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Almost 40 Years After Her General Hospital Debut, We Look Back at Kristina Wagner’s Introduction as Felicia — and Boy, Did She Take Us by Surprise!
Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

What’s more, she’s been keeping us on our toes ever since!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 37 years since Kristina Wagner made her very first appearance on General Hospital as Felicia Cummings, sneaking into Port Charles even as she snuck into our hearts. In fact, it’s almost as hard to believe as the fact that when she first appeared on September 7, 1984, she was a he!
Kind of.
The erstwhile Kristina Malandro’s first day on the show, she was virtually unrecognizable — which is exactly what Felicia wanted. We never got the name of the valet who helped the pop sensations the Riff Raff unload their band equipment at a charity ball, but it was clear from the start that there was something off about the “kid,” as Frisco called him. By that night, when the valet slithered out from under Frisco’s bed to try grabbing a ring from the nightstand, we were all intrigued — as was Frisco when he caught the would-be thief red-handed!
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There was no name that first day, and Wagner didn’t even have any lines, but once Frisco started interrogating the boy he‘d caught, things took off at a breakneck speed. It was only when the valet spilled coffee on himself as he tried to make a run for it that Frisco started to realize that he might have been mistaken. The cry was not very boyish.
Frisco put a stop to the escape attempt, yanked the kid’s hat and… “Well, what do you know,” he marveled at the long hair that spilled out.
“Satisfy your curiosity?” the girl spat at him after a few beats of glaring.
“Baby, I’m getting more curious by the minute.” And so was the audience.
The beginner thief told Frisco that her name was Felicia, but that was about the only straight answer she’d offer for some time, instead inventing a few different backstories as to why she was trying to steal his ring. In those first few scenes, Felicia’s defiant determination crashed into Frisco’s laid-back amusement in a dance that was nothing short of enchanting to watch. And that, of course, was just the beginning — their instant chemistry, we’re pretty sure, could be seen from space. (Not for nothing, but Malandro and Wagner would eventually marry in real life.)
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By the time Frisco whisked Felicia off to General Hospital — she’d tried making one last run for it, only for him to trip her up and hurt her ankle — we were hooked. It was the start of a globe-trotting adventure full of excitement, betrayal and Aztec treasure. Frisco found his “Aztec princess,” and their mesmerizing push/pull relationship continued for decades as they became one of daytime’s most beloved supercouples.
By the time they’d had daughters Maxie and Georgie, of course, Felicia had realized that Frisco would likely never grow beyond that amused boy, hungry for adventure and ready to run off at a moment’s notice. Eventually, adventures with him and the WSB just didn’t hold the allure that they used to, and Felicia settled down to build a life with Mac Scorpio. There were a few bumps along the way, as you’d expect, but even the strongest of relationships have those, right? And they don’t come much stronger than the one that Felicia and Mac have built.
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Through it all, Felicia’s never lost that defiant determination, and it’s helped her survive everything from paralysis and Cesar Faison to the one thing no parent should ever have to face: losing her daughter, Georgie. Refusing to be tied down to one man, she’s shown us time and again that she makes her own fate, even as her portrayer has shown us that she shines no matter what’s thrown Felicia’s way. Love, loss or a boyish valet, we’re just thankful Felicia’s been in our lives for nearly four decades. And we’ll always eagerly be awaiting what comes next.
If this little stroll down Memory Lane has left you in a nostalgic mood, go ahead and indulge it by perusing the below photo gallery of the show’s most iconic characters of all time.
<p>The Brooklyn accent. The incredible nails. The yin/yang chemistry with “Eddie Maine.” Ned’s former wife would never have forgiven us if we’d left her off this list, and neither would we.</p>
<p>Whenever we’re feeling especially sentimental about <em>General Hospital</em>, we also get a little <em>mental</em> — because it inevitably brings to mind Jeff Webber’s batty, BLT-loving ex, arguably the most entertaining Port Charles psycho ever to spike a drink.</p>
<p>Somewhere along the line, Monica’s “better” half must’ve given himself a heart transplant, since the formerly-mad-as-in-angry doctor went from wanting to drop a house on her to being the true partner that she mourned as mightily as we did.</p>
<p>Once a fearsome villain, Liz’s husband — thanks to the removal of that pesky homicidal brain tumor — has become known as not only one of Port Charles’ sweetest hearts but one of its funniest residents, too.</p>
<p>They don’t make ’em like this anymore! The patriarch of the Quartermaine family was a blustering tyrant whose huffing and puffing did a fine job of hiding the fact that, underneath, he was really a big softy.</p>
<p>Whenever she walks into a room, you <em>know</em> that chaos is going to follow — and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Lucy may not be the conniver that she once was, but she remains as “quacky” and unpredictable as ever.</p>
<p>Jason’s ride-or-die boasts an enviably all-over-the-place soap-character resumé that’s taken her from con artist and stepfather seductress to action heroine, “widowed” wife and mom. Along that bumpy road, the one thing she’s never been… is boring!</p>
<p>It’s not just wishful thinking that has kept fans hoping that rumors of the “reformed” con artist’s death have been greatly exaggerated, it’s their knowledge that she’s as crafty as she is beautiful. </p>
<p>May we have this dance? If only. No one grieved harder when Anna’s made-man true love was kilt — sorry, <em>killed</em> — than we did. To this day, we haven’t given up hope that the show will resurrect him again.</p>
<p>She’s now arguably Port Charles’ most respected surgeon. But to us, Alan’s widow will always be the impetuous strumpet who drove the Webber brothers to distraction and accidentally had a fling with her own nephew.</p>
<p>Really, this long-running heroine should have her own action figure, because from the moment that we met her — when she was unconvincingly disguised as a boy, no less! — she’s been tossed from one madcap adventure to the next.</p>
<p>James Bond’s got nothing on Port Charles’ answer to 007, the smoothest of operators and shrewdest of characters. Even now that he’s switched gears and become district attorney, many a fan wouldn’t mind calling him “the spy who loved me.”</p>
<p>Cut from the same cloth as grandmother Audrey Hardy, Liz is the inspirational heart and soul of Port Charles, a working wife and mom who strives to put her mistakes in rearview in order to pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.</p>
<p>You’ve come a long way, baby… er, Bobbie! The scheming ex-hooker was transformed over the decades from desperate to dependable — miraculously, without losing the mischievous twinkle in her eye.</p>
<p>A do-right guy in a do-wrong town, Luke’s straight-arrow son was destined to suffer — and man, did he, through his own “death,” drug addiction, adultery and, in the end, the demolition of his relationship with true love Elizabeth… at least for now.</p>
<p>Anna and Robert’s daughter is an inspiration, a cute kid who absorbed the blows that life dealt her — and there have been many! — to emerge on the other side a grown woman who is kindhearted, open-minded and far tougher than her warm smile might suggest.</p>
<p>This passion’s plaything always meant to be smart about love, to not only think but think <em>twice</em>. In the end, however, the one that got away from both Sonny and Jax just over and over again wound up putting heart over mind.</p>
<p>Bundles of neuroses don’t come any more compelling than this alcoholic attorney, the brilliant matriarch of the Davis girls and the most engaging disaster you’re ever likely to watch — preferably from a safe distance.</p>
<p>The word “kickass” could’ve been coined to describe the former police commissioner, an all-around Superwoman whose capacity for hand-to-hand combat is matched only by her aptitude for heart-to-heart love.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder this rascally attorney’s hair is always fantastically askew: Next to the wisecracks in his head are countless plots, both the cajillions that he’s already hatched and executed, and — dare we hope? — the many that are yet to come.</p>
<p>Unlike Port Charles’ myriad mobsters and madmen, Jane Elliot’s undisputed queen of mean could kill with nothing more than a well-aimed insult. Mind you, she was just covering up the fact that, like anyone else, she had a heart; hers just happened to cost more.</p>
<p>When Jack Wagner’s crime-fighting pop star sang, “You’re aaall III neeed,” few and far between were the audience members who didn’t wish that he was singing to them. Even now, years after Frisco burned his bridges in Port Charles, we’re dying for him to cross back over them and give us an encore.</p>
<p>All it took was a big car wreck and a little brain damage, and Steve Burton’s squeaky-clean future doctor was reborn as a Mob enforcer whose love of tight black T-shirts was rivaled only by his love of Sam. (And, depending on the year, Liz.)</p>
<p>Fight us if you must, but for our money, Steve’s stalwart right-hand woman was the all-time most-tortured soap-opera martyr. Emily McLaughlin’s dedicated nurse never ceased to volunteer her big heart for breaking.</p>
<p>A tragic victim of circumstance, a stone-cold femme fatale or a little bit of both? With Maura West’s master manipulator, you can never be sure — but you’ll definitely tune in tomorrow (<em>and</em> the next day!) to see if you can figure out the vexing vixen!</p>
<p>By now, we’ve come to regard Maurice Benard’s dimpled don as <em>The Godfather, Part IV</em>. Formidable and flawed, the smooth criminal is a mass of contradictions that somehow add up to a character that’s as dangerous as he is appealing.</p>
<p>You know how you <em>know</em> that Carly is one of the all-time greats on <em>General Hospital</em>? The character’s withstood two and a half recasts (from Sarah Brown to Tamara Braun to, briefly, Jennifer Bransford, then Laura Wright) to remain an unstoppable force of nature, a freight train you’d be terrified to be in front of but more often than not find yourself willing to get behind.</p>
<p>The white hats in Port Charles tend to get overlooked in favor of the anti-heroes and bad boys — but not by us. We still fondly remember John Beradino’s good doctor — or, as we think of him, the foundation upon which General Hospital is built.</p>
<p>From Mob flunky to mayor, Anthony Geary’s irrepressible alter ego was fashioned from a mold that was long ago broken, one from which sprang the kind of absolute scoundrel who is as infuriating as he is entertaining, as irrepressible as he is irresistible. </p>
<p>Reunited with her birth mother? Check. Crushed on Mom’s man? Check. Abducted to a Greek isle? Check. Played dead? Nervous breakdown? Elected mayor? Check, check and also check. If it could happen to a soap-opera heroine, it happened to Genie Francis’ erstwhile Miss Star Eyes, along the way making her not just beloved but iconic.</p>

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