User:Marque63

Myrna Clegg was a character on the daytime soap opera "Capitol" (1982-1987). During the show's five year run, she was played by Carolyn Jones (March 1982-March 1983), Marla Adams (day player during Ms. Jones' illness, late 1982-April 1983), and finally Marj Dusay (April 1983-March 1987).

As the matriarch of the wealthy Clegg family, Myrna was one of the most powerful women in Washington D.C., and ran her family with an iron hand. As a young girl, she was the best friends of Clarissa Tyler, and worked in the offices of Clarissa's politican father, Judson Tyler. Myrna was in love with Baxter McCandless, a handsome young man who worked for the government. However, Baxter fell in love with Clarissa, and once Myrna found that out, she vowed revenge on her best friend and family. For starters, she planted documents in Judson's office that branded him a communist sympathizer, a no-no in 1950's Washington. His political career was ruined, although Judson later became a well-respected judge.

Myrna eventually married industrialist Sam Clegg, a powerful businessman who had one son, Trey, from his marriage to Lauren Clegg. Upon learning of Sam's infidelities with Myrna, Lauren had to be institutionalized. Sam arranged for them to be divorced, and married Myrna. As Trey was only a child when this happened, Myrna took on the responsibilities of raising him, and came to love him like the three children she would have with Sam-blonde and sweet Julie; playboy Jordy; and teenaged terror Brenda.

For much of "Capitol's" first year, Myrna was hell bent on keeping Julie away from Tyler McCandless, the son of Clarissa and the presumedly deceased Baxter. As Tyler was a possible obstacle for getting Trey re-elected to the Congress, Trey had no objection to assisting Myrna in her goals. Myrna tried to pair Julie with gold-digging Lawrence Barrington, but after Julie regained her sight after a brief blind spell, that relationship quickly disolved. Myrna's henchman, Frank Burgess, helped Myrna with her next scheme. Phil Dade, a member of the McCandless political arena, had a penchant for prositutes, and Roy arranged for Phil to believe that he had accidently killed Shelley Granger, a call girl he had contacted. Myrna was aghast when she learned that Trey's new lady friend, Kelly Harper, was none other than Shelley, and did all she could, with the help of Sam (newly returned from a long business trip out of town) and Phil, to end it. Kelly agreed finally to leave town, after secretly informing Myrna that she was carrying Trey's child.

Myrna also had her hands full with her two other children. She constantly reminded Brenda that the three B's were the most important things in life-Beauty, Brains & Breeding, and she didn't want to see Brenda end up with Tyler McCandlesses' brother, Wally, a notorious gambling addict. Jordy, on the other hand, chose well in Myrna's eyes-socialite Lizabeth Bachman, a beautiful big-eyed blonde from "the right side of the tracks". However, McCandless-itis was lingering in the background, as Lizabeth also liked Tyler's other brother, Thomas, a doctor who happened to need crutches to get around because of a childhood illness.

Mortified by Julie and Tyler's engagement, Myrna had to accept fate to avoid losing her daughter. However, Myrna suspected correctly that her former friend Clarissa was now involved with the very married Senator Mark Denning. Myrna had been friends years before with Mark's agoraphobic wife, Paula, who had not left the Denning mansion in years, and also hoped that Trey would get over Kelly Harper's departure by marrying Mark's daughter, beautiful reporter Sloane Denning. On the day of Tyler and Julie's wedding at University Hospital, Paula Denning was suddenly taken by the chapel on a stretcher after a suicide attempt. A note from Paula to Mark indicated that she knew that she had lost him to Clarissa and that she had nothing more to live for. Feeling guilty for his wife's suicide attempt, Mark told Clarissa that they would have to cool things a bit until Paula was totally well.

The audience discovered that Myrna and Paula had schemed to keep Mark and Clarissa apart by having Paula fake agoraphobia, but the years in confinement had not done well to Paula's mental status. A housekeeper discovered Paula and quickly had a heart attack and died; Her psychiatrist, Dr. Yale Parker, was killed after a hit and run after finding out about Paula's scheme. Finally, Clarissa was shot at a political party by Paula, who had been practicing with Mark's gun in her rooms prior to going through with her evil act. Myrna managed to keep her involvement with Paula's scheme secret. After months of police investigation, Paula was finally trapped and sent to a mental institution where she had surgery for a brain tumor.

During this, Myrna was shocked to discover that Sam had an illegitimate daughter, Amy Burke, whose mother, Fran, owned a restaurant. Sam quickly got rid of the Burkes (and broke up Amy's romance with Matt McCandless) by having Amy sent off to France where she could have surgery to prevent her from going blind. The Burkes were never heard from again and the secret of Sam's infidelities and offspring were quickly forgotten.

Trey and Sloane were married in a lavish ceremony, and as step-mother of the groom, Myrna went out of her way to ensure that everything went right, especially Brenda's presence as maid of honor. But Kelly Harper was back in town, living with an older man, Hal Dayton, who was helping her take care of her young son, Scotty. Mobster Danny Donato discovered her presence, and proceeded to blackmail her. However, a struggle over a gun killed Danny, which Myrna witnessed. She did not tell anyone what she had seen, and Kelly was sent to prison. Judson Tyler became her defense attorney. Shoe prints found near the scene of the crime were discovered to belong to a very rare designer, and Brenda Clegg mentioned that her mother used that designer. Taking a pair of Myrna's shoes, Tyler and Judson confirmed that they fit the foot prints they had saved. Myrna was forced to testify on Kelly's behalf, and in the end, Kelly was freed. However, Scotty's presence was not ready to be revealed.