By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I watched One Life to Live ever since I can remember. I was raised on soaps. When I was 12 years old, one of the most graphic rape scenes ever done on daytime was shown.
Frat Boy Todd Manning (Roger Howarth) led a gang rape on a drunk Marty Saybrooke (Susan Haskell). Now, Todd was not supposed to have any longevity on the show, but the fans and the powers-that-be saw how great the actor was. Roger Howarth was and is amazing at his craft.
I grew up loving Todd Manning which admittedly was a bit disturbing considering the character was a rapist. I wasn’t the only one. I remember reading article after article about the character and how disturbing his popularity was.
As the years came and went, Todd Manning has committed every crime imaginable, but Howarth always had a way to bring out the human side of him. Through anger a softness was revealed. Through the abuse he inflicted on others, one could see the abuse he endured.
It’s really easy for a soap opera to create a one dimensional bad guy. It’s much more difficult to have a character commit the most heinous crimes and make the worst mistakes but still have an element within himself that is human and redeemable. Roger Howarth always had the capability to get the audience to sympathize with him and to root for him even when he was doing despicable things.
For those who aren’t soap fans, I would say to think of Todd Manning as Friedrich Nietzsche meets Loki. He’s philosophical and deep. He’s intelligent which can be dangerous. He’s easily driven to jealousy and fits of rage. He’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He has many issues with women. For years, he hated women. He viewed them all as whores.
Even when he fell for his first love, Rebecca Lewis, he differentiated her from other women. He looked at her as special and pure while in his mind the woman he raped was a slut.
Slowly, he learned to feel badly about the rape, but he was never redeemed which made him all the more compelling. He would still lash out. He punched his second wife Tea in the face. He held everyone in town hostage with what he said was a bomb. He told his ex-wife that her baby died because he thought it wasn’t his. He’s killed people. He nearly buried a man alive.
Todd Manning is a bad guy but he’s so amazing to watch. Whether Todd was dating a woman or completely alone, Roger Howarth made the character exciting and fresh. Everything from Todd’s abusive childhood to the way his anger manifested itself drew the fans in. Howarth wouldn’t even have to speak to relay Todd’s emotions and drive. He’s just that good.
Now sadly, his character is once again leaving One Life to Live and I (as every other time Roger Howarth has left) will stop watching the show.
Howarth made Todd Manning an iconic character that will forever remain in the hearts of fans. Todd’s self-destructive nature and insane attempts to find unconditional love made him amazing. He was always able to get control of the town and would usually come out on top.
Todd Manning will be forever missed and I do hope he returns one day to Lanview where he can play the badass bad guy, we all know and love.
In the meantime, I’ll be watching Roger Howarth on General Hospital portraying Franco and soon enough I have to find out what Californication is about because he’s going to be on that show as well.
