Anthony Geary, the beloved star of TV’s General Hospital, died Sunday in the Netherlands after having had a surgical procedure three days earlier. Geary played Luke Spencer on the still running ABC soap from 1978-2015. He was introduced as a hitman first and then evolved into a love interest for Laura Weber (Genie Francis)…after raping her! They became one of daytime’s most popular couples, and the characters’ wedding in November of 1981 was a ratings juggernaut (30 million viewers, unheard of for a soap). The two-day event was covered extensively in all media, and show fan Elizabeth Taylor appeared at the nuptials. Daytime magazines could not get enough of Luke and Laura, and they even made the cover of Newsweek. Geary also graced the cover of People twice, once alone in 1982, and the year before with Francis and Taylor.
Geary was born in Coalville, Utah, in 1947 and raised in a Mormon home. Seen by actor Jack Albertson in a college production, he then joined Albertson’s touring production of The Subject Was Roses. Some of Anthony’s other theatre credits were The Glass Menagerie, The Wild Duck, and playing the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar. His film debut came in Dalton Trumbo’s biting 1971 anti-war tale Johnny Got His Gun. Before GH he was on two other daytime dramas, Bright Promise and The Young and The Restless. Geary appeared in many popular TV shows during the 1960s and ’70s, including The Mod Squad, Mannix, Room 222, Marcus Welby, M.D., and The Partridge Family. In a 1971 All in the Family episode he played a friend of Mike’s (Rob Reiner) wrongly pegged by Archie as a gay man (ironically, Reiner and Geary both died on the same day).
In the ’80s and ’90s, he was seen on Murder, She Wrote, Roseanne, and the new version of Burke’s Law. Along with fellow daytimer Judith Light, Geary starred in Intimate Agony, a 1983 TV movie about herpes. Other small screen movies included Kicks, Sins of the Past, and Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam. Among Anthony’s big-screen credits were 1987’s Disorderlies, featuring rotund rappers The Fat Boys; the prison thriller Penitentiary III, also from ’87; opposite Lorenzo Lamas in the 1991 martial arts actioner Night of the Warrior; and the acclaimed 2009 British coming-of-age drama Fish Tank. He may be best known in some cinematic circles for his performance as the mad scientist Philo in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 1989 cult comedy UHF.
In 1991, bored with his role, GH created a new role for Anthony to play: Luke’s cousin, Bill Eckert. That move proved unpopular and the Eckert character was killed off. After leaving the show in 2015 he returned for a cameo in 2017. Geary was the recipient of eight Daytime Emmy Awards and has the most wins for playing a single character. Passing away on December 14 at 78, he is survived by his husband, Claudio Gama.