Nola Reardon, originally established as the youngest of Bea Reardon's seven children, grew up on Springfield's 7th Street and watched old movies as a refuge out of her boring, Midwestern existence. A hopeless romantic, Nola couldn't wait to find the one true love that would sweep her off her feet and whisk her away. Introduced in January 1980, when fugitive Roger Thorpe hid out at the Reardon boarding house, Nola was convinced that she found the man of her dreams in the form of med student Kelly Nelson. Handsome and straight-laced, Kelly was everything Nola dreamed about and she instantly fell for him. Unfortunately for Nola, he wasn't interested in her and began dating young nurse Hillary Bauer. However, he would also soon end up falling for Nola's new friend, Morgan Richards, who Kelly was tutoring. Her various machinations seemed to work when a jealous Morgan ran off to Chicago after spotting Kelly with Hillary, but the plan backfired when Morgan had to be rescued by criminal Duke Lafferty. Finally she decided that the only way to win Kelly was to become pregnant. <

First, in 1981, she told Kelly that Morgan and Tim were having sex. Next, she plied Kelly with alcohol until he passed out, undressed him, placed him into bed and told him the next morning that they made love. She then lied to Kelly that Hillary was having an affair with her friend Derek Colby and again plied Kelly with alcohol and snuck him into bed. The plan worked perfectly and Nola announced her pregnancy to Kelly, though she knew all along the child was Floyd's and was conceived many weeks after she claimed. Unfortunately Hillary Bauer would have doubts about Nola being pregnant with Kelly's baby. When Bea found out the truth about what Nola had been up to, she was unable to let her daughter ruin her own life and the promising life of Kelly, and told Kelly the truth that there was no way he was the father of Nola's unborn child. Kelly confronted Nola with her lies just before they were to leave town to marry. Defeated, Nola briefly considered an abortion, but reconsidered and accepted Floyd's marriage proposal. However, at the justice of the peace, Nola realized she couldn't marry a man she didn't love and dumped him at the altar.

Between it being uncomfortable to see Kelly everyday and everyone at the hospital hating her, Nola quit her job at Cedars Hospital. Deciding to raise her child alone, she required employment. She answered an advertisement in the newspaper for a job as a household supervisor for an estate on Thornway Road. Upon arriving at Thornway Road, she was sent back to the gazebo to meet her potential employer, the handsome and young, Mr. Quinton R. McCord. Nola had no experience with this type of work, but Mr. McCord was charmed by her nonetheless and was further convinced she was the woman for the job when he discovered that Nola was pregnant and unwed. Nola was hired for the position and promptly moved into the sprawling mansion on Thornway Road.

In addition to her attractive and mysterious employer, in attendance at the gothic mansion were Violet Renfield, his elderly, creepy housekeeper/confidant and Fritz, his gimpy butler/chauffeur. Nola being a very imaginative, young woman immediately began concocting all manner of dreams and odd scenarios to explain the goings on within the old house, complete with secret passageways, eerie organ music coming from the attic and odd archaeological artifacts. Nola was fascinated by Mr. McCord, even though at first she found him to be somewhat strange, and at one point after seeing a police drawing of a man in a fedora, believed her boss could be involved in criminal activity regarding Diane Ballard's murder and/or Alan Spaulding and his recent kidnapping. Mr. McCord seemed to have an unusual interest in her unborn child and the identity of the child's sire. For that reason, she hid the identity of the father, fearing that revealing him could jeopardize his safety. Also at play was Nola simply enjoying having others and even herself believing the father was Kelly and not boring Floyd. Mr. McCord was convinced Dr. Kelly Nelson was the father. McCord continually claimed that his reason for being so interested in the paternity of the unborn child was to ensure the man took responsibility, and in the end that proved to, in fact, be true.

In January 1982, Nola went into premature labor alone at Thornway Road. She contacted Kelly Nelson to come and help her. Nola was passed out in pain when Kelly finally arrived, and Nola gave birth to her tiny baby daughter in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Nola named the infant Kelly Louise. Kelly was of course after Kelly Nelson, and a delicious jab against her nemesis, his wife, Morgan. Louise was selected, as it was Floyd's mother name. Soon Nola recovered from the ordeal and was back home at Thornway Road, followed a few weeks later by her stronger and healthier baby daughter. Mrs. Renfield and Mr. McCord took great interest in Nola's infant daughter which at first greatly concerned the new mother.

However, it did not take long before Nola and her sidekick Gracie were once again snooping about the McCord mansion trying to discover his secrets. At the same time, however, Nola was also discovering her feelings for her enigmatic employer. She also started working more as his archaeological assistant than the originally hired position of household supervisor. In March, Mr. McCord took Nola to London for the first time. On that trip, Nola encountered Quint's ex-fiancée, Helena Manzini. Helena Manzini was the woman whose monogram "HM" was embroidered in the chinchilla coat that Mr. McCord had given to her. It was on this trip that Nola also met the British equivalent of her wacky sidekick, Gracie, in Cockney chambermaid, Effie. Both Nola and Mr. McCord had some unpleasant interactions with Helena before returning to Springfield.

It was around that time that Nola learned about Quint's arch enemy, Silas Crocker. Quint and Silas had attended Oxford together and had a history of rivalry, not the least of which was over the exotic beauty, Helena. While Quint was an honest and good archaeologist desiring only to uncover the earth's treasures for the good of all mankind, Silas was nothing more than a pirate who wanted to exploit the archaeological finds for his own personal gain. Putting her own life in danger, Nola got entangled in this rivalry, and tried to assist Mr. McCord in getting back important maps that Silas stole, after he presumably killed one of Quint's venerable colleagues, Professor Taylor.

In the Spring of 1982, Nola finally made arrangements to christen her baby daughter, Kelly Louise. So that Floyd would not feel uncomfortable at the ceremony, Nola nervously admitted to Mr. McCord that Floyd was in fact the biological father. Quint was surprised it was not Kelly Nelson, but also relieved to know the truth, since Floyd wanted to play a part in the child's upbringing. The Christening, however, did not go nearly as well as Nola's confession. Believing that Nola spilled the beans to Derek Colby about his burgeoning relationship with Hillary Bauer (it was really a jilted Vanessa who spilled the beans), hotheaded Tony blew the whistle on Nola about her prior summer shenanigans right in front of Floyd and Quint, all dressed and ready for the Christening. Up to that moment, dense Floyd thought that he and Nola were "in love" when the child was conceived and had no idea that Nola had actually used him as a sperm donor to trap Kelly into marriage. Floyd vowed to get custody of the child away from Nola, feeling that she was now an unfit mother. Quint was also quite shocked by the revelation, but quickly softened when he realized Nola had skipped town with the baby. When Quint discovered that his Nola had gone to London, he followed her there on the Concord, promised to help her financially and emotionally in the battle against Floyd, and brought her back home to Springfield.

They were barely back in town before it was time for Quint and Nola to head off to St. Croix on his quest to find the Temple of Gold. His late friend and colleague, Professor Taylor, had been able to decipher some ancient maps before his untimely murder. These maps indicated that an ancient Phoenician barge had gone down somewhere in the Caribbean near the island of St. Croix. This barge contained the maps with the precise location of the Temple of Gold that for years Quint had been seeking out. On one dive down to the bottom of the sea with Quint, Nola believed she saw something in a secluded area that looked promising. Quint warned her it was unsafe to venture there. But in pure Nola fashion, she let her curiosity get the best of her and checked it out anyway. Nola got stuck among the coral reefs, and would have died there had Quint not rescued her. They struggled to the surface of the water, and breathlessly Quint dragged a choking and sobbing Nola to the safety of the beach. It was there that Quint and Nola shared their first, very passionate kiss. After months of interrupted attempts at kisses, this was quite a pay off. <

Putting a damper on their ensuing romantic bliss, Helena Manzini showed up on the island. They found out that Silas Crocker was, indeed, on the island. In a dive a few days later, Nola found the maps Quint had been searching for and in a desperate attempt to win Quint's praises for herself, Helena swooped down and tried to seize them from Nola. They struggled and in the mayhem, Helena's oxygen tank was disconnected. Helena turned it around and claimed that Nola tried to steal the maps from her. In his frustration, Quint wanted no part of the cat fight and was stern with both women, but helped Helena who almost drowned from the disconnected oxygen tank. In a fit of anger and jealousy, Nola swam to shore, only to be abducted by a waiting Silas Crocker. Quint managed to rescue his love from the volcano pit that Silas cruelly placed Nola in, but just as he was helping her to safety, the volcano started to rumble, revealing the precious Temple of Gold that Quint had spent his entire adult life searching for. There was no time to explore the Temple, as the volcano was erupting, and they had to run for their lives. Assuming the temple was melted in the eruption, Quint was terribly disappointed, and Nola misread those emotions to be upset feelings directed at her. Helena and Quint went back to the main island together, while Nola went back with Gunther.

Nola went back to Springfield with a broken heart thinking that Quint no longer loved her, and decided she must move on with her life, and that included moving out of Thornway Road and back with her mother into the boarding house. Little did she know that Silas Crocker was stalking her. When she went back to Thornway Road to collect all her belongings, Silas took the opportunity to abduct her again. This time he took her miles away to an abandoned, rat infested freighter ship. A devastated Quint and Nola's brother, Tony, united to rescue Nola. After several weeks, they rescued her, but Nola was terribly sick and malnourished from the kidnapping and wound up in the hospital with gastroenteritis. Silas Crocker also managed to once again evade capture. While in the hospital, Quint could no longer be silent about his intense feelings for Nola and told her while she was "sleeping" just how much he loved her. She heard every word, but did not let on, fearing her would stop the proclamations. Also Nola was relieved to find out that Floyd would drop the custody suit for her daughter.

Nola got out of the hospital and after a meeting with the FBI decided to move back into Thornway Road and take her old job back. The FBI, still believed that Quint could have been involved in some nefarious doings with Alan Spaulding and Silas Crocker, asked Nola to spy on him. She agreed, but only to prove that her employer/love interest was innocent of any foul play. Soon the red herring Quint was cleared of any suspicion of criminal activity.

The next drama was that of the "room on the third floor" of Thornway Road. Mrs. Renfield and Mr. McCord kept a secret room that eventually became the temporary room for Rebecca Cartwright. Quint had been engaged to Rebecca several years before when she was involved in a terrible accident and in usual Quint style, he believed he was responsible for her massive injuries. He cared for her and paid for all her surgeries which included extensive plastic surgery to restore her face and vocal cords. She would spend her final recovery time between the last procedures at Cedars Hospital in this secret room. Nola feared that Quint was still in love with this woman. As her condition improved and her bandages were removed, she proved to be a far bigger problem than Helena.

But just when things seemed like they couldn't get worse with the Rebecca situation, Quint finally proclaimed his love again to Nola, and they kissed (of course Mrs. Renfield barged in). They were finally an official couple, and Nola dropped calling him Mr. McCord. Another name changed, when Nola decided to change her child's name to Anastasia Louise. This action was part of Nola's maturation and redemption from villainess to romantic heroine, since she originally named the child for all the wrong reasons. Nola lost her childish sidekick, Gracie when she moved permanently to Los Angeles to be the personal hairdresser of Joan Bennett. But soon Nola went to visit her friend in LA which also provided a perfect venue for Quint and Nola's growing passions for one another, until an ill-timed phone call interrupted the inevitable. Romance continued to blossom for Quinton and Nola as Rebecca became more and more of a problem. She was blaming Quint of having pushed her off the cliff all those years earlier, and Quint could not dispute the story as the trauma from the event caused him to block it out. Quint kept promising Nola to get Rebecca out of the house, so they could "start their future together", and Rebecca kept blackmailing Quint to stay. Quint was in a bind that he did not quite know how to get out of.

Rebecca's deeds got more and more dastardly and more and more painful for Nola. First she pretended that she couldn't speak when she could. Then she tried to make it appear that Quinton had slept with her, betraying his relationship with Nola, which of course he had not done. Then when he was finally going to make amends with Nola and tell her all his "secrets," Rebecca caused a car accident which put him in the hospital. While hospitalized and believing Quinton could die, Mrs. Renfield finally revealed to Nola that Quinton was Henry Chamberlain's long-lost, illegitimate son, Sean Ryan. Quint recovered and was angry that Renfield broke their long standing trust, but then felt relieved that his love Nola knew and would protect his secret from Henry. His next agenda item was to go back to the mythical Tanquir and unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Professor Renfield (Mrs. Renfield's late husband) that had occurred ten years earlier when he was an archaeology student at Oxford. This was yet another tragedy that Quint felt responsible for. It was also the event that led to the young man changing his name from Sean Ryan to Quinton Ryan McCord. <

In his efforts to uncover the truth, he got trapped with his enemy Silas Crocker in the same cave where Prof. Renfield died, and in doing so discovered that, in fact, Silas was responsible for his mentor's death. Much to the chagrin of Vanessa, Nola, knowing that Quint was in dire jeopardy, went to Henry Chamberlain and revealed the truth about Quint's paternity, that Quint was Henry's son, Sean Ryan. Vanessa had discovered this truth months earlier and selfishly kept the identity of her half-brother from her father. Henry used his contacts and wealth to rescue his son from the cave and capture the unscrupulous Tanquir "officials" that assisted Silas in his malicious plot. Both Silas and sadly Quint's friend and fencing partner, Gunther died in the cave. Quint and Nola had a romantic reunion and took a transatlantic cruise back to the States. On that cruise, things became very heated with the couple, but after all her problems of the summer of 1981 and having a child out of wedlock, Nola decided that as much as she wanted to, she and Quint should wait to make love. Quint was very understanding. Nola and Quint also decided in the best interest of Henry that they would not reveal to him that his beloved daughter, Vanessa, had known his identity for months

Upon returning to Springfield, there was one last outstanding thing that Quint needed to resolve before he could ask Nola to become his wife, Rebecca Cartwright. Quint finally revealed to Nola the details about Rebecca's accident, and that he could not remember his part in it. He also admitted that they had been engaged, and when he came back to her after a three month work related absence, he found out that she had gone off and married another man. He also revealed to Nola that Rebecca had been carrying his child when she fell, causing her to lose the child. Nola had no doubts whatsoever in her mind that Quint had not harmed Rebecca. Before Quint was to propose to Nola, he had another unfortunate run in with Rebecca (revealed to have been previously known as Mona Enright, a friend of Vanessa's) where it was revealed that the man she had married all those years back was Mark Evans (a.k.a Sam Pasquin). Additionally, the child was Sam's, not Quint's, and Sam was the one who pushed her. Quint was innocent of yet another thing that he tortured himself over. Not wanting to waste one more moment, Quint asked Nola to be his wife. On the rocky cliff, Nola joyously agreed.

So Nola could take the proper surname when they wed, Quint legally changed his last name to Chamberlain before the wedding. Henry and Vanessa threw them an elaborate Antebellum Costume Party in honor of their engagement. This is when the infamous dueling Scarlet O'Hara scene took place. Quint and Nola, after much debate and coaxing from Henry, decided to move out of their home on Thornway Road after they were married and in with Henry and Vanessa.

Quint and Nola married on June 24, 1983. As part of Nola's sometimes "kookiness," she missed the last limousine from the boarding house to her own wedding and wound up hopping a fire truck to the church. Immediately after the nuptials, Quint surprised his new bride with a ride in a hot air balloon. The reception followed at Company, and Mrs. Renfield revealed to the newlyweds that she was moving to Scotland to be with her sister. The Chamberlains embarked on a romantic honeymoon to Ireland and then later Scotland. While on the honeymoon, the innkeeper where they were staying entangled them in the mystery of an old Irish legend of star crossed lovers. It turned out that Nola and Quint were more or less incarnations of these lovers named John Ryan and Nora Reardon. Quint's birth name was Sean Ryan and Sean is Gaelic for John, and Nola was almost given the name of Nora until her mother at the last minute decided on Nola. Quint and Nola recited their wedding vows at the altar of the church where these young lovers were to wed in 1883, and for the first time in 100 years the church bell rang and the lovers and Quint and Nola were united for eternity.

They returned to Springfield and got embroiled in the solving of the mystery of the fishing picture. In September 1983, Nola discovered that she was pregnant, much to the delight of her husband, Quint. When the mystery of the picture was solved, the Reardons found little solace in knowing that their father had not thoughtlessly leave them, but had been killed. A few months later, it became a concern of Quint and Nola's that their daughter Anastasia was not yet speaking. After taking her to some specialists, they realized that she had a hearing problem that could easily be corrected. Nola took Anastasia out of town for surgery and therapy. She came back with Anastasia just in time to attend Tony and Annabelle's wedding as a very pregnant matron on honor. She went into labor at the ceremony, two weeks early, and gave birth to Quinton's son, Anthony James Chamberlain (called AJ) in May 1984.

Life continued as it does for most couples with a new baby, until a twelve year-old, orphaned, computer genius named Jonathan Brooks showed up on their doorstep. Jonathan later tried to convince Quint that he was his biological father, making up a story about being the son of Devon Wayne ( an ex-lover of Silas Crocker and late-friend of Quint's). Quint knew this was not possible, but both he and Nola felt badly for the boy and helped him to find his natural parents, when it was revealed that the parents he had been orphaned from were adoptive parents.

In early 1985, Nola started an exercise business with Annabelle that became quite successful, but then Quint was asked to go to Tanquir for an extended period of time to follow up on Prof Renfield's work. Quint and Nola packed up their family and left Springfield for Tanquir on April 25, 1985.

In 1993, the entire Reardon family returned to Springfield to attend Maureen's funeral. Nola and Quint returned, but were never shown on camera.

In 1995, Nola returned alone to Springfield. The absence of Quint was explained away by a story of infidelity. A rapidly aged, teen AJ followed his mother in 1996. Quint returned, too, for his father's funeral. It soon became abundantly clear to Quinton that he made a huge mistake and was still very much in love with Nola and wanted her back. However, he had to convince his beloved of this, and it would not be an easy task as she was very hurt. At this time, Nola also learned of Vanessa's fatal illness and agreed to keep quiet about it. Nola also learned about her sister-in-law's soon faked death. Nola and Quint were on the path to reconciliation when the redux love story was promptly dropped and left unresolved.

Thanks to www.quintnola.com Quint & Nola Homepage

After Quint left, and Bridget left with her son, Peter Lewis Reardon, and her soon to be husband, Dylan Shayne Lewis, Nola took over running the Boarding House and the restaurant, Company that was next door. That's when she came into more contact with fellow restaurateur, Frank Achilles "Buzz" Cooper (who owned and ran the family business, the Fifth Street Diner). Buzz also lived with his lover, the English, Jenna Bradshaw (who was a reformed jewel thief) and their son from a previous affair, Henry Cooper "Coop" Bradshaw, at the firehouse. In August 1997, Buzz started receiving mysterious unsigned "gifts" including some flowers (this was after Buzz told Nola a joke that he had never received flowers from a secret admirer). This continued into September 1997, with Buzz concerned that he was being stalked. As it turned out, Nola was the one who was sending the gifts, but originally Nola's intentions on this were purely innocent and she meant it as a prank. A little later, J became greatly concerned about his mother, when she started to have moments when her whereabouts were unaccounted for.

Near the end of September 1997, Nola decided to give Buzz one more "gift", when Buzz complained with her around that the frame to a picture he had in the firehouse of him and Coop was falling apart. Nola decided to take the picture with the old frame and replace it with a new frame, and she had to break into the firehouse, twice, to do so. The first time she broke into the firehouse, Buzz was greatly concerned about the missing picture and alerted his children, Frank and Harley, that things were getting out of hand with his "stalker." Two days later, when Nola broke back into the firehouse to replace the picture with a new frame, she also moved one of Coop's stuffed toy bunny's and then lost an earring. Jenna was also slightly spooked because of the moving of the bunny and the picture being replaced and because for a brief time, Nola had to hide in the closet to not to be seen by her.. Nola swore to herself that this was the last time she'd do something like this. But then J noticed that Nola wasn't wearing one her earrings, but Nola was able to laugh it off (but she got spooked about the missing earring). Later Buzz found the earring and gave it to Frank to find out who it belonged to. When Frank went to Company he questioned J, and J had to admit that the earring belonged to his mother. When J went to find his mother, Nola had left overhearing the whole conversation about the earring. In the first few days of October 1997, Nola hightailed it up to the Bauer cabin, and decided to try to hole up there until the earring mystery and Nola's disappearance died down. Unfortunately, Buzz had his suspicions about Nola, but wasn't angry with her and he too arrived shortly after Nola had started to chastise herself about the "gifts."

A little later, Buzz and Nola found out that they were stuck at the Bauer cabin, when a bridge back to Springfield got washed out in a fall rainstorm. And then unfortunately, Buzz as he was getting firewood, fell down the stairs at the cabin and hit his head and suffered from amnesia where he didn't know who Nola was or who he was! The next couple of days, Nola tried her best to explain that Buzz wasn't in love with her and the pain she had caused him, and also tried to explain his relationship with Jenna and Coop. Of course Buzz, in his amnesia, didn't believe her, but Nola did her best with pictures of them all. A few days later, after the bridge had been repaired, Harley, along with her love interest, Phillip Spaulding, showed up at the cabin. Shortly after, Buzz was reunited with his family. When Buzz's memory returned, Nola realized the mistakes she had made and asked Buzz and Jenna for their forgiveness. Surprisingly, Buzz and Jenna were not as angry as Nola thought they would be and both quickly forgave her.

Eventually an ashamed and character-beaten Nola left Springfield to presumably live near her daughter in California and ultimately reconcile with Quint. In 2009, Nola returned to town with Bridget to attend Vanessa's wedding to Billy Lewis. Before going to the wedding, the pair stopped in at Company, which originally belonged to the Reardons before Nola sold it to the Coopers. It is conceivable that Nola and Quint reunited since Nola came bearing a gift from Quint to Vanessa.