Frankie Stone, All My Children

Frankie Stone (Elizabeth Hendrickson)

Frankie was a con artist who arrived in Pine Valley to distract Bianca, but ended up falling in love with her. As a result, she was murdered by one of her aunt’s henchmen. The writers described Frankie as “a wisecracking tomboy with feminine sex appeal”.  When asked about Frankie’s death being a result of the show’s fear to portray a lesbian romance, head writer at the time, Richard Culliton, stated that he had “already planned for Frankie to die in his murder mystery storyline.”

Frankie was shot the day after Bianca walked in on her in bed with male character JR Chandler. JR later comforted Bianca and told her he and Frankie did not sleep together and that Frankie seemed rushed and “trying to prove something”. When she was cast as Frankie, Hendrickson stated “at first, in the description of the character, they alluded to the fact that she was a lesbian. Then when I started working, I went to Jean (Dadario Burke), the executive producer, and I asked ‘Is she?’ She said, “Well, she’s a con artist. You read your script and make the decision yourself.”

In the end Frankie was merely a plot device, and Hendrickson theorized that when the writers saw the chemistry between Bianca and Frankie, “that’s when they started pushing the fact that she was a lesbian.”

Her story arc lasted for only 2 months. The imagery of the character’s death and her departure from the series significantly impacted viewers. The popularity of her character and the cited chemistry of Elizabeth Hendrickson with Eden Riegel (Bianca) caused the show to cast Hendrickson again as Frankie’s twin (and initially heterosexual/sexually confused) sister Maggie Stone.

Appearances:

• 50 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel, lesbian, main cast)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Questionable

Male love interests:

• JR Chandler (Jacob Young 2003-2011, main cast)

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.