ED NELSON

Loving father to Sloane, beleaguered husband to inveterately nasty Paula, and fiancee of sweet Clarissa McCandless, Senator Mark Denning was Capitol's most important franchise character (read: someone who interacts in everybody else's story, but seldom has one of his own).

Saddled with a scheming spouse, who would have curdled the blood of Jack-the-Ripper, Mark endured one cataclysmic crisis after another: Paula's faked agoraphobia, Paula's murder of psychiatrist Dr. Parker, Paula's attempted murder of Clarissa, Paula's threats of suicide, Paula's attempts at suicide, Paula's bitter divorce hearing...well, you get the picture.

When not worrying about his wife's anctics, Mark fretted about danger-prone daughter Sloane, a TV reporter who got involved with spies, hitmen, terrorists, and all sorts of romantic intrigue.

Mark finally got a story of his very own in November 1985, when an unseen assailant shot him. Barely recovered from the shooting and a subsequent stroke, he was kidnapped by ex-wife Paula, who hid him in a secret room in her basement and had him hypnotized into thinking she was his true love Clarissa. Extricating himself from that crazy melodrama, Mark faced one final storyline that managed to eclipse all the ones preceding it.

In December 1986, he was revealed to be the leader of Octopus, a criminal organziation that sponsored violence around the globe. Literally overnight, Mark evolved from a stalwart senator into a treacherous traitor. Forced to kill Sloane, who was getting too close to the truth, Mark confessed his sins, then -to save his daughter's life- died in a violent shootout with an Octopus assassin. Sloane couldn't believe it. Neither could the audience.

This site is not affiliated with CBS-TV or John Conboy Productions. JCP owns the copyright to Capitol. All sounds and images on the website are believed to be within the US Supreme Court's Fair Use Act. This site is non-profit and does not presume to supercede any rights held by John Conboy Productions. It is intended for entertainment and TV research only.