Carla Gray
| Carla Gray | |||||||||||
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| One Life to Live character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Ellen Holly | ||||||||||
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| First appearance | October 7, 1968 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | December 1985 | ||||||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||||||
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| Classification | Former, regular | ||||||||||
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| Residence | Arizona | ||||||||||
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| Mother | Sadie Gray |
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| Spouse |
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| Adoptive sons | Josh Hall |
| Grandsons | Jared Hall (adoptive) |
| Aunts and uncles | Hazel Scott |
Carla Gray is a fictional character from the American soap opera One Life to Live, played by actress Ellen Holly. The role appeared from October 1968 through December 1980, and from May 1983 through December 1985.
Carla was one of the original characters created for the show and was featured in a ground-breaking and very controversial storyline about race relations. Carla was a lighter-skinned black American passing as a white woman (specifically an Italian American). The fact that Holly's Carla was actually black was not revealed to the show's audience until about six months after the character debuted. The revelation was a major shock to viewers, and the series was boycotted by several Southern affiliates. Nevertheless, the controversy attracted much attention and ratings shot up for the then-fledgling soap.
At the series debut of One Life to Live in July 1968, black American former housemaid Sadie Gray (Lillian Hayman) lives in an apartment next door to the white Polish American Wolek family and works as the manager of housekeeping for Llanview Hospital. Sadie acts mainly as a confidante for troubled heroine Anna Wolek (Doris Belack) but makes several passing references to a daughter that she vaguely says is "lost to her." Anna and the rest of the Woleks assume that Sadie's daughter Carla is dead.
A few months into the series' run, Dr. Jim Craig (Robert Milli) begins treating a young woman named "Clara Benari," whose illness seems to be psychosomatic — her physical symptoms stem from some unstated mental conflict. Clara, who is assumed to be Italian American, begins working as Jim's receptionist. Very quickly, Clara begins dating black American resident physician Price Trainor (Peter DeAnda). ABC received several angry letters decrying the portrayal of a black man dating a white woman.
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Wikipedia