Before playing mother and daughter (Lila and Tracy Quartermaine) on the show, Anna Lee and Jane Elliot had an odd thing in common—they'd previously played nuns in films: Lee as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music, Elliot as Sister Barbara in Change of Habit.
Sonny Corinthos getting diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder was based on Maurice Benard's own struggles with the condition.
Ned Quartermaine's adopted son Leo getting diagnosed with Autism was partly based on the experiences of Wally Kurth, who has a son with the condition in Real Life. Maura West (Ava) also has a son with autism, and she gave some input to Lisa LoCicero (who plays Leo's mother Olivia) in how to handle the storyline.
Actor-Shared Background: Emily McLaughlin (Nurse Jessie Brewer), was, like her character, widowed toward the end of The '60s, when her husband Jeffrey Hunter died due to complications from a fall in 1969.
The December 21, 1989 episode (#6838) had its first half preempted by ABC News' coverage of a George H. W. Bush press conference about the United States invasion of Panama.
The milestone 15,000th episode was originally scheduled to air on June 17, 2022, but live coverage of the hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack pushed it down to the 20th, then delayed it again before it finally aired on the 21st.
Live coverage of Donald Trump's legal troubles in 2023 (an arraignment on April 4, another indictment on June 9, and additional arraignments on June 13 and August 3) led to ABC postponing episodes 15193, 15240, 15241 and 15275 respectively, with episodes from early 2022 used as replacements for viewers in the Mountain and Pacific time zones (if the special reports ended during their air windows).
California Doubling: It's set in New York State, with occasional globetrotting, but it's shot at ABC's Prospect Studios in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, and most location shoots are also done in the LA area.
The majestic white hospital building featured in the iconic "ambulance" opening (1975-93) is County/USC Medical Center. The hospital is still used for establishing shots, and the mock-up of the Port Charles skyline used in later openings models General Hospital on County/USC.
The show took a lot of ribbing from fans in 2022 for a sequence where Carly and Drew had a romantic interlude overlooking the ocean near Jacksonville, Florida, that was clearly shot on the rocky cliffs above the beach in Malibu instead. As one Twitter user put it, the Santa Ana winds somehow made it all the way to Florida.
A 2023 exterior night scene had some conspicuous silhouettes of palm trees in the background.
Luke Spencer, the show's single most famous character, owed his existence to this. Anthony Geary originally auditioned to play Mitch Williams (Tracy Quartermaine's second husband), but after giving the role to Christopher Pennock, showrunner Gloria Monty quickly brainstormed another new character: an older brother for Nurse Bobbie Spencer that Geary could play.
Rebecca Herbst was one of the actresses who auditioned for the role of Sarah Webber. TPTB we're so impressed that even though they felt she wasn't right for the part, they created the character of Elizabeth Webber for her.
Kelly Thiebaud likewise got turned down for the role she'd originally auditioned for, but the producers liked her enough to cast her in the newly-created role of Britt Westbourne.
Lisa LoCicero was another case of the producers not casting her for the role she auditioned for (Kate Howard), but liking her enough to create a new character for her (Olivia Falconeri, who was eventually revealed to be Kate's cousin).
Leslie Horan auditioned for the roles of Karen Wexler and Carly Roberts before being cast as Miranda, Jax's presumed dead wife. note In a role that sadly fizzled out within months, so it's really a shame she didn't get either of the first two
The Nurses' Ball tended to do this plenty of times, most notably with Jack Wagner and Rick Springfield (furthering both of their singing careers) and Kelly Monaco (using her experience on Dancing with the Stars).
Stuart Damon, a Broadway and West End musical vet before becoming Dr. Alan Quartermaine, also got in on the action, and crossed it with Actor Allusion by performing some songs from Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein) at the 1997 ball; he'd played the Prince in the 1965 production.
The 2023 Ball had a novel variation, as Valentin and Anna, hiding in a safe house, lamented that they couldn't be at the ball, which led into a That Reminds Me of a Song moment where Valentin serenaded her with a ballad called "If You Believe in Love", which Valentin's portrayer James Patrick Stuart wrote especially for the scene.
The show practically started Richard Simmons' career. He was a fitness instructor at the Campus Disco in 1978-1979.
Eden McCoy is a college beach volleyball player in Real Life, so Josslyn Jacks has had some storylines involving volleyball.
2022 saw William Lipton, backed by his Real Life band, perform a "The Villain Sucks" Song about Esme Prince in character as Cameron Webber (which Lipton also wrote).
Ned Ashton/Quartermaine's pursuit of rock stardom as Eddie Maine in The '90s derived from Wally Kurth's own longstanding musical side career (as half of the duo Kurth & Taylor).
The 2023 scene where Olivia saves Ned from drowning (with extensive underwater shots) was a case of this for Lisa LoCicero, who has a scuba diving certification.
Dr. Steve Hardy, when actor John Beradino passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1996, was written out as having suffered a fatal heart attack. Hardy, whom Beradino had portrayed since the show's beginning in 1963, remained in the opening montage as late as December 1997.
Anna Lee's Lila Quartermaine and John Ingle's Edward Quartermaine. In Ingle's case, he died about three weeks after taping his final scenes (and just five days after they aired).
Emily McLaughlin's Jessie Brewer, although Jessie had been Out of Focus for years due to Emily's declining health, and Jessie's passing wasn't acknowledged within the show until the 30th anniversary episode, two years after McLaughlin's death.
Rosalind Cash died of cancer in October 1995. Her character, Mary Mae Ward, died of a heart attack in January 1996.
Though the character hadn't appeared onscreen since 2004, Lee Baldwin officially died offscreen in 2017 after his longtime portrayer Peter Hansen passed away that year.
Sonya Eddy died suddenly of complications following non-emergency surgery on December 19, 2022. The March 29, 2023 episode featured the funeral of her character, Epiphany Johnson, with the revelation that Epiphany died suddenly from cardiac issues while helping a crash victim on the highway.
Jackie Zeman passed away of Cancer at age 70 in May 2023 and Bobbi Spencer was officially written off as having passed away in January 2024 as a result.
The Herb Alpertinstrumental "Rise" was already in the Top 40 when the show used it in the Luke/Laura/disco rape scene, then as a Recurring Riff whenever Laura remembered it. As a result of the exposure, "Rise" shot up the charts and spent 2 weeks at #1.
Similarly, "Think of Laura" by Christopher Cross (which was actually inspired by the death of his then-girlfriend's college roommate) became a Recurring Riff for the "Laura disappears" storyline, and was eventually released as a single and became a hit in 1983.
Rick Springfield (Noah Drake) and Jack Wagner (Frisco Jones) both scored Top 10 hits (Springfield had five of them, in fact) while they were on the show.
The Patti Austin/James Ingram song "Baby, Come To Me" was released in April 1982 and peaked at a mere #73 on the "Billboard Hot 100" list. But after the exposure it gained after being used as the love theme for Luke and Holly, it was rereleased in October and shot up to #1 by the following April.
The show itself got some big viral attention in February of 2024 for a steamy love scene between Kristina and Blaze, for obvious reasons.
In-Universe example—Ned, as part of his "he thinks he's Eddie Maine" storyline in 2023, uses the simile "like a sax solo in a Punk Rock song" to describe something that's out of place, apparently unaware that one of the definitive first wave UK punk bands, X-Ray Spex, included a saxophonist.
Creator Backlash: Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer) has made several comments indicating that he never understood the "Luke & Laura" phenomenon and found it rather distasteful, given that their relationship started with him raping her.
Creator's Favorite Episode: Former head writer Ron Carlivati has cited the scene where Britt destroyed Emma's baby doll by throwing it on a barbecue as his single favorite moment on the show.
Some cases where this got crossed with The Other Darrin, like Roy Sullivan taking over as Roy Lansing in 1964, and Gregory Harrison stepping into the role of Gregory Chase in 2020.
Rick Hearst as Ric Lansing.
Victor Cassadine's henchman Ambrose, who appeared in the 2023 Haunted Star/Greenland storyline, was played by Charles Ambrose.
Brighton Hertford as Angela Brighton in the 2024 Bobbie Spencer memorial episodes (in fact, at a couple points Maxie calls her "Brighton" instead of "Angela", which might be a Throw It In! example).
An odd case in 2010, when Dante went undercover and infiltrated Sonny's organization, with both men still unaware that Sonny was Dante's father. Dante used "Dominic" as his alias (Dominic Zamprogna plays Dante).
Sonny Corinthos' birth year has been variously given as 1965, 1968 or 1969, but either way, Maurice Benard (born 1963) is older than the character.
Mac Scorpio's birth year has been established as 1963, putting John J. York (born 1958) five years older than his character.
Rebecca Herbst was 20 when she was cast as teenaged Elizabeth in 1997, and she's generally stayed around five years older than the character over the years.
Spencer Cassadine (born onscreen in 2006) was played by Nicholas Chavez (born 1999), from 2021-24, though Spencer came down with a case of Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome when Chavez took over the role from Nicolas Bechtel (born 2005), with Spencer's birth year getting revised to 2003.
Edward and Lila Quartermaine were both established as being born in 1918. This made Anna Lee (born 1913) five years older than Lila, and 15 years older than the longest-running portrayer of Edward, John Ingle (born 1928).
Stuart Damon was 40 when he debuted in 1977 as Alan Quartermaine, who was supposed to be just past 30.
As mentioned in The Other Darrin, Brooke Anne Smith was almost a decade-and-a-half older than Molly Lansing-Davis during her brief tenure in the role.
Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Leo Quartermaine, the young son of Olivia and the adopted son of Ned, has Autism, and his actor Easton Rocket Sweda has it as well.
Dueling Works: With NBC's The Doctors, which also debuted on April 1, 1963. The shows went back-and-forth in ratings for their first 15 years, but The Doctors was viewed as the bolder, harder-hitting drama that dealt with issues like sexism and drug addiction, while GH was considered more stereotypically soapy. But the combination of GH's Gloria Monty-led resurgence, low ratings against its timeslot competitors Guiding Light and One Life to Live, and NBC's general daytime struggles under Fred Silverman doomed The Doctors, and it ended in 1982, and is mainly known today for launching Alec Baldwin's career.
Fake Irish: Oregonian Erin Chambers played Siobhan with an extremely thick "sure an' begorrah!" accent that sounded as fake as it was.
Cyrus Hobbi (from Arizona, and also a former Collegiate American Football player at USC) as Yuri, originally hired by Valentin to be Brook Lynn's bodyguard, but now the Quartermaine family's butler. He could be mistaken for Fake Russian, except it's been established that Yuri is actually from Belarus.
John York, from Chicago, is technically a Fake Australian as Mac Scorpio, the brother of Robert Scorpio (played by actual Australian Tristan Rogers), but after a while York started Not Even Bothering with the Accent and the character's background was downplayed.
Lots of American performers as the Greco-Russian Cassadine family, though John Colicos (Canadian) as Mikkos and Thaao Penghlis (Australian) as Victor at least had Greek ancestry. But Victor is currently played by Brit Charles Shaughnessy.
Lydia Look, from Singapore, as Chinese crime boss Selina Wu.
Other Canadians as American characters include Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) and Cameron Mathison (Drew Cain).
Harpo Does Something Funny: The scenes from the end of The '70s and The '80s where Lesley Webber (sometimes joined by Laura and Rick) visited psychiatrist Irene Kassorla (a Real Life doctor) were completely improvised and unscripted.
Anthony Geary and Genie Francis are rumored to have had phases of not getting along despite playing one of the most popular couples in soap opera history, Luke and Laura. Neither actor was ever comfortable with what was supposed to be a rape storyline turning into a romance and both were uncomfortable with the fame that was thrust upon them during the show's heyday. Francis has expressed frustration that the producers always credited Geary with the pairing's success and were willing to accommodate many of Geary's requests but not hers. Geary has called her his acting soul mate, but he has also been vocal about preferring Luke with characters other than Laura and not wanting Luke to be a family man. By the time Geary left the show, Luke and Laura did not even say goodbye onscreen.
Gloria Monty was by all accounts a very headstrong and forceful personality, who was a production visionary and a mentor to several of her stars (especially Anthony Geary), but who didn't respond well to being questioned, leading to some fireworks on the set.
Mary O'Brien (Heather Webber #2) left the show in 1979 partly because she wanted to pursue some interests outside of acting (in fact, she left Hollywood entirely and became an interior designer), and partly because she clashed with Monty over her portrayal of the character (Monty wanted Heather as more of a one-dimensional troublemaker, which O'Brien hated).
Monty also crossed swords with Jane Elliot, whose absence as Tracy from 1980-88 was directly caused by Monty telling Elliot's agent that Elliot was "unprofessional" for asking for a raise. Elliot only returned after Monty left the show.
In Memoriam: The November 27, 2023 episode ended with a card acknowledging the passing of Tyler Christopher, who died about a month earlier on October 31, the originator of the role of Nikolas Cassadine (Christopher last appeared on the show in 2016).
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Most episodes from 1963-1978 are extremely rare (especially the early color episodes from 1967-1975 of which some are completely gone) and exist only in B&W kinescopes; some of these were seen in the 90s on, of all shows, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Also, being a soap opera and with SOAPNet defunct, there is no way to catch reruns.
30th: A revisiting of the events of the first episode, also debuting a new opening sequence and theme song, replace the ones used since 1975/1978, which would be used until 2004.
35th: A primetime special, chronicling the evolution of the show.
50th: The return of the Nurses' Ball after a 12 year absence, the reason was due to budget cuts in 2001.
The 2014 and 2015 anniversary episodes both mixed Tear Jerker drama from then-current storylines that also tied in to the show's history, along with more lighthearted, gimmicky casting stunts.
51st: It started out with ghostly voices on the hospital PA paging Steve Hardy, Alan Quartermaine, Jessie Brewer, Rick Webber, Jeff Webber, Lesley Webber, Noah Drake, Amy Vining and Tony Jones, leading to Monica going through most of the Five Stages of Grief over A.J.'s impending death, and A.J. getting an Afterlife Welcome from Emily, Alan, Edward and Lila at the end. Meanwhile, there was "Carlypalooza", with past Carlies Sarah Brown and Tamara Braun returning and alternating with current Carly Laura Wright in scenes with Maurice Benard as Sonny.
52nd: Luke, in the midst of confronting his personal demons, recalls the tragic Spencer family events of April 1, 1963, which of course was the Real Life debut date for the series. Luke's Jerkass father Tim (played by Anthony Geary) instigates a family fight that puts his wife Lena (played by Laura Wright) in General Hospital as a patient at the exact same time as the events of that 1963 debut episode happened, so Dr. Steve Hardy, Nurse Jessie Brewer and Dr. Phil Brewer are all there, played by current cast members. Before helping Lena they re-enact scenes from the debut episode.
For Luke and Laura's 15th annie in 1996, viewers were treated to a slew of flashbacks about their relationship (conveniently omitting the rape).
The 15,000th episode in 2022 was basically a tribute to Genie Francis, with the plot centering on most of the main cast rallying to Laura's defense as she faces a recall election, complete with some The Bus Came Back moments for a few characters and some decades-old clips of memorable Laura moments.
60th: Another primetime special with the current cast touching on the show's highlights, plus appearances by several former cast members, most notably Amber Tamblyn reminiscing about playing Emily Quartermaine. Other highlights were a Wedding Episode montage introduced by Kristina Wagner and Lynn Herring wearing their original Felicia-Frisco and Lucy-Alan wedding dresses, some tributes to Jackie Zeman, and Steve Burton announcing his return as Jason at the end.
Charlotte Cassadine debuted in 2016 with seven-year-old Scarlett Fernandez in the role, then in 2021 she was replaced by Amelie McLain, who's two years older than Fernandez. In April of 2023, after the Recurring Character had been absent for a few months, AnaSofia Bianchi suddenly appeared in the role (not even getting a "the role of Charlotte Cassadine is now being played by" announcement), which everyone took to mean that Bianchi had replaced McLain. But in July, once again suddenly (and again, without an announcement), a noticeably older Fernandez returned as Charlotte, meaning Bianchi's tenure lasted just one episode. Interestingly, Fernandez and Bianchi have played sisters before (in the Lifetime movie The Nanny Murders).
Rena Sofer originated the Daytime Emmy-winning role of Lois Cerullo in 1993, but stepped away in 1997 and the character was Put on a Bus. Lois briefly returned in 2004-05, played by Lesli Kay, before disappearing again (though still mentioned sometimes). But in 2023 Sofer reappeared as Lois after a 26-year absence, just in time to help her troubled ex-husband Ned and their equally troubled daughter Brook Lynn.
Lucky Spencer has had three different actors, and Carly has had four, with Carly #1 coming back as a different character with Carly #4 still around...
Michael Corinthos went through three different actors as a teenager from 2008-10, though the final one of that trio, Chad Duell, has held onto the role ever since as Michael grew into adulthood.
Lucas Jones had 10 actors play him in total.
With the casting of Jen Lilley to temporarily replace an ailing Kirsten Storms, Maxie is now up to 4 (not counting her pre-SORASed baby actors, which would put her on par with her cousin Lucas).
In 2013, Julian Jerome (who supposedly died in 1988) was revived, played by William DeVry, known for his work on All My Children, where he played one of the most sadistic villains in soap history, Michael Cambias. Coincidentally, Lucky #2 was played by fellow AMC alum, Jacob Young, prior to his role as JR Chandler (and in another coincidence, both actors have had stints on The Boldand The Beautiful, DeVry's after his AMC run, Young's before and after his).
In 2014 Jason Morgan returned after a 23-month absence, this time portrayed by Billy Miller, best known for his work on The Young and the Restless, on which Jason's previous actor Steve Burton was appearing at the time. Then when Burton returned as Jason in 2017, Miller stayed on as Drew Cain, Jason's Separated at Birth twin, but then Drew got recast with Cameron Mathison in 2021.
Edward Quartermaine was originated by David Lewis, before John Ingle took over in 1993. Les Tremayne and Jed Allan have also played the part, although the character died with Ingle.
Elizabeth Taylor famously orignated the role of Evil Matriarch Helena Cassadine in 1981. Helena returned in 1996, with Dimitra Arliss playing her for two episodes, before Constance Towers permanently took the role over the next year.
Heather Grant Webber was played by Georganne LaPiere (Cher's half-sister) when she debuted in 1976. Mary O'Brien took over the next year and stayed on until she was Put on a Bus (to an asylum, after downing LSD-spiked iced tea that she'd intended to weaponize on someone else) in 1979. Robin Mattson took over in 1980 and made Heather one of the the show's iconic villains before leaving in 1983. 21 years later, The Bus Came Back with Heather and Mattson returned to the role, playing her during her intermittent appearances over the next couple of decades. But when the show decided to bring Heather back in 2022 after a six-year absence, Mattson declined to return because of health issues, so Alley Mills took over the role (and specifically watched Mattson's old scenes to prepare so she could base her performance on Mattson).
Nina Reeves, who debuted in 2014, was specifically created to be played by Michelle Stafford, after she walked away from her more famous role as Phyllis Summers on The Young and the Restless. When Stafford decided to go back to Y&R in 2019, Cynthia Watros took over the character and brought a noticeably different approach to Nina (Stafford played her as flighty, impulsive and vindictive, while Watros leans much more into the Tragic Villain side of the character, and how she's Her Own Worst Enemy).
As mentioned above, the 52nd anniversary episode in 2015 had some one-off examples with then-current cast members playing the original 1963 characters, including a couple of re-enactments of scenes from the debut episode—Jason Thompson (Dr. Patrick Drake) as Dr. Steve Hardy, Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth Webber) as Nurse Jessie Brewer and Ryan Carnes (Lucas Jones) as Dr. Phil Brewer.
Trina Robinson began as Josslyn's school acquaintance who appeared in a couple of episodes in 2017-18, played by Tiana Le. Later in 2018 she became a regular character, with Sydney Mikayla taking over the role. In 2022 Mikayla decided to leave the show to focus on her college studies, and Tabyana Ali replaced her.
Richard Dean Anderson created the role of Dr. Jeff Webber in 1976 and played him until leaving the show in 1981, when Jeff was Put on a Bus via taking his young son Steven Lars away and leaving town. 41 years later The Bus Came Back with Jeff, but he was played by William R. Moses instead.
The legal problems of Haley Pullos as mentioned in Role-Ending Misdemeanor instigated the truly bizarre events of 2023, which saw four different actresses play Molly Lansing-Davis over the course of four months! Holiday Mia Kriegel took over from Pullos in May, as what was initially supposed to be a temporary fill-in before it was learned that Pullos might be facing criminal charges. Kriegel stayed in the role until July, when it suddenly got recast again with Brooke Anne Smith. This proved to be a very controversial recast, since Smith was 39 at the time, while Molly is supposed to be a 25-year-old recent law school grad. Smith's age was especially noticeable since Kriegel had actually been younger than Molly is supposed to be (Kriegel was 21 at the time). Then, just as suddenly, Kristen Vaganos replaced Smith toward the end of September.
Eden McCoy (Josslyn Jacks) took some time off in the winter of 2023-24 after the death of her mother, with Courtney Fulk replacing her during that period, leading to the unusual circumstance of Fulk's Josslyn attending her grandmother Bobbie Spencer's funeral and reminiscing about the character even though Fulk never worked with Bobbie's portrayer Jackie Zeman in Real Life.
Jagger Cates was played by Antonio Sabato Jr. from 1992-95 as part of the show's 90s "teen scene", then Sabato returned briefly in the role on Night Shift in 2008, but in 2024 Jagger returned as an FBI agent played by Adam J Harrington, who looks nothing like Sabato (Sabato has become very politically outspoken and controversial in the years since his last appearance, so likely they didn't even consider asking him back).
The Other Marty: An odd case, intersecting with Aborted Arc, for Valentin Cassadine. The character was conceived in 2009, with Matt Borlenghi cast in the role, and an introductory storyline for him was initiated, but the writers apparently had second thoughts, and abandoned the character before his first appearance. After false rumors floated that Valentin would appear in 2013, with Vincent Irrizary in the role, the character finally debuted in 2016, played by James Patrick Stuart.
Production Posse: GH creators Frank and Doris Hursley also created the 1969-72 NBC soap Bright Promise (essentially their take on Days of Our Lives, set at a Midwestern college, with Dana Andrews as the elder statesman lead). Future GH showrunner Gloria Monty was one of the directors, and three of the cast members would also later move to GH: Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer), David Lewis (Edward Quartermaine) and Susan Brown (Gail Baldwin).
Promoted Fangirl: Elizabeth Taylor was a big fan of the show and begged the producers for a role in 1981, largely so she could be present for the wedding of Luke and Laura. She ended up originating the character of Helena Cassadine.
Crossed with The Other Darrin when Sofia Mattsson (Sasha) had to take a brief break in 2022. Her sister Helena Mattsson took over the role for a few episodes.
Eliza Frakes, the daughter of Genie Francis (Laura) and her husband Jonathan Frakes, played a production assistant at a home shopping channel where Sasha was selling a new Deception product in 2023.
Presumably because of the SAG-AFTRA strike limiting the pool for potential day players and secondary characters, some relatives of contract players took on Recurring Character roles in the summer of 2023. Lauren York Swickard, wife of Josh Swickard (Chase) played Janice, a Battleaxe Nurse at the mental hospital where Sasha is being held, who just happens to also be a big fan of Chase's music, while Lily Anne Harrison, daughter of Gregory Harrison (Gregory Chase), played Andrea Gates, who TJ and Molly chose as a surrogate mother for their child; "Gates" presumably is a sly allusion to her father's famed portrayal of Dr. Gonzo Gates on Trapper John, M.D..
Britt hosting a big birthday party for herself on New Year's Eve 2022 that, unbeknownst to most of the revelers, was really a farewell party for her before she left Port Charles, also had the subtext of being a farewell for Kelly Thiebaud before she left the show to focus on her role in Station 19. This was made explicit when Brad and Maxie put together a slide show of Britt's life that clearly included a lot of Thiebaud's own childhood photos.
Eden McCoy returning from her bereavement leave in early 2024 after her mother died (mentioned in The Other Marty) coincided with her character Josslyn Jacks dealing with the (presumed) death of her lifelong friend Spencer Cassadine, and Joss's comments amount losing someone close to her and the comments of the other characters to Joss supporting her and offering advice on how to deal with her grief obviously were meant to also be interpreted as McCoy personally working through her emotions and her castmates helping her out.
Recycled Set: Places like restaurants and hotels outside of Port Charles will often be played by redecorated versions of the regular sets. This was taken to an amusing extreme in 2024 when Spencer chartered a yacht for him and Trina to go on a romantic cruise on the Seine during a Paris visit, and it was obviously the venerable Haunted Star set with some slight retouching (the Haunted Star itself was destroyed offscreen during the 2023 Greenland storyline). Fans called the boat "Le Haunted Star" or "L'Etoile Hantée".
The 1981 song "General Hospi-tale" by The Afternoon Delights, which was actually a moderate hit (it peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #23 on the R&B chart) and one of the first Rap hits, was a celebration of the show, with lyrics that mostly summarized the plotlines from 1980 and 1981.
It started out in Port Charles town Where Frank Smith's mob used to hang around No one could prove that he was a crook Till Luke stole his little black book It had names and numbers all in code So Luke and Laura had to hit the road They had to find the left-handed boy Watch their step, they had to be coy
An episode of Tiny Toons Looniversity is titled "General HOG-spital". In this episode, Hamton leaves ACME Looniversity after discovering he has been accepted into Festertoon Medical School.
Ingo Rademacher (Jax) and Steve Burton (Jason) were both let go in 2021 for not complying with ABC's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Rademacher sued the network, but the judge sided with ABC. Burton moved on to Days of Our Lives and still maintained some arms-length connections to the show, like co-hosting a podcast and doing live appearances with Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), before returning in 2024 after his Days tenure was finished.
Haley Pullos (Molly) went on an indefinite leave of absence in 2023 after a getting involved in a head-on freeway collision that led to both drivers getting hospitalized. At first it was announced as just a temporary recast, but then Pullos was arrested for a felony DUI, with tequila bottles and weed edibles allegedly discovered in her car after the accident, along with a separate hit-and-run accident before the collision. In 2024 she pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three months in jail.
Wally Kurth (Ned Ashton) and Rena Sofer (Lois Cerullo) off-screen relationship paralleled their on-screen one—friendship, marriage, pregnancy. . .separation and divorce. When Sofer returned as Lois in 2023, her various bits of "we used to be married" dialogue with Kurth now had a Leaning on the Fourth Wall subtext.
Jack Wagner and Kristina Crump (Malandro) married in 1993, seven years after their characters (Frisco and Felicia) married on the show (but they divorced in 2006).
Genie Francis and Kin Shriner dated for a while when Laura Webber and Scotty Baldwin were a couple—their first onscreen kiss was the Real Life first kiss for Francis.
Laura Wright (Carly) and Wes Ramsey (Peter August) became a couple after Ramsey was hired on GH in 2017. They'd worked together before on Guiding Light, but she was married back then. They also stayed together even after Peter was killed off on the show in 2022.
Laura Wright (Carly) and Eden McCoy (Joss) are very plausible as mother-and-daughter. McCoy looks enough like a younger Wright that she's played Carly as a Time-Shifted Actor in flashbacks. It's especially striking when you look at a pic of McCoy◊ side-by-side with a pic of a younger Wright◊.
An interesting retroactive mother-daughter case went into effect with the 2022 revelation that Esme Prince is the daughter of Heather Webber. Avery Kristen Pohl (Esme) looks quite a bit like Heather's original actress, Georganne LaPiere◊, when she originated the role in the 1976-77 period.
Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis) as the mother of Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina) and Haley Pullos (Molly) also works with their similar hair colors, complexions and facial features, though it's not as strong with Kelly Monaco (Sam) as her other daughter. As luck would have it, though, Kristina and Molly both got recast in 2023 with actresses who could easily pass for Monaco's sisters (though not really looking much like Grahn).
Steve Burton as Jason Quartermaine/Morgan and Sean Kanan as his brother A.J. Quartermaine looked very much alike. The weird thing is that the actors are related, but only by marriage.
Serendipity Writes the Plot: Allegedly, the show's longstanding use of Australian characters kicked off when executive producer Gloria Monty said that she wanted the character who became Robert Scorpio to be Austrian, but the casting director misheard it as Australian and promptly lined up some Australian actors to audition. As luck would have it, Monty really liked Tristan Rogers, so she hired him and changed Scorpio's background to accommodate him.
Short Run in Peru: Many of the episodes that ABC has broken into or rescheduled for a Breaking News Interruption have still aired as exactly as planned on City TV in Canada. In at least one case (April 16, 2024), City TV incorrectly aired an episode a day early (airing a Wednesday episode on a Tuesday, then turning around and airing the Tuesday episode the next day to make up for it).
Star-Making Role: John Stamos as Blackie Parrish is the best example of someone using GH to launch a career.
Wally Kurth taking over as Ned Ashton in 1991 created a bizarre case of this, since it meant he'd be playing the son of Jane Elliot's character Tracy Quartermaine. They'd previously worked together on Days of Our Lives, where Kurth played Justin Kiriakis, who had an affair (leading to a pregnancy) with Elliot's character Anjelica Deveraux.
The show is currently doing a Ship Tease with Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) and Cody Bell (Josh Kelly). Mattsson and Kelly previously shared some scenes in the 2018 Lifetime movie My Husband's Secret Wife (Kelly as the villain, Mattsson as the inquisitive sister of the heroine, played by Mattsson's Real Life sister Helena Mattsson).
Another Lifetime movie, The Sinister Surrogate, starred Kelly Thiebaud (Britt Westbourne) as the victim of the title character and John J. York as a police detective who's Mac Scorpio in all but name.
Throw It In!: Olivia gasping in horror (including covering her mouth with both hands)—underwater!, mind you—in the sequence where she saves Ned from drowning in 2023 was a spontaneous gesture by Lisa LoCicero, who later admitted that even she considered it Narm, but the producers left it in.
Jason Thompson was 29 when he was cast as Patrick Drake in 2005. Drake was a well-known neurosurgeon when he was introduced, though Thompson himself was a few years younger than the average age of most attending physicians.
Kimberly McCullough returned to the series as Robin Scorpio at roughly the same time as Thompson’s arrival,note Incidentally, their characters would ultimately serve as love interests. with Robin working as an attending physician. McCullough and her character were both 27 at the time, at an age where she would have been more likely to be a resident physician.
Katelyn MacMullen was 22 when cast as Willow Tait in 2018,note For point of reference, MacMullen was still eligible to be nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Performer until she reached the age cutoff of 25 with the 2021 ceremony. but a 2022 storyline that revealed Willow was the daughter of Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) and the good twin of deceased Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier) resulted in this, as Nelle had earlier been revealed (via her headstone) to have been born in 1992, and shortly before her adoptive mother’s death, Harmony revealed to Carly that she fudged Willow’s birth certificate to suggest she was born months after Nelle, effectively making Willow roughly four years older than her portrayer.
David Lewis (born 1916) as Edward Quartermaine was reasonable as the father of Stuart Damon (born 1937) as Alan, but the two long-term recasts of Edward were just 9 years (John Ingle) and 2 years (Jed Allan) older than Damon. Allan (who played Edward from 2004-06) was an especially odd choice, since he was in his late 60s, but could've passed for late 50s, while Edward was in his 80s by that point.
Too bad Taggert and Gia being Sonny's siblings was only for Fan February. Similarly, Sonny as Edward Quartermaine's illegitimate son was only for Edward's darkly comic Thanksgiving Nightmare Sequence in 1996.
Winnifred's similarity to Spinelli was originally supposed to be a full-on act. That got derailed when the producers liked her similarity to Spinelli.
Luke Spencer was only supposed to be a short-term character who would have been killed off after raping Laura. However, a writer noticed the chemistry between the actors, and the rest is history.
Likewise, Sonny Corinthos was only to be on for a few months before either being killed or sent to prison. Again, the writers noticed the chemistry between him and Brenda, turning them into one of the show's legacy Super Couples.
Lucy Coe was originally only supposed to be a supporting character in a murder mystery storyline slated to disappear once the plotline wrapped up, but there was so much positive fan response to her she ended up joining the ensemble full-time.
Two spinoffs were pitched to ABC in the 1996-97 period. One, called Heart and Soul, was going to center on Ned and Lois, and be set in Bensonhurst. ABC decided that the other spinoff proposal, Port Charles, would be more cost-efficient and gave it the greenlight.
Sarah Brown, Carly #1, came back as Claudia Zacchara, even as Carly #4 (Laura Wright) was on the show.
Thanks to legal issues, the actors who joined the GH cast from One Life to Live had to stop playing their OLTL characters and take on completely different roles. This has led to Roger Howarth playing three unrelated characters on the show since 2012 (he started as OLTL's Todd Manning, then took over as Franco Baldwin after James Franco left, until the character died in 2021, but a mere two months later returned as Dr. Austin Gatlin-Holt), while, between this and his previous experience on Port Charles, Michael Easton has played five different characters in the GH—PC continuity (Caleb Morley, Silas Clay, Stephen Clay, John McBain, Hamilton Finn).
Charles Shaughnessy appeared in a few episodes in 1984 as Alastair Durban, Holly's criminal cousin. In 2021 he returned to take over the role of Victor Cassadine.
In 1983, almost a decade before his debut as Good Twin/Evil Twin combo Kevin Collins and Ryan Chamberlain, Jon Lindstrom had a small part in one episode as a car rental agent.
Alice Rietveld has had small roles in 2014 (as a Back-Alley Doctor assisting Stavros in his efforts to artificially inseminate Lulu) and 2022 (as a woman Carly hires to lie about Willow's birth mother to Drew), and has also done stunt work on the show.
Morgan Fairchild made a one-off appearance in 1995 as a Crossover with The City.explanationHer City character Sydney Chase was an old friend of Tracy Quartermaine. When Fairchild left The City, they brought in Jane Elliot and added Tracy as a main character over there. In 2022 and 2023 she returned as home shopping TV host Haven de Havilland.
None of the performers in the unaired 1962 Emergency Hospital pilot returned for the retooled GH in 1963, but one of the patients was played by Denise Alexander, who, 11 years later, was added to the GH cast as Dr. Lesley Webber.
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