| Stanley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Stanley | |
| Aliases: | Sylvester Mansfield [1] Doctor Sylvester Mansfield |
| Series: | American Horror Story |
| Gender: | Male |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Occupation: | Con artist |
| Location: | Jupiter, Florida |
| Status: | Status unknown; Likely deceased |
| Died: | 1952 |
| First: | "Edward Mordrake (Part 1)" |
| Final: | "Show Stoppers" |
| Actor: | Denis O'Hare |
Stanley is a fictional con-artist and one of the main characters featured on the FX Network television series American Horror Story. He appeared in season four of the series, which was billed under the subheading, "Freak Show". Played by actor Denis O'Hare, he first appeared in episode 4x03, "Edward Mordrake (Part 1)". Although Denis O'Hare was credited in all thirteen episodes from the season, the character of Stanley only made ten appearances.
Overview
Stanley was a grifter con-artist, always looking for the next quick buck. He aligned himself with Maggie Esmerelda as his associate and brokered a deal with the American Morbidity Museum to provide them with genuine human oddities to help boost their sales. This brought him into contact with Elsa Mars, who was the owner of Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities - a sideshow carnival operating out of Jupiter, Florida. Stanley introduced Maggie as a medium to help get her foot into the proverbial door, and he smoothed over Elsa's rough edges with promises of helping her to jumps-star a career in Hollywood.
Stanley blackmailed Dell Toledo into providing him with a freak to take back to the museum. Dell murdered the tiny Ma Petite and Stanley sold her corpse to the museum where it was kept in a glass container filled with preserving fluid. He was also responsible for mutilating Jimmy Darling, cutting off his "lobster hands" and selling them to the museum as well. Through the course of events, Maggie began to develop a conscience, and distanced herself from Stanley and his actions.
Desiree Dupree, the three-breasted woman, learned the truth about Stanley and exposed him to the other members of the carnival. The freaks avenged themselves upon him by cutting off his arms, legs and tongue and imprisoning him inside of a chicken coop as the carnival's newest geek (replacing their previous Geek, Meep, who had died). What became of Stanley following these events is unknown, but in all likelihood, he died soon after. [2]
Notes & Trivia
- The character of Stanley was created by director Michael Uppendahl and writer James Wong based on concepts developed by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy.
- Stanley assumed the alias of Doctor Sylvester Mansfield when he first visited the American Morbidity Museum under the pretense of selling them the corpse of a baby Sasquatch.
- Was one of three homosexuals featured this season (not counting unnamed background characters or sexually questionable individuals like Dandy Mott). The others are Dell Toledo, and Andy.
- By his own account, Stanley had a 13-inch penis, which in a way makes him a freak in his own right. This is in coincidental contrast to Arthur Arden from season two, who had a micropenis.
- This is the third character played by Denis O'Hare on American Horror Story. In each season of the show, O'Hare's characters suffer from some physical affliction. In season one, he played the mentally unbalanced Larry Harvey, who had severe burns across most of his body. In season three, he played a butler named Spalding, who was lacking a tongue. By the end of "Freak Show", O'Hare's character is not only lacking a tongue, but also his arms and legs as well.