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General Hospital’s Finola Hughes Opens Up About the Twist That Left Her Going, ‘I Don’t Know What to Do With That’
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Honestly, that’s a perfectly natural response!
The big General Hospital anniversary is almost here (as if you didn’t know) and that means the stars have been out spreading the good word of Port Charles — especially the beloved vets like Finola Hughes who are just full of juicy stories from their time on the show!
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The actress stopped by Good Morning America the other day to chat with co-host Robin Roberts, who admitted that when she was in college she was such a General Hospital fan, she’d arrange her class schedule around watching it. Hughes said she’s heard that a lot over the years, and credited the show’s ability to provide real-life stories like dealing with Alzheimer’s and HIV/AIDs alongside more fantastical fare like revisiting the Ice Princess.
In other words, there’s something for everyone! But there are limits to the fantasy stuff and there was one story that stumped even a pro like Hughes. And we’re sure long-time General Hospital devotees know exactly what storyline she’s referring to!
“So one day, I was given a script,” she shared with Roberts, “and they said, “OK, so what we’re gonna do is we’re going to bring an alien into your garage.’ And I said, ‘An alien? What do you mean?’ ‘Oh, from outer space.’ Like an actual alien!”
Yup, she’s talking about Casey the alien, played to perfection by Bradley Lockerman! He wooed Anna a bit, befriended a young Robin and tracked down the crystal that would send him back home.
And in the process, “he lived in my garage and had a lot of questions about life on planet earth,” Hughes continued with no shortage of amusement. “And he was an extraordinarily handsome alien.”
That he was! As you can see right below.
“I literally took the script and put it on the coffee table and was like, ‘I don’t know what to do with that.'”
Well, she did exactly what she was supposed to do and made it work! At the time, Casey’s storyline was certainly divisive, but it’s hard to look back at it now without a certain amount of bemused fondness. With that said, unlike the Ice Princess, it’s probably not a storyline we need to revisit in today’s General Hospital.
Check out the entire GMA clip below, as Hughes also chats about how she’s able to learn her scripts and the why she thinks “Vanna” caught on so well with the fans.
We're celebrating the 60th anniversary of @GeneralHospital with the one and only @finolahughes! pic.twitter.com/SU2F8jRpPN
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 21, 2023
Who remembers the days of Casey the alien? Was there any other story over the years that made you stop and wonder just what in the world was going on?
Check out Hughes and the rest of the General Hospital cast in their gorgeously updated cast photos!
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<p>Prepare to feast your eyes on the official ABC portraits of the cast of <em>General Hospital</em>: solo shots, couple pics and, as you can see, some pretty amazing group photos, too. First, though, let’s suss out just who’s who…</p>
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<p>… plays Sonny Corinthos, the dimpled don who can impregnate a woman by doing no more than flash a smoldering gaze like… Ack! Like <em>this</em> one! Look away before it’s too late! Look away!</p>
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<p>… cranking up the heat on Sonny’s smoldering gaze.</p>
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<p>… now with more pepper in Sonny’s hair than salt.</p>
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<p>… serving up a reminder that Sonny is always “one to watch.” Get it?</p>
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<p>Because that was not the last picture — surprise! Here’s Benard with a marginally different T-shirt!</p>
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<p>… is Carly, Sonny’s mercurial ex-moll, who can go from “till death do us part” to “if looks could kill” faster than you can read this caption. And that’s even if you’re a <em>mega</em> fast reader.</p>
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<p>… doing Carly’s best “Who, <em>me</em>?” expression.</p>
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<p>… flashing a warm smile that says, “Eh, who needs the Metro Court, anyway?”</p>
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<p>… never fails to turn heads. In this case, her own. But you know what we mean.</p>
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<p>… competing with the sun to determine which of them is more radiant.</p>
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<p>She’s in black, yes, but don’t you <em>dare</em> call Carly basic.</p>
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<p>… brings to life Dante Falconeri, the PCPD detective who is… Oh, awkward. He’s the firstborn of the city’s most notorious mobster. Let’s focus on Mom instead, shall we? Next picture…</p>
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<p>But we really <em>are</em> heading toward the mother lode. Honest, we are.</p>
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<p>… portrays Olivia Quartermaine, the Bensonhurst babe who married so far up, she now lives in <span style="text-decoration: line-through">her Richie Rich husband Ned’s</span> Monica’s mansion.</p>
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<p>… is money, as the kids would say, as Ned Quartermaine, the heir apparent to grandfather Edward’s fortune — <em>and</em> his testiness. Good luck with that, buddy!</p>
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<p>… striking a pose that lets the world know that Ned is an ELQ MVP.</p>
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<p>… is Leo Quartermaine, Olivia’s son with late mobster Julian Jerome and Ned’s adopted son.</p>
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<p>… builds a bridge to Brook Lynn Quartermaine, the feistiest firebrand this side of her mama, the much-missed Lois Cerullo.</p>
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<p>… issuing a reminder that Brook Lynn doesn’t have to wear bright hues to be a colorful character.</p>
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<p>… serving glam to the nth. Maybe even whatever comes after the nth.</p>
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<p>… and ‘it’ is glam to the oth. Not the nth but the oth. Thank you for your and Brook Lynn’s help in clearing up this matter.</p>
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<p>… walks mile after mile in the shoes of Michael Corinthos, the corporate-minded offspring of Carly and <span style="text-decoration: line-through">A.J. Quartermaine</span> Sonny. Never mind that scratch-out; those in the family or its “business” know better than to discuss it.</p>
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<p>… defying Michael’s reputation as a buttoned-up type by altogether skipping that top button. That’ll show <em>us</em>!</p>
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<p>… is Michael’s girlfriend Willow, a sweet-hearted former schoolteacher who learns every day that in a town like Port Charles, it’s easy to get it wrong when you’re trying to do right.</p>
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<p>… offering us the sweet smile that’s going to make Willow such a great nurse.</p>
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<p>… looking for all the world like the calm before the storm.</p>
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<p>… demonstrating how Willow takes news that’s best received sitting down. There’s a <em>lot</em> of that kind in Port Charles!</p>
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<p>… giving us a hint of what <em>All My Children</em>’s Jenny Gardner might have been like, had she survived that awful jet-ski incident.</p>
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<p>… plays Wiley Corinthos, Michael’s son with the late Nelle Benson and, for a time, the kid most likely to be the potato in a game of parental hot potato.</p>
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<p>… played Harmony Miller, Willow’s late mother who, even after leaving the cult in which she raised her daughter, was still keeping plenty of secrets… like that she wasn’t actually Willow’s mom. </p>
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<p>… rocks as Carly’s chip off the ol’ block, Josslyn Jacks, a Ms. Popularity with enough fire in her to reduce to cinders anyone crazy enough to hurt her nearest and dearest. While maintaining a 4.0 GPA, we might add.</p>
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<p>… serving the side-eye that has reduced most of Joss’ detractors to rubble. (We love Joss, and we’re even feeling sorta rubble-ized!)</p>
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<p>… is Dex Heller, the ab-fabulous mystery man whose first step in Port Charles was onto a minefield that is as unlikely to leave him unscathed as he himself is to wear a shirt. (Translation: not very.)</p>
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<p>… here demonstrates the <em>Home Alone</em> OMG expression that the audience so often wears as they watch Nina Reeves make one questionable choice after another.</p>
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<p>… keeping Nina chill even as her storyline gets hotter, hotter, hottest.</p>
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<p>… missing the scarlet letter “A” that Carly would like to affix to Nina’s blouse for sleeping with Sonny.</p>
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<p>… back to show off the “Whatevs” expression that Nina reserves for her face-offs with Carly.</p>
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<p>… is the real-life alter ego of Alexis Davis, a former attorney and occasional hot mess who knows the law inside and out. As in, she hasn’t just represented criminals, she’s served time herself.</p>
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<p>… turning out the ultra-serious look that lets us know that Alexis means business. And not the funny kind, dang it!</p>
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<p>… plays Alexis’ oldest daughter, Sam McCall, P.I., mother and all-around action figure. She’s kinda like Nancy Drew with a better right hook and edgier wardrobe.</p>
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<p>… this time, with an expression that asks whether we are really questioning the last caption. Um, no. No, ma’am. Never.</p>
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<p>… brings <span style="text-decoration: line-through">back</span> to life Drew Cain, the “late” Jason Morgan’s “late” brother. Until an accident and some serious plastic surgery rearranged Drew’s face, he shared not only his twin’s taste in love interests but his handsome mug, too.</p>
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<p>… reminding us that Drew’s always looking for stubble. Er, <em>trouble</em>.</p>
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<p>… after what was apparently not a metaphorical close shave.</p>
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<p>… <em>has</em> to have seen it all in her years as Monica Quartermaine. The actress is the soap’s longest-serving cast member.</p>
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<p>… is Elizabeth Webber, the nurse you most want to administer your shots, if only because she can distract you with tales from her bat-[bleep]-crazy life. Pro tip: Ask her about the time she married a serial killer whose homicidal tendencies were contained in a brain tumor.</p>
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<p>… demonstrating Liz’s preferred method for trying, always trying, to leave her troubled past behind her. Don’t turn around, whatever you do!</p>
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<p>… working the plucky expression that has seen Liz through the toughest of times.</p>
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<p>… looking not at all like a Maroon Five but a Maroon 10.</p>
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<p>… makes it a point — see what we did there? — to enliven any scene as Cameron Webber, the teenage dream whose life has been, not to put too fine a point on it, a nightmare.</p>
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<p>… scrubs in as Dr. Hamilton Finn — Finn to his friends. Also Finn to pretty much everyone else. No one wants to compete with the musical to be called Hamilton anymore.</p>
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