Monday, July 20, 2015

Anthony Geary Talks Leaving 'General Hospital' in Revealing New Interview: "I Have Not Retired From Acting. Just From GH" (Spoilers)

Anthony Geary - Photo Credit: Jesse Grant
Eight-time Emmy winner Anthony Geary previewed Luke Spencer's exit from General Hospital and much more in a revealing new interview with TV Insider.

Geary teased how Luke leaves the show.

"He says goodbye to his old pal Sonny [Maurice Benard] on the dock and then disappears into the fog, hoping to go find himself and figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life," he says with a laugh, before adding, "which I think the writers ripped off from me."

Geary has been happily keeping busy since he taping his final episode last month.

"I got myself into a 10-week course at the University of Amsterdam on Dutch theater history and literature," he reveals. "I’ve also been doing quite a bit of writing lately. And I have not retired from acting. Just from GH."

He was less enthused when talking about Luke's final storyline.

"I loved that they brought back Emma Samms [Holly], Genie Francis [Laura], Jonathan Jackson [Lucky] and Nathan Parsons [Ethan] so I could work with them one last time, but I did not like the conceit that brought us all together," Geary says. "It was ill-conceived, cheesy and showed a lack of imagination. We saw Luke shoot Frank in the back over 20 years ago. And by the way, that character was old then. He would have been in his hundreds by now."

The writer's stage directions also drew ire from Geary.

"There’s a mistrust of actors on our show, as if we’re going to misunderstand the material," Geary explains. "To be told to weep on a certain line is absurd. I don’t know when the hell I’m going to weep, if I weep at all, until I’m actually playing the scene. You don’t plan that s—t out! In all modesty, Jane Elliot [Tracy] and I have 90 years of professional acting experience between us and for us to be handed a scene where we are told how to read every line is insulting."

Geary airs for the final time as Luke Spencer on Monday, July 27.

RELATED:
- Interview Archive: Anthony Geary

3 comments:

  1. Wow, talk about biting the hand that feeds. Writers get so little respect in the soap genre and most of the blame when fans don't think a plot works. I didn't like the Frank Smith return, either, but they did what they could with the time they had left. A little camaraderie and respect on Geary's part would have made a more graceful and less sour note to exit on.

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  2. He was certainly frank. Yikes!

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  3. I should start out by saying I started watching GH regularly in 1977, saw bits with my mom when Lesly was searching for Laura, who she had given up for adoption. I stopped watching during that whole David Grey nonsense, then watched Laura's return and the killing off of Stavros. I started watching again around 1994 when Labine was head writer, and gave up in around 2004. Picked it up again at 50th, and just had it forever in February of this year (from what I read on this site do not miss it at all! Jake alive...really!! For fucks sake!) Okay really long winded way of saying Tony Geary has always been an overrated ham, his acting style is shit, and he seems to me to be an ego maniac, who loves a good stroke on his ego more then his penis. That said I can not see this being a bad thing for the show, although with FV and RC at the helm seems destined for ruin, and I have no desire to ever watch again...BUT! You NEVER give a line read to an actor, and you certainly do not put that kind of direction in a script...NEVER! So agree with him there, and just goes to show what hacks FV and especially RC are.

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