User:Punctured Bicycle/List of characters from Twin Peaks
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This is a list of the main and recurring fictional characters in the ABC television series, Twin Peaks and the prequel motion picture, Fire Walk With Me.
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[edit] Main characters
[edit] Dale Cooper
FBI Special Agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan, was the lead character in the series.
Special Agent Cooper, or "Coop" as he was known to Sheriff Harry S. Truman, became one of the most popular characters from a dramatic television series. This was mainly thanks to his quirky mannerisms, sense of humor and a number of trademark phrases, along with his love for a good cherry pie and a "damn fine cup of coffee".
Cooper was born on April 19, 1954 in Philadelphia, and graduated from Haverford College. He is highly introverted, and somewhat mystical, having a particular interest in Tibet, and Native American mythology. Much of his work is based on intuition and even dreams; this is in complete contrast to many fictional detectives who use logic to solve their cases. Like many fictional detectives however, he sometimes bends the rules or goes outside the law.
He enjoys eating and drinking, and is told he "must have the metabolism of a bumblebee". He also appreciates nature, and falls in love with Twin Peaks, despite the problems there, and gains a great deal of acceptance within a tight knit community. Around the Great Northern Hotel, Agent Cooper is famous for giving a 'thumbs up' when satisfied, and nothing satisfies him more than an, above mentioned, good cup of coffee.
Cooper was initially fitted up with Audrey Horne as a love interest, and is indeed obviously attracted to her. But when she turns up in his bed, he is forced to try and explain the situation, and turn her down. MacLachlan didn't want the two to have a relationship, as he felt his character wouldn't have a relationship with a high school girl.
In the second season, he meets Annie Blackburn, the sister of Norma Jennings, whom he falls in love with. However, she is taken to the Black Lodge by Windom Earle, who also murdered Coop's first love (and Earle's wife), Caroline by stabbing her in the aorta.
In the series finale, Cooper physically enters the Black Lodge in an attempt to rescue Annie. There he struggles with both Windom Earle and Cooper's own evil doppleganger. An unconscious Cooper and Annie later emerge from the Black Lodge, but his reflection indicates that he is in fact the evil doppleganger of Cooper. As the final episode ends, the fate of both Agent Cooper and Annie remain unknown.
[edit] Sheriff Harry S. Truman
Sheriff Harry S. Truman, played by Michael Ontkean, assists Special Agent Dale Cooper in the investigation of the murder of Laura Palmer. Series creator David Lynch has stated that the character was not named for American president Harry S. Truman, but rather for Washington State resident Harry Truman who died in the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Harry is in love with Josie Packard, and he is one of the Bookhouse Boys.
[edit] Shelly Johnson
Shelly Johnson, played by Mädchen Amick, works at the Double R diner which is owned by Norma Jennings, a good friend of hers.
Shelly dropped out of high school to marry trucker Leo Johnson, who had swept her off her feet by wining and dining her and so forth. As soon as they got married, it turned out that Leo just "wanted a maid he didn't have to pay for," in the words of Shelly. Leo is a monstrous home dictator, wife-beater, and dangerous criminal, and he is tangibly connected to Laura Palmer's murder.
Shelly has been having an affair with Laura's boyfriend, Bobby Briggs. Bobby, like Laura, is still in high school, and besides being a jock, he's something of a known hooligan. Although Bobby doesn't quite tread on the right side of the law, he is at least kind to Shelly, unlike Leo. The risk of the affair is great; Bobby deals drugs for Leo and knows just how dangerous Leo is.
During the show's second season, Leo lapses into a catatonic state and Shelly and Bobby openly flaunt their relationship in front of him.
[edit] Bobby Briggs
Bobby Briggs, played by Dana Ashbrook, was the boyfriend of Laura Palmer and therefore one of the lead suspects. He is the son of Major Garland Briggs, and has an uneasy relationship with his father, who cannot stand his smoking.
Bobby is secretly seeing Shelly Johnson, and they move in together when Leo Johnson becomes comatose. He becomes jealous of James Hurley when he discovers he was secretly seeing his official girlfriend, Laura. Laura Palmer on the other hand did not really love Bobby, she only used him to get a part of Bobbys' cocaine.
He is not to be confused with BOB.
[edit] Ben Horne
Benjamin Horne, played by Richard Beymer, is a fervent capitalist, his business schemes lead Twin Peaks to a number of potential disasters. He is the father of Audrey, who he tends to leave to her own devices, and Johnny who is severely mentally handicapped. He has a very close relationship with his brother Jerry. He is married to Sylvia, who is not featured in the series very much.
As well as running the hotel, and the local department store, Horne also runs a brothel called "One Eyed Jacks", that is a major location for several plotlines throughout the series.
As the series begins, Ben is having an affair with Catherine Packard Martell, owner of the Packard Mill, and it appears they are planning to burn it down. However, this relationship is purely physical/exploitative, and Catherine comes back to haunt Ben.
Things soon to begin to unravel for Ben as the second seaon progresses. Following Audrey's abuduction by Jean Renault, Ben was forced to deal with the knowledge his daughter was aware of his more illegal business practices. Then he was held in custody for the murder of Laura Palmer (whom Audrey learned he was in love with, and with whom he had a sexual relationship), as well as learning his old friend and legal counsel Leland Palmer (Laura's father) was actually responsible for the crime. And then having to deal with the continued mainipulations of Catherine, Ben suffered a severe nervous breakdown. As a result, he comes to believes he is fighting the American Civil War in which the South emerges victorious, a delusion that takes the combined efforts of Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, Audrey, his brother Jerry, and Bobby Briggs for him to ultimately snap out of. Following this, he becomes an environmentalist (that is implied at being a front for ruining Catherine Martell's plans for the Ghostwood project), but overall he does appear to making a genuine effort to "be good".
As the series draws to a close, Ben suggests to Donna Hayward that he might in fact be her biological father, a suspicion that had been slowly growing in Donna's mind. This immediately draws him into conflict with Doc Hayward, and Donna's mother, Eileen Hayward. Both men come to blows in the Hayward family home in the last episode, with Ben suffering a severe blow to the head on a fireplace as a result of the violent confrontation. The full extent of this injury, and even if it was indeed fatal, is unclear.
[edit] Donna Hayward
Donna Hayward, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, Donna was the best friend of Laura Palmer, and after her death she was obsessed with finding out who killed her and why, with the help of James Hurley, Laura's secret boyfriend and Donna's new love interest, and Madeleine Ferguson, the look-a-like cousin of Laura. Donna was portrayed by Moira Kelly in the movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
Donna's father is the town doctor, known simply as Doc Hayward, and her mother is Eileen Hayward, who sits in a wheelchair and tends to the house. Donna has two sisters, Harriet and Gersten, who are seen in the series only a couple of times.
At the end of season two, it is suggested that Doc Hayward might not be Donna's real father after all, and that she might in fact be the daughter of Benjamin Horne and half-sister to Audrey Horne. However, due to the series' cancellation, this theory has not been elaborated upon.
[edit] Audrey Horne
Audrey Horne, played by Sherilyn Fenn, is a femme fatale character.
Born August 15, 1972, Audrey fits the image of a poor little rich girl. She is able to get anything she wants except for her father's love. Benjamin Horne, the town's business magnate, gave that love to deceased Laura Palmer, both physically and emotionally. Audrey is labelled a troublemaker and lives up to that expectation.
Angelo Badalamenti composed the leitmotif Audrey's Dance for the character.
In a memorable scene in the Twin Peaks pilot, Audrey blew her father's business deal worth millions by interrupting a meeting of Norwegian investors and telling them about Laura's murder. Audrey appears emotionally upset although she and Laura were not friends. She says she "kind of loved Laura" because she taught and looked after her mentally retarded brother Johnny.
In later episodes, she develops a crush on Special Agent Dale Cooper and helps him investigate Laura's murder by infiltrating the brothel One-Eyed Jack's. In the show's second season, writers planned a serious relationship between Cooper and Horne, but Kyle MacLachlan, who played Cooper, vetoed it, arguing that Cooper would not become involved with a high school-age woman. Audrey was paired with other characters such as Bobby Briggs and John Justice Wheeler.
[edit] Doc Hayward
Doc Hayward, played by Warren Frost, is a coroner, and performs the autopsy on Laura Palmer. His first name is not generally used, but because he is referred to as "Will" in one episode, it can be presumed to be "William"; he is normally referred to as just "Doc" most of the time.
He is the husband of wheelchair bound Eileen, and father of three daughters Donna (who has by far the biggest role), Gersten and Harriet.
The Doc is generally a balanced, fair man, but he is especially upset by Laura's murder, as he is a friend of the Palmer family, and his daughters knew her well.
Unlike most of the characters on Twin Peaks he appears to have no major nasty secrets, or eccentricities. However, towards the end of the second series, we learn he may have been cuckolded by Benjamin Horne, fathering Donna. This is never resolved, though, because of the third series' cancellation.
Doc Hayward also has an altercation with the abrasive Albert Rosenfield, who calls his work "amateur", and wishes to do more work on Laura's corpse.
[edit] Norma Jennings
Norma Jennings, played by Peggy Lipton, owns the Double R Diner, which she runs with Shelly Johnson, a good friend of hers, and is organizer of meals on wheels, formerly with Laura Palmer. She is a former Miss Twin Peaks, and her birthname is "Blackburn", as in her sister Annie. It is implied she may have some kind of Roman Catholic background.
She is the lover of Big Ed Hurley, and married to Hank Jennings, who is a paroled prisoner. Her mother is a food critic, and the two have a bad relationship.
James Marshall Everett McGill Jack Nance Ray Wise Joan Chen Piper Laurie
[edit] Recurring characters
[edit] Albert Rosenfield
Albert Rosenfield, played by Miguel Ferrer, is an FBI Agent and forensics expert. He was brought in to apply his extraordinary forensic skills to the case of Laura Palmer's murder, and the linked murders and violent events.
Albert quickly made fans among viewers, if not townspeople, with his extremely sarcastic and wittily abrasive manner.
Rosenfield alienated the Twin Peaks sheriff's department relatively quickly, mocking Andy, and enraging Sheriff Harry S. Truman to the point where Truman lost his temper and punched Rosenfield. He also rowed with Doc Hayward, and was very disparaging about the capabilities of the local police and medical facilities in Twin Peaks generally, showing respect only to his FBI colleagues.
A later appearance, and another conflict with Sheriff Truman, led to an emotional moment where Rosenfield exposed a sensitive and peace-loving side, seemingly at odds with his acerbic surface persona and to the complete shock of the sheriff and viewers alike. Such complex, contradictory characters were typical of Twin Peaks and the works of David Lynch in general.
[edit] References
- The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes as heard by Scott Frost (1991, ISBN 0671744003)
[edit] External link
- Photo and brief bio as a Castmember & Character in Twin Peaks
