HELENA CASSADINE

Constance Towers 

1997-present 

Elizabeth Taylor 

1981

The vengeful and evil widow of Mikkos Cassadine and mother of Stavros and Stefan, Helena worked hard at enacting the curse she set upon the heads of Luke and Laura Spencer on the day of their wedding.  Luke and Laura had been responsible for the death of her beloved husband Mikkos after his attempt to freeze the world with a weather machine.  Mikkos accidentally fell into the weather machine, despite Luke’s attempts to save him, along with Alexandria Quartermaine (Edward’s niece).  As if that were not enough, her favorite son, Stavros, had become enraptured with Laura and kidnapped her, holding her prisoner on their private island in Greece.  Stavros showed Laura a newspaper from Port Charles which confirmed that Luke had been presumed dead after an avalanche, in order to break her spirits so that she would consent to marriage and ultimately persuaded her to marry him.  They conceived a son, Nikolas, who Laura believed to be the child of her brother-in-law, Stefan, from their clandestine affair.  Enraged that Laura had managed to capture the hearts of both her sons, Helena’s hatred for her grew even greater.  Helena intercepted the DNA test samples that Stefan had secretly run to determine the paternity of the child and paid off the obstetrician, Dr. Lastirus, to tell Stefan the infant was his.  She did this to ensure that Stefan would always take care of the child and to cause her hated son pain with the knowledge of a child he could never recognize publicly as his own due to the inheritance that would be lost.  When Laura learned that Luke was alive, she left the newborn Nikolas on the island and went to find Luke.  She reunited with him just as he was being inaugurated as mayor of Port Charles.  Stavros followed Laura to Port Charles and was killed while attempting to rape her.  He knocked out Luke, tied him to the bedpost, and when he awoke he saw Stavros trying to rape Laura.  Luke broke free and hit Stavros over the head.  He and Laura ran out of the room and down the staircase with Stavros right behind.  Affected by the bump on the head, Stavros lost his balance at the top of the stairs and fell.  Luke and Laura called an ambulance and Stavros was taken to GH where he died. This stoked Helena’s hatred and desire for revenge to an inferno.  Helena let it be known that if Laura should attempt to return to the island and see Nikolas, people she loved would die.  Supposedly, the “death” of Laura’s mother, Lesley, was due to her attempt to see Nikolas. 

When Helena learned that her husband was having an affair with Kristen Bergman, a beautiful opera singer, she set out to kill her.  Mikkos tried to protect Kristen by hiding her but Helena caught up with Kristen eventually.  Mikkos had sired a daughter with Kristen, Natasha, who was with her mother when Helena came upon them.  Helena slashed Kristen’s throat, and her gifted vocal cords, leaving her to bleed to death in front of her small daughter.  Mikkos was able to convince Helena to take in Natasha, who was given to some distant relatives and renamed Alexis Davidovich.  Whenever she was on the main Cassadine island, she was treated as if she was a servant, as per Helena’s wishes.  She also made sure that Alexis did not know that Mikkos was her father.

Helena hired villain Cesar Faison to fake the accidental death of Lucky Spencer and brainwash him.  During that time, Stefan managed to poison her with a drug that would incapacitate her in a catatonic-like state.  Faison managed to secure the antidote and she continued to feign catatonia long enough to kill Katherine Bell, who was duping Nikolas into marrying her by pretending to be pregnant.

When Alexis/Natasha cattily baited Helena by saying she knew all of her little secrets, Helena took it to mean she knew about Lucky’s kidnapping.  She ran Alexis down with her car, only to find that it was Chloe Morgan, Alexis’ best friend, wearing Alexis’ coat and scarf.  Chloe was left blinded, but recovered, then learned that she had a brain tumor threatening her sight.  The tumor, combined with the medications she was taking, caused Chloe to have dreams with a psychic connection to Helena.

Helena ultimately killed Faison and brought the muddled-brained Lucky back to Port Charles, programmed to “protect his queen” (the code words to entrance him, derived from a chess game), hate his father and mother and break up with his beloved Elizabeth to allow her to be with Nikolas.

When son, Stefan, became a threat to her, Helena lured him to her yacht and toasted him with wine laced with the same drug he had used to incapacitate her.  She then had her manservant, Andreas, throw him into the water to drown.  Andreas had been threatened into cooperation by Stefan, who had learned about the plot, and together they faked his death.  Andreas supplied Stefan with CDs of his conversations with Helena, keeping Stefan apprised of her doings, while Stefan languished in Paris.  Luke Spencer was framed for his murder, much to the delight of both Stefan and Helena.

Helena’s pharmaceutical company was the sole producer of the experimental drug that would possibly save Chloe’s sight.  Corporate pirate Jasper Jax, Chloe’s beloved, exhausted every avenue attempting to gain access to the drug for Chloe before it was too late.  When Dr. Tony Jones pressed Jax, asserting the importance of getting the drug, he went to Helena himself to appeal for it.  She told him he could have it and the drug company if he would spend one night of passion with her.  He reluctantly agreed.  Leading her to believe he was following through, Jax tied Helena to the bed and stole both the medication and the rights to the company. 

Slowly, Helena is learning that Chloe has seen not only Stefan’s murder, but also knows a secret about a certain music box.

It is unknown exactly why Helena hates her youngest son so much.  When Nikolas was a young boy, Stefan banished Helena from his life.  Nikolas is the only person Helena seems to care about – he is her motivation for many things.  In brainwashing Lucky, she left his relationship with Nikolas intact as well as ordering him to encourage a relationship between Nikolas and Elizabeth, knowing full well that Nikolas is in love with Elizabeth.  She has admitted that Stefan was a pitiful excuse for a son who paled in comparison to Stavros.

She has no remorse in killing, and she has killed numerous times, Kristen Bergman, Cesar Faison, Dr. Lastirus, and Ari Andropolus being just a few of her known victims.  She has had some unsuccessful attempts as well, including Alexis and Stefan, and her latest target is Chloe Morgan.  She has a voracious sexual appetite, eyeing men from Edward Quartermaine to Sonny Corinthos, and bedding Ari and his twin Andreas.  However she mourns her husband Mikkos to this day.