needed a matriarch, Ed's aunt, Meta Bauer returned to Springfield. Although Meta was referred to occasionally, the character had not been seen since 1974. Soap legend Mary Stuart was cast in the role. The move was seen as an attempt to reclaim longtime fans of Guiding Light, as well as Search for Tomorrow, on which Stuart had starred for 35 years. She portrayed the role until her death in 2002. Nola and Quint were also brought back, separately, but mostly ignored by the writers, and Quint left town in January 1997. Ratings continued to sink. In 1997 the story zeroed in on Josh Lewis' rocky marriage to Annie Dutton. Annie had once been a sweet nurse (and, at one point, Rick Bauer's wife; although this marriage was later ruled to be illegal, as was the one with Josh, when it was revealed Annie had never even divorced her first husband, Eddie Banks) but had become a pill addict. Annie became a raving lunatic who got artificially inseminated to keep Josh at her side, and pretended to be Reva's long-lost sister to guilt her into staying away. When that didn't work and she also lost her baby, she pushed herself down a flight of stairs at the Spaulding mansion, framing Reva for the death of her fetus. A high-stakes murder trial led Annie to have a meltdown on the witness stand, after which she dramatically collapsed and was rendered barren. This somewhat campy material was bulldozed through by actress, Cynthia Watros, whose performance astonished viewers. Annie, with Alan Spaulding's help, then tried to manipulate Reva's real sister Cassie into breaking up Josh and Reva. Watros left the show in early 1998, after Annie was arrested for her past misdeeds at her and Alan's aborted wedding (and also having her attempting to be defended by another recently new character, attorney and also Ross, Justin and Lainie Marler's long lost surprise half-brother, Ben Warren), leaving a big hole in a show that had been largely centered on the Josh/Reva/Annie storyline. 1997 to 1999 During the January 1997 60th anniversary episodes, Mike Bauer (Don Stewart) returned for a few cameo appearances which delighted many longtime fans. Another storyline during 1997 revolved around the return of Jenna Bradshaw, who had secretly given birth to Buzz' son, Henry Coop Bradshaw (later given the last name of Cooper and going by the name of "Coop"), and Harley