Janet Bergman Collins

Janet Collins (née Bergman, formerly Gardner and Walton) is a fictional character in the now-defunct American soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. She was played by several actresses including actresses Ellen Spencer, who originated the role in 1951, and Fran Sharon, but actress Millee Taggart is most identified in the role. She played the role from 1971 until 1982.

Character

Janet is the daughter of Stu and Marge Bergman, the next door neighbors of Joanne Gardner. She grew up in the fictitious community of Henderson. While Jo was friends with her parents, Janet became the best friend of her daughter, Patti. The two grew up together, and had many and varied romance trials during their growing up years.

Her first marriage was to Bud Gardner, Jo's nephew, which, for a time, caused their families to be related. (They were already family, in a sense, when Jo's widowed father, Frank, married Janet's paternal grandmother.) When it was revealed that Bud had died, Janet mourned him, and then later married Dr. Dan Walton (Ron Hussman). Their marriage produced three children; Gary (played by Rick Lohman), who became a doctor like his father; Liza; and Danny (played later on in the show's run, by Cain DeVore). Bud however turned up alive and truly psychotic, and later on, he really did die.

Meanwhile, Dan had died, himself. At this time, she was dealing with grief on all fronts, and then she met Dr. Wade Collins, a wealthy psychiatrist. She fell in love with him and he with her. Gary and Danny took to him immediately, but Liza felt that it was a betrayal of her father's memory. After Wade skillfully made her confront her issues, she softened towards him and then she gave her blessing. Later on, Janet and Wade were married.

After that, her mother died, and Stu and Tommy (Janet's younger brother) moved in with her and Wade, after he sold their old house. She made her family feel welcomed and loved. For ten years, Janet and Wade were very happy. (they helped bring humor and stability to the show, thanks to the talented Millee Taggart and John Cunningham who could play both drama scenes and comedy scenes with relative ease.) Her character is most frequently remembered as Janet Collins.

Then, tragically, Wade had died at the hands of his diabolical best friend, Allen Ramsey (Conard Fowkes),and once more Janet became a widow, but this time, she was a wealthy widow, and that made her a very tempting target by some very greedy and corrupt individuals.

Later on, Janet fell in love with Ted Adamson (Wayne Tippitt), a corrupt builder, who had softened quite a bit under Janet's influence. He had two daughters of his own, Laine, who was corrupt like her father had been; and reporter Sunny Adamson (Marcia McCabe). Janet's love made him much kinder, but she couldn't marry him, since she felt she had not mourned Wade long enough. Not long after, a reformed Ted moved away from Henderson and Laine, who also reformed, went with him.

However, Sunny remained in Henderson, taking a job at the television station, and she became close to Jo.

Janet then left Henderson for California to be with her son, Gary and his wife, Carolyn (Marilyn McIntyre).