#willow olson

[inevitablemoment]

WILLOW OLSON - OC INFO

FULL NAME: Willow Brianna Olson

NICKNAMES: Will (by everyone), Willie Bree (by her parents)

FACECLAIM: Marilu Henner

FANDOM: Ghostbusters (1984-1989; 2021)

BIRTHDAY: February 11, 1952

ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius

SEXUALITY: Demisexual

GENDER: Female (she/her/hers)

OCCUPATION: Waitress (1968-1970) || Summer performer in Branson (1968-1970) || Salesgirl at Macy's (1970-1974) || Actress, singer, and dancer (1968-currently)

BIRTHPLACE: St. Louis, Missouri

LIVES IN: St. Louis, Missouri (birth-age 18) || Branson, Missouri (age 16-18, summers) || New York City (age 18-currently)

NATIONALITY: American

FAMILY:

Raymond "Ray" Stantz (husband, married 1990)

Addison Stantz (daughter)

Natalie Stantz (daughter)

Grace Stantz (daughter) [adoptive]

Maxwell "Max" Olson (father, deceased 2000)

Eloise Olson [nee Finnegan] (mother, deceased 1996)

Suellen Nelson [nee Olson] (sister)

Michael Nelson (brother-in-law)

Michael Nelson, Jr. (nephew)

Beau Olson (nephew)

Abigail "Abbie" Olson [nee Prescott] (sister)

Margaret "Maggie" Olson (niece)

Elliot Olson (nephew)

Anna Klein [nee Olson] (sister)

Quinlan Klein (brother-in-law)

Anthony Klein (nephew)

Lindy Klein (niece)

Marcus Klein (nephew)

Jocelyn Klein (niece)

Gerald Stantz (father-in-law, deceased 1982)

Louisa Stantz [nee Crabtree] (mother-in-law, deceased 1982)

Carl Stantz (brother-in-law, deceased 2021)

Sandra Stantz [nee Foa] (sister-in-law)

Justin Stantz (nephew)

Zachary Stantz (nephew)

Lindsay Stantz (niece)

Jean Stantz [formerly Garland] (sister-in-law)

Evangeline Garland [nee Stantz] (niece)

Grace "Gracie" Finnegan (maternal aunt, deceased 1996)

Cathleen Spengler [nee Paige] (honorary sister-in-law)

Egon Spengler (honorary brother-in-law)

Callie Spengler (honorary niece)

Marie Spengler (honorary niece)

Trevor Spengler (honorary grandnephew)

Phoebe Spengler (honorary grandniece)

Peter Venkman (honorary brother-in-law)

Dana Barrett (honorary sister-in-law)

Oscar Venkman [born Wallance, formerly Barrett] (honorary nephew)

Eliana “Elly” Venkman (honorary grandniece)

Andrew Venkman (honorary nephew)

Kelly Venkman (honorary nephew)

Janine Melnitz (honorary sister-in-law)

Louis Tully (honorary brother-in-law)

Lily Tully (honorary niece)

MOODBOARD

CHARACTERISTICS: Ambitious, creative, friendly, kind, competitive, chatty, self-assured, mildly vain, dreamy, determined, protective, musical, desperately tries to be elegant and refined, somehow both extremely confident and not confident at all

LIKES: Performing, living in the city, wearing costumes, spending time with Ray and her daughters, babies, chocolate, Mandy Patinkin, Disney movies, Halloween, spooky stories

DISLIKES: The Spenglers (from 1993-2021), losing, Daisy Eagan (for "stealing" the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1991), altos, camping

WEAPON OF CHOICE:

Her rep book

Her makeup collection

Her wardrobe

Her impressive mezzo/soprano mix belting voice

Her dancing skills

OTHER PERSONAL INFO:

During summers in her last two years of high school, she performed for tourists in Branson, Missouri, living with her Aunt Gracie.

She met Cathleen Spengler when they were in an off-off Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate; Cathleen was playing Katharine/Lilli Vanessi and Willow was playing Bianca/Lois Lane. The two struck up a friendship, and shortly after Cathleen gave birth to her second daughter Marie, she introduced Willow to her friend Ray Stantz. After a whirlwind courtship, the two tied the knot on Halloween 1990.

She was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the Tony Awards in 1991 for her role as Sister Ruth in a musical adaptation of Black Narcissus, but lost to Daisy Eagan.

She would later win Best Leading Actress in 2001 for her role as Polly Kern in Red as the Curtain, a Drowsy Chaperone-style vaudeville satire mixed with the blood and guts of Chicago.

Both of her pregnancies were rough-- her pregnancy with Addison was especially uncomfortable and the labor/delivery was fraught with complications, while during her pregnancy with Natalie, she was still dealing with the emotional fallout of the Spenglers' perceived betrayal.

INSPIRATION: Glinda Upland (Wicked), Ivy Lynn (Smash), Elliot Reid (Scrubs), Effie Newsome (Murdoch Mysteries), Cathy Hiatt (The Last Five Years), Erika (Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper), Jenny Lind (The Greatest Showman/Barnum), Wendy Darling (The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy)

NAME ANALYSIS:

Playlist available here

[inevitablemoment]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 21: The Lake House

The last time that everyone was at the lake house before Egon and Cathleen left.

[inevitablemoment]

yeah i'd like to hear about Willow :)

Thank you!

Willow Brianna Olson was born on February 11, 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri.

She moved to New York after high school to attend drama classes at NYU and to pursue her dream career on Broadway.

Her faceclaim is Marilu Henner.

This GIF really sums up the chaotic energy that it bubbling beneath her, by the way.

More under the cut.

Ray and Willow meet following the events of Ghostbusters II.

Willow knows Cathleen because they did a show together before the latter got pregnant and had to take leave.

Cathleen introduced the two of them when Willow came to meet baby Marie.

You know that scene at the beginning of HTTYD when Hiccup just looks at Astrid with the definition of heart eyes? That's what Ray is like from the moment Willow walks into his life.

Cathleen, being who she is, immediately sets the two of them up on a date.

It turns out that, in addition to her love of theater, Willow is very much fixated on the paranormal and supernatural like Ray.

Their courtship is very much a whirlwind, and they're engaged after six months of dating.

Cathleen is able to plan their wedding in three months.

Like Winston and Tiyah's wedding, Ray and Willow's wedding is interrupted by New York being thrown into paranormal distress AGAIN, but it is thankfully resolved (but not before they lose the reception hall and move the reception to the firehouse).

A couple of years later, Willow becomes pregnant.

Ray is just over the moon excited, and immediately throws himself to the role of being a father.

The baby is a girl that they name Addison Eleanor Stantz.

Sadly, in the months following Addison's birth came Egon and Cathleen's falling out with the Ghostbusters.

It got to the point that Willow and Cathleen had a physical altercation when Cathleen accused Willow of not believing Egon about Gozer's return.

Both Ray and Willow try to help each other heal after their friends' betrayal, and eventually welcome two more daughters-- Natalie Louise and an adoptive daughter, Grace Olivia.

Addison picks up on her parents' resentment, and holds a grudge of her own towards the Spenglers.

However, Natalie shows great interest in her father's past role as a Ghostbuster.

Following the events of Afterlife, while Willow is willing to admit her mistake in not believing Egon, she and Ray still hold resentment towards Cathleen for leaving them behind.

[inevitablemoment]

Does anyone want me to ramble about Willow, the OC that I paired with Ray?

Me, looking in my empty ask box: