Dorian Lord is a fictional character and matriarch of the Cramer family on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, played most notably and for the longest duration by actress Robin Strasser.

[11] Strasser has been nominated for Soap Opera Digest Awards for Dorian in various categories in 1986,[12] 1988,[13] 1994,[14] 1995,[15] and 2005,[16] winning in 1996 as "Outstanding Lead Actress.

Strasser returned as a regular to the series when new daily episodes of debuted on Hulu, iTunes, and FX Canada via The Online Network April 29, 2013.

[28] The role of Dorian was originally created by One Life creator Agnes Nixon and protégé Gordon Russell as the central and primary antagonizing foil to series heroine Victoria "Viki" Lord.

Dorian suffers from claustrophobia, which is explained to be the result of her mother Sonya's child abuse (actress Strasser stated that this character trait was added to mirror her actual illness).

Dorian has a long list of people who she has scorned and fought over the years, ranging from the aforementioned Viki, to other members of the Lord, Buchanan, and Wolek families.

A newly minted physician, Dorian Cramer (Pinkerton) arrives in fictional Llanview, Pennsylvania on the episode first-run April 30, 1973, along with her mentally ill sister, Melinda (Patricia Pearcy).

Dorian takes a physician position at Llanview Hospital, where she quickly engages in a romantic affair with her married colleague, Dr. Mark Toland (Tommy Lee Jones).

During an intense exchange between the two, Dorian makes a careless error on a medical chart, resulting in the accidental death of terminally-ill patient Rachel Wilson Farmer (Nancy Barrett).

Fearing for their careers, the two covered up the crime; extenuating circumstance, meanwhile, lead Dr. Larry Wolek (Michael Storm) to be arrested instead.

With the guilt on her shoulders, Dorian later wants to confess, while Mark is content with allowing Larry to take the fall.

An angered Dorian, burgeoning medical career dashed, blames Victoria "Viki" Lord Riley (Erika Slezak), a prominent hospital board member, for her termination.

Dorian discovers that the newly arrived Tony Harris (George Reinholt) is Victor's illegitimate son from Viki's maternal aunt.

Victor ultimately learned that Dorian was behind his and Tony's contentious relationship, and suffered a massive heart attack during their confrontation on April 30, 1976.

Victor is then able to summon the strength to ask Dr. Jim Craig (Nat Polen) to bring Viki to his room, much to Dorian's distress.

Under mysterious circumstances, and with Dr. Craig in the room, Victor dies June 16, 1976 without telling children Viki or Tony the truth about his wife's trickery.

With their adversarial relationship as heated as ever, Dorian decided to try her hands at Viki's husband, Joe Riley (Lee Patterson).

Dorian fueled the fire even more when she told Joe that he was responsible for the hereditary heart condition which afflicted his late daughter with Cathy Craig (Jennifer Harmon), Megan, a secret that Viki kept from him.

Meanwhile, Dorian is shocked to learn that Victor had another child and was apparently married to a woman other than Viki and sister Meredith's mother, Eugenia Randolph Lord.

In 1985, Tina Clayton (Andrea Evans) claims to have been conceived as the result of a love affair-turned-marriage between Victor Lord and Irene Manning.

In 1986 Dorian witnessed Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born) attempting to rape her daughter Cassie (Ava Haddad).

In 1991, a young lady named Blair Daimler (Mia Korf, Kassie DePaiva from 1993 onward) arrives in town and marries Asa Buchanan (Philip Carey).

Sloan writes a biography of Victor entitled, "Lord of The Banner", which implicates Dorian (Strasser, onward) in his death.

This revelation exonerates Dorian from wrongdoing, though she confesses to Viki that she withheld Victor's medication as he suffered from a heart attack (a fact never shown on-screen).

Dorian later attempts to reconcile with Viki, but then hits her pregnant daughter, Jessica Buchanan (Erin Torpey) with her car, killing her baby.

Adriana Cramer (Melissa Fumero) is revealed as her daughter that she bore while she was in Mendorra but gave her up to protect her from her father.

In 2007, Dorian takes in the friend of her great-niece Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson), Langston Wilde (Brittany Underwood), and becomes her foster mother.

In turn, Dorian is arrested and put in prison, where she discovers Mitch Laurence, who apparently had not died as was previously thought in 1987 and again in 2003.

Dorian resigns as mayor, says goodbye to her girls, and reconciled with Viki one final time, leaving Llanview on August 24, 2011.

The role of Dorian continues in an off-screen capacity, most notably by talking Blair (Kassie DePaiva) through an impromptu medical procedure on Todd, and pulling strings as a favor to Viki to get an expedited marriage certificate for her sister Tina and Cord Roberts (John Loprieno).