Anthony Geary, General Hospital’s Luke, Dead at 78

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Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on General Hospitaldied at the age of 78 in Amsterdam on December 14, TV Insider reports. He died from complications following surgery three days earlier. During his 28-year tenure General Hospitalhe won seven Daytime Emmy Awards, setting the record for the most wins in the Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series category. His character Luke Spencer, a bad guy criminal with ties to the mob, was paired with Laura Webber (Jean Francis) in a contentious relationship because in one episode Luke raped Laura and despite this, she fell in love with him; in recent years Francis doesn't protect the storyline. The two became a power couple on the show thanks to their whirlwind romance. But it was exhausting for Geary to live up to Luke's expectations in real life. “He was a bag of emotion and direction, a minor symbol of '80s anti-heroism, and in many ways personified a lot of what was bad about the decade,” Geary told the magazine. Toronto Starfor New York Time. “He was cruel, greedy, arrogant and chauvinistic. At the same time, he was romantic and sensitive.”

Francis remembered her co-star the morning after his death in several posts on X. She wrote: “No star burned brighter than Tony Geary. He was one of a kind. As an artist, he was full of passion for the truth, no matter how harsh or even a little crude it was, but always hilariously funny. He was an anti-hero, always so irreverent, but even the most conservative had to smile… He spoiled me with leading men for the rest of my life. I I'm devastated, I'll miss him terribly, but I'm so lucky to be his partner.”

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