| Susan Hunter | |||||||||||
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| Days of our Lives | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Denise Alexander (1966–73) Bennye Gatteys (1973–76) | ||||||||||
| Current status | Former; Regular | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1966–76 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | April 14, 1966 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | October 1, 1976 | ||||||||||
| Cause/reason | Left Town | ||||||||||
| Created by | Peggy Phillips | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Ted Corday | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||
| Occupation | Founded the David Martin Clinic | ||||||||||
| Residence | California | ||||||||||
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Susan Hunter (formerly Martin and Peters) is a character from the soap opera Days of our Lives, portrayed by Denise Alexander from May 1966, to 1973. Denise left the role for the role of Lesley Webber on General Hospital, and the character was recast with Bennye Gatteys from 1973 to 1976. Susan is one of the first characters on Days and also known to commit the first onscreen murder when she killed David Martin.
Storylines
Susan Hunter was the best friend of Julie Olson Williams. She married David Martin after discovering she was pregnant with their child. They had originally planned to give the baby up for adoption, but Susan changed her mind when the baby was born. She named the baby Richard "Dickie" Martin, and wanted to make the marriage work. David didn't feel the same way, but Susan's parents, Richard and Diane, pressured David to stay with Susan.
Susan and David's marriage fell apart, and he started seeing Julie Olson. Things only got worse when Richard fell off his swing set, and died. Susan blamed David as he had pushed Richard on the swing. Delirious with grief, she believed David had intended for the accident to happen as their so was the only thing tying David to her. Susan ended up killing David by shooting him. Susan was eventually acquitted of the murder and went to see David's mother to apologize, but David's mother shot her. Susan has to undergo surgery, and survived, but ended up with heart problems.
In 1969 when Scott and Janet Banning moved to town with their adopted son Bradley (In reality it was Julie and David's child) Susan began to take care of Brad due to his mother's fading health due to a brain tumor. After Janet died Susan became found of Brad, and of Scott. However, Julie Olson would exact her revenge on Susan and would sue for custody of Brad (Little David) and would win. Eventually Julie married Scott.
In 1970 Susan met Doug Williams, who was trying to romance her out of her money. Susan didn't fall for Doug, but she did see a way she could top her old rival Julie. Susan payed Doug to have an affair with Julie Olson, but when she eventually realized she couldn't live with what she had done and tried to call the deal off it was too late.
When Scott left town with David after becoming separated from Julie, Susan became depressed, and while taking a walk in the park one night Susan was attacked by a man, but refused to talk about the incident because she was too embarrassed. The only clue to the attacker was a button she was grasping in her hand.
In 1971 Susan opened up a clinic with her dead husbands inheritance and began working at the David Martin Clinic. There she met and began to have feelings for Dr. Greg Peters. Suddenly Susan would learn she was pregnant as a result of the attack in the park. She considered having and abortion, but decided to keep the child instead.
When Greg took Susan to meet his family Susan seemed to have recognized Greg's brother Eric. Eric didn't recognize Susan, but she seemed to know him from somewhere. At another dinner at the Peters home Susan slipped into Eric's room and found a blazer of his with a button missing, the missing button was the one Susan was clutching in her hand the night of the attack. Eric Peters was the man who raped her months ago, and the father of her child. However, upon confronting Eric, Eric claimed the sex was mutual, and Susan only panicked and ran after they had slept together. Both Susan and Eric decided it was best if they kept this a secret from Greg.
In 1973 Susan gave birth to her baby, it was a girl and she named her Annie Peters. Susan and Greg were to be married in February of 73 when Susan suddenly left town, leaving a note behind for Greg not to come looking for her. Susan left her baby Annie with Greg's mom and went off to decide if she should tell Greg about what happened in the park months earlier.
Upon hearing that Eric had been beaten by his brother Susan returned to Salem and visited Eric. Eric had kept Susan's secret safe from Greg, and almost payed with his life. Susan thanked Eric, and then told Greg the truth. Greg was shocked but later came around, and in 1973 Greg Peters and Susan Hunter Martin were married.
In 1974 Susan and Greg's marriage began to dissolve, and when Greg left his job at the clinic to join Dr. Neil Curtis' practice it put an even bigger strain on their marriage.
In 1976 Susan and Greg divorced, and Susan moved to California with Greg's brother Eric and their daughter Annie.