Portrayers Jenny Lester-McKeon Rosalind Allen First Appearance May 16, 1990 Episode #1462 Last appearance October 8, 1990 Episode #1563 Occupation Manager of Bar None Spouse Harland Richards Romances Mack Blake Episode count 34

Gretchen Richards was a fictional character who appeared on Santa Barbara from May to October 1990. She was portrayed by Jenny Lester-McKeon and then Rosalind Allen.

The character was named after the daughter of SB writer Maralyn Thoma.

Introduction
Gretchen Richards was the young, calculating wife of Harland Richards, a ruthless businessman and one of C.C. Capwell's major competitors. Gretchen was also the manager of Bar None, which was owned by Harland, and didn't get along with her stepdaughter, Tawny. Gretchen's first scenes were with Mack Blake, with whom she was having a hot affair.

While her husband was out of town, Gretchen handled a deal with Craig Hunt about some beachfront property. She tried to befriend Craig and even flirted with him, but he rejected her. Furthermore, he ended up reversing their deal so C.C. Capwell could take title of the land.

The blond woman
Gretchen continued seeing Mack and they began to make love in her husband's studio. They were unaware that a man was watching from behind a two-way mirror. That man turned out to be Harland. Although Gretchen gave Mack a lot of mixed signals, their affair was slowly becoming more serious. They spent a lot of time at an inn and eventually professed their love. When Mack saw Gretchen with a black eye, she told him that Harland would hurt and even kill her if she continued to see Mack. Mack urged her to leave Harland, but she said she couldn't. She warned Mack that Harland was a dangerous man, not one to be fooled with.

Tawny's boyfriend, Ric Castillo, disappeared after he was seen talking to a blond woman during a train ride. Ric's brother, Cruz, suspected that Harland was responsible for Ric's disappearance, but Gretchen dodged his questions. When Cruz finally found Ric, the mysterious blond woman followed him. She left upon hearing that Ric couldn't identify his attacker, but dropped a phone number that Cruz found. Ric recognized the number as the number for Bar None. Alone, the blond woman removed her wig to reveal herself as Gretchen!

Gretchen's plan
Gretchen learned that she would inherit Harland's estate if he died before his daughter's twenty-first birthday. It soon became obvious that Gretchen was planning to set Mack up for the murder of Harland and that she had lied about being abused. Meanwhile, she told Mack that she wished Harland were dead. She also "confided" her fears to Mack about her husband and made it clear that the only way they could be together was if Harland died. Still, Mack refused to help her bump Harland off. Soon after, he became suspicious when he overheard Gretchen and Harland engaged in a warm, pleasant conversation. Gretchen continued to play the frightened wife, however, and played Harland and Mack against each other.

When Harland and Mack got into a fight at the stables, a gunshot dropped Harland to the ground. Mack was whacked over the head. It was all Gretchen's doing, and she placed the gun in Mack's hand. She prepared to torch the place, but Mack came to and stopped her. To the police and Michael Donnelly, Gretchen insisted that Mack had shot Harland. She almost got away with it until she was caught by Michael trying to finish Harland off in his hospital room. Gretchen was arrested. It was later revealed that Gretchen had tried to kill Ric, thinking he had seen Harland's will.

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