For related performers, see List of One Life to Live characters

The Cramers are a fictional family on the American soap opera One Life to Live when it debuted in 1968. The popularity and longevity of the character Dorian Cramer Lord (and her longtime rivalry with Victoria Lord Davidson) brought many Cramer relatives onto the canvas, and brought the Cramer family to the prominence it holds in current storylines.

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Dr. Dorian Cramer arrived in Llanview in 1973 with younger sister Melinda. Their parents had died in a plane crash en route to visit an injured Melinda, whose promising career as a pianist was ended by a fall that had paralyzed her arm. A third sister lost to pneumonia, Melinda and Dorian were each other's only family.

Despite ongoing therapy, Mark's wife Julie still had sexual problems. Frustrated with Julie's frigidity, Mark found what he needed in Dorian's bed. Melinda became furious because she had developed a crush on Mark, too! More deranged than ever, she was fed up with living in her sister's shadow. Melinda schemed to stab the lovers in their "love nest." In the ensuing melee, Mark's hand was sliced open and Melinda was ultimately subdued and institutionalized.

Dorian was suspended from Llanview hospital in 1974 for her involvement in the death of a patient, and she blamed hospital board member Viki (who had actually voted in Dorian's favor) for the decision. She and Viki sparred further when Dorian became Victor's private physician, but their rivalry was cemented when Victor announced that he had married Dorian. Viki also gained an enemy in Cathy Craig. After Meredith's death, Viki had divorced Steve and remarried true love Joe; however, in the interim he had conceived a child with Cathy. Tragically, Viki was in a car accident that killed Joe and Cathy's infant daughter, Megan, and Cathy swore revenge.

In 1970 it had been revealed that Victor had conceived a secret son with Dorothy Randolph (Eugenia's sister). Victor had never met the child, and had searched for him for years. Now, with his health failing, Victor was desperate to find his long-lost son. A man named Tony Harris came to town; Dorian was the first to realize that he was, in fact, Victor's long-lost son. He and Victor were eventually reunited, but Dorian, hoping to maintain her hold on Victor's fortune, soon manipulated events to make father and son bitter enemies. By 1976, the fued between Victor and Tony worsened, and Dorian persuaded Victor to make her the sole beneficiary of his will. Soon however, sensing his mortality, Victor began to soften towards Tony, and father and son made efforts to reconcile.

In 1976 Tony Lord began a romance with fragile Cathy Craig who, still overwrought over the death of her child, began to lose touch with reality and raged over the news that Viki was pregnant. Meanwhile, Tony shared a past with new Banner editor Pat Kendall; she was still in love with him, but kept her distance. Pat had long kept a secret from Tony, which she confided in Viki: Pat's son Brian Kendall was Tony's son. Soon Pat had decided to fight for Tony, but he and Cathy had eloped.

Desperate to guarantee that she would inherit the Lord fortune, Dorian continued to alienate Victor from his son. But Tony discovered Dorian's machinations and told his father; when Victor confronted his wife, he was shocked to hear Dorian admit that she'd known Tony's true identity from the beginning. Luckily for Dorian, a sudden stroke left Victor unable to speak. As she schemed to keep him from recovering, Victor had a second stroke — he struggled to tell Viki what Dorian was up to, but before he was able, the Lord of The Banner was dead.

To everyone's surprise, Dorian was named executor of Victor's will, and Tony was excluded altogether.