General Hospital
*General Hospital Is The Best Soap!*
About The Show:
General Hospital, the innovative, award-winning drama series, celebrated 42 years of broadcasting on April 1, 2005. General Hospital is the longest-running dramatic serial on the ABC Television Network, having aired its 10,000th episode on April 17, 2002. It is also the longest-running Daytime drama produced on the West Coast. Recently the show won three Emmy Awards for the 2004 television season.
In May of 2005, General Hospital made Daytime Emmy history as the only Daytime drama to ever receive the prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama series a record eight times, six times in the past 11 years (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2005). It had also garnered the Emmy Award as Outstanding Daytime Drama Series in 1980-81 and 1983-84. In 1993 the late Anna Lee (Lila Quartermaine) and the late John Beradino (Dr. Steve Hardy) received stars on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work on the show. In the 40th Anniversary Special Edition of TV Guide, General Hospital was hailed as the "All-Time Best Daytime Soap." In March of 2000 it received the Favorite Daytime Serial award on the nationally broadcast Soap Opera Digest Awards for the fourth consecutive year. In addition, General Hospital has won the Directors Guild Award and the Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The General Hospital tradition of passion, intrigue and adventure takes place in the fictional town of Port Charles, set in upstate New York. The glamour and excitement of those who have come to find their destinies in this familiar seaport town intertwine with the lives, loves and fortunes of beloved, well-known faces. And, as always, love and danger continue to abound on General Hospital with contemporary storylines and unforgettable characters.
In the past several years, General Hospital has been praised by national organizations for elevating the public awareness of several important social issues. Most recently, in 2004, the show won a PRISM award - given for accurate portrayals of tobacco, drug and alcohol addiction in the media - for the storyline of Courtney's addiction to pain killers. In addition, the program received the Susan G. Komen Foundation Media Award in 1995 for the story of Monica's experience with breast cancer. It has received three SHINE awards (formerly the Nancy Susan Reynolds Award) for its continued contribution to the awareness of sexual responsibility. The Ryan White Foundation presented its 1996 Ryan's Angels Award to General Hospital for the moving and thorough examination of HIV/AIDS through the characters of Robin and Stone. The show was further honored by the American Red Cross for its HIV/AIDS-related storylines. Several other prestigious awards have been bestowed on General Hospital for confronting sexual child abuse, organ donation and other social issues as well.
General Hospital was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. Jill Farren Phelps is the executive producer. Carol Scott, Mary O'Leary, Mercer Barrows and Michelle Henry are producers. General Hospital airs Monday-Friday (3:00-4:00 p.m., ET; 2:00-3:00 p.m., PT) on the ABC Television Network.
Some Of The Most Loved Characters on The Soap, General Hospital Are:
- Maurice Bernard, As Sonny Corinthos,
Complex, confident and wise, Sonny Corinthos has taken his hard-earned experience as a street hustler and transformed himself into one of the most powerful figures in Port Charles. Emmy Award-winning Actor Maurice Benard brings his own deeply personal experiences to the portrayal of Sonny by adding color, menace and seduction to an already intricate character. He first appeared in the role on August 13, 1993. He briefly left the show for a year-long hiatus in December 1998. For his portrayal, Maurice received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series in 2003. He was also nominated in 1996, 1997 and 2004.
"This role is what I do best," Maurice explains. "Sonny is unpredictable. You never know from one second to the next what he is thinking, feeling or planning. He's a man in personal conflict who maintains an outward appearance of calm at all times, at any cost."
Benard's multi-cultural upbringing began in San Francisco, where he was born to parents from Nicaragua and San Salvador. Uninspired by the traditional education route, he gleaned an education in the open job market after high school. His dark good looks and intense gaze brought him modeling jobs in his early 20s. Following that, Maurice took up acting in numerous theatrical productions in the Bay area.
After auditioning for a role on the ABC daytime drama All My Children, Maurice was cast as Nico Kelly. Two years later, he struck out to find new challenges and moved to Los Angeles, where he was soon cast as the lead in the much-publicized TV movie, Lucy and Desi: Before the Laughter. He later added a pivotal role in the feature film Ruby to several other prominent film and television credits.
Maurice has been a popular voice in the battle against bipolar disorder. He has been very open about his personal battle with the illness, appearing on television programs such as The View and Entertainment Tonight, and he has also been featured in People and LA Life Magazines. He is currently working with the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) on the "Bipolar Disorder: Do You Know It?" campaign to help educate Americans about the importance of recognizing the signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder.
Maurice lives in the Hollywood Hills area of Southern California. He enjoys the martial arts, working out and playing host to a menagerie of dogs and cats. He and his wife, Paula, are the proud parents of daughters Cailey Sofia and Cassidy Rose and son Joshua James. -
Laura Wright As Carly Alcazar,
Laura Wright joined the cast of General Hospital in November 2005 as Carly Corinthos Alcazar.
Born September 11th in Washington D.C. and raised Clinton MD, Laura Wright was hit by the acting bug in the eighth grade. Wright performed in many high school plays such as Gypsy, Our Town, and You Can't Take It With You. She also has a director's credit for the production of Father Says No. In addition, Wright has few local commercials and numerous fashion shows under her belt.
After being persuaded to audition for the daytime drama Loving, Wright seriously considered a career in acting and as luck would have it, she was cast of in the ABC Daytime drama and later went on to play the role of Ally Rescott Bowman for four years and later its spin-off The City.
Wright debuted on Guiding Light in August of 1997. There for eight years, she played the role of ex-stripper, Cassie Layne. This street smart character won Wright a 1998 Soap Opera Digest Award for Best New Character. And in the same year, she was named one of TV Guide's rising stars in daytime.
Wright resides in the Los Angeles area with architect husband John and two children, daughter Lauren Elizabeth and son John Michael. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, especially watching late night television with her husband. - Some Veteran Members, :
- Leslie Cahrelson As Dr. Monica Quartermaine,
The character of Dr. Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital has been brought to vivid life by Leslie Charleson, an actress who has all the grace, wit and charm of her on-screen persona. She joined the cast in August 1977 and remains one of the show's most beloved characters. This signature role is a reflection of what has been a long and illustrious career.
The four-time Emmy-nominated actress began her television career as a regular on another ABC Daytime series, A Time for Us. She also spent two-and-a-half years on the CBS Daytime series, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, where she garnered her first Emmy nomination for the role of Iris Donelly Garrison.
Of all the numerous commercials Leslie has done, she credits Pearl Drops for getting her a part in the movie Day of the Dolphin, directed by Mike Nichols, in which she co-starred with George C. Scott. Then came a David Merrick play with Tony Curtis entitled One Night Stand.
After that, Leslie moved to Hollywood and guest-starred on more than twenty TV series, including Adam 12, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, Medical Center, The FBI, Marcus Welby, M.D., Ironside, Kung Fu, Wild Wild West, Emergency, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Cannon and The Rockford Files. It was on Happy Days that Leslie gave Ron Howard his first on-screen kiss. She also co-starred with Deidre Hall in the movie for television, Woman on the Ledge, and made a guest appearance on CBS' Diagnosis Murder and ABC's Dharma & Greg.
Leslie is an active celebrity spokesperson for breast cancer, cystic fibrosis and AIDS-related charities. She lives in the Los Angeles area. -
Stuart Damon As Dr. Alan Quartermaine,
Emmy Award-winning actor Stuart Damon has been portraying the sophisticated but troubled doctor with a sense of humor for the last 25 years. Stuart's portrayal of the drug-addicted chief of staff has garnered high praise from the press and from his fans and garnered him his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in May 1999, after four previous nominations. In February 1997 he received the Outstanding Supporting Actor trophy at the nationally televised Soap Opera Awards.
The actor's parents were struggling Russian immigrants who came to America during the Bolshevik revolution and settled in Brooklyn, New York, where Stuart was born. As a child, Stuart loved making his family and others laugh. At age 11 he played the cowardly lion in a production of The Wizard of Oz, and later starred and sang in musical comedies at a summer camp near Danbury, Connecticut.
Stuart attended a private high school, continuing his studies at Brandeis University, where he obtained a BA degree in psychology. He was on his way to becoming an attorney, but got sidetracked when his involvement in acting turned into a professional pursuit. He began playing lead roles in summer stock with such stars as Jane Powell and George Gobel. In the next few years he gained experience in more than 50 musical comedies, washing a few dishes along the way to help with finances.
He landed his first Broadway role in the chorus line of Irma La Douce, where his dance partner was Elliott Gould. He also understudied the principals and, after two weeks, took over one of the leads. That break led to other Broadway shows.
In 1964 Stuart was named Most Promising Performer of the Year by Theater World for his performance in The Boys From Syracuse. The following year he was brought to Hollywood to star with Lesley Ann Warren in the now-classic TV musical production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. The program attracted worldwide attention. A lucrative offer to star on an English television series, The Champions, sent Stuart to Great Britain with his British-born wife, actress Deirdre Ottewill-Damon, and their daughter, Jennifer. During the next 12 years, Stuart starred on British television and played many roles on stage in London's West End. -
Anthony Geary As Luke Spencer,
As portrayed by legendary Anthony Geary, Luke Spencer has been described as the most popular character in soap opera history*. One critic said: Geary's individualism, uniqueness and awesome range is the most notable in Daytime (television) history, a statement that is typical of the actor's reviews. He added to his laurels by winning the 1981 Emmy Award as Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series. Anthony brought Luke Spencer back to the viewing audience on October 29, 1993, and received his second and third Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in 1999 and 2000. In 2004 he won his fourth Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and holds nominations in 1980, 1982, 1996, 1997 and 2003.
In January 1991 Anthony returned to General Hospital in the role of Bill Eckert, a cousin of Spencer's and a man of many -- often dark -- colors. Anthony was seen on-screen as both Bill Eckert and Luke Spencer as the story progressed, until the death of Eckert.
Anthony has come a long way from Coalville, Utah, the small mountain community of 800 where he was born. He was a gifted student, attending the University of Utah as a Presidential Award Scholar in theater. Jack Albertson saw him perform there and cast him in The Subject Was Roses. The production, starring Albertson and Martha Scott, toured Hawaii and settled at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles, where Tony decided to establish himself. His ensuing musical theater credits comprise a catalogue of classics. Highlights in this period were his co-starring engagement with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas in Your Show of Shows and a tour as Jesus in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar.
Anthony has performed in more than 50 stage productions throughout the United States. His appearance in the one-man show, Human Scratchings, performed to sold-out houses in Los Angeles in 1996, earned him unanimous critical acclaim and a DramaLogue Award. His other extensive theatrical credits include roles in productions of The Wild Duck, The Inspector General, The Cat's Paw, The Glass Menagerie and Barabbas at the Los Angeles Theater Center. He also portrayed Octavius Caesar, opposite Lynn Redgrave and Timothy Dalton, in a production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra for PBS and the BBC. And Also Starred In Carpool Guy in November 2005.
| Ads by Google | Members interested in General Hospital: (more pictures) Put 'General Hospital' in your profile to be listed here. | ||||
|
