How do you become the single longest-running daytime television series ever? Well, you need to ask the team behind General Hospital, because they clearly know what they’re doing! Impressive doesn’t even begin to cover it once we realize that the soap opera has been on the air for almost six decades. This adds up to thousands of episodes and over five hundred award nominations. Maybe it’s because of it’s guilty pleasure quality, maybe it’s because of the complex and outrageous storylines.
Either way, General Hospital seems to have found the perfect formula for becoming and remaining popular and keeps captivating audiences well into its fifty-seventh season. With so much going on, and so many characters leaving and coming back from the show, it’s likely that you missed some interesting details. Are you curious? Here are ten things everyone missed about the characters in General Hospital!
Ad Libbing Saves The Day!
Sharon Wyatt might have only appeared on the show for a handful of episodes as Tiffany Hill, but she pulled quite the stunt while she was on set. Whether you believe it or not, General Hospital is on a very tight budget, which means re-shoots are expensive and tend to be avoided at all costs.
Once, when Sharon was filming, a fan quickly recognized her, and walked into the scene saying “Hey, that’s Tiffany!”. It was the actress’s phenomenal ad-libbing that saved the day, and remaining in character she quickly replied “You must recognise me from one of my movies”, and walked away swiftly.
Scorpio Who?
Sometimes, actors and actresses choose jobs based on how long they are supposed to last. If they have the liberty and aren’t desperate for a job, they’ll usually choose the option that doesn’t involve long contracts. If not, it’s the other way around. But sometimes, things completely shift from the original plan.
Robert Scorpio quickly became one of the main characters on the show, appearing in over a hundred episodes. Curiously enough, the role was only supposed to last two days. Well, it ended up lasting twelve years!
Have I Seen You Before?
When your show has been on the air for a spectacular fifty-six years, sometimes you can’t go through the trouble of casting new actors to play certain characters. It’s actually quite common for popular shows to re-cast actors that once played a minor role in a bigger part a few ways down the road.
General Hospital had to resort to this, but whether it was by choice or not, it’s unclear. But the truth is that, before he was Edward Quartermaine, John Ingle played a Police Commissioner somewhere during the 1980s. We can’t blame you if you completely missed that one!
The Scar That Never Was
Once upon a time, the character of Anna Devane had a very interesting scar on her face. What made the scar even more interesting was its disappearing act, revealed to audiences when Robert Scorpio found out that the signature mark on Anna’s face was actually a fake.
The thing about this scar is that it’s been so long since it existed, fans probably completely forgot that the Special Agent even had it in the first place. That’s what happens when it’s been literally decades between episodes and wacky storylines - fans have trouble keeping up with everything!
When Christine Is Tommy
It’s always adorable when little children begin hopping up in our beloved television series. Very often, they are the byproduct of a love story between two beloved characters, and that’s definitely truth for General Hospital. It’s even more adorable when the connection between on-screen parents and children seems so realistic.
Well, in the case of the show, one relationship in particular was realistic because it was very much real. Audrey Hardy’s son, Tommy, was actually played by the actress’ daughter Christine. Who would’ve guessed?
Where Is Elizabeth?
Superstar Elizabeth Taylor was actually featured on the show for three episodes. This was obviously huge - something like Robert De Niro having a cameo on a show like Grey’s Anatomy. Even though her character was short-lived, Taylor made quite an impact, and was reportedly a huge fan of the show.
However, she wasn’t actually always there. At least not during the scenes of Luke and Laura’s wedding, which became the most viewed daytime television event ever. Taylor was not on the set and her scenes were added afterwards.
Flashbacks Aren’t Always What They Seem
When you’re recasting a character, you’ll always want the new actor to look as similar as the previous one. This is not as easy to achieve as one might think, but there was one instance where the team behind General Hospital was quite lucky.
The character of Roy DiLucca was played by Asher Brauner in 1979 for a single episode before A Martinez took over in 2000 for the remainder 97 episodes. Well, the two actors were so incredibly similar that the show could actually use the flashbacks were the previous actor was!
A Wild Godfather Appears
One of the best parts of the show, and often the one that offers more drama, is the one related to crime. More specifically, mobsters, and all of those good things related to movies like The Godfather and Goodfellas.
And speaking of The Godfather, the producers and writers seemed to take quite a bit of inspiration from the classic, including when it comes to names. Michael “Sonny” Corinthos’ name is actually taken from a couple of characters from the original motion picture.
Who Is Lucas Jones, After All?
Re-castings seem to be something that never leaves the minds of the team behind General Hospital. While audiences would prefer that certain actors remained forever playing their characters, sometimes this isn’t what happens, due to several different circumstances.
But no character suffered from this quite as much as Lucas Jones, a teenager who’s already been re-cast four times since he started growing up, in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. What gives?
A Beautiful Wedding Detail
Even though Luke and Laura’s wedding will go down in television history, it doesn’t mean this was the only wedding to ever take place within the realms of General Hospital. In fact, far from it! One of these weddings was the one between Anna Devane and Duke Lavery.
In this episode, you can see Anna is wearing a beautiful brooch. As it turns out, this piece actually belonged to the actor’s real life-grandmother. What a sweet detail!
Next: General Hospital: 5 Best & 5 Worst Relationships, Ranked
