Dr. David Hayward is a fictional character from the ABC and The Online Network serial drama All My Children. The role has been portrayed by Vincent Irizarry, off and on, from November 27, 1997, to September 2, 2013.
The character has been a top television villain for years.TV GUIDE, SOAP PREVIEW, TV Guide (2006-08-12). Retrieved on 2007-12-15 His criminal actions have been alluded to by authors, as well as recognized by their own fictional characters. David evolves, but always remains a force antagonizing heroes and heroines of the series.
Casting Guiding Light alum Irizarry joined the cast of All My Children from November 27, 1997, to March 2, 1998, for what was initially meant to be a short term role. Irizarry returned to the series as a contract player on July 8, 1998. Following nine years in the role, Irizarry exited the series on November 28, 2006, with executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers citing financial and storyline reasons. Following a two-year absence, Irizarry returned to the series on October 23, 2008, and remained with the series until it aired its final episode on September 23, 2011. On December 28, 2012, it was announced that Irizarry reprised the role on the online reboot, which began on April 29, 2013. Irizarry also portrayed the role on One Life to Live for three episodes in February 2005.
Storylines
1997–2006 Dr. David Hayward first arrives in Pine Valley in late 1997 to reclaim his ex-lover, Dr. Allie Doyle. Allie is dating Dr. Jake Martin at the time. When Allie rejects him, David tries to get Jake out of the way. He frames Jake at the hospital by giving stroke patient Adam Chandler the wrong medication. David arrives "just in time" to play hero, which provides him with enough ammunition to get Jake suspended. David ends up leaving Pine Valley for a short time, but returns less than a year later in an attempt to woo Liza Colby, with whom he has grown infatuated.
David remains a common enemy of the Martin family throughout the next several years, constantly at war with Jake and his father, Joe. But it is his obsession with Dixie Cooney, Jake's sister-in-law, which is the fuel for his greatest rival; Tad Martin.
At the time, Dixie is just one of the many women in Pine Valley with whom David has a romantic relationship. Another significant relationship he has is with Erica Kane, and although it does not end in marriage, David grows very close to Erica's daughter, Bianca Montgomery. When Bianca suffers heart problems as the result of her eating disorder (anorexia nervosa) it is David who treats her and ultimately helps her survive. When Bianca is grieving for the death of Frankie Stone, David plans a memorial for his cousin and offers to involve Bianca. To help Bianca through her pain, he reveals that his father committed suicide when he was a child.
Shortly after his relationship with Erica ends, David pours Libidozone, a drug he created and uses to arouse sexual desires, into a punch bowl at a party aboard a yacht. The drug has the known side effect of causing people to act out on their hidden, restrained impulses. Most everyone aboard the yacht is affected by the drug. The dosing of the punch bowl is eventually discovered and David is arrested. David manages to avoid being convicted of the charges against him by blackmailing Adam (David learns that JR Chandler had stolen drugs from his medical bag) into getting the judge presiding over the case to drop the charges.
David comes to meet many family members of which he is not previously aware, including a half-brother named Leo du Pres and a cousin named Maggie Stone. Leo dies in October 2002, while Maggie moves away from Pine Valley in February 2005. David's mother-Vanessa Bennett- was attempting to shoot and kill Leo's wife, Greenlee Smythe, who she had trapped on a cliff at Miller's Falls. Leo tackled his mother and pulled her off the edge of the waterfall in order to save his wife. Neither body was ever found, but both are presumed dead. Leo's death devastated David.
David and then-wife Anna Devane named their daughter, Leora, after David's beloved half-brother. Leora needed a pacemaker. David wanted to wait until Leora was stronger before the surgery. Anna signed off for the surgery without him and Dr. Joe Martin oversaw with the surgery. When David realized Leora was dying, he tried to enter the OR to save her life. Dr. Joe Marin had Tad, his adopted son, remove David from the operating room. Leora died and David blamed the Martins for her death. David was destroyed by Leora's death and he pushed everyone away. He began to see an imaginary five-year-old Leora, talking to this image. Weeks later, David and Anna fight and cry together, realizing they can not mourn for Leora without each other. As they fall to the floor holding each other, a little girl is seen at the doorway (un-seen) by them. She smiles to herself and walks out of the cabin, shutting the door behind her. After discovering evidence that David may have been involved in Michael Cambias' death, Anna goes to David's cabin. Her intention is to leave the evidence and a note. David enters before she could leave. She tells him she is going to Paris to be with Robin and she does not want him to follow her. Anna then walks out the door and David's life.
In the early summer 2004, David is stunned to learn that he has a daughter in the form of Pine Valley newcomer Babe Carey, the wife of JR Chandler and mother of "Bess Chandler" (who David had discovered was actually Miranda Montgomery). Babe is the product of a one-night stand with Krystal Carey when he was a student in medical school, and he was completely unaware that the liaison resulted in a child. David loves Babe from the moment he learns she is his child, and even though he helps cover up Babe's lie concerning the true identity of "Bess", his relationship with her is always rocky. His willingness to cover up Babe's deception severely damages his relationship with the Kane women, with whom he had almost always been close. His crimes concerning the baby switch also cost him his medical license for quite some time, and he is forced to perform community service at Pine Valley Hospital as a janitor. Despite this, David is pleased when Bianca gets her baby back and that Babe's son, AJ Chandler, is actually alive.
Towards the end of his second stint in Pine Valley, David exudes hatred for Zach Slater (and it was reciprocated) due to Zach's involvement in Dixie Martin's life. David left Pine Valley in the fall of 2006 after making a video exposing many of his enemies' secrets and leaving it for interested parties to see. Several Pine Valley residents, including Tad Martin and his son Jamie, consider the possibility that David is the serial killer who murdered Simone Torres and Erin Lavery, and attempted to murder Danielle Frye. The killer, also known as "The Satin Slayer", is later revealed to be Alexander Cambias Sr.
2008–2010 David returns to Pine Valley in the fall of 2008. Having been hiding in the tunnels of the Chandler mansion, he first reveals himself right after a series of tornadoes strike the town. He is grief-stricken to learn that his daughter Babe has died as a result of injuries sustained during the natural disaster. Blaming the Chandlers (and, to a lesser extent, Tad) for Babe's death, he decides to seek revenge by gaining custody of Babe's son, AJ. Later, David uses Amanda Dillon to get revenge on JR, knowing that the two of them are friends and Amanda was a good friend of Babe's.
Amanda becomes pregnant with David's child. Initially, she passes the baby off as JR's, but David later finds out the truth. Amanda gets help from Jake Martin to keep David away. Jake ends up falling in love with Amanda, much to David's chagrin. He tries to stop their marriage, but he ends up bound and gagged while they exchange vows. On June 12, 2009, Amanda gives birth to a healthy baby boy, David's son. David tracks her and Jake down at a clinic and they let David believe that their son died, which sends David into despair.
On August 7, 2009, his daughter, Marissa Tasker, the newly discovered twin sister to his late daughter Babe, is shot. When he goes in for her surgery, he hesitates, saying that he keeps seeing Leora in her place. He makes a vow to Krystal that he will make sure that no one in Pine Valley will hurt their daughter again, seeing as she is the only daughter he has left.
On August 28, David kidnaps Liza and gets her to admit that his son with Amanda is alive and that she (Liza) knows and helped keep him from his son, with the help of Jake, Tad and eventually Amanda. On August 31, while talking with Liza, David realizes his son with Amanda is missing.
David threatens to have Amanda, Jake, and anyone involved with the plan arrested while he raises their son, Trevor, on his own. Instead, he blackmails Amanda into living with him and their son, Trevor, despite her marriage with Jake. David makes a contract with Amanda which lets her move out his house and share custody of their son if she agrees to have another baby with him through artificial insemination.
In November 2009, David also finds out that Trevor is not his son, but he doesn't tell Amanda and instead lets her believe he is dying from a rare blood disease and has six months to live. Amanda finds out in January 2010 that Jake is Trevor's biological father, getting rid of David from their lives permanently. Meanwhile, Ryan Lavery discovers Greenlee's medical records on David's computer, who claims he was using them for research into Amanda Dillon's pregnancy. It is later revealed that David has been keeping Greenlee in Massachusetts while she recovers.
Greenlee has been comatose for the past year and has no memory of the accident. Upon her awakening, David tells Greenlee that she is paralyzed and if she does not have surgery to fix her spine, she will remain paralyzed for the rest of her life. She tells David that she wants to do the surgery, but if she dies during surgery, not to tell anybody that she was alive before her death. After successfully recovering from her injuries, Greenlee attempts to visit Ryan but is surprised to see him having sex with Erica. Out for revenge, Greenlee asks David to bring her a hard-drive hidden in Ryan's house. She puts the hard-drive into Fusion's computer and it crashes all the files. Even with Fusion's files being lost, Erica is set out to build Fusion back up once again, and on an interview she tells reporters that whoever crashed Fusion's computers, hasn't destroyed the company. Greenlee feels that she hasn't done enough and decides to stay in Pine Valley. Greenlee asks David to marry her, hoping that when she walks down the aisle at her wedding, everyone will be surprised, and that Ryan will be hurt. Gayle wants to make David pay for what he's done and Erica promises they'll do just that. Erica lays it out for David, telling him she wants him to marry Greenlee, get her out of town and away from Fusion or else. Erica orders David to marry Greenlee, get her to hand Fusion over to Erica and leave town or else Erica will use nurse Gayle to expose David's illegal deeds. Erica reminds David of their deal; marry Greenlee, get her out of town and allow Erica to have Fusion or else David goes to jail. David and Greenlee are pronounced husband and wife. On February 25, 2010, David and Greenlee get married at Wild Wind in secret. David admits to Greenlee that he teamed up with Erica to try to take Fusion from her because she was blackmailing him. David insists to Greenlee they'll work together to double-cross Erica, which Erica overhears.