Stephen Gottlieb
| Stephen Gottlieb | |||||||||||||
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| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Lochie Daddo | ||||||||||||
| Duration | 1992–93 | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | 12 October 1992 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 15 September 1993 | ||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Don Battye | ||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||
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| Occupation | Record store manager Cook and waiter (1993) Record store owner (1993–) |
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| Home | Anson's Corner | ||||||||||||
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| Father | Dave Gottlieb |
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| Mother | Sally Dawes |
| Brothers | Mark Gottlieb |
| Sisters | Serendipity Gottlieb |
| Wife | Phoebe Bright (1993–) |
| Adoptive daughters | Hope Gottlieb |
Stephen Gottlieb (né Freedom) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Lochie Daddo. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 12 October 1992.
On 11 October 1992, Shelli-Anne Couch from The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that Daddo had joined the cast of Neighbours as Stephen Gottlieb, "a record store manager with an enormous amount of compassion." Daddo was initially signed until December, with an option to extend his contract for another six months. Of his casting, Daddo stated "It's something new for me. I'm just starting out on the acting side of things and I don't think there is a better place to learn. Like everyone says, I'd love to go from here and make films. But I'm not sure. I want to stay in the acting side and just see where it takes me. I really don't know what will happen, where I'll be. I'm just enjoying what I'm doing now." The actor made his first appearance as Stephen during the episode broadcast on 12 October 1992.
"Stephen's hippy upbringing made him yearn for a traditional life and he saw in Phoebe, pregnant as she was, a ready-made family."
While he was at the graveyard visiting his dead fiancée, Stephen noticed a pregnant Phoebe Bright (Simone Robertson) by the graveside of her ex-boyfriend, Todd (Kristian Schmid). They confided in each other and Stephen made Phoebe realise that Todd's spirit would be with her where ever she goes, after learning that she wanted to have her baby by his grave. Daddo commented that their meeting "sort of turns into a little bit of a romance." Stephen later visits Phoebe and she tries to put him off by showing him her pet snake, but he states that he has one of his own. Couch revealed that Daddo did his own research for the snake scenes by visiting an animal farm outside Melbourne. Of Phoebe's reaction to meeting Stephen, Robertson explained "It's a really weird way to meet the man of your dreams, but at least something is about to go right for Phoebe. The main thing for me is that I really get on well with Lochie. As for Stephen, he works in a record shop and is so different from Todd. He's older – 23 – and calmer." After five weeks of dating, Stephen proposed to Phoebe. Robertson thought the proposal was too fast, especially as Phoebe was not interested in Stephen at first and was still hung up on Todd.
While Phoebe accepted the proposal, Robertson believed that she was not in love with Stephen. She told an Inside Soap writer "She was definitely falling for him, but I don't think she really ever loved. Phoebe had a lot of respect for him because he persevered with her for so long! And I think because he was older she saw him as a bit of a father figure, and as her father had died I guess that was quite appealing." After succumbing to Stephen's "easy charm", Phoebe planned an early wedding. While Stephen was out on his stag night, Phoebe went into labour two months early. Stephen rushed back to their house and helped deliver Phoebe's daughter, Hope (Laura Pearson). Hope developed breathing problems and it was left to Stephen to break the news to Phoebe that she might die. Stephen became worried that if Hope died, Phoebe would not want to marry him and his feelings of unease grew when everyone began talking about Todd. However, Hope pulled through and Phoebe and Stephen were married in a small ceremony in one of the Ramsay Street gardens.
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