Marge Cotrooke (19??- November 2008)

Marge Cotrooke was not a real person. She was a character that was played by Jeanne Cooper on "The Young and the Restless." Cooper has played the well known Katherine Chancellor Murphy since November of 1973 and she played Marge from 1989 to 1990 and again briefly in 2008 and 2009. Back in 1989, Marge was a waitress working in a run down diner. While there she was spotted by ex-con Clint Radison (James Michael Gregary) who was the cell mate of Rex Sterling (Quinn Redeker). Rex was married to Katherine Chancellor at the time and when Clint saw how much Katherine and Marge looked alike he saw it as the opportunity to get his hands on Katherine's vast fortune. He convinced Marge to impersonate Katherine and made arrangements to get her into the Chancellor estate. Katherine and her maid Esther Valentine (Kate Linder) were taken prisoner and held by Clint and his cronies. Everyone noticed the difference in "Katherine" immediately and assumed she had fallen off the wagon. As Katherine, Marge sold Chancellor Industries and divorced Rex. Rex fell in love with Katherine's mortal enemy Jill Foster Abbott (Jess Walton) and married her. Eventually Katherine's son Brock (Beau Kazar) returned home from being overseas and noticed immedately that "Katherine" was a fake. Marge returned to Clint's hideout and accepted Katherine's pleas for help. She arranged for Katherine and Esther to escape safety. For the act of kindness Katherine forgave Marge and allowed her to escape the law. In October of 2008, Marge reappeared still working as a waitress. Only this time she was also a fall down drunk. As her condition got worse she called Katherine for help. At the same time Katherine was suffering from Lyme disease and experiencing serious memory lapses. She did not let this stop her however and she quickly made arrangements to get Marge into a rehab clinic. On the night Katherine planned to drive Marge to rehab there was a terrible rainstorm and while in the car Marge asked Katherine to turn back. Katherine refused and suddenly a car was heading their way. Marge grabbed the wheel and unfortunately they ended up in a ditch. Katherine was thrown far away from the car while Marge remained in the passenger's seat. Unfortunately Marge was killed and mistaken for Katherine when her body was discovered. On the day of "Katherine's" funeral Marge's ghost appeared in the church and talks about her life...expresses her fondness for her regular customers and wonders if they will cry when they find out she's gone. After watching the funeral for a little while Marge realizes that the funeral is not for her and she rushes out to find Katherine. Eventually she finds Katherine unconscious in the woods near a creek and right before her spirit crosses over Marge manages to "shake" Katherine a little bit so that she wakes up. Katherine is later found by Marge's friend Patrick Murphy and taken in. Months later Marge's body is exhumed for DNA testing and her spirit reappears again to comment on the life of Katherine Chancellor and all of her friends. Right before she is ready to go "home" she tells us all that she'll see us in Heaven...eventually. Marge Cotrooke was a wonderful character especially in her 2008/2009 appearances. It is great shame that they decided to kill her off. She brought a great deal of comic relief to the story and she also gave the great Jeanne Cooper a chance to play a very different character. Marge and Katherine were as different as night and day. She was a great character...and she was played so well that it felt like she was a real person. Bravo to Jeanne Cooper! See ya in Heaven Marge...!