Every now and then, a soap character ends up going crazy. Such was the case with SANTA BARBARA's Laura Asher, who started out as a love interest for Michael Donnelly (Frank Runyeon). Poor Laura went through a lot because of her politician husband, Ethan Asher (Leigh J. McCloskey), and decided to get back at him after his affair with Gina (Robin Mattson). When Christopher Norris decided to take on the role of Laura, she was promised the role would be a departure from her prime-time work. "I didn't know she was going to be a wacko," Christopher admitted to Soap Opera Digest in 1990, adding, "I always described her as tightly wound."

Psychology had been Christopher's second major in college, but she did some research as well. "My dearest friend recently became a psychologist, so I would talk about Laura almost like she was a patient. Barbara thought Laura was a manic-depressive."

Christopher battled to show the viewers that Laura was not well. "They [SB] kept trying to make her sane up until the very end," Christopher noted ruefully at the time. "I kept saying, 'She's a very intelligent woman; there's no way she could do all these things and still be considered a sane person.' I think it was my influence that allowed Laura to be perceived as nuts."

Of course, Christopher didn't see Laura as bad to the bone because she had other qualities that made the audience relate to the character. "They can indentify a lot more if the character is a human being."

Although Laura did want to get rid of Ethan, she didn't intend to kill Sasha Schmidt (Michelle Nicastro). "It was a mistake," Christopher explained. "It was dark and raining. I had mascara in my eyes; I couldn't see very well. My favorite line was just after I killed Sasha, and I was taking her to Julia's [Nancy Lee Grahn] house to prop her in bed. A policeman stopped me and said, 'What's with your friend?' And I said, 'She's just dead.'"

However, Christopher believed Laura could have been turned around instead of being shipped off to prison. "It could have been educational to show how a doctor can really help guide somebody, how psychology can help a person become whole again," she said and conceded, "Probably because of our difference of opinion, they [SB] didn't want to delve into that. I felt it was important."

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