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Melinda Cramer is a fictional character on the ABC Daytime soap opera
One Life to Live. The character debuted on April 30, 1973, with leading series antagonist Dr.
Dorian Cramer. She last appeared onscreen on August 2, 2004, and died off-screen February 28, 2010. Sisters Melinda and Dorian arrive in fictional
Llanview in 1973. Mentally disturbed Melinda stabs Dorian's lover,
Mark Toland, in 1974, leading to her institutionalization. A recovered Melinda returns to Llanview in 1978, but soon sabotages Dorian's new relationship with
Dr. Peter Janssen, wanting him for herself. Melinda seems to win when she and Peter elope, but her obsessive-compulsive behavior returns. Resuming her career as a concert pianist, Melinda practices day and night, putting a strain on her marriage to Peter. She becomes more unbalanced when a failed audition put a close to her musical ambitions. In 1979, Melinda checks herself into the Compton Clinic. Dorian then has Melinda declared mentally incompetent; by 1980, Peter hopes to marry
Jenny Wolek Vernon, but couldn't divorce Melinda until she was mentally stable. After threatening Jenny with a letter opener and sinking further into
psychosis, Melinda returns to the clinic in 1981. She is seen again briefly in 1983, as
Herb Callison visits her in order to learn the truth about Dorian's past with
David Reynolds. Melinda returns again in 1987 after Dorian's departure, and moves into Dorian's penthouse with Dorian's daughter
Cassie Callison. Melinda witnesses the murder of mobster Alec Crown by Dr. Donald Lamarr and testifies against him. She gets a job working at the Banner, and helps solve several criminal activities in Llanview. Melinda has a relationship with
Jon Russell, and leaves town herself in 1989. It is later discovered that Melinda has returned to living in a sanitarium, now in California. Her daughter
Kelly Cramer moves to Llanview in 1995. Melinda herself returns to Llanview in 1997, briefly, before leaving once again, choosing to return to the sanitarium. In 2004, her daughter Kelly visits her while she is now living in Boston, in a different sanitarium. On March 1, 2010, Cassie returns to Llanview to inform Dorian of Melinda's offscreen death. Although the Cramer family originally believed Mitch Laurence and Allison Perkins to be the culprits of Melinda's death, it was later revealed that
Elijah Clarke, the husband of her niece Blair, actually was responsible for her death. According to him, she had recognized him from a photograph in the newspaper, and threatened to warn her niece about his murderous past. ==Greg Huddleston==