‘General Hospital’ star Anthony Geary dies at 78 – Chicago Tribune

Anthony Geary, the actor who defined soap opera stardom as Luke Spencer on “General Hospital,” has died. He was 78 years old.

Geary died Sunday following an operation he underwent in his adopted hometown of Amsterdam, his husband, Claudio Gama, told TV Insider.

On “General Hospital,” Geary became a soap opera superstar as one half of the genre-defining supercouple, Luke and Laura. His duet with Genie Francis’ Laura Spencer was credited with saving “General Hospital” from cancellation and sparking a soap opera boom in the 1980s.

The 1981 episode in which the two characters married attracted 30 million viewers, which remains a daytime television record. Hollywood superstar Elizabeth Taylor, herself a huge “GH” fan, requested and received a cameo in the episode.

“This show has been a big part of my life for over half my life, and Luke Spencer is my alter ego,” Geary told TV Line when he finally left “GH” for good in 2015 and retired. “I really don’t want to die one day, collapsed in a heap, on the set of ‘GH.’ That wouldn’t be too poetic.”

Born on May 29, 1947 in the small town of Coalville, Utah, Geary dreamed of becoming a movie star from a young age. His big break came at the University of Utah, which he attended on a theater scholarship.

While starring with Jack Albertson in a college production, Geary made such an impression on Albertson that the Tony winner brought him on tour. This led Geary to Los Angeles, where he began his career playing guest roles on various television shows, including “All in the Family” and “Starsky & Hutch.”

Geary’s first appearance on a soap opera was in 1971 in “Bright Promise,” and he made a brief appearance two years later on “The Young and the Restless.” But his life changed in 1978, when he debuted as Luke on “GH.”

Initially, Geary signed up for a simple 13-episode character arc. By the time he finished “GH,” he had appeared in more than 1,900 episodes and won eight Daytime Emmy Awards.

“I didn’t really think the character would last this long. I read a really exciting story that had a lot of acting potential and dramatic impact,” Geary told Entertainment Weekly in 2008. “When I reread it at the time, I wasn’t looking for a career in soap operas. I was trying to do my job as best I could, day to day.”

Luke and Laura won hearts across America despite the couple’s horrific beginnings, in which a drunken Luke rapes Laura at a club he owns but she falls in love with him anyway.

“I had to justify it for so many years,” Geary told People magazine in 2020. “And I have to say it feels good to stand here and say I won’t justify it. It’s horrible. They shouldn’t have done it.”

But in three years, “GH” attracted 30 million viewers to see the duo get married. Despite the huge commercial success, Geary developed a love-hate relationship with the character and the series. His attempts to break into other shows and movies were foiled in part because of his success – everyone just recognized him as Luke Spencer.

“I accepted it. I felt it in my 30s and early 40s,” he told EW. “When you look at an actor who has been able to hold a steady job for 30 years, it’s such a blessing in this business.”

Like many soap opera stars, Geary left and returned to “GH” several times, finally leaving for good in 2015, while the character was killed off-screen in 2022.

“It used to be very difficult for me to realize that my obituary in the newspaper would most likely say, ‘Luc, of Luke and Laura fame, died today,'” he said in 2015. “It was very upsetting when I realized that reality.”

But Geary also recognized all the perks that came with being a star, including the ability to make contractual demands that allowed him to live part-time in Los Angeles and part-time in Amsterdam. He met Gama in the 1990s and they married in 2019.

“You balance that with what it gave me,” Geary said in 2008. “In the end, it was worth it.”