Portrayer James Healy First Appearance January 23, 1990 Episode #1381 Last appearance July 20, 1990 Episode #1507 Occupation Philanthropist Residence Suite 702 at the Capwell Hotel Episode count 59

Derek Griffin was a fictional character who appeared on Santa Barbara from January to July 1990. He was portrayed by actor James Healy.

Introduction
Santa Barbara native and playboy philanthropist Derek Griffin made headlines in early 1990 by giving his entire fortune to charity. He was interviewed by Eden Capwell Castillo in Paris, but didn't appear onscreen until he had difficulty getting into the States. Eden's friend and sister-in-law, Julia Wainwright Capwell, went to Canada to help Derek and discovered he had two orphans in his care. Julia's quick thinking got the four of them passed the border. She found Derek a passionately committed man and vowed to help him in any way she could. Julia's estranged husband, Mason Capwell, saw them together several times and grew jealous.

After Derek took blankets from the Capwell Hotel, intending to give them to the homeless, Mason accused Derek of being a thief. Since Mason also suspected Derek was after Julia, he reported him to the police. When Derek refused to return the blankets, he was arrested. Julia protested his arrest and was also detained. After Derek assured Mason he was not interested in Julia, Mason finally dropped the charges. Derek and Julia became friends, but it didn't go further than that.

Meanwhile, Derek's background was a mystery, though it was mentioned that he was born in Santa Barbara and raised in an orphanage at the end of the polo field. He had spent some of his adult years behind bars in the San Sebastian prison, though no one seemed to know why. Notorious businessman Robert Barr had been an inmate at the same time as Derek. Now back in Santa Barbara, Derek met with his old jailmate. But Robert didn't recall Derek having been so charitable and selfless.

Good Samaritan or con man?
By bending the rules, Derek managed to become a member of the polo club. When he learned that C.C. Capwell, patriarch of the wealthy Capwell family, was an award-winning player, he suggested that C.C. put together a team. C.C. was instantly impressed with Derek, who reminded him of his late son Channing. Derek then set his sights on Kelly, C.C.'s youngest daughter, and she joined the polo team as well. Although Derek got close to the Capwells, Eden did a story on the orphanage where he grew up and found him very mysterious.

Derek was part of a polo team with C.C. and Kelly.

Derek's butler, Alfred Wright, arrived in town soon after Derek did. Together, they broke into the orphanage basement and stole four files. They also found an old table from Derek's past and swiped it. Soon after, Derek rescued a young orphan named Buck from the burning Lockridge house before the roof collapsed. Although this move cemented Derek's heroic image in the eyes of Santa Barbara, Eden was still suspicious. Still, she learned that Derek had secretly helped Buck's adoptive parents with money. But when Eden and her cop husband, Cruz Castillo, found Derek in the orphanage tunnel, they wondered what he was up to. Derek covered smoothly, but he and Alfred had to do some fancy footwork to keep Eden from learning who the three boys with Derek in an old photo were.

After district attorney Ethan Asher got into a terrible accident, Derek got the news from Alfred and rushed off. At the hospital, Ethan received three mysterious male visitors. They worried that Ethan's accident wasn't really an accident and they could be next. The three visitors were none other than Derek, Craig Hunt and film director Stephen Slade. They all knew each other from the orphanage and had a brotherhood together. The mystery deepened when they each visited the orphanage tunnel and lay roses on the site of a cave-in, remembering a young girl screaming.

Investigating the Capwells
Derek became distant with Kelly as she suspected him of having a secret. Soon after, Eden ended up at the hospital in critical condition. As Kelly prayed for her sister's recovery, Derek silently watched and was touched by her plea. Around this time, Craig Hunt started pursuing Kelly and Derek didn't approve. He warned his childhood friend not to fall for Kelly and ruin the plan, but Hunt said Kelly was more likely to open up to him than stuffy Derek. He also warned Derek to back off, and insisted that Derek was trying too hard to control them and neither he nor Stephen would stand for it.

When Kelly found an old picture of Hunt and Derek, Hunt admitted that he and Derek had been friends in the orphanage. Derek warned Hunt he had gone too far by telling Kelly and called an emergency meeting. He told Ethan, Stephen and Hunt they were losing sight of their goal. They were together because a girl named Cassandra (Cassie) Benedict, special to them all, had been murdered in the orphanage tunnel twenty years ago. It turned out that the four men were investigating the Capwell family to find out which of them had killed killed Cassie.

Over time, Derek grew concerned over Stephen's strange behavior. He believed that Stephen was losing control, especially because his film was closely paralleling their lives. When Stephen insisted he would handle things his way, Derek destroyed the revised pages Stephen had been working on. When Stephen shot a tunnel scene a few weeks later, Derek warned him that it could jeopardize their mission of finding Cassie's murderer.

Derek planned to avenge Cassie by killing Mason.

Premature accusation?
While all this was going on, a man named Frank Pressman was on death row for Cassie's murder. Ethan released a story about finding new evidence in the Pressman case, allowing the "boys" to closely watch the Capwells for their reaction. It was also revealed that the boys had anonymously fingered Pressman as Cassie's murderer all those years ago. Now, they only had ten days to find the real killer and save Pressman from execution.

Derek opened up a little to Kelly about his childhood. The Capwells soon became aware of the connection between the four boys, and Kelly invited them all to a party to find out more. The party became a disaster when Ethan accused C.C. and Mason of Cassie's murder. Afterwards, the boys became convinced that Mason was the killer and agreed to extract a confession by any means necessary. Derek assured Hunt he would handle the details of Mason's kidnapping, but secretly planned to kill Mason himself. Alfred believed Derek was making a mistake and alerted Hunt. Without revealing his identity, Hunt warned Mason to leave town. Derek still wanted to kill Mason and suspected what Hunt had done.

Eventually, Derek reached Mason by phone, and in a disguised voice, told him to meet at the tunnel for information. His plan was to kill Mason there. Mason didn't see who the gunman was, and Hunt got Mason out of there in time. Angry and feeling betrayed, Derek shot Hunt in the shoulder and escaped. Cruz questioned the boys about the attempt on Mason's life, but they denied any knowledge of it. When Derek confessed to the other boys that he had been the one who tried to kill Mason, the brotherhood started to crumble.

Cassie's return
When the boys arrived at the cabin to civilly dissolve the brotherhood, they found Derek holding Mason at gunpoint, ready to kill him. Just then, miracle of miracles, Cassandra turned up alive! Derek didn't believe it was her at first, but it was. As Cassie spoke to the boys, Derek slipped away. He later planned to leave the country and said goodbye to Cassie. Then, he surprised Mason and Julia with a visit, trying to rationalize his obsession with finding Cassie's murderer. He was arrested on his way out by a cop who had received an anonymous tip on Derek.

Derek was able to convince Ethan to get him out of jail. Soon after Derek's release, however, he and Ethan were arrested for bribing a judge to obtain Derek's freedom. Months later, it was implied that an anonymous tip from Cassie had led to their arrests. 

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