November 20, 1978, marked, in a way, the birth of a legend.
No one knew it when General Hospital began airing its November 20, 1978, episode. Neither the network nor the audience had any idea that the landscape of the daytime drama had been changed forever the moment that Anthony Geary strutted onto the scene as Luke Spencer. But oh, it had… it had.
The miscreant was seen catching up to sister Bobbie in the scene. However, they were not as close back then as they would grow to be in the years that followed. Aunt Ruby Anderson raised them on the wrong side of the tracks, and those scars were visible on the surface. Luke clapped in response when Bobbie made fun of the dive bar where he did “business.” I don’t tell you how to live your life, so please don’t tell me how to live mine, he said.
Bobbie, a con artist back then, had the naive but true belief that she could persuade her brother that it was normal for her to turn to him with problems. The issue was that he wasn’t buying it. He reminded her, “This is Luke you’re speaking to.” He hadn’t heard anything from her until that day despite the fact that she had been in Port Charles for a full year.
Wait, how on earth had he known how long she’d been in town? “Kid,” he replied, “I know everything.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was our introduction to the future soap legend as the one and only Luke Spencer. (You can watch it below.) In a matter of moments, we had a crystal-clear picture of a fully fleshed-out character, one that was bigger than his eventual fro, bigger than Herb Alpert’s “Rise,” bigger even than Luke and Laura, the supercouple of which he’d become the more challenging half.
Geary was a relatively newcomer to Hollywood at the time. He was by no means a soap star, despite having appeared on Bright Promise and The Young and the Restless in the past. Luke altered everything. To be honest, Geary himself changed everything.
He ended up winning a record-breaking eight Daytime Emmys, including eight for Outstanding Lead Actor, so perhaps he could explain why backstage. He acknowledged, “Well, I never think about the audience. “I don’t, actually. Never, ever. I constantly consider how I can complete the assignment.
Geary was a relatively newcomer to Hollywood at the time. He was by no means a soap star, despite having appeared on Bright Promise and The Young and the Restless in the past. Luke altered everything. To be honest, Geary himself changed everything.
He ended up winning a record-breaking eight Daytime Emmys, including eight for Outstanding Lead Actor, so perhaps he could explain why backstage. He said, “Well, I never think about the audience. “I don’t, actually. Never, ever. I constantly consider how I can complete the assignment.
Ya got that right. “But,” he noted, “that is how [the phenomenon] started.” As a result, “I learned early on you don’t follow the audience, you ask them to follow you.”
With that in mind, we hereby invite you to follow along as we trace the steps that Geary took as Luke. It’s a road that we know well… but as bumpy and exciting as it ever was.
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