General Hospital’s James Patrick Stuart Suffers a Devastating Loss: It’s ‘Hard Not to Wonder If He’d Still Be Alive If… ’
Monday, August 31st, 2020
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
Our hearts go out to Valentin’s portrayer.
Usually, when we think of General Hospital star James Patrick Stuart on social media, we think of the laughs, the good times, the epic hair-off that Valentin’s portrayer recently had with castmate William deVry (Julian). But there was nothing funny at all about Stuart’s tweet of August 30.
Grappling with the same dire situation in which we all find ourselves, the actor wrote: “I’ve known people who have survived… but unfortunately now find myself having lost a friend of 25 years to it.”
That in and of itself would have been devastating enough. However, Stuart was left with a case of the what ifs. Would his friend be as right as rain today, had the situation been handled differently? “Hard not to wonder if he’d still be alive,” he wrote, “if we’d collectively been given more coherent direction earlier on and all been willing to follow it.”
I’ve known people who have survived Covid but unfortunately now find myself having lost a friend of 25 years to it. Hard not to wonder if he’d still be alive if we’d collectively been given more coherent direction earlier on & all been willing to follow it.
— James Patrick Stuart (@japastu) August 31, 2020
Among those reaching out to offer support and condolences was Stuart’s General Hospital colleague, Briana Nicole Henry (Jordan). “Sorry for your loss,” she tweeted. “Sending love your way.”
Sigh. One of these days, we’re going to have some real, actual good news to write about. Until then, maybe you’d like to cheer yourself up by checking out the below photo gallery which revisits the forgettable — and quite possibly forgotten — soap debuts of 15 stars who are now among your favorites. And no, of course, Stuart isn’t on the list — he kicked butt his first time out, back when he was playing All My Children’s nasty Will Cortlandt.
Image: ABC, NBC
1/15
<p>What, are we saying that Stone Cold wasn’t always red-hot? Yes, in fact, that <em>is</em> what we are saying. Three years before the future Emmy winner was cast as <em>General Hospital</em>’s Jason Quartermaine — well, Morgan in the end — he recurred on <em>Days of our Lives</em> as Harris Michaels, a young conniver who tried to score with teenage hooker Eve Donovan. The NBC soap that has redeemed everyone from rapists (Jack Deveraux) to even the call girl’s own pimp (Nick Corelli) passed on the chance to turn Burton into a leading man, cutting him loose to seek greener pastures in Port Charles.</p>
Image: NBC (2)
2/15
<p>When NBC’s <em>Santa Barbara</em> debuted, this then-17-year-old Jersey girl was front and center as thimble-brained Jade Perkins. The acting newbie was excited to have gotten her big break… until the ratings came in. “All of a sudden, they started killing everybody,” she recalled to <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/tbt-melissa-reeves/" target="_blank"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> in 1988. “You never knew if you’d be next.” In the end, Jade survived, only to go on a date from which she never returned. But it all worked out fine for Reeves (then Melissa Brennan); she crossed right over to <em>Days of our Lives</em>, where she’s played Jennifer Horton off and on <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/days-of-our-lives/news/569861/days-of-our-lives-melissa-reeves-black-lives-matter-controversy/" target="_blank">for the last 35 years</a>.</p>
Image: XJ Johnson/JPI, ABC
3/15
<p>Almost a decade before the future Emmy winner would make her first big splash in daytime television (as <em>Santa Barbara</em>’s whip-smart Julia Wainwright), she played <em>One Life to Live</em>’s Beverly Wilkes, a gal Friday who was tasked with the thankless job of trying to talk sense into incorrigible boss man Marco Dane (the late Gerald Anthony). Not until almost 20 years later would Grahn join <em>General Hospital</em> in what has over the years become her most famous role, that of Alexis Davis — like Julia, another brilliant attorney with dubious taste in men.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI, CBS
4/15
<p>Everybody remembers this Emmy winner’s star turn as wackadoo Nurse Annie Dutton on <em>Guiding Light</em>. Heck, they remember it <em>so</em> fondly that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that they would’ve accepted Signy Coleman (ex-Hope, <em>The Young and the Restless</em>) in the role. But Annie wasn’t Watros’ daytime — or even her <em>Guiding Light</em> — debut. The actress — now <em>General Hospital</em>’s Nina — had previously played a good-time gal who made hay with Matt Reardon before Vanessa Chamberlain became his one and only.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI, J. Graylock/JPI
5/15
<p><em>All My Children</em> never seemed to know what a hot commodity it had in Scott, who went on to become so popular as <em>Days of our Lives</em>’ EJ DiMera that after he was killed off, HBO’s <em>Last Week Tonight</em> resurrected his character for a reunion with Alison Sweeney’s Sami Brady. (Click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umqvYhb3wf4&feature=emb_title" target="_blank">here for video.</a>) The British-born actor lasted just two years in Pine Valley as Ethan Cambias before the conniver was put six feet under by an explosion at Erica Kane’s Mardi Gras ball — in other words, invited to have his potential realized by another soap!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI, ABC
6/15
<p>This scene stealer, best known now for doing the impossible and succeeding Eileen Davidson (Ashley, <em>The Young and the Restless</em>) as<em> Days of our Lives</em>’ Kristen DiMera, was already a primetime mainstay when she made her daytime debut as as <em>All My Children</em>’s Hannah Nichols in 2007. But, as with her on-screen son (see previous item!), the ABC soap didn’t take near enough advantage of her beauty and talent. So, after a year, Hannah was rubbed out, allowing Haiduk to move on to the showier role(s) of <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Patty Williams and Emily Peterson, the shrink whose face her patient stole — and whose life she would’ve if she could’ve!</p>
Image: ABC, Howard Wise/JPI
7/15
<p>Nope, the <em>General Hospital</em> fan favorite (owing to his portrayal of Julian Jerome) didn’t get his start, as you might think, as <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> heartbreaker Storm Logan or as <em>All My Children</em> baddie Michael Cambias. His first soap role — and the fact that you forgot it is the whole point of this article, after all! — was Tim Dolan on the <em>General Hospital</em> spinoff <em>Port Charles</em>. A sign of things to come, the character was a bartender who was especially prone to bending an ear in the direction of Ian Thornhart (Thorsten Kaye, now <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>’s Ridge Forrester).</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI, ABC
8/15
<p>OK, no one could say that the Emmy winner’s first soap role was forgettable: He played <em>All My Children</em>’s halo-clad Dr. Cliff Warner off and on for a decade — and, as an added bonus, was half of a supercouple. (They would’ve been #Clina, had Twitter existed back then!) But Bergman has done such a bang-up job of making the role of <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Jack Abbott his own (after replacing the now-deceased Terry Lester) that Cliff isn’t foremost in our thoughts anymore, he’s barely even an afterthought!</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI, CBS
9/15
<p>If you don’t recall Walton’s daytime debut, no worries — you are forgiven; it <em>was</em> almost 40 years ago, after all. Back then, the future Emmy winner (as <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Jill Abbott) stepped in as a recast for the original Kelly Harper on <em>Capitol</em>, CBS’ pre-<em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> soap opera… which, by the way, would be must-see TV now! Not nearly enough viewers were tuning in at the time, but Walton’s star power was so undeniable that she lasted until the sudser’s cancellation in 1987.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI, CBS
10/15
<p>If your thoughts on this Emmy winner begin and end with his long run as <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Michael Baldwin, we understand. But — and this is one <em>big</em> “but” — the shady lawyer wasn’t his first soap role. Almost a decade before LeBlanc set foot in Genoa City, he spent two years on <em>As the World Turns</em> playing poor little rich boy Kirk McColl. And though his tenure might have been — OK, <em>was</em> — forgettable, his leading lady wasn’t: He was paired with future Oscar winner Marisa Tomei as Marcy Thompson.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI, NBC
11/15
<p>A few of you might think that the actress who brings to life <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>’s Quinn Forrester got her soap start playing spunky Rocky McKenzie on <em>Loving</em> in the late 1980s. But she didn’t. A <em>lot</em> of you might think that Sofer made her daytime debut as Lois Cerullo on <em>General Hospital</em> in 1993. But she didn’t. Sofer <em>actually</em> lathered up for the first time a year before she was cast on <em>Loving</em>; she briefly appeared on <em>Another World</em> in 1987 as Sam Fowler’s ex-girlfriend, Joyce Abernathy.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI, NBC
12/15
<p>So synonymous is Hall’s name with that of Marlena Evans, the <em>Days of our Lives</em> heroine that she’s played for more than 40 years, that it’s almost impossible to think of her in any other role. (Well, except maybe Electra Woman.) However, Salem’s beloved Doc wasn’t her first part in daytime. That would be <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Barbara Anderson, a nurse whose neurosurgeon boyfriend took flight after fatally botching what should’ve been a life-saving operation on her son.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI, NBC
13/15
<p>It was as <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Brad Carlton that Diamont became a bona-fide soap star. But the card-carrying smokeshow did his first sudser a year prior to his 1985 debut on that show; by then, the actor, who is now <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em>’s Dollar Bill Spencer, had already spent months at <em>Days of our Lives</em> playing Carlo Forenza, a vengeful hottie who bedded Liz Chandler while trying to bury her husband, Neil Curtis.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI, NBC
14/15
<p>Back in 1978, before Lauren Fenmore was even a gleam in <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ late co-creators’ eyes, her portrayer made her daytime debut on <em>Days as our Lives</em>. And the character was <em>not</em> one of the ones that you’d call forgettable, that’s for sure. Donna Temple Craig was trouble with a capital T, an incorrigible teenager who, in just two years’ time, managed to throw herself off a building (to protest her father’s remarriage), get knocked up and, however accidentally, become a nudie model.</p>
Image: XJ Johnson/JPI, ABC
15/15
