ST. JOHN's WORK

Eddie Cibrian Looks Back On 18 Months Of Hard Labor As SUNSET BEACH's Cole

By Adam Kelley - SOD Magazine
August 4, 1998

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> "What's so great about doing SUNSET BEACH," smiles Eddie Cibrian, "is that it's not really a typical soap opera." Indeed, the show regularly goes on location, stages one elaborate effect after another and absorbs popular culture (Scream, Titanic, Monica Lewinsky) at warp speed, only to reproduce it in scripts weeks later. And in those same scripts, Cibrian's Cole Deschanel (ne' St. John) is really not a typical soap character.

A throwback to early-1980's action heroes like GH's Luke and DOOL's Bo, Cole's a rough-and-tumble guy, able to tackle thugs, leap off buildings, and grab the controls of a crashing aircraft, all at a moment's notice. And that's exactly what Cibrian likes about him. "He's always on the move, doing dangerous things, and that's what makes him interesting to me," says the actor, who agreed to chronicle the highlights so far.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1997

Though plenty of women were paying attention to him because of his uncanny resemblance to Sunset Beach founder Armando Deschanel, Cole only had eyes for one: Caitlin Richards (then played by Vanessa Dorman). Alas, the girl's dad, Gregory, caught wind of the affair - and of Cole's reputation as a jewel thief - and quickly blackmailed Cole into dumping Caitlin. On the rebound, the young man slept with the gorgeous (and, importantly, bejeweled) Olivia (Lesly-Anne Down), who just happened to be Caitlin's mom. A lot of people don't realize that Cole had no idea who Olivia was when he slept with her," sighs Cibrian, who didn't really know what was going on either, having just taken over the role from originator Ashley Hamilton. "Gregory was threatning to tell Caitlin about how Cole was a jewel thief, so he had no choice but to break up with her. And then here come Olivia, and he really bedded her because she was wearing the Deschanel jewels, which was why he came to Sunset Beach in the first place. Cole had not idea that Olivia was Caitlin's mother, and once he found out, he stopped seeing her."

MARCH - MAY 1997

Spring brought about two reconciliations in Cole's life: Not only did he win Caitlin back, but he learned that Elaine was his long-lost mother! As it turned out, Bette and Olivia had helped Del Douglas steal Cole from Elaine at birth, told her he was dead and handed him over to his grandmother, Madame Deschanel (Constance Towers) to raise. "She was the one who actually raised Cole, which she wanted to do because her own son [Cole's father] had left her and she wanted to fill the void," explains Cibrian. "After she admitted to the truth, Cole had this total mistrust of her. He felt really betrayed, which lead to some really great scenes. And I loved Constance - I wish she were still around." But if he lost a grandmother, he gained a mom. "He's not angry with Elaine, because she grew up thinking he was dead. Cole and Elaine were actually in the same boat for all that time, so now they have this little bond."

JUNE - OCTOBER 1997

A panicked Olivia kept news of her pregnancy to herself, then got even more jittery after Caitlin revealed that she was pregnant, too. As usual, Gregory (who was still in the dark about his wife's condition) came up with a plan to split up the couple: Olivia was was to feign pregnancy, deliver around the same time as her daughter, steal Caitlin's baby to pass it off as her own and pretend that Caitlin's had been stillborn. Whew! Around this time, Cole, unaware of Gregory's plan, began to wonder if he could have fathered Olivia's child. Fortunately, a minor distraction arose in the person of Jack Wagner (Peter, MELROSE PLACE), who played Cole's old partner in crime, Liam. "Jack's a comedian, really," enthuses Cibrian. "He's that funny. I wish he'd been able to stay around longer."

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 1997

Olivia and Caitlin ended up at a clinic in San Francisco. They had told Caitlin that Cole was unfaithful and that she should go with her mother to a pregnancy clinic to have her baby. When Caitlin arrived in SF, she received a call from her brother Sean, who had just discovered his parents plan to steal Caitlin's baby. He wanted to warn Caitlin. She then took of in a car with Olivia in tow and got into a horrible car crash; Cole arrived on scene just in time to see the car plunge over the cliff, with Caitlin still inside. Cole tried to search for his girlfriend, but was stopped by Paula, who arrested him for a trumped-up assault charge filed by Gregory. With Sean and Bette's help, Cole managed to escape from prison; however, a security guard recognized him and alerted the authorities, who chased Cole down a California freeway in black-and-whites and helicopters. "That was really a lot of fun," says Cibrian, who got to drive a Mustang Saline with racing suspension for the scenes. "One time, I was driving down the freeway with a helicopter about 15 feet above me and a cameraman leaning out. You couldn't hear a thing because the helicopter was so close, and your adrenaline's pumping so fast, you can't do anything except focus on exactly what you have to do. It was great." And effective: With help from his friends (Sean and Ricardo, this time), Cole escaped and managed to locate the presumed-dead Caitlin in a convent. Little did he know, she had lost their baby in the crash.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1998

Cole proposed marriage, Caitlin accepted, and even a brief visit from his ex, Jada (Sandra Ferguson), couldn't derail things. Meanwhile, Annie and Caitlin plotted together to find a baby that they could pass off as Cole's. The ever-inventive Annie eventually managed to lure Olivia to a deserted cabin, where she gave her a memory-blurring drug and induced labor. When Olivia came to, she was told she'd lost her baby. With help from Sean, Caitlin managed to convince Cole that she had given birth to their son, Trey, by the side of the road. The new year also brought a wedding to Sunset Beach: Cole and Caitlin finally tied the knot. "I was a little surprised that they married us so quickly," reflects Cibrian. "But I do think that's what Cole wanted. He's found the love of his life, and as far as he's concerned, he doesn't need to look around for anybody else." Unlike many complicated affairs, the wedding proved relatively easy to tape. "But it's very prolonged," he laughs. "The whole thing seemed to happen for a week. I hope when I get married [in real life] it's just a one-day thing."

MAY - JUNE 1998

Just in time for Father's Day, Cole's dad, A.J. (Gordon Thomson), showed up, courtesy of Olivia. "Cole basically feels that his dad abandoned him so he could live the high life somewhere else, and now A.J. wants a relationship. But that's not the way it works with Cole." Not that Cibrian's ruling out an eventual reconciliation, mind you. "Inside, Cole's hurting. He's thinking, 'Where have you been my whole life?' So it's a two-way street. He hates his father and loves him at the same time."

JULY - AUGUST 1998

Summer brough another blast from the past: Cole's ex-girlfriend, Francesca (Lisa Coles), who was the previous great love of his life. "Basically, anybody from Cole's past can come back and cause trouble," Cibrian jokes. "The thing about Francesca is that they're writing the story as if I still have feelings for her, even though I'm married and have a child," muses the actor, in character. "So Cole's thinking, 'I have somebody good in my life right now,' but at the same time, Francesca's making him think, 'Wow, that was kind of fun back then, too.'" Complicating matters, Francesca's married - and just before the tsunami struck, her husband, Philip (Michael Sabatino), challenged Cole to a shipboard duel. "We had this saber fight, which was a lot of fun," Cibrian says. "Michael Sabatino and I rehearsed for three or four days before we shot it." Cole survived that fight, but greater obstacles to his and Caitlin's continued happiness are just around the corner. "They still haven't played the fact that Trey is Olivia's baby and nobody knows who the father is," Cibrian points out. "And when they finally do, all hell's gonna break loose."