Carly Manning
Carly Manning is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. Crystal Chappell portrayed the character from June 12, 1990, to October 18, 1993. After a sixteen-year absence, she reprised the role on October 2, 2009, to September 22, 2011. Chappell's most memorable storyline was in 1993 when her longtime rival Vivian Alamain buried her alive, which has become one of the show's most notorious plots. Along with Vivian, most of Carly's stories revolve around her ex-husband Bo Brady and late husband Lawrence Alamain.
Casting
Following the departure of Kristian Alfonso as heroine Hope Williams Brady in 1990, DAYS sought an actress for the newly created role of Carly Manning. Crystal Chappell joined the cast after her short-term role as drug dealer Jane Kingsley on another NBC soap opera, Santa Barbara when she was approached by the show's casting director Doris Sabbagh. Chappell studied acting at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and with legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner before she pursued the art professionally in 1989 after being cast as a day player on the ABC soap opera All My Children. By the time she began to appear as a regular on DAYS, she felt accomplished to have booked such a prominent role on a major show. After spending three years on the soap, Chappell left and eventually took roles on One Life to Live as Maggie Carpenter from 1995-1997 and Guiding Light as Olivia Spencer from 1999-2009, where she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2002. After 16 years away, Chappell returned to the show in October 2009 following the cancellation of GL, which ended its run less than a month earlier. While meeting with executives of another show, Gary Tomlin, the co-executive of DAYS at the time called Chappell and asked her to return. After nearly two years back, Chappell's contract was not renewed and she exited the show in September 2011. Following her exit, Chappell joined the cast of CBS' The Bold and the Beautiful as Danielle in the show's first lesbian storyline.Storylines
1990–93
Dr. Carly Manning arrived in Salem after she got the idea to move there from the vacationing Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis and Justin Kiriakis. Carly believed Salem would be a suitable town to live in because no one knew her. After arriving in town, she was shocked to run into not one but two people from her past. First, there Jennifer Horton with whom she had attended boarding school and then Bo Brady who had intervened in a fight between her and her then-boyfriend, Lawrence Alamain. Luckily for Carly, Bo did not remember her and the two did not get along. Eventually, Bo and Carly developed feelings as she cared for his son Shawn-Douglas Brady. Carly discovered her brother Frankie Brady was being held captive by Lawrence Alamain., who agreed to release Frankie if Carly handed over her family fortune and his enemy Bo. Carly had recently been revealed to be Katerina, a member of the powerful European Von Leuschner family and was torn between saving her brother and the man she began to have feelings for. Meanwhile, Jack Deveraux found Frankie and Jennifer who was held captive. Carly and Bo continued to grow closer but he was unable to fully commit to her. Carly accepted a marriage proposal to marry his biological father Victor Kiriakis.Carly was severely unhappy during her marriage to Victor and he knew she loved his son. Victor faked his death and move to Mexico, but after he was found the marriage was annulled and Carly accepted Bo's proposal but they never went through with a legal marriage following their symbolic ceremony. Carly began to remember her son whom died shortly after birth and told Bo what was on her mind. Bo learned that Carly became pregnant with the child of her boyfriend James, who was using an alias and was really Lawrence Alamain. She sought the help of his aunt Vivian Alamain, who secretly faked the child's death after he was born when it was believed he died of hydrocephalus. Vivian actually raised him as her own son, Nicholas Alamain. Vivian was unhappy at Carly and Nicholas' reunion and attempted to ruin Carly's life by framing her for the deaths of her own patients at the hospital to make Carly seem like an angel of mercy serial killer. Vivian injected cleaning fluid into the systems of Carly's terminally ill patients and Carly was considered the culprit. Vivian used a herbal medical treatment to place Carly into a coma to appear dead. In one of the most stunning plot lines ever to be featured on a daytime soap, Carly awoke in her coffin which was complete with enough essentials after she had been buried alive. Eventually, Vivian overcame her own lapsed reality from the herbs and had Lawrence release her. When everyone learned Carly was alive, Lawrence told her he wanted to have a life together with their son. After Bo and Carly agreed they could no longer make their relationship work, Carly, Lawrence and Nicholas left town to begin a new life in France.