"General Hospital" is one of the most popular soap operas of all time and has been on the air since 1963.
The show was originally going to be called "Emergency Hospital".
The exterior of "General Hospital" is the University of Southern California Medical Center, located east of downtown Los Angeles.
This is the longest-running dramatic serial on ABC, and is the longest-running daytime drama produced on the West Coast.
During the original show, up through the 1970s, the show primarily covered Dr. Steve Hardy (John Beradino) and his friend, Nurse Jessie Brewer (Emily McLaughlin). Late in the 1970s, the show was doing badly in the ratings, so a new producer, Gloria Monty, decided to move the show's focus away from the hospital and onto material more relevant to a younger audience than the stereotypical "bored housewife", thus bringing in Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis), and eventually having them marry in a stereotypical fantasy wedding that would not be matched until the real-life marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
Luke Anthony Geary and Laura's Genie Francis' wedding in November 1981 remains the most-watched daytime television event ever, with almost 30 million viewers.
In 1981, Oscar-winner Dame Elizabeth Taylor appeared as the first Helena Cassadine, crashing Luke and Laura’s wedding and putting a curse on the newlyweds. It turned out she was a huge fan of the soap and happily agreed to the stint, donating the $2,000 she made from it to charity.
The brooch Anna Devane wore on her wedding dress when she wed Duke Lavery actually belonged to Ian Buchanan's grandmother.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor was never on-set during the wedding of Luke and Laura. Her footage was edited in.
After Laura's "death" in 1982, Anthony Geary suggested that Luke Spencer commit suicide. However, producer Gloria Monty refused to do that to the audience.
Ian Buchanan is famous for playing the character Duke Lavery. After 1989, Greg Beecroft started playing Duke, then Duke died, then Ian played him in 2012 when he had come back to life.
After a fourteen year absence from the series, Finola Hughes returned in the role of Anna Devane on May 12, 2006.
The soap brought HIV and AIDS awareness to the forefront with the onset of its first annual Nurses’ Ball fundraiser in April of 1994. It had a significant social impact, coinciding with the Day of Compassion, and even featured the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
There was a point where Emma Samms was torn between her roles on this show and on Dynasty. She was playing a dual role on both shows, dying her hair red for one and back to brown for another. Eventually, the Dynasty job won.
Luke and Laura Spencer returned to the show on October 29, 1993.
When Genie Francis was written out in 2002, Laura was originally supposed to remember her stepfather Rick molested her in the attic when she was a child. This was scrapped at the last minute after several re-writes and Laura instead remembered she found Rick having sex with a nurse in the attic. Genie Francis has stated in an interview that she went to the producers and appealed to them for a better write-off, but they declined.
Demi Moore got her start on this show as Jackie Templeton in 1981.
The show’s longest-running cast member is Leslie Charleson, who has portrayed Dr. Monica Quartermaine since August of 1977. However, co-star Jacklyn Zeman is a close second, having begun her run as nurse Bobbie Spencer in December of 1977.
"General Hospital" has inspired two spinoffs. There was daytime drama "Port Charles" (1997 to 2003) and primetime entry "General Hospital: Night Shift" (2007 to 2008).
As of 2022, "General Hospital" is the only American daytime soap opera on the air that is produced and owned by the network it airs on (in this case, ABC). As such, there is no technical need for the show to be renewed since there are no licensing fees to negotiate with outside production companies; ABC can keep the show in production for however long it wants to.
Trivia items from IMDB
Listen to my fascinating conversation with actor Ian Buchanan by clicking on the links below. Enjoy!
Episode 23 - HERE
Episode 24 - HERE
