General Hospital (GH) Spoilers: Genie Francis Looks Back At Nearly Half a Century as Laura
General Hospital (GH) spoilers shows that daytime legend Genie Francis is always going to be remembered as her Port Charles, New York character Laura, as in one half of number one super couple Luke and Laura.
She debuted on Feb. 8, 1977 and recently took a hike down memory road with Soap Opera Digest. Keep reading to find out what this lovely and talented actress had to say about one of daytime’s most recognized characters.
General Hospital spoilers: Genie Francis Plays Laura Webber
Mayor Laura is happily married to Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom). Francis had nothing but good things to say about her onscreen love interest: “Jon and I legitimately like each other, so there’s that, and that comes through. And also because he’s a really wonderful actor. I think we were both ready for something new.”
She noted that both of them had been on the show for eons and were, “excited about having something new. And the new thing seemed to just ignite; the coupling had a charisma to it and it’s always fun when you bump into something like that because it always ends up being something bigger than you, you come together and it sparks into something larger.”
She added that Laura also had that with Luke Spencer (Tony Geary).
GH spoilers: Laura Collins is Now Mayor of Port Chuck
Laura and Luke were in a controversial rape storyline early on. Of that she said, “When I look back at that time and how young I was, I don’t know how I got through it — and I got through it really alone. My parents were not that involved with me. [The network] was flying me from place to place and I was alone.”
“There were parts of it that were really, really hard and parts of it that were not good for me and then there were parts of it that were absolutely exciting and sublime. It had a little bit of everything going on. But it was a crazy amount of pressure and responsibility to put on someone who was a child.”
General Hospital spoilers: What Happens Next in Port Charles, New York?
Francis remembers her casting as if it were yesterday: “Yes, that I remember vividly. I remember my heart pounding so hard, I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. It was that ‘fire in the belly’ kind of thing.”
She added, “I was chomping at the bit, basically. I couldn’t wait to prove to people what I could do, I could not wait. It was like that before I got the job. I just had a knowing in my heart and my soul that I could do this, that I was going to be really good at it and I just was looking for the opportunity. ‘Someone let me show it!’” Luckily that is exactly what happened and daytime would not be the same without Francis’ portrayal of complicated, beautiful, multidimensional Laura Webber Spencer Collins. Brava, Genie Francis!
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