Victor back, but they refused to help her. Vengeful, Vivian ruined their little schemes by manipulating Carrie and Austin into running into each other at their special place, The Green Mountain Ski Lodge.
Still, revenge against Sami and Lucas was enough. Viv wanted Victor. She tried all sorts of things in order to win Victor's love back, including baby-sitting Phillip and keeping Caroline away from Victor. Vivian even tried sabotaging a computer dating service that Victor was consulting so that she would be matched up with him. Unfortunately for her, she was matched up to Ivan! She and Ivan went on a date to the Penthouse Grill only to find Victor with his date, a beautiful model named Alana. Vivian was angered by this and vowed to get Victor back. She hoped to make him jealous by hiring a male model named Grègore to pretend to be her boyfriend. Victor was not affected by this, although Grègore did fall for Vivian. Though she was flattered, Vivian told Grègore to take a hike. She only wanted Victor.
Though she pretended to have no feelings for Phillip, the truth is that Vivian was quite attached to him. This genuine love for Phillip was the only thing Vivian needed to show Victor in order to lure him back. She finally realized this and decided to show Victor how loving she could be. This finally convinced Victor to move on with Vivian. To top it all off, Vivian organized a gala at the Penthouse Grill honoring, once again, the memory of Kate Roberts. The gala went off without a hitch, and Victor appreciated Vivian's efforts. After years of work, Vivian finally got her wish. In March of 1996, Victor was ready to make love to Vivian. What began as the night of her dreams ended in disaster. Just as she and Victor were about to make love, Kate walked in on them! Both Vivian and Victor were flabbergasted to see her alive. Kate was more vengeful than ever and told Victor everything that had transpired between her and Vivian shortly before her plane crash, and where she'd been for the last 10 months. She also told Victor that Vivian had been responsible for the embryo switch. A fight between Vivian and Kate ensued, which ended with Victor throwing Vivian out of the house. Before Vivian could comprehend what had just happened, Kate dumped a large bowl of fish soup on Vivian's head and threw her out in the cold.
Vivian went into virtual isolation for a weeks. She simply got a room at the Salem Inn and locked herself inside. Finally, Ivan managed to get her out of there and convinced her to regain her life back. She knew that Victor was going to file for divorce so she decided to steal the divorce papers before they could be filed. Unfortunately, she was caught trying to steal the papers and thrown out of the Kiriakis mansion once again. Down but not out, Vivian decided to use Sami in order to get Victor back. She blackmailed Sami into helping her by threatening to tell Austin that Sami and Lucas had been scheming to break up his relationship with Carrie.
Meanwhile,
Vivian decided to go out on the town one night. She and Ivan went to
the newly-opened Salem Club. After being berated by Victor and Kate,
Vivian and Ivan got drunk at the bar. There, Ivan confessed his love
for Vivian and asked her to make love to him. A despondent Vivian,
thinking that she might never be with Victor, agreed to Ivan's
proposal. Upon returning to her room at the Inn, Vivian saw someone
in her bed underneath the covers. Figuring that it was Ivan ready for
action, she removed the blanket. To her shock, she discovered that it
was none other than Stefano! Stefano? No. Vivian knew this man only
as "Rudolfo", her Italian lover from Monte Carlo. She was immediately
furious at him, because she believed he stole her precious ruby ring
(the one the "cardinal" had been wearing last year at Bishop Andrews'
office.) "Rudolfo" denied it, and began to charm her by telling her
that he never forgot her. Ultimately, Vivian fell for his charms and
slept with him. Afterwards, Ivan found them together and was crushed.
Later, however, he came to Vivian and showed her a picture of
"Rudolfo" in the Salem Times. The paper said that he was really
Stefano DiMera and a citywide manhunt for him was in effect.
Horrified, Vivian refused to have anything else to do with "Rudolfo."
Stefano finally admitted his true identity and threatened to harm
Vivian and Ivan if they didn't help him escape the Salem PD. While
Stefano was out for a bit, Vivian and Ivan quickly packed their
things and got in the car determined to escape Stefano and Salem. But
who should be hiding in the backseat but Stefano himself? Stefano
forced them to continue driving until they got to a nearby gas
station. There, Stefano slipped out of the car unseen, leaving Vivian
and Ivan to be arrested by John and Abe for helping him
escape!
It would be some time before Vivian and Ivan would go to trial, but were warned to stay in town. However, Vivian's escapade came to light and Victor fired her from Titan. A short time later, Victor called Vivian and offered her a position as Manager of European Titan Operations if she confessed to everything that she and Sami had done together. Vivian seriously considered doing this. But when the time came to confess everything in front of Austin, Kate, Lucas, Sami, and Victor, Vivian lied and said that all she had had to do with Sami was rescue her from the Seattle streets and given her a job at Titan. Victor was furious, and warned her not to cross him ever again. Later, he called her and told her that they were getting a divorce. Vivian begged him not to file for divorce, but he said that he had already filed it, and that the next day they were going to sign the papers. Desperate, Vivian and her lawyer, Randall King, organized a press conference. She sent Ivan to the Kiriakis mansion to tell him to watch the conference. Vivian dropped the bombshell on live television: she announced to the world that she had just filed a lawsuit against Victor and Kate seeking custody of their child, Phillip Kiriakis. She explained that even though the child was biologically Kate's, she had carried him and given birth to him. She continued by saying that Kate had been absent for an entire year, and that Phillip only knew Vivian as his mother. After the conference, she went to Victor's house to explain her actions. She barged past Henderson and stormed into Victor's living room. Vivian then said that she would drop the custody suit if Victor agreed to leave Kate and stay with her. Victor was truly sickened by this proposal and became very agitated. Suddenly, he stopped breathing and crashed onto the floor. He had a stroke.
Vivian, Henderson, and Ivan took him to the hospital and kept vigil outside his room. But when Kate arrived and heard from Henderson what had happened, she and Vivian had a violent cat-fight. After wrestling on the floor and tearing each other's clothes for several minutes, Mike stopped them and sent Vivian home. When Vivian came back the next day to visit Victor, Kate refused her visitation rights. So Vivian devised a clever revenge. With the help of lawyer Randall King, Vivian seized control of all of Victor's properties, businesses, and holdings. This was perfectly legal because the divorce had never been finalized; she was still Victor's wife. And with him being incapacitated, she controlled everything. Having control of everything, including the Kiriakis mansion, Vivian kicked Kate and Lucas out of the house, and fired Kate from Titan. She proceeded to hire decorators to redecorate the entire house to her liking. In addition, she demanded that every member of the household staff sign loyalty oaths. Several staff members refused, including Henderson. So Vivian fired them (this should all sound very familiar if you were a fan of Dynasty.) She also went to Titan and had the people there sign loyalty oaths. But Kate showed up when she was making her speech to the employees. Marie showed loyalty to Kate, so Vivian fired her too. Thinking she had complete victory, Vivian went home to have a special dinner for Victor, who was still virtually comatose. But every time that Vivian would be alone with him, his blood pressure would skyrocket.
Vivian's victory came to a rapid end, however. One day, Kate barged into the mansion claiming that she owned 50% of everything, thanks to a document Victor had secretly made months before he had his stroke. In this document, Victor specifically stated that, in the event of his absence, his wife and mother of Phillip ran everything. Since Kate was Phillip's mother, and Vivian was Victor's wife, they shared the power equally. So Kate moved back into the mansion and hired back all the people Vivian fired, including Henderson and Marie.
During this time, the police finally put pressure on Vivian and Ivan regarding their helping Stefano escape from Salem. Abe and John accused Vivian of helping Stefano escape and of knowing his whereabouts, for he was still at large and with Marlena as hostage. Vivian convinced Abe that she was forced into helping Stefano and that she didn't know where he was. After her grueling day at the police station, Vivian was horrified to find her mug shot on the cover of Bella Magazine, and an article inside describing her intimate relationship with Stefano DiMera. This, of course, was the work of Kate. This was too much for Vivian to handle, and she decided to go to Paris for a few weeks until everything blew over. To her dismay, she found that the same issue of Bella was being sold in Paris. Desperate to protect her reputation in her favorite city, Vivian sent Ivan to buy up all of the Bella Magazines in Paris!
After that task was done, Vivian decided to kick back and celebrate Bastille Day. That night, she and Ivan were horrified to see Stefano with Marlena on the streets of Paris. They went back to her hotel room to think about what to do. She finally got the nerve to call John and tell him about Stefano, but before she could do that, Stefano showed up and stopped her. He threatened to kill her and Ivan if they told John where he was. Vivian and Ivan swore they wouldn't tell. The troubles for Vivian weren't over, though, because John and Abe, who were in Paris looking for Stefano, showed up in her hotel room, after having been told that the woman who stayed there had met Stefano a few times. Vivian denied having met Stefano or even knowing that he was in Paris. Realizing that she was in danger of going to jail, Vivian decided that she must find Stefano and have him sign an affidavit stating that she was forced to help him escape. She tried to follow Paul, Stefano's Parisian henchman, and even attempted to catch him, twisting her ankle in the process. But she could not figure out where Stefano is staying.
One day, Stefano pulled her into a secret room in an alley and demanded to know why she's been following Paul. Vivian asked Stefano to sign an affidavit, and Stefano said he'd think about it, and that he'd give her his answer at a masquerade ball . Vivian went to the ball, dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte, while Ivan was dressed as Josephine. Vivian was crushed to hear Stefano refuse to sign the affidavit. But Vivian refused to accept this, and eventually she chased Stefano all over Paris. Finally, she and Ivan found his hideout in the Paris underground. They were even more shocked to walk in and find John in a guillotine. After getting him out of the guillotine, Abe and the French authorities arrested her. She and Ivan spent a short time in a dark dungeon, sharing their cell with a man named Andre Soven. Andre devised an escape plan that worked, and the three of them broke out of their jail. But the police took notice rather quickly and began searching for Vivian. Panicking, Vivian ran to the Eiffel Tower and climbed to the top, threatening suicide. With helicopters flying around her and Ivan, Vivian was informed that she had been cleared of her charges. And with that, she returned to Salem to fight for Victor.
Unfortunately,
things got worse for Vivian once she was back in Salem. Titan lawyers
managed to remove her from her C.E.O. position, and Kate was able to
get her out of the house. Just when she thought she had lost, Vivian
noticed something very odd about Kristen Blake. After much spying,
she discovered that Kristen had hired a look-alike pregnant woman
named Susan Banks to pass her baby off as John's. In fact, she
confronted Kristen with this information by ripping the pillow
Kristen used to feign her pregnancy with from her waist. With this
secret, Vivian blackmailed Kristen into voting against Vivian's
removal from Titan (Kristen owned 49% of Countess Wilhelmina and thus
was on the Titan board of directors.) However, Kristen threatened to
sic Stefano on her, and forced Vivian and Ivan to help her pull off
her pregnancy scam.
More information to
follow!
The character of Vivian Alamain has
been played by the following:
Louise Sorel (1992-2000)
Marj Dusay (1993) (temporary replacement)