Soap Masterpieces November Throwbacks: Y&R’s Phyllis Summers Arrives In Genoa City In Love With Married Man, Danny Romalotti

It’s not often that a true soap legend is born, but that was the case when William J. Bell created the role of Phyllis Summers on “The Young and the Restless.” She was introduced on October 17, 1994, as a groupie who was in love with Danny Romalotti [Michael Damian]. Her role was supposed to be for a handful of appearances, but 21 years later Phyllis Summers is still a core “Y&R” character.

She arrived in Genoa City after she claimed that Christine’s [who was called Cricket at the time] husband Danny fathered her child while he was on tour the previous year. Apparently, she claimed she was a groupie, and they had sex 13 months prior. Danny felt obligated to marry her and gave their child a future after Phyllis gave him proof that little Daniel was his child. Danny asked Christine for a divorce, which devastated Christine.

Eventually, Danny had it with Phyllis’ scheming ways and left her. She felt Christine was the reason that Danny left her, and she vowed to get sweet revenge on her, and her fiancée Paul Williams [Doug Davidson]. One day, she ran over Paul and Christine with the intent to kill them both. They miraculously survived the encounter.

Danny asked Phyllis to enter marriage counseling to see if they could repair their sham of a marriage. She blackmailed the psychiatrist into telling the court, they should not divorce by having sex with him and threatened to show the court. Her scam didn’t work; the judge granted the divorce.

A few months later, a man named Brian Hamilton showed up in Genoa City. He claimed he was little Danny’s real father. Daniel fought for custody of his son and won. When he won sole custody, he left town and raised Donny far away from Phyllis.

Phyllis is a character that is known to be ruthless and doing whatever it took to get her way- no matter what it cost. She has been linked to Jack Abbott [Peter Bergman], Nick Newman [Joshua Morrow, and of course, Danny Romalotti. Phyllis is an iconic role on the show and was only portrayed by one actress until recently. Michelle Stafford made the role her own by portraying her from 1994 until 2014. In 2014, Gina Tognoni debuted as the new Phyllis Summers. Do you remember when Phyllis Summers came to Genoa City in 1994?