Phillip Granville Spaulding is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. Phillip has been portrayed by three different actors, most notably by Grant Aleksander.
The character is the adopted son of business mogul, Alan Spaulding, and his first ex-wife, Elizabeth. The role was originated in 1977 by Jarrod Ross, who departed the series in 1981. Aleksander first appeared on December 22, 1982, and left in 1984. From 1985 to 1986, John Bolger played the role of Phillip. Aleksander then returned and played the role from 1986 to February 25, 1991. Five years later, in 1996, he returned again, playing Phillip until November 18, 2004, when the character of Phillip was shot onscreen and presumed to be dead. In July 2005, Phillip was revealed to be alive (but not shown onscreen) when he was visited by Alan. In February 2009, the character of Phillip returned to Springfield, and remained until the series finale on September 18, 2009.
Aleksander has received several awards for his portrayal of Phillip.
Storylines Seven-year-old Phillip Spaulding's world would change forever in 1977 when his mother befriended Jackie Marler; only he wouldn't know it yet. The son of wealthy Alan Spaulding and Elizabeth Granville, Phillip had his every wish catered to and was exceptionally close to his mother. While his parents were going through a nasty divorce in 1978, Phillip was having chest pains and started receiving treatment from Dr. Justin Marler, Jackie's ex-husband. Phillip bonded with Justin and after his parents divorced, he encouraged his mother to marry Justin in 1979. At about the same time, Alan married Jackie. Phillip was content to have Justin and Jackie as stepparents and became close to both. However, in 1980, Justin and Jackie would divorce their prospective spouses and find love again with each other. In 1981, Elizabeth would unexpectedly leave Springfield for Switzerland and left Phillip in the care of the Marlers. Though confused as to why his mother left and why he was living with his "Aunt Jackie" and "Uncle Justin" instead of his father, Alan, Phillip accepted the situation and soon left Springfield to attend Lincoln Prep School. Late that year, while Phillip was on Christmas break from Lincoln Prep, he finally apologized to Mike Bauer about his treatment of Mike during the time Mike and Elizabeth were lovers.
Thrown out of Lincoln Prep School at 17 (SORAS), Phillip returned to Springfield in 1982 to attend Springfield High. He and Freddie [later calling himself Rick] Bauer became best friends when Phillip covered for Freddie after Freddie, who was driving with Phillip in his car, was pulled over for speeding and didn't have his driver's license. By this time, Jackie had died in a plane crash and Justin was seeing an Italian woman named Helena Manzini, a relationship Phillip disapproved of because he felt it was too soon after Jackie's death. Meanwhile, Phillip was hanging out with a rough crowd. When Phillip and Freddie were nearly involved in an accident, they realized perhaps the crowd they were hanging out with really weren't their friends and they stopped associating with them. Not long afterwards, Phillip met his first love, Melinda "Mindy" Sue Lewis, who in 1983, out of insecurity, staged a rather dramatic accident while riding her horse and was consequently hospitalized. During his visits to Mindy in the hospital, he developed a strong attraction to her roommate, Beth Raines.
Both Phillip and Rick were attracted to Beth, but Phillip backed off and continued to endure Mindy's spoiled behavior in deference to Rick's attraction to Beth. At the senior prom Rick and Beth went together, as did Mindy and Phillip but it was Phillip and Beth who were named King and Queen. Finally on the night of Mindy's 18th birthday party at the Country Club, Phillip and Beth finally confessed their true feelings for each other in the stables. However, Beth's stepfather Bradley found them and shocked Phillip by telling him the truth about his parentage: Alan and Elizabeth weren't his real parents; the Marlers were. Apparently, Alan felt his wife was too fragile to handle the fact their baby was stillborn and he bought the child Jackie was giving up. After Phillip learned the truth, he was not only furious at Justin and Alan, but also at Mindy and Rick, who both knew the truth before he did and didn't tell him. Angry and hurt, Phillip told Rick he was in love with Beth. Though he had initially rejected both his fathers, Phillip, upon learning Justin was flying out of town, tracked him down at the airport and not only forgave him for keeping his parentage a secret, but also gave his blessing for Justin and Helena to marry.GL's Phillip Spaulding Timeline | Soap Opera Digest
It was at this point Beth was raped by Bradley. Ashamed of what happened, she told no one and rejected Phillip. Phillip turned to Mindy for comfort and she seduced him without using birth control. Alan was also relieved to see Phillip and Beth growing apart since as far as he was concerned Beth was from a lower class and didn't deserve his son. Beth soon moved into the boarding house to try to get away from Bradley, but he got a court order and forced her to return home. When Beth returned home, Phillip was waiting, and they jumped out of a window and ran away to New York. After they had been running for a while they found themselves near Central Park and nearly out of money, Beth was working on some artistic sketches when both came upon a sidewalk Santa Claus (who preferred to be called Nick) who asked if they needed help. Though Phillip rudely tried to decline, Beth told the man they were nearly broke and had nowhere to stay and perhaps could not afford a hotel. Nick being the Good Samaritan he was, took pity on the young teenage couple and urged them to follow him through Central Park. Nick had led them to a place where he had led many people who were lost and homeless or poor or down on their luck. Nick turned them over to the others staying there and asked them to watch over Beth and Phillip. Eventually with Nick (Santa's) help, Beth told Phillip about the rape. Phillip promised to protect her and they pledged to never let anything come between them again. Meanwhile, Mindy and Rick had raced to New York to find the pair and the four friends took odd jobs in order to survive and they enjoyed the sights and sounds of New York. Eventually, in January 1984, Bradley tracked them down and in order to evade him they dressed up as clowns and engaged in a mime act in the park. Bradley saw through their disguise and got in a violent struggle with Phillip in Central Park that ended when Bradley almost fell off a cliff. Beth and Phillip saved him though and warned him to back off. With Bradley apparently no longer a threat, Phillip and Beth returned to Springfield.
Back in Springfield, Alan hired Bradley with the intent of transferring him out of town in order to separate Phillip and Beth. Meanwhile, Phillip's Aunt Alex discovered Alan's schemes and revealed it to Phillip. Alex had become extremely protective of Phillip and Beth and when she found out about the rape, she made sure Bradley was arrested. At this time, Beth began to tutor Lujack, the leader of a street gang named the Galahads. Beth hoped this would help Lujack separate himself from his gang. But Darcy, Lujack's jealous girlfriend, had other ideas. Phillip was jealous but he and Beth still planned to marry. At the same time, Mindy was pregnant and told everyone Rick was the father. Then the day of Beth's wedding, Mindy's father, Billy, went to the church where Beth and Phillip were about to be married and confronted Mindy. He wanted to know if it was true the father of her baby was really Phillip. Beth overheard everything and at the altar she slapped Phillip and called off the wedding. Phillip wanted to be part of the baby's life. Mindy agreed but only if Phillip married her. Phillip married Mindy and they spent their honeymoon at Cross Creek. However, the pair divorced after Mindy miscarried.
Once again, Phillip focused his attention on Beth, who by now was in love with Lujack. Feeling very rejected and angry, Phillip then discovered Lujack and Floyd Parker were turning the Galahads old garage into a night club. Phillip hired a crooked tradesman named Andy Ferris to sabotage the construction of the club but Andy went too far, and when the building blew up Beth was injured and blinded. Phillip felt very guilty but he could not bring himself to admit his wrongdoing so he enrolled Beth in a school for the blind. However, India von Halkein learned of the nightclub incident and threatened to tell Beth, thereby blackmailing her way into becoming his second wife. Phillip complied with India's demand but refused to consummate the union. However, when India started to notice Phillip and Beth renewing their friendship, she told Beth how Phillip had caused her blindness. Beth angrily rejected Phillip, but didn't tell Lujack the reason because she did not want to cause any more bad blood between them. At Lujack and Beth's engagement party in February 1985, Phillip, having grown to appreciate India's tenacity and wanting to gain control of Spaulding, announced India was pregnant (untrue, Phillip lied). Meanwhile, Lujack brought Andy to the party to play the blackmail tape and expose Phillip as the one who caused the accident. A scuffle over the tape occurred and Andy was shot and killed, and the tape was stolen. A lengthy murder mystery ensued with Lujack being erroneously convicted. By this time Phillip and India had consummated their marriage and India had faked a pregnancy test to make Phillip believe she was actually pregnant with his child. With the demands of the trial out of the way and Alex more determined than ever to run her out of town, India was more desperate than ever to cement her bond with Phillip. Conveniently an old family friend, Dr. Lyon, came visiting, and India employed the services of his never-fail love potion (sort of a gypsy version of Viagra). India began to mega-dose Phillip with the potion in hopes of making their previous baby announcement come true. But before India's desires came true, Phillip became ill from the potion and India was exposed for drugging Phillip. Eventually Beth convinced Phillip to come clean about his deal with Andy and they became friends again. Ironically the police didn't believe Phillip's story but by now plenty of people shared the suspicion India had murdered Andy. In the end, the real culprit turned out to be Floyd, who was holding India in a cabin where he forced her to sign a false confession. Luckily, Lujack and Beth eventually tracked them down and Floyd went to jail. Feeling a great deal of compassion for India, Phillip discovered they really did have a lot in common and agreed to remain married.
Still jealous of Phillip's relationship with Beth and mistakenly believing that Phillip was ready to end their marriage, India began an affair with Simon Hall and when Phillip caught them kissing in early 1986, he quickly divorced India. After Phillip wrote a novel based on his and Beth's love, he and Beth found their way back to one another since Lujack was by now deceased. The couple's lives would be forever changed when Beth began working at a local museum for a Professor Blackburn, who had gotten his hands on the cornerstone of the Von Halkein estate in Andorra. India knew it contained gold and tried to steal it back from him. But the Professor protected the cornerstone until his death. He knocked India unconscious, shot Phillip, and held Beth hostage on a boat in Stony Lake. Some time later Blackburn's dead body turned up, Beth's shoe and some fabric from her dress were found but she was nowhere to be found. Phillip was devastated and vowed to find her, but Alan fabricated some evidence to make it look like Beth was really dead.