When SUNSET BEACH premiered, the town's residents lived by one rule: If you value your life, don't mess with Gregory Richards. The master manipulator ruled his business - and his home - with a forked tongue and an iron fist, and brought frightening, new meaning to the term "control freak".

But now, heavens, how things have changed! Gregory's estranged wife, Olivia, has been getting cozy with his archenemy, AJ. Daughter Caitlin is annoying married life with Gregory's other archenemy, Cole. (Who knew a person could even have two archenemies?!) Plus, Olivia's archenemy, Annie, has manipulated Gregory into marrying her and, with a few swift moves, has turned his son, Trey, into his grandson. In short, nearly everyone under the SUN has been messing with Gregory. And no one is happier about this turn of events than his portrayer, Sam Behrens. "I'm thrilled," he insists. "Gregory is into controlling every aspect of his life, and now, all that's been taken away."

A Match Made In Hell
In Behrens' estimation, Gregory's downfall began when his union with Olivia fell apart. "Gregory has had a long, tumultous marriage," Behrens observes. "You know how some people can be - it doesn't matter how bad the marriage is, as long as it lasts. For Gregory, keeping the family together was more important than the quality of life or of the relationships."

It was Gregory's failure to keep Olivia under his thumb that drove him into the arms of inheritance-happy Annie. While he could have made a wiser choice for a new wife than a woman who regularly visits her father in hell, Gregory finds the red-hot redhead hard to resist. "What he likes about Annie is that she is very much like he is," Behrens points out. "She is a conniver. They are of equal mind.

Maybe a little too equal. Devious Annie has managed to steal Gregory and Olivia's baby, make them think that the boy died, and pass off the tyke to Cole and Caitlin. It sounds like something that Gregory himself might do. And it also begs the question: How could she dupe him so easily? "I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that he has been fooled," Behrens speculates. "We don't know why Gregory marries Annie. I would tend to believe that he is just doing it out of loneliness.

"But," Behrens adds, "he always has something else up his sleeve."

Love/Hate Relationship
Gregory may have everything in common with his bride, but the dirty rotten scoundrel is nothing like his portrayer. Co-star Lesley-Anne Down has said that she personally relates to many of Olivia's experiences, but Behrens relies soley on "my imagination" to play Gregory, he says. "I know it would make a good copy to say otherwise, but I don't draw those parallels. I keep it separate.

"It keeps me from liking or disliking who Gregory is," he elaborates. "I think there's a little bit of Gregory in all of us, but I'm not there to like or dislike Gregory. I'm there to be Gregory - to take on whatever the writers say he is."

Which is? Flawed, fallible and very complex. And that's precisely what Behrens loves about the character. "We ended up with a human being rather than an evil archtype," he says. "There really are no monsters, just like there are no Prince Charmings. Monsters are basically human beings. They have human emotions and feelings and desires."

And foils! Behrens particularly enjoys his scenes with Down and Gordon Thomson (AJ). "Both present challenges in two different ways," Behrens says. "Olivia plays the role of a victim, but underneath is a very strong woman. She'd have to be to have put up with what she's put up with for as long as she has. And AJ is a very strong man. It's fun to play that unsaid, male competitive thing. I don't do that personally, but it's fun to do in pretend situations."

Like SUN viewers, Behrens is often angered by Gregory's actions. And that's the way it should be, he believes. "If I'm doing my job right, you should like him and hate him and be charmed by him, just as you would a real-life monster. You love these guys - until you wake up."

Once Gregory suffers his rude awakening regarding Annie, could he - hindsight being 20/20 - possibly beg for forgiveness from Olivia? "I would like it," Behrens says. "I think they are really deeply in love."