Angela Channing

Angela Channing
Falcon Crest character
Jane Wyman as Angela Channing
Portrayed by	Jane Wyman
First appearance	"In His Father's House" (1981)
Last appearance	"Home Again" (1990)
Created by	Earl Hamner
In-universe information Occupation Owner of Falcon Crest winery and several other businesses, including The San Francisco Globe, Tuscany Downs, and Del Oro Spa and Country Club Father Jasper Gioberti Jr. Mother Lilly Travers Brothers Jason Gioberti Half-sisters Francesca Gioberti Spouse Douglas Channing (divorced) Phillip Erikson (widowed) Peter Stavros (divorced) Frank Agretti (divorced) Sons Richard Channing Daughters Julia Channing Cumson Emma Channing Grandsons Christopher Rossini Lance Cumson Michael Channing Kevin Gioberti Channing (through adoption by Richard Channing) Danny Sharpe Granddaughters Angela Grandfathers Jasper Gioberti Sr. Grandmothers Tessa Lindstrom Nephews Chase Gioberti Cole Gioberti Kevin Gioberti Nieces Vickie Gioberti

Angela Channing (maiden name Gioberti; formerly Erickson, Stavros and Agretti) is a fictional character on the American prime time soap opera Falcon Crest, portrayed by Jane Wyman from 1981 to 1990. Angela is the devious, tyrannical owner of the Falcon Crest winery in fictional Tuscany Valley, California, whose schemes to advance the fortunes of her family company while keeping sole control over it drive the action of the series. Wyman won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series for the role in 1984.

Appearances

Wyman originated the role of Angela in the December 1981 first episode "In His Father's House", remaining until the series finale episode "Home Again" in May 1990. Wyman appeared in 208 of the series' 227 episodes, missing two episodes in season five ("Law and Ardor" and "Hidden Meanings") and 17 episodes in season nine due to health problems.

Casting and production

Wyman, who won an Academy Award in 1948 for her role in the film Johnny Belinda, retired from acting in 1962 at age 48. Nothing offered to her over the following 19 years interested her, until Falcon Crest lured her out of retirement. Wyman was initially undecided about taking the role, which was so different from the "self-sacrificing" characters she had previously played. She said:

I read the pilot script for Falcon Crest and all of a sudden, it just struck a bell. I thought, 'Well, I've always done the four-handkerchief bits'—you know, everybody walking outside and saying, 'Wasn't it marvelous?' ... Angie Channing is a very heads-up lady, so why don't we just go ahead and play her? I really like her. A lot. She's very much a 1981 kind of lady. You just can't miss on a thing like this. You really can't. If you do, you're dumb.

Falcon Crest creator Earl Hamner Jr. offered Wyman the role in 1979. She said, "I told him I'd heard Barbara Stanwyck had turned it down. And he said that was an untrue rumor. It had never been offered to her." Hamner said he was looking for a "sympathetic actress" for the role. He called Wyman "one of the legendary stars ... a great actress", and insisted that though she was the ex-wife of recently-elected US President Ronald Reagan, her casting had nothing to do with her connection to Reagan. Hamner said Wyman was chosen to add credibility to the role, and noted "The character is a harsh one. Miss Wyman's nice-lady image gives Angie more dimension and sympathy."

After shooting the original pilot episode of the series, called The Vintage Years and featuring Wyman in a silver wig, the actress pushed for changes in Angela. Hamner had warned Wyman that the press would call Angela a female J. R. Ewing, the amoral oil baron from Falcon Crest's lead-in series, Dallas, played by Larry Hagman. Not wanting her character to simply be a J.R. clone, Wyman said, "I feel I'm representing all women in business. I may come off as a hard, tough character, but I want Angie to show she's also capable of love." She said, "I remade my character", and explained:

After I told them I was plenty old enough and had enough gray hair without putting on that dreadful wig, I decided to do something about Angela. Not only was she too mean and vicious, she was just plain boring. I wanted Angie to be an interesting character. She's a tough-as-nails businesswoman in every sense of the word, but the trouble with the pilot was that she was just too nasty.

Journalist Claudia Luther wrote that "the role gave Wyman an opportunity to break away from her nice-girl image and play a female power broker intent on ruling over her family of winemakers at whatever cost."

Wyman chose her character's wardrobe personally. She said that Angela "wore only the best", and noted, "I like sexy and very female clothes."

Wyman underwent abdominal surgery in early January 1986, missing five weeks of production and subsequently not appearing in two episodes of season five. By the end of season five, Wyman was reportedly earning $3 million a year.

Characterization

Wyman said that Angela “runs everything. She goes straight through everything like a Mack truck.” The character, positioned as "a Napa Valley winery owner who maintained her power with a steely will", has been described as "icy", "domineering", "formidable", "ruthless", "conniving", "power-mad", "villainous", "backstabbing", "a female tyrant", and as "an iron-fisted matriarch who will let nothing stop her quest for power and goes head-to-head with anyone trying to gain control of the coveted Falcon Crest Vineyards."

Storylines

Backstory

Angela Gioberti was born to Jasper Gioberti and Lily Travers in Tuscany Valley, California. It was Angela's early ambition that convinced her father to dedicate his life to his business only.

When she was only 16, she met Peter Stavros during a stay in Spain.

Angela marries Douglas Channing, the publisher of The San Francisco Globe, a daily newspaper. They had three children: Richard (who was thought to have died after birth), Julia and Emma. They later divorced.

A thorn in her side, was Jacqueline Perrault, the French wife of her brother Jason, who later left Tuscany Valley with her son, Chase, because of Angela's treacherous reign over Falcon Crest.

After their father's death, Falcon Crest was passed down to Angela and her brother, Jason, who have to share the estate 50:50. Both lived on the Gioberti Estate. Jason lived in the Gioberti family's original two–story stone house, and Angela resided in the later built, luxurious, Victorian–style Gioberti mansion. Angela ran the business; Jason, who became an alcoholic after his divorce, was no longer interested in business affairs, his property, or his home. He was next to penniless.

When Julia became pregnant after an affair with the married Dominic Rossini, Angela sent the baby to a distant monastery and lied, telling Julia that her baby died.

Angela disliked Tony Cumson, Julia's husband, and because of her intrigues, she drove him out of Tuscany Valley, and he left without leaving a word of goodbye to Julia and their son, Lance. During Tony's absence and Lance's adolescence, Angela took Lance under her way and groomed to be "her heir to Falcon Crest".

Season one

As Falcon Crest debuts, Angela Channing's brother Jason Gioberti is accidentally pushed to his death by Angela's daughter Emma Channing. To ensure she inherits Jason's share of the Falcon Crest winery per the unique conditions of his will, Angela stages Jason's death to look like a drunken car accident. Jason's son Chase Gioberti and his wife Maggie arrive in the Tuscany Valley from New York and claim Jason's house and a portion of the vineyards. Angela schemes with an old friend of Chase's to force out her nephew, but the plan backfires. When Chase is in need of money to hire workers and cover a large outstanding tax bill, Angela offers to buy his pre-harvested grapes at below market value, strong arming a competitor into rescinding his own offer for the grapes. Angela is infuriated by the continuing irresponsible behavior of her grandson Lance Cumson, and courts Chase's son Cole Gioberti as the potential heir to Falcon Crest. Angela gets assault charges dropped against Lance, and plots to keep Lance's newly-returned father Tony Cumson from his ex-wife, Angela's daughter Julia. Emma's ex-lover Turner Bates blackmails Angela with the truth of Jason's death, and when Angela involves the police Tucker is killed after a car chase.

While in Italy with Cole for an important wine-tasting competition, romance is rekindled between Angela and her ex-husband Douglas Channing, but she rejects his proposal to remarry. Angela plots for Lancy to marry heiress Melissa Agretti in order to eventually obtain the lucrative Agretti Vineyards. After a bitter argument with Angela, Lance falls in love and plans to move to San Francisco, but he cannot resist Angela's offer to drop the girl and return to the fold.

After Chase finds evidence that Angela may have been involved in crippling a girl forty years ago, he confronts Angela, who turns the tables on Chase, playing a small excerpt of a recording that leaves Chase believing that his father hated him. When Chase's mother, Jacqueline Perrault (portrayed by "special guest star" Lana Turner), returns to Tuscany Valley, she warns Chase of Angela's treacherous nature and tries to persuade him to leave Falcon Crest. Hatred begins to erupt between the two longtime rivals and Jacqueline informs Angela that Chase will survive and prosper in the valley.

After Ed McKay, a member of the County Board of Supervisors, is assassinated, Chase is encouraged to run for office. In order plot to rid Chase away from Falcon Crest, Angela campaigns against Chase for water rights in the valley and does everything in her power to see Chase defeated, but nonetheless, Chase wins the election. Later, when Emma is caught shoplifting in a jewelry store, Angela threatens the owner that she will destroy him if he decides to prosecute. Angela becomes angry when Lance begins working for his grandfather's newspaper in San Francisco and is determined that he will marry Melissa Agretti, planning to destroy her budding relationship with Cole. Later, when Angela finds out that Chase and Maggie persuaded Julia to take her sister to a psychiatric clinic, she tells Julia the truth about Emma killing Jason, which turns Julia against Chase and Maggie. Angela, in an attempt to foil Chase's inquiries about the circumstances about his father's death, has Philip mislead Chase into believing he might inherit Falcon Crest. Later, Angela attempts to force Lance to marry Melissa, who instead has become deeply involved with Cole. After pressuring Lance, he proposes to Melissa, who has her own cunning reasons for marrying Lance, aside from her father and Angela's scheme to merge Falcon Crest with Agretti Vineyards. While Angela attempts to impede Chase's coroner's inquest into his father's death, she is forced to testify on stand. Later, Angela learns of Melissa's pregnancy following a disastrous honeymoon and assumes Lance to be the father, despite his denial.

After Douglas dies of a seizure, Angela tries to keep Emma sedated to prevent her from testifying, fearing that she could lose Falcon Crest, if Chase's attorney can prove that Jason died under suspicious circumstances. But Emma manages to escape the Gioberti Mansion and arrives to take the stand, confessing how she accidentally pushed Jason to his death while he fought with Turner Bates. The jury rules that Jason "died at the hands of another," thereby giving Chase control of Falcon Crest, but he magnanimously offers fifty percent of the vineyard to Angela. Though she detests the thought of sharing Falcon Crest with anyone, she has choice and accepts the offer.

As the season ends, another threat looms as Angela learns of Douglas's illegitimate son, Richard Channing, who has inherited fifty percent of The San Francisco Globe.

Season two

Angela begins resisting Chase's claims to half ownership of Falcon Crest. Meanwhile, Angela begins looking for a way to block Richard Channing, as he prepares to take control of The San Francisco Globe as the new chairman of the board. After Gus's death in a gas explosion, Chase threatens Angela with an affidavit accusing her of complicity in Gus's death, and later he forces her to agree in sharing the operation of Falcon Crest with him. Later, Angela deals with Chase using his new role on the Tuscany Valley County Board of Supervisors on trying to break her grip on county water supplies. After Angela tells Richard that he looks nothing like his father Douglas, he vows to destroy her.

Carlo confronts Angela about Lance's abusiveness toward Melissa and vows that Angela will never get his land through Melissa's marriage to Lance. Chase wants to distribute Falcon Crest's wine in Canada, through another distributor other than Kleeger Distributions, which gets a big discount on their wine and is secretly owned by Angela. She charges Lance with keeping Chase from finding out. To counter Chase's efforts on the County of Supervisors to break her monopoly on the valley's water and distribute it to other growers, Angela claims her water is tainted. In turn, Chase orders another test of Falcon Crest's water supply that shows it not to be tainted. Angela threatens Nick Hogan not to vote with Chase against her at the county supervisor meeting. If Nick votes to redistribute Falcon Crest's water to other vineyards, Angela warns that she won't be buying the $17,000 worth of pipes she was going to buy from him. While Nick casts his decisive vote with Chase, Angela warns Chase that he will come to regret his moment of glory. Before Emma disappears, she secretly gives Chase the voting proxy to her twenty percent share of The Globe—Angela hoped would give her control of the newspaper's board of directors.

Angela buys up expensive stock in The Globe and continues to track Emma to get her proxy and after a sudden complication in Melissa's pregnancy confines her to bed, Angela pressures Lance to spend more time with his wife.

After producer Darryl Clayton turns Maggie's script down, Angela meets Darryl in secret and agrees to invest in the film if he will keep Maggie occupied in Los Angeles. Chase discovers that Angela is using all of Falcon Crest's investment funds to buy up stock in The New Globe. Richard confronts Angela after discovering her attempt to take over the newspaper.

Amanda Croft, a woman in her fifties, who had a romantic dinner with Phillip Erickson, becomes suspicious of his relationship with Angela.

Just as Angela has nearly bought up enough New Globe stock to control the newspaper, Richard announces he is going to issue two million dollars more of stock, which is a strategy that Angela and Phillip hadn't foreseen. Angela and Phillip secretly arrange for a Wall Street banker named Kenderson to approach the unwitting Richard. Kenderson proposes to underwrite the new stock issue thereby delaying the offer long enough for Angela to get control of the newspaper. Unbeknownst to Angela, Jacqueline Perrault had been researching Angela's business dealings in Europe and has now provided Chase with proof of Angela's illegal financial activities.

At Falcon Crest, Angela plays Lance and Cole against each other. Angela offers Darryl more money to maintain Maggie's hopes of getting her script produced. In spite of bribing Richard's banker, Kenderson, into postponing the new stock issue, Angela still needs Chase's votes on The New Globe board to take over the newspaper.

Angela becomes furious after catching Lance in bed with a woman, Brenda, after her Founder's Day Party.

Season eight

In the aftermath of Richard's "death", Angela surprises her family and friends with her resignation over the loss of Falcon Crest to Melissa. She later decides to stay in Tuscany Valley and fight for her family's land; and later launches an attack on Melissa. Angela secretly arranges a meeting between Frank Agretti and his long-estranged son, Nick.

When Angela offers District Attorney Fields her support for the governorship in exchange for dropping the murder charges against Lance, he indignantly refuses; however, when Richard offers to hire Field's leukemic son to join the staff of The New Globe, Fields agrees to the deal. After Nick Agretti is enraptured when he witnesses Pilar swimming nude, Angela informs him that she has learned some information he cannot release, revealing that the price for keeping the secret is Falcon Crest itself.

After Angela blackmails Nick with incriminating information about his past, Nick surrenders Falcon Crest to Angela, who begins plans to rebuild the house. She is later disturbed by the news of Libby Carnes, who offers Frank a job in Colombia mining for emeralds. After Angela is outmaneuvered for the purchase of a bottling company, she is determined to learn who is behind the consortium.

Season nine

As Angela prepares to leave for Greece, she leaves her grandson Lance in charge, though under the strict supervision of her reliable foreman, Frank Agretti. Angela hires a private investigator to tail Pilar. Although Angela disapproves of Charley and changes her vacation plans, Emma stands by Charley despite Angela's interference. Aware that Angela is trying to break up his relationship with Emma, Charley places a pillow over Angela's face and suffocates her. After being found unconscious, Angela is rushed to the hospital, where she slips into a coma. Lance has a difficult time managing Falcon Crest without Angela, particularly when business associates insist on negotiating with Angela, but fortunately, Pilar is able to help Lance deal with their distributor, Ned Vogel. A power outage at the hospital forces the family to consider pulling the plug on Angela's life support.

Richard's plans to run the winery with Lauren run into a snag when Angela returns after regaining consciousness. When Richard informs Angela that she has no legal claim to the winery, Angela pretends to give in, but she is secretly planning to block Richard's marriage to Lauren with the help of Michael Sharpe.

After her plans of ruining Richard's engagement to Lauren falls through, Angela must find another way to stop it. Richard agrees to sell Falcon Crest back to Angela on the condition that half will go to his sons in the event of her death. Lance, however, will receive ten percent now and the remainder after Angela's death. As the wedding reception draws to a close, Angela recalls all the people who passed through Tuscany Valley during the last decade and toasts the future of Falcon Crest.

Reception

Angela has been called "the matriarch-you-love-to-hate".

Wyman was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series in 1983, and won in 1984. She was nominated for five Soap Opera Digest Awards for playing Angela in 1986, 1988, and 1989.