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General Hospital’s Maurice Benard Reveals Why ‘There’s No Way in Hell’ He Could Live With Himself If Steve Burton Beat Him at the Emmys
He was joking, of course. You know how they are.
After the Daytime Emmy nominations were announced, Maurice Benard was quick to share the news with his menagerie. Buddy the Goat was particularly pleased, as you’ll see in the video below, and so was the General Hospital leading man himself.
“I’m really so happy for all the actors [who were] nominated,” said Sonny’s portrayer, who is competing with, among others, longtime castmate Steve Burton (Jason) for Outstanding Lead Actor. “I’m very happy for Steve, of course, but I really don’t want him to win.”
Oh no? Why’s that? “There’s no way in hell I can live with myself if he has more Emmys than I have,” said Benard, “although he has two supporting, I have two leads.”
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Instead of Burton, “I’d give [the award] to dumb [Dominic Zamprogna, Dante]. He really does deserve it. Plus, I don’t wanna see that pouty look on his face.”
Eventually, Benard stopped kidding around long enough to reflect on what is sure to go down as one of his all-time favorite General Hospital plots. “On a serious note The Alzheimer’s story broke my heart in a fabulous way!” he remarked, tagging Laura Wright (Carly) and adding that he “couldn’t have done it without Max Gail (ex-Mike).”
Need further proof that Benard was only joking when he said that he couldn’t stand it if Burton beat him out? Peruse the below photo gallery, which takes a closer look at not only their real-life friendship but a whole bunch of other soap bromances, too.
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
1/15
<p>A mutual admiration society has sprung up between <em>General Hospital</em> star Maurice Benard (Sonny) and <em>Young & Restless</em> icon Eric Braeden (Victor). “He’s not just the man on <em>Young & Restless</em> or soap operas,” Benard said, introducing Braeden during a 2022 edition of his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLhnK-pwhuA" target="_blank"><em>State of Mind</em></a> vlog, “he is the man in the <em>history</em> of soap operas.” In turn, Braeden told his fellow daytime vet, “I respect you enormously,” and called them “brothers in arms.”</p>
Image: NBC (4)
2/15
<p>How well do <em>Days of Our Lives</em> castmates Brandon Barash (Stefan), Eric Martsolf (Brady), Carson Boatman (Johnny) and Wally Kurth (Justin) get along? So well that when they’re not working together, they play together — as The Day Players rock band. “So proud,” Martsolf Instagrammed in 2022, “to be on this musical journey with these men.” In 2023, Barash described their shows as being full of “kickass acoustic tunes… and no shortage of laughs!”</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
3/15
<p>As <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> has pitted Liam against Wyatt over Hope and Steffy over the years, Scott Clifton and Darin Brooks have totally sold us on the idea of them being sibling rivals. But even when Bill’s sons have been at odds, their portrayers have been thick as thieves. In fact, on Best Friends Day in 2018, Brooks posted a photo of himself with Clifton to Instagram and captioned it, “Sometimes there’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjxuC8vh97a/" target="_blank">no better friend than a brother</a>.” In retrospect, we probably shoulda warned you that this item might make you melt.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
4/15
<p>Although Daniel Goddard is no longer playing Cane on <em>The Young and the Restless</em>, his bromance with on-screen brother-in-law Bryton James (Devon) is still going strong. On James’ August 17 birthday, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEAj_uSJlki/" target="_blank">Goddard hailed him</a> as “one of the greatest people to walk the face of this earth.” And on Goddard’s August 28 birthday, James posted an eight-year-old selfie of the two of them and wrote, “When you took this, I actually saw our history in it… and I’m beyond fortunate to be living through that history every day as your friend.” Aww!</p>
5/15
<p>Life in Port Charles tends to be deadly serious. But when <em>General Hospital</em> co-stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Spencer) and William Lipton (Cameron) get to hang out outside of work, “serious” is the <em>last</em> word you’d use to describe the vibe. Take their 2023 visit to New Jersey — and the hilarious video that resulted. <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/news/659773/general-hospital-are-nicholas-alexander-chavez-will-lipton-friends/" target="_blank">You can watch it here</a>, but suffice it to say, they very quickly underwent Garden State transformations.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
6/15
<p><em>Passions</em> may have pitted against one another Eric Martsolf (Brady, <em>Days of our Lives</em>) and Justin Hartley (ex-Adam, <em>The Young and the Restless</em>) — they played Theresa’s love interests, Ethan and Fox, respectively. However, their on-screen sparring led to a beautiful off-screen kinship, one that inspired Martsolf to call them “just <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B76fmk6HmdP/" target="_blank">two guys that have each other’s backs</a> no matter what our lovely industry or life throws at us.”</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
7/15
<p>Social distancing must have been <em>especially</em> challenging for former <em>General Hospital</em> castmates Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson. They tended to be so securely joined at the hip, not even a surgeon could separate them! In addition to co-starring as Jason and Spinelli — Burton is now Harris on <em>Days of Our Lives</em> — they make appearances around the country together, co-host the <em>That’s Awesome</em> podcast, play <em>7 Questions</em> with their pals on YouTube and harmonized in the cover band Port Chuck.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
8/15
<p>Castmates since 1980, <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Eric Braeden (Victor) and Doug Davidson (Paul) are the kind of buddies who are always there for one another. So when the latter was taken off contract by the show, the former rushed to his defense — and has remained as outspoken as fans on the subject. Needless to say, when it came time for Braeden to celebrate his 40th anniversary in Genoa City, there was no one who could’ve possibly emceed the party but Davidson.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
9/15
<p>Twitter becomes a virtual comedy club anytime <em>General Hospital</em> funnymen William deVry (ex-Julian) and James Patrick Stuart (Valentin) get started! They delight in ribbing one another, and their back-to-work post-shutdown photo challenge — in which they modeled increasingly hilarious new hairdos — remains the stuff of legend. (If you missed it, <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/news/572528/general-hospital-william-devry-james-patrick-stuart-hair/" target="_blank">our article will catch you right up</a>.)</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
10/15
<p>When James Patrick Stuart was cast as Will Cortlandt on <em>All My Children</em> in 1989, he got more than a part, he got a best friend in Michael E. Knight (Tad). So needless to say, Stuart was beyond elated when his buddy checked in to <em>General Hospital</em> — and as his lawyer, Martin, no less! — in 2019. Now, once again, they can <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAEJhKqn0N4/" target="_blank">“act like the fools we are,”</a> said Stuart, who often calls Knight Mikey and loves to pretend he’s got him mixed up with Michael Knight, the character that David Hasselhoff played on <em>Knight Rider.</em></p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
11/15
<p><em>General Hospital</em> leading man Maurice Benard (Sonny) has a sterling reputation as a mentor to the ABC soap’s younger cast members. But his relationship with former on-screen right-hand man Steve Burton (Jason) went far deeper than that; they forged the sort of friendship that lasts a lifetime. So when Burton returned to the show after a stint as Dylan on <em>The Young and the Restless</em>, it was like when “your best friend in high school… leaves to go to another school ’cause his mom has to move,” Benard told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl37aX2o_Q8&list=PL5XH-PgUVEWnMIu8CHzjFQQFM5ByJqt6K&index=9&t=0s" target="_blank"><em>Access</em></a> in 2018. “Then he comes back, and senior year, you’re back together.”</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
12/15
<p>Friendship isn’t supposed to feel like work. But it’s probably OK if it feels, as it often has for Josh Swickard (Chase, <em>General Hospital</em>) and Michael Mealor (Kyle, <em>The Young and the Restless</em>), like a workout. We “really need a hobby,” Mealor captioned a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BjfbX_aA9t_/" target="_blank">post-gym photo</a>, “that doesn’t involve sweating and being exhausted.” All kidding aside, the guys are so tight that they’ve been known to call each other brothers.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
13/15
<p>Good-natured ribbing plays a pivotal role in Joshua Morrow and Rory Gibson’s friendship — and has from the start. Gibson told <a href="https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/icymi-joshua-morrow-and-rory-gibson-interview/" target="_blank"><em>Soap Opera Digest</em></a> in 2022 that when he was cast as Nick’s son, Noah, Morrow texted, “Yo, dude, welcome aboard.’ I thought that was really sweet, then he followed up with, ‘It’s too bad about your face.’” Replied Morrow, tongue firmly planted in cheek: “I wanted our relationship to get off on the right foot by being honest.”</p>
Image: ABC (2)
14/15
<p>Rare is the <em>General Hospital</em> star who can bring out Maurice Benard’s silly side the way that Marcus Coloma does. Nikolas’ portrayer and Sonny’s often tag-team Instagram, performing skits that are ROFL funny. And their 2022 dance-off was the stuff of viral sensations. (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck9sNP1JHze/" target="_blank">You can watch it here.</a>) “I wasn’t ready for this video,” laughed Kirsten Storms (Maxie). “We’re recreating this immediately,” Tabyana Ali (Trina) told Avery Kristen Pohl (Esme).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection (2)
15/15
