Coleman Ratcliffe

Blake Gibbons as Coleman Ratcliffe

**Mitchell "Coleman" Ratcliffe** is a fictional character on the popular ABC daytime drama *General Hospital*.

He was portrayed by actor Blake Gibbons from 2002-14.

## Storylines

### Backstory

Coleman is the former owner and operator of The Floating Rib bar. When the character debuted in 2002, he was the owner of a bar called The Oasis. One night a drunken A.J. Quartermaine ran his car into The Oasis and in order to keep Coleman from turning A.J. over to the police, A.J.'s then wife Courtney Matthews, agreed to work as a stripper for Coleman at one of his clubs. The arrangement worked out fine, until A.J. - not realizing that Courtney had already paid off their debt, set fire to Coleman's bar. A.J.'s half-brother Jason Morgan ran interference on the situation and paid Coleman off so that he would keep quiet about who burned down the bar. He also threatened to frame Coleman for burning down his own bar, so Coleman took the payoff and used that money to buy Jake's, which would later become The Floating Rib.

### Pursuit of Courtney

Coleman's association with the Quartermaines didn't end there, but continued well into the future and he was later revealed to be Courtney's stalker. When word arose that Courtney had a stalker, Jason was assigned to protect her, by her half-brother Sonny Corinthos. Jason gave Courtney a gun to carry with her and protect herself with and one night, after feeling that she was being followed, she shot her stalker, who happened to be Coleman. Coleman ended up in General Hospital, and once he made it through his surgery, he told Marcus Taggert, that A.J. hired him to stalk Courtney, so that Courtney would stay with him and not move on to his brother Jason. Unfortunately A.J.'s plan backfired on him and his relationship with Courtney ended. Courtney then became involved with Jason, but Coleman still made plans to pursue her for himself.

After a drunken Skye Chandler-Quartermaine runs down Nikolas Cassadine, Coleman covers for her and takes the blame for the crime. He planned to help Skye so that she would owe him a favor. He wanted Skye to help him look like a better man in the hopes that Courtney would see him as more appealing and turn to him. As he tried to blackmail Skye into helping him, the two eventually wound up in bed together. When Luis Alcazar was murdered, a feverish Skye admitted to Coleman that she was actually the one who killed him, and Coleman with the help of A.J. framed Brenda Barrett for the crime in order to protect Skye. Luckily it turned out that Skye really was innocent and was not the murdered after all. Coleman then hooked up with Faith Rosco, who wanted to use him as a means to get closer to Sonny Corinthos. While working for Faith, he continued to work with A.J. and soon was hired to take incriminating photos of Sonny and Faith. When Coleman told Faith of his new assignment, she not only agreed with it but even offered to help him get the photos. After his association with Faith ended, he was hired by Tracy Quartermaine to steal a treasure on her behalf from a ship named *The Courage.* Unfortunately, a fire at the Port Charles ruined his plans, and Luke Spencer ended up with the treasure.

Next, Coleman tried his hand at being a private investigator and was instrumental in helping Carly Benson find her birth father. When they learned that Carly's father was John Durant, a prosecutor known for his vendetta against the mob, Coleman helped Carly keep the news from her husband Sonny. They lied about the kind of man that Durant really was to keep his vendetta a secret. He then took a break from the drama and embarked on an exciting love affair with Tracy. However this didn't last long and soon he was right back in the middle of things, when he agreed to take compromising photos of Nikolas Cassadine and Emily Quartermaine, so that Jasper Jacks could win back Courtney's love from Nikolas. The plan almost blew up in his face when Nikolas and Emily were jumped at Jake's, but luckily Coleman was able to diffuse the situation and later pacify an angry Sonny Corinthos. When Courtney died in 2006 from the encephalitis virus, Coleman grieved for her and attended her funeral to say goodbye to a young woman that he had always respected and admired.

### 2006-14

Coleman has since faded into the background and hasn't been heavily involved in any storylines since 2006. He has been shown to be really good friends with Patrick Drake and often gives Patrick advice on how to handle his love life with Robin Scorpio-Drake. In 2008, Coleman served as Patrick's best man at his October 31, wedding to Robin, but the wedding was interrupted when Robin went into labor. In late 2009, Coleman becomes involved with fashion icon Kate Howard and the two have been dating steadily ever since.

In 2010, Coleman served as a juror at Sonny Corinthos' trial for the murder of Claudia Zacchara. Coleman was later dismissed by the courts as a juror due to his disruptive behavior during the trial.  He is paid by Luke Spencer to change the name from Jake's to The Floating Rib and hires Mac Scorpio as the new bartender/manager in 2012. In 2014, Coleman was busted for assisting Peter Harrell, Jr., and his accomplice, Jeffrey Scribner. Although Coleman didn't know how dangerous Peter was.