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Character
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Sam Kratz Richard Grieve
Sam Kratz 1994-1996
Lived: 24 Ramsay Street
Parents: Patrick and Sarah Kratz
Marital Status: Annalise Hartman (2000-)
Family Tree: Kratz Occupation: Handyman, Steffano Gold Model
Although he often looked rough with his biker gear and stubble, Sam Kratz
was a genuinely sensitive person deep down. Sam was born the only child of
career-minded Patrick and Sarah Kratz, He found growing up that his parents
were disinterested in him and had no time for him. As a result, Sam always
looked up to his grandmother, Marlene, as more of a parental figure since he
spent so much time with her as he grew up and stayed with her on a regular
basis.
When Marlene suddenly bought a house on Ramsay Street in Erinsborough and
asked Sam to live there with her, he happily agreed. Having coincidentally just met future neighbour Pam Willis at a biker convention in Canberra, Sam arrived in Ramsay Street and moved in first with
instructions from his nan to sell the old furniture she was having shipped
to the house. But Marlene's furniture hadn't arrived when Sam turned up, and he mistakenly sold the furniture of the previous occupant, Lou
Carpenter, who had moved next door to No. 22. Lou immediately suspected Sam
of being shady and was ready to call the police until Sam explained the
mistake. Lou soon grew to like Sam, and introduced him to the neighbours,
with whom Sam became popular.
The first real friends Sam made on moving into Ramsay Street where teenagers
Brett and Danni Stark, who lived with Lou and their mother, Cheryl, next
door. A friendship developed between the three and when Marlene moved in,
she explained to Sam that she was thrilled he got on so well with Brett and
Danni because they were his cousins and Cheryl was actually Marlene's
estranged daughter! After an initial period of adjustment, Sam was delighted
to have a new found family so close and began to settle in smoothly to
Ramsay Street.
Before moving to Erinsborough, Sam had worked as a builder's labourer, a
plumber, a car mechanic, farm hand, on fishing trawlers and in a circus so
his experience provided him with ample skills to set up his own handyman
business, appropriately named Handy Sam's. The sight of hunky Sam around
Erinsborough sent most of the females in the neighbourhood into a sweat but
despite this, there was only one girl he was interested in - Annalise
Hartman, who lived across the street at No. 30. Unfortunately for Sam,
Annalise was engaged to Mark Gottlieb who Sam had become friends with, and
this made it impossible for anything to happen between Sam and Annalise.
Annalise did, however, find herself attracted to Sam and there were definite
sparks between the two.
Problems arose for Sam when Danni convinced him to act as chaperone for the
high school dance. Danni's classmate Squirrel took an instant attraction to
Sam and threw herself at him. Sam tried to let her down gently but she
refused to take the hint and before long, started telling her friends that
they were an item. Events came to a dramatic head when Squirrel told Sam she
was pregnant and he was the father. Although Sam knew it couldn't be his
child because he had never slept with Squirrel, he realised that nobody
would believe him and tried to keep it all to himself. But when he confessed
all to Annalise she believed his story and assured him that she would be
there for him throughout the ordeal. By this point, Annalise had been jilted
at the altar by Mark so Sam began to think there was a chance for him and
Annalise to get together. And once Danni succeeded in getting Squirrel to
confess Sam was not the father of her baby, Sam was able to devote his full
attentions to winning Annalise over.
When Annalise had to have an operation to remove a cancerous growth from her
body, Sam thought he would loose his true love before anything had even
happened between them. But when Annalise was given the all clear, Sam
pledged to look after her forever. However, Annalise's brush with death made
her decide she wanted to travel overseas and left for Europe for a few
months, devastating Sam. Luckily for Sam, upon her return to Erinsborough
Annalise told him she had realised while she was away how much she was in
love with him and the two consummated their relationship by booking into a
luxury suite at Lassiter's for the night. The next day, Sam arranged for
Annalise to move in with him and Marlene at No. 24 - although it took Marlene
a while to adapt to them sharing a bed.
When Sam's estranged father came to visit, Sam was less than welcoming to
Patrick. Sam was resentful towards Patrick for leaving him with Marlene so
often throughout his younger years. The news that Patrick and Sarah had
separated also caused Sam distress, and he took all his frustrations out on
his father. It was only after spending a few days at a bush retreat for the
Ramsay Street men that Sam and Patrick got past their problems and started
to reach a new understanding. And Sam was further pleased when Patrick left
Erinsborough to reunite with Sarah.
Sam's own relationship with Annalise, meanwhile, was in danger when she
started to become distant and aloof, and even stopped having sex with him.
Sam was puzzled as to what the problem was but finally found out when he
caught her in bed with their neighbour, Stonefish Rebecchi. It transpired
that Annalise had been wrestling with her growing feelings for Stonie as she
tutored him in English for his HSC over the previous few months, and it had
culminated in them sleeping together on the night Sam caught them. Sam was
broken hearted, and although Annalise pleaded with him to forgive her and
assured him he was the real one for her, Sam couldn't bring himself to trust
her again. Annalise made plans to leave Erinsborough and move to London as a
result, but when Sam learnt of her plans, he chased after her on his
motorbike to the airport. He managed to catch up with Annalise at a gas
station, where he proclaimed his love for her and begged her to stay. But
although Annalise insisted she still loved Sam too, she knew it would be
best for them to spend some time apart after everything that had happened,
and pressed ahead with her decision to leave.
Sam soon found himself in the midst of a new career when he became a model
for Teen Girl magazine. The editor had seen Sam's photo when Marlene had
entered him in the 'Grandchild of the Year' competition in the Erinsborough News and was so impressed with his hunky looks that she thought he'd be
ideal as their new pin-up. Marlene was thrilled with the idea of her
grandson becoming a 'Supermodel', but Sam was more reluctant about the idea
of entering the world of modelling. Sam's reservations proved to be accurate
when he met with the Teen Girl team and decided he didn't like the ideas
they had for him. But when Peter Lenton, from Stefano Gold, bumped into Sam
at the Teen Girl offices, he immediately offered Sam a lucrative modelling
contract worth $40,000 to be the new face of Stefano Gold aftershave. Bowled
over by the offer, Sam quickly accepted and signed a contract immediately.
However, Sam soon began to realise he may have signed his life away after
Peter visited him at home and expressed immediate unease about the fact that
the company's new model was living with his grandmother. But the biggest
surprise was yet to come for Sam - when he showed up for his first photo
shoot, he was stunned when Peter told him he had to strip off and pose in
the nude. Sam tried to protest, but with his lucrative contract at stake,
had no alternative but to pose naked. Luckily, his modesty was tastefully
obscured in the published prints, and Sam was actually quite happy with the
end product.
However, further problems arose with the deal. Sam was furious when Peter
told him he was going to be known as 'Sami K' because Kratz wasn't
considered to be an acceptable name for the image Stefano Gold where trying
to project. And Sam was further annoyed when Peter announced that there
would be a competition launched by the company to win a date with Sam. Sam
vowed to call an end to the competition after girls started pestering him in
public, and one even resorted to phoning Marlene and passing herself off as
Sam's new girlfriend. But in the end, the actual winner of the competition
turned out to be quite pleasing to Sam - she was the beautiful Catherine
O'Brien. Sam enjoyed himself so much, he asked Catherine out again the
following day, but she was forced to admit to him that she had just entered
the competition as a dare, and was actually seeing someone else anyway -
Sam's former love rival, Stonefish. The competition, meanwhile, made Sam
re-think his career with Stefano Gold, and he decided he's be much happier
returning to his day job as a handy man. After getting out of his contract,
Sam went on to sign on with a modelling agency, and was thrilled when he
landed his first assignment with the Allegro Mining Company. But he found
himself clashing with Catherine on this job, because staunch
environmentalist Catherine was opposed to Allegro Mining due to their
policies of drilling on wildlife locations. Sam tried to make Catherine
realise that he was only doing an ad job for the company, and had no
interest in what they did, but she pressured him into putting the
environment before his own wealth and urged him to reject the job offer. Sam
agonised over what to do that evening, and eventually decided to go ahead
with the gig, knowing that if he rejected his first job the modelling
company wouldn't be too quick about finding him another one. But as he was
leaving for the shoot, Catherine arrived at No. 24 and tried to persuade him
one more time to reconsider his position. Sam insisted that he hadn't
changed his mind, and hurried Cath back out the door. But Catherine pulled
out a pair of handcuffs, and tied herself to Sam, insisting that if he was
going to Allegro Mining, she was going with him in protest. Sam was
disgusted and was forced to call Stonie over to control his girlfriend.
Catherine was later forced to apologise to Sam when he made some inquiries
and discovered that Allegro regularly made contributions to nature preserves
and The Wilderness Society.
Meanwhile, Sam was beginning to spend more and more time with Cody Willis,
who used to lodge with him and Marlene at No. 24 and was now living at No. 30.
The two began to develop feelings for each other and decided to try dating.
But they both quickly realised that they were much better off as friends
than lovers and decided to give up on the idea of a romance. Events took a
tragic twist, however, when Cody died after a shootout on Ramsay Street. A
devastated Sam turned to drink to numb the pain but following an appearance
by Cody's ghost urging him to get on with his life, Sam got over the
tragedy.
Sam was thrilled when Annalise got in touch with him soon afterwards and
invited him to come see her in London and tour Europe together. A delighted
Sam jumped at the chance of a reunion with his one true love and after
bidding farewell to his beloved nan, left Erinsborough. He eventually
settled in London with Annalise and sold Handy Sam's on to Mal Kennedy. Sam and Annalise were married in 2000.
Trivia Notes
• Richard, who went grey at the age of 15, was forced to dye his hair black for the role of Sam
• In 2005, Sam made a cameo appearance in Annalise's 20th Anniversary Documentary
Tenure 2171-2640, 4773
Magic
Moments
Episode 2640:
Sam's Departure
Biography by Moe
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