General Hospital’s Roger Howarth Looks Back at a Role Gone Wrong: ‘There Is No Part of Me That Is Surprised They Fired Me’
The Daytime Emmy winner opens up about a past soap firing and touches base on where things go from here.
In a shocking twist last week, General Hospital stunned viewers with the death of Franco Baldwin, who was shot in the chest by Peter August. Though the character is dead, the actor who portrayed him is not going anywhere, which leaves so many uncertain, exciting possibilities ahead!
Roger Howarth was the latest guest on the Soap Opera Digest podcast, Dishing With Digest, and talked about becoming an actor, though admitting, “I don’t remember making the choice to be an actor.” He reflected on his father having been a high school drama teacher and how he would spend his summers among various productions — until one day he walked on stage and became a part of the drama.
Before discussing what’s ahead for him in Port Charles, Howarth talked about what a gift it was landing the role of Jory on Guiding Light in 1992, since he and his wife were just starting a family and “didn’t have any money.” However, of his time on Loving as Kent, the actor recalled his reaction after the powers-that-be informed him they were letting him go. “You can’t fire me. I just bought a piano,” was the first thing that came out of Howarth’s mouth. Before the piano was delivered — one that he admits he had no business buying in the first place — Howarth was able to cancel the order then said, “Watching what I did as an actor on Loving… there is no part of me that is surprised they fired me.”
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Looking back at the notorious One Life to Live storyline, surrounding the rape of Marty Saybrooke, he commented, “You drop a pebble into that pond and all of Llanview was affected,” then recalled the excitement of having “virtually the entire cast in the same story.”
So, what’s ahead for General Hospital? Amid fan speculation, Howarth admitted, “I truly do not know anything. I’m down for whatever. I trust the people I work for. They’ll figure it out,” and wrapped up with, “That’s okay with me to not know the answers.”
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Many will likely be out for Peter’s blood given the murder of Franco, but the question remains, who will be the one to actually take him out? Look through our gallery featuring photos of characters who could end up as murder suspects themselves.
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