Greg Sumner
| Greg Sumner | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knots Landing character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | William Devane | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1983–93, 1997 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | October 20, 1983 (Episode: Marital Privileges) |
||||||||||
| Last appearance | May 9, 1997 (Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac) |
||||||||||
| Created by | David Jacobs | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Occupation | Senator CEO of Sumner Group |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Father | Paul Galveston (biological) Jeff Sumner (legal) |
|---|---|
| Mother | Ruth Galveston (formerly Sumner) |
| Siblings | Claudia Whittaker (sister) Steve Brewer (half-brother/nephew) |
| Spouse | Jane Sumner (1966–84) Laura Avery (1986–87) Abby Cunningham (1988–89) Anne Matheson (1992–93) Paige Matheson (1993–97) |
| Children | Mary Frances Sumner (daughter, with Jane) Meg MacKenzie (biological daughter, with Laura) |
Gregory "Greg" Sumner is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera Knots Landing, a long-running serial about middle class life on the fictional cul-de-sac known as Seaview Circle in Los Angeles, California. He was played by actor William Devane between 1983 and 1993. He debuted in the fourth episode of the fifth season. Devane remained a principal actor in the series until the final episode. The character made his last television appearance in 1997, when he appeared in the Knots Landing reunion series Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac.
During the planning stages for the fifth season, the producers of the series decided to add a new male to stir up the pot. Devane explained his casting, "They brought me in for 8-10 episodes and said we’ll try it for that. Donna Mills came on the show as a female antagonist, about a year before, so now they wanted to have a male antagonist. I was cast as a Senator to shake things up".
During the thirteenth season in 1992, Devane resigned from his role as Greg due to the production schedule. Devane said: I resigned. I had had enough. It had gotten so absurd. And I was offered a deal with ABC. I left Knots Landing because I didn't want to go in the toilet with this shit. The problem really comes down to the writing and trying to come up with good stories and most of us just said, “ we've done good work and let’s be proud of that and not have the show’s legacy ruined.”". Another reason he resigned was due to the L.A. riots inspired story. "It’s one of the reasons I left. It didn't help, that’s for sure. Ted turning the seawater into fresh water or whatever the hell he did was better".
One of Greg's notable relationships was with Laura Avery (Constance McCashin) who became his second wife. Devane described this as his favorite story and spoke of his co-star Constance McCashin: "I liked the Laura story. The whole thing. Constance is very smart and very quick so it was a joy to work with her. Our dynamic had elements of Tracy and Hepburn in it. At times we were able to do sophisticated comedy and I would have liked to do more of that. Not enough for my tastes, but when we did it, it worked well". Greg also had on and off again affair with Paige Matheson, and short marriages to Abby Cunningham and Anne Matheson.
...
Wikipedia