Anthony Geary, famous for his role in General Hospital, is dead at 78.
TMZ confirmed Geary died on Sunday in Amsterdam. Reports link it to complications from a planned surgery, but the family hasn’t confirmed an official cause yet.
Geary joined General Hospital in 1978 for a short arc as Luke Spencer, a hitman who ends up falling for, and marrying, Laura Webber, played by Genie Francis. A soap opera romance built on a premise you’d normally reject in the first ten minutes of a movie. And yet. It worked.
Luke Spencer and Laura Webber’s 1981 wedding episode on General Hospital pulled in 30 million viewers. The late Elizabeth Taylor even showed up for a cameo. That episode still sits as the highest-rated soap opera episode of all time.
Before Luke, Geary built his way up the old-school route. Born in Utah, raised in a Mormon family, he got a theater scholarship to the University of Utah and started on stage. Then he moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s and gained plenty of TV credits, including Room 222, All in the Family, The Mod Squad, Mannix, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Partridge Family, and more.
General Hospital became his legacy. He won a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor, starting in 1982 and finishing with his most recent win in 2015, the same year he left the show. He still popped back in for guest appearances, including a 2017 cameo tied to co-star Jane Elliot’s retirement.
Anthony Geary has died, but his legacy will live on with General Hospital fans.
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