Catherine Willows
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| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation character | |
| Catherine Willows | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Strawberry Blonde |
| Birthdate | March 26, 1963 |
| City | Las Vegas |
| Job | CSI |
| Rank | CSI Level 3 |
| Position | Night Shift Assistant Supervisor |
| Current status | Alive (currently Acting Night Shift Assistant Supervisor) |
| Known relatives | Lindsey Willows (daughter), Sam Braun (biological father, deceased), Lily Flynn (mother), Walt Braun (half-brother), Tony Braun (half-brother, deceased), Eddie Willlows (ex-husband, deceased), Unnamed sister, Jeremy (nephew) |
| Portrayed by | Marg Helgenberger |
| First appearance | Pilot |
Catherine (Mugs) Willows (Born March 26, 1963) is a character on the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She is employed as a crime-scene investigator supervisor (a "CSI-3") and forensic scientist for Clark County, Nevada, which contains the city of Las Vegas. She is played by Marg Helgenberger, who has received two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the role.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Willows was born in Bozeman, Montana and raised by her mother, Lily Flynn (Anita Gillette), a former show girl ("Weeping Willows", "Kiss, Kiss, Bye, Bye") with occasional contact with her biological father, casino owner Sam Braun (Scott Wilson). Willows herself worked for a time as a dancer/stripper and briefly had a cocaine habit, dropping it before pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from the University of Las Vegas. Like the other characters on CSI, she has a wide knowledge of odd facts that help in their investigations of crime scenes.
Willows has one daughter, Lindsey Willows (originally portrayed by Madison McReynolds, as of 2006 by Kay Panabaker), and had a stormy relationship with ex-husband Eddie (Timothy Carhart) until his murder ("Lady Heather's Box"). Prosecution of Eddie's killer proved impossible due to ambiguous evidence, something she took rather hard. Willows' relationship with Lindsey soured somewhat after Eddie's murder, and the girl's behavior took a turn for the worse; she would get in fights at school and was once picked up for hitchhiking. Willows took Lindsey to the morgue and showed her the body of a murder victim to impress upon Lindsey the danger of her behavior. Willows later enrolled Lindsey in Butterfield ("4 x 4"), a private school that would keep a tighter rein on her.
Willows' relationship with Sam Braun occasionally created conflicts in cases where he was involved in some way with an ongoing investigation (i.e., "Inside the Box"). Willows however accepted a large monetary gift from Braun, despite some ethical qualms, and became more financially stable. Grissom expressed some misgivings when he learned of this, but no lasting negative repercussions occur. In episode 702 ("Built to Kill, Part 2") Braun is shot and dies moments later in Willows' arms. She, in episode 705 ("Double-Cross"), lights a candle in a Roman Catholic church in Braun's memory, crosses herself, and whispers, "This one is for you, Sam." It remains to be seen what Willows will inherit from Braun (she was asked about it by fellow investigator Nick Stokes in episode #152, "Leaving Las Vegas", but beyond describing Braun's large estate as being tied up in land development, she seemed indifferent and not anticipating a large legacy) as he cared very deeply for her, even when she was his legal opponent.
Willows dates in several episodes. The earliest occurrence was a brief fling with a city engineer played by Brad Johnson across three first-season episodes ("$35K O.B.O.", "Justice is Served" and "Scuba Doobie-Doo"). A later brief flirtation, in the episode "Weeping Willows", ended when the man (Adam Novak, played by Marg Helgenberger's real-life husband, Alan Rosenberg) became overly aggressive. No long-term romantic relationships have otherwise been established, though there was a brief flirtation with fellow CSI Warrick Brown, ending with his marriage, which seemed to upset her. Willows maintains a close friendship with the other investigators on the night shift, especially supervisor Gil Grissom, though she has occasionally criticized him for his lax attitude toward paperwork and office politics. When newcomer Sara Sidle arrived they briefly butted heads, but have become friends since then.
After Greg Sanders is injured in an explosion in the lab in "Play with Fire", Willows visits him in the hospital so that she can tell him personally that she was partially responisble for the accident. Several years later, she also expresses a deal of concern for Sanders when he returns to work not too long after being the victim of a brutal beating ("Double-Cross").
After Grissom goes on sabbatical, Willows welcomes his temporary replacement Michael Keppler, accepting Keppler quite quickly into his new role on the team (episode 712, "Sweet Jane"). Despite some misgivings on her part, she follows his suggestions in performing an unorthodox investigative style known as "reverse forensics," which, although successful in luring out the suspect, fails to produce charges because a lack of communication between the undersheriff and the district attorney. It also serves to create a great deal of hard feelings when the other members of her team discover that she and Keppler deceived them and created a false crime scene (episode 713, "Redrum"). After Keppler goes rogue during an investigation, she is the first to express concern to and about him. Unfortunately, she locates him just moments too late, after he takes a fatal bullet meant for a murder witness. When the paramedics declare Keppler to be dead, Willows collapses in tears into (recently returned) Grissom's arms ("Law of Gravity").
[edit] Trivia
Catherine was born in Bozeman, Montana, the same town from which CSI: NY Detective Lindsay Monroe hails from. Catherine, however, is not typically regarded as a "country girl" as Lindsay Monroe is, possibly because of her tough demeanor, strong personality, and her experiences in Las Vegas prior to her becoming a CSI. Indeed, she indentifies Las Vegas as her hometown to the newcomer CSI Mike Keppler, and she has lived in that city most, if not all, her life.
Though Catherine's birthday is often given as 1963, the episode "Living Legend" established that she was sixteen years old in 1975, the year that the film Jaws was released. This corresponds more accurately with Marg Helgenberger's real life, as she was born in November, 1958 and Jaws was released in June, 1975, when Helgenberger herself was 16.
[edit] External links
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | |
|---|---|
| Episodes | Characters | |
| Characters | Gil Grissom | Catherine Willows | Nick Stokes | Warrick Brown Sara Sidle | Jim Brass | Greg Sanders | Al Robbins Sofia Curtis | Conrad Ecklie |
| Former Characters | Holly Gribbs | Paul Millander | Lady Heather | Michael Keppler |
| Creator(s) | Anthony E. Zuiker |
| Computer Games | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | CSI: Dark Motives CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder | CSI: Hard Evidence |
| Related Series | CSI: NY | CSI: Miami |
