Quentin Collins - Quentin I

Quentin I

The first Quentin Collins is actually the third one shown in the TV series. This version of Quentin was first introduced in episode #1109 in a storyline commonly referred to as the "1840 flashback".

In the 1840 storyline, Quentin Collins was one of two brothers living at the gothic mansion known as Collinwood Mansion in the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine. Born in 1808, as the favorite son of his mentally troubled father Daniel Collins, Quentin was the head of the Collins Family, and stood to inherit the entire family fortune. This position brought him into frequent conflict with his scheming brother, Gabriel (Christopher Pennock). Quentin was married to a woman named Samantha Drew (Virginia Vestoff), with whom he had a son named Tad (David Henesy).

Around 1839, Quentin had an affair with Joanna Mills. After he broke off with her, he took Tad on an ocean voyage, on which Quentin became close friends with a fellow passenger, Gerard Stiles (James Storm). His wife Samantha eventually discovered the affair and secretly murdered Joanna, making it look as if she had killed herself.

Quentin was interested in the study of witchcraft. He was not part of a witches coven, but is eventually framed by Gerard (who was possessed by the spirit of the 17th-century warlock Judah Zachery) and sentenced to execution. Quentin also fancied himself an amateur inventor and used his knowledge of the occult and supernatural powers to develop a device that he called his "Stairway Through Time". He persistently labored to build his staircase in a cellar room at Collinwood. It was Quentin's belief that ascending the staircase could open a dimensional portal through which individuals could view and even interact with the future. What Quentin never realized, however, was that his staircase also created a divergent parallel reality (This functioned as the genesis for several storylines which took place in parallel universes). Quentin's devotion towards his work gave Gerard the means by which to manipulate and ultimately betray him.

In early 1840, Quentin, Tad, and Gerard Stiles had been off at sea for several months. Gerard comes back to Collinwood with the news for Quentin's wife, that her husband and son Tad had been lost at sea.

When Samantha thought that her husband and son were dead, she began spending more and more time with Gerard. Over time, they fell in love, and he asked her to marry. On the day they got married, Quentin returned. He was shocked to discover that his wife had thought him dead, and had married his best friend.

While his wife decided whom she wanted, either him or Gerard; Quentin began having an affair with his son's governess, Daphne Harridge (Kate Jackson), the sister of Quentin's former lover, Joanna Mills.

Gerard meanwhile had fallen prey to the spirit of a disembodied warlock named Judah Zachary. Judah wanted revenge against the entire Collins family for sentencing him to death for witchcraft in the late 17th century. Judah's spirit took possession of Gerard Stiles and used him as a secret weapon against the Collins family. Working alongside a disreputable mortician named Lamar Trask (Jerry Lacy), who was the son of the 1790s witch hunter Reverend Trask (also played by Lacy), Gerard convinced the local authorities that Quentin was a Satanist and that he had used his knowledge of the dark arts to murder a young woman named Lorna Bell, as well as his own brother-in-law, Randall Drew. Quentin was arrested on charges of Witchcraft and murder, and taken to jail. When his ailing father heard the news concerning Quentin's arrest, he changed his will, leaving the entire Collins family fortune to Gerard Stiles.

Quentin was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death by beheading. However, with the aid of Valerie Collins (Lara Parker), and his cousins Desmond and Barnabas (Jonathan Frid), Quentin escaped being beheaded. At the last minute, Gerard was shot. At the same moment, the head of Judah Zachary burned up in front of the judge in the case. With its destruction, Gerard was free from the possession and confessed that Quentin was innocent, admitting that Judah was responsible for all the deaths. After asking for forgiveness, Gerard died in Quentin's arms. Quentin having been cleared of all charges, eloped with Daphne Harridge. The two left Collinsport forever to make a new life for themselves.