Favored Actors from the 80’s and 90’s Set to Return to General Hospital
From Genie Francis who plays Laura Spencer to Sharon Wyatt and Finola Hughes (who play Tiffany Donnelly and Anna Devane Scorpio, respectively),
General
Hospital
is bringing back several key actors from 10 and 20 years ago. See who has recently come back and who is scheduled to return soon.
Genie Francis has played Laura Spencer since she was 14. She left the show in 2002 when her character went into a catatonic state after killing her adoptive father, Rick, and reliving repressed memories of killing his mistress Teresa Carter. Luke took the blame for the murder of Rick Webber and Laura was sent away to a mental health facility. Originally, Laura was married to Scott Baldwin but she later fell in love with Luke Spencer (despite the fact that he raped her). She has three children who are still in Port Charles: Lucky Spencer, Lulu Spencer, and Nikolas Cassadine (her son with Stavros Cassadine). Never dull, Laura’s life has been marked by rape, kidnapping, infidelity, living on the run, betrayal, mental illness, and murder.
Currently, Luke is going to visit Laura at the mental institution where she is staying. Not set to appear until October, Laura Spencer’s return is scheduled to coincide with the wedding anniversary of Laura to Luke Spencer. Their 1981 wedding was the most watched episode of daytime, drawing in 30 million viewers. Laura’s last episode is scheduled to air on November 16th.
Recently, Genie Francis was interviewed about her return to
General
Hospital
: “I am very happy to be returning to my General Hospital family and look forward to portraying a role that means a lot to me as well as the fans who have supported the character throughout the years.”
Finola Hughes has recently come back to Port Charles to reprise her role as Anna Devane, ex-wife of Robert Scorpio and mother to Robin. She first arrived in Port Charles while Robert was married to Holly Sutton (who has also returned to
General
Hospital
). They were involved in a plot to recover an ancient artifact. Anna then married and miscarried a child before she and Robert were later re-married. Both Robert and Anna served terms as police chief of Port Charles-which seems to be the destiny of all Scorpios on this show since Robert’s brother Mac became the Commissioner of Police during the time that Robert was thought to be dead. Anna and Robert were in a deadly boat explosion planted by Cesar Faison. In 2001, viewers realized that Anna was still alive when she and her twin sister, Alexandra Devane appeared on All My Children. Anna’s character was last seen saying goodbye to her husband David Hayward as she headed for
Paris
to reunite with her daughter, Robin.
In May, Anna Devane came to the
Maarkan
Islands
to turn in Luke Spencer and Holly Sutton for the $500,000 bounty. The plan failed, but Anna returned to Port Charles in July under orders to spy on a mobster (Anna and Robert Scorpio are renowned secret agents for the WSB). Robert suspects that she is visiting Port Charles on assignment rather than “checking up on Robin” as Anna claims. Though it is unclear yet if Lorenzo Alcazar is Anna’s target, she stole his telephone. This has prompted Lorenzo to order one of his henchmen to watch Anna and find out why she is in Port Charles.
Tristan Rogers or Robert Scorpio, as he is known in Port Charles, has also returned this summer. Robert re-appeared a couple of months ago when Port Charles was stricken by a deadly virus. Robert was working on a cure for the disease and together, he and Luke tracked down the person blackmailing
General
Hospital
for the antidote. It turned out to be Holly Sutton, Luke’s old lover and Robert’s ex-wife. They decided to turn Holly in to the authorities. Afterward, Robert went away briefly but returned when he discovered a bounty on Luke’s head. Rorbert threatens to take his friend to the
Maarkam
Islands
for the reward. Luke postpones the extradition by planning to renew his vows with
Tracy
and getting Robert to be his best man. When Luke gets a call from Holly, he runs off to the islands to rescue her, causing Robert to chase after him. Robert, Luke, and Holly are captured by bounty hunters and Robin, Lulu, and Dillon attempt to rescue them. Things did not quite go according to plan and just when they expected to be rescued, Anna Devane showed up threatening to collect the $500,000 bounty by turning Luke, Holly, and Robert in to the authorities. Eventually, everyone is rescued by Tracy Quartermaine, who pays off the bounty hunters to get her husband and son out of trouble.
Tracy
hires Scorpio to keep an eye on her husband to make sure he doesn’t run off again.
Since his return, Robert has tried to re-build his relationship with Robin, but Robin has been slow to respond. He spends most of his time either arguing with Anna, watching over Luke or playing “daddy” to Robin. It is unclear as to whether a romance between Robert and Anna (or even Robert and Holly) is planned, but Robert and Anna are spending a lot of time together. Because
Tracy
has renewed her offer to pay Robert to keep Luke out of trouble, things could go either way.
Sharon Wyattand John Reilly are both currently in talks with General Hospital show executives to discuss a return of the characters Tiffany and Sean Donnelly, who were very close friends of Anna and Robert Scorpio (Sean became the head of the Police Department when Robert died).
Tiffany first came onto the show when Robert and Luke went to in 1981 to stop Mikkos Cassadine from freezing the world. Around the same time, Sean was having affair with Monica Quartermaine. Monica’s husband, Alan, then set up Sean for murder. After Alan was discovered to be alive, Sean and Tiffany married in 1983. The couple exited the show when Sean Donnelly was shot by Luke Spencer and Tiffany had no choice but to relocate him to a rehabilitation facility in
Boston
.
Emma Sammsalso renewed her role on
General
Hospital
as Holly Sutton, the woman both Luke Spencer and Robert Scorpio fell in love with. She started out as a love interest for Luke in 1982, but when Luke was thought to have died in an avalanche, Robert Scorpio agreed to marry Holly and take care of Luke’s unborn child. Unfortunately, things did not last for Holly and Robert, and Robert remarried Anna Devane after Holly was thought to have been killed in a plane crash. In 1992 Holly Sutton made a brief re-appearance in Port Charles but she left within a year. Earlier this year, Holly returned to blackmail
General
Hospital
for a cure to the Encephalitis virus. Later, Holly called Luke to help her escape from the
Maarkan
Islands
where she was imprisoned after Luke and Robert turned her in for blackmail. she was going to run away with Luke, but
Tracy
came to the
Islands
to claim her husband and pay his bounty.
General
Hospital
is heating up this summer! With the mix of old favorites like Luke, Laura, and Robert and the hot new characters like Patrick Drake, GH is sure to delight fans of all age groups. Don’t miss the action on ABC.
