Santa Barbara Wayback: Remember Julia Wainwright

She was smart-mouthed, street smart and a shark in the courtroom. In fact, Julia Wainwright, Santa Barbara’s feisty legal eagle was the total package and one of the all-time greatest female characters in soap opera history.

Reunion
Despite 10 years of estrangement, Julia acquiesced to her sister’s plea to return to Santa Barbara after a tunnel collapse rendered Augusta blind. The first person she encountered upon her arrival was Lionel Lockridge, her brother-in-law, who remembered Julia as – for lack of a gentler description – a fatty with teeth so prominent that, “they were visible even when your mouth was shut.”

Double Trouble
Julia was instrumental in bringing Jerry Cooper, a master criminal with ties to a power-mad foreign dignitary, to justice. Cooper had undergone plastic surgery that altered his face and body to closely resemble his cousin, Jack Lee, Julia’s fellow lawyer and an advisor to the U.S. President.

It was just too bad that Cooper didn’t do his homework and realize that Jack Lee was Julia’s former lover with whom she did not part on good terms.

The Jagged Edge
After deciding to permanently relocate from Arizona to Santa Barbara, Julia established a law practice and signed her first major client: David Laurent, who stood accused of bumping off his incredibly wealthy wife Madeline.

Despite her adherence to legal ethics, Julia found herself falling in love – or was it lust – with David. However, the circumstantial evidence against him continued to mount and Julia feared that she might be sharing her bed with a killer! In the end, David was proved innocent but the relationship did not continue.

Mommies and Daddies
With the failure of her latest love affair, Julia was struck by the sudden realization that she wanted to become a mother. But she decided that she would be better off choosing a potential father who wouldn’t want to stay in the picture and insist on playing happy family.

She found the perfect…continue reading on the next page —>

Continue reading on the next page…

She found the perfect candidate in Mason Capwell, the morose and witty black sheep of the Capwell dynasty. Mason agreed to sign away all legal claim to any future offspring but in recompense, he wanted to forgo the clinical and sterile insemination process that Julia preferred and instead make the baby “the old fashioned way.”

In spite of herself, Julia began to develop feelings for Mason and they continued to increase with each lovemaking session. When Mason married Victoria Lane – in order to give her illegitimate baby a name (and receive a healthy financial donation from his father CC, who was protecting daughter Eden since her love, Cruz, was the father) – Julia was left devastated and she chose to hide the fact that she was pregnant.

Musical Beds
When Mason finally learned the truth, he was torn between duty and his feelings for Julia. When Julia went into labor, Mason arrived in time and coached her through the delivery of their baby girl Samantha.

An unlikely friendship was forged between Julia and Victoria when the former defended the latter against a charge of murder. In another bit of irony, the deceased in question was Paul Marshall, a crazed individual who had kidnapped Victoria and Julia’s babies.

Mason finally left Victoria and reunited with Julia. The couple then defended Cruz Castillo, who stood accused of killing Elena Nikolas – Mason’s psychotic half-sister and former jailer.

Julia Solves a Murder and Mason Cracks
In 1988, Mason was presumed dead while investigating the murder of Mark McCormick, his former love rival. A distraught Julia went undercover and wound up sussing the real killer’s identity.

Ultimately, Mason returned to Santa Barbara alive – but not very well. He was suffering from a split personality and the ever scheming Gina Timmons used his confused state to her advantage and arranged a wedding between herself and “Sonny.” Julia tried to halt the ceremony but it took getting shot by a would-be assassin for Mason to revert to his former self.

Rocky Road
Mason and Julia finally tied the knot in 1989, and they opened a law firm together that they named Capwell & Capwell. However, their marital bliss was short-lived as Mason’s alcoholism affected Julia and their daughter as well. When her father passed away, it was revealed that he was an alcoholic too — and Julia was forced to examine her life choices, as Mason did too.

But Mason once again disappeared. In the interim, Julia was framed for the murder of Bunny Tagliatti by mafioso Anthony Tonell. Mason returned and ensured Julia’s acquittal by revealing that Bunny was actually alive but the Capwell union was irrevocably damaged when Julia learned that he had cheated on her with Sasha Schmidt.

Ice Cold
Not only did Sasha cause the Capwells to divorce, but she wound up revealing herself to be a vicious blackmailer whom someone murdered and then left propped up in Julia’s bed! Julia and Mason hid the body in a freezer and then stored the corpsicle in the family crypt while they set about trying to uncover the killer’s identity. They succeed in their quest, but their license to practice law was suspended.

Victim
Still reeling from Mason’s betrayal, Julia found comfort in the arms of Dash Nichols. But when Julia tried to cool the relationship, an enraged Dash raped her. Julia took him to court but because of their previous sexual history, the jury found him not guilty.

The End
By 1992, Julia and Mason had reunited – and survived the seemingly haunted Ballymoor mansion. They made plans to adopt teenager Gracie Lee Lively’s baby and celebrated the news that Julia herself was also an expectant mother.