The Accidental Celebrity
by Robert Schork

For some, it happens sooner--for others, later--but for every person in the public eye, there is a defining moment that makes one cognizant of the full dimensions of one's own celebrity. For Anthony Geary, there were two, and they brought the actor to two vastly different epiphanies.

The first came in 1981, when Geary and Genie Francis appeared on the cover of Newsweek, which was paying homage to the unprecedented popularity the duo had achieved for themselves and for General Hospital as Luke and Laura. Before then, Geary always thought of himself as a hardworking actor, but never a celeb. "What was important to me was always the work," says Geary, who explains that both he and Francis were too busy keeping their noses to the grindstone to appreciate the frenzy they had ignited. Just a few years prior, GH had languished at the bottom of the Nielsen food chain and faced imminent cancellation. But under the keen stewardship of executive producer Gloria Monty and head writer Douglas Marland, GH rebounded from last place to first--with much of that success attributed to Luke and Laura.

Originally, Luke was to meet his demise after 13 weeks on the show. "At that stage, nobody expected Luke Spencer to be anything but a colorful, eccentric dash of spice," Geary recalls. "But then I noticed I was getting longer scripts, bigger scenes and more interesting things to do." Perhaps the most interesting thing he was handed was Luke's rape of Laura. The subsequent romance between rapist and victim at once ignited a firestorm of controversy and catapulted the Luke and Laura franchise into orbit.

"What Gloria created with Douglas Marland and that whole early team, and the attention to detail that they put into these characters and how they put them together, made for such a strong foundation," Geary says. "The fact that Gloria never thought of it as rape is what made it brilliant, noncliché. She never saw it as a rape, and yet, as a director, she told Genie to play it as rape. She always thought of it as a seduction, and she instilled in me that it was a seduction, but the aftermath of it was rape. So that meant that in the moment of that evening, [Luke] was not fully present. I mean, the man has been devoted to this woman to an almost psychotic degree as a result of that night. And their relationship," not to mention the success of their characters, "never would have been the same had they just met and fallen in love."

But Geary soon would fall victim to the very reasons for his success, as the second defining moment of his celebrity horrifically illustrated. "It happened in Chicago, when I made an appearance at a shopping mall there, back when I used to do those kinds of things. There were close to 10,000 people there, and when I came onto the stage there was this thunderous noise, which turned out to be this chant: 'Rape me, Luke! Rape me!' They were holding up signs to that effect. All I can remember about it was the crowd of people looked like one great anonymous beast that was about to devour me. That's my most vivid memory of fans. I stopped them and said, 'That's not funny. It doesn't flatter me, and you should think about what you are saying.' It was terribly upsetting, and very scary. What was most disturbing was that the crowd was seeing me as some kind of an object of their, well, I don't know what. I couldn't feel complimented by that kind of attention. That was so sick to me, that public display of what they considered 'affection.' I was so disturbed by the experience, it took me at least three or four years to not be terrified to walk into a roomful of people again. In fact, I never went anywhere in public alone.

"It was one of the reasons I fled the show," Geary reveals. "I was burned out, and I was afraid that it was gonna...I was young, and I didn't know how to sustain that performance day after day without living it. It was all too much. I was really not in good shape when I left."

In fact, Geary reveals that, not only did the distinctions between actor and character blur for his fans but also for himself. Today, and older, wiser Geary has managed to hit his stride, while keeping Luke and Tony separate. "After all these years, I finally know what I'm doing and how I do it, and I'm not just a flash in the pan--as was widely suggested at the time. I've been cookin' this stew for quite a while. I really feel more deserving of any acknowledgement that comes my way today, because in the old days, I didn't know what I was doing, and it all felt kind of like a fluke. I was terribly afraid all the time I was gonna be discovered as a sham. Although I knew how to act, I certainly didn't know how to live."

"It was no coincidence that Gloria and I did a movie at that time called The Imposter, with Billy Dee Williams. It's a terrible performance. I was so angst-ridden and working so hard to be something; I'm not sure what. But it's kind of surreal, in a way. I haven't seen it in a long time. I don't want to see it, but my memory of it is that it's sort of like looking at my life at that time through a broken mirror. It's a nice movie, but I'm certainly not the best thing in it, and I should have been. But I was too involved in being an impostor, or feeling that I was, to play one successfully."

His feelings of being an impostor were not rooted in insecurities he had as an actor, but rather "in that whole celebrity thing. I lived in denial about it for a long time. I am not a guy who runs out and embraces celebrity. I am sort of the unintentional celebrity. But I've always known that I could act. Not a great actor, but a decent one who has learned a lot through the years. Even when I was a child, I always knew I was going to be an actor. The impostor things and the whole feeling of being a sham was this whole package of celebrity/popularity/lack of anonymity that came with it. I've never been much of a social person. One of the reasons I went to acting was to escape people expecting me to be something. I came from a very small town, and everybody knew everybody, and you were expected to be something, which I rejected very early on. And so, as a celebrity...there's some expectation there, and I was terrified that I was going to blow it."

Geary points to financial security and freedom as an upside of his celebrity. "You don't get that kind of lifestyle from just being a good actor. Unfortunately, or fortunately--it doesn't matter; there's no fortune in it, it's just the way things are--money comes with fame. That's the deal with the devil right there, and I do like to live well. So I've learned to put up with the downside of it, and through the years it's become much less down."

Geary confesses to falling into just about every once of the reckless pitfalls of celebrity. "But I won't go into any of that; that's my book. It hit me when I was already in my 30s, so it wasn't like there was a danger that I was gonna self-destruct like a lot of young people do. I knew how to get up in the morning and go to work under any circumstances. I've worked with 102 fevers, I've worked with too much Jack Daniels in me, but that's part of growing up. This is my favorite thing to say these days: Genie Francis grew up on General Hospital, I grew old."

But the low point for Geary was "coming to terms with the fact that I would never shake this role. That I would forever be stuck with it. That nobody would ever want me to do anything else, a Johnny-One-Note. My struggles through television and film have proved me right. I've had a lot more success onstage than I have anywhere else--and I don't hold anybody responsible for that; that's me, that's my own neurosis, and my own inability to deal with the opportunities, such as they were. Luke is mine. Nobody will ever play him but me; that's just the reality of it. I've created, by intent and just destiny, a persona that will accompany me to my grave...I guarantee you, in my obituary, it will say, 'Tony Geary--Luke on General Hospital--died today.' That's was really hard for me, because my whole reason for being an actor, my whole dream about it, was that I'd have an opportunity to dissolve into a million personalities. So what I've done instead is refuse to let Luke be anything but a million personalities. If I must play him, then he must serve me, as well. So as long as I live, he will not be a sofa cushion."

Another price Geary has paid for his celebrity "centers around envy and jealousy--which for me, results in social isolation. Once you have [influence], it's a real battle to hold onto it. If you're going to have such a thing, you usually don't go after it. That fell into my lap; hell, I'm just an actor doing my job, and trying to be as true to my work as I know how. But that resulted for me in some bizarre quirk of fate, destiny and timing, in what you might call power and influence. But that is a very temporary, ephemeral and fickle thing. And once you've had it, if you're going to stay within that arena, you don't want to give it up. Because nobody wants to go back to where they were. I would rather leave the arena than move too far into the back. I don't know, you call it pride...maybe it's a sickness that comes with power and influence."

What a long journey it's been for a boy who grew up in a town of just 800 people. "Yes, Coalville, Utah. No coal in sight. They ran out of names, I guess. I had good family, I had good education, my father provided for us well. My mother was at home and loved us. You know, I can't complain. If I had a choice, I probably would have chosen somewhere else--maybe Switzerland--but it wasn't my choice, so I ain't complainin'. But I was always restless and I never felt I quite fit in--I certainly didn't fit the environment, but it was not oppressive in any way to me. I was pretty much an odd kid who lived in his imagination--and I still am."

Geary realized he wanted to be an actor at the age of 6, and says his parents "were always very supportive of my creative bent. I spent most of my time alone. There weren't a lot of people to play with. I had a very fertile imagination, and it made me happy to explore it. I was writing stories and reading and building cabins on the hillside and running across the mountains with cheesecloth tied around my head. SO I've just never doubted that I would be in the arts of some kind." Geary believes he even may have a future as a writer, "but those doors are just being sort of nudged at the moment."

The oldest of three, Geary remains close to his sisters, DeAnn and Jana. With their parents both deceased, DeAnn took over their father's business in Utah, Geary Construction. "He started it in 1947, with a pickup truck and a shovel, and left her a very profitable and successful business." While Geary's father left something behind for him and his siblings, the actor sees no obligation to leave any kind of legacy himself. "Those of us who don't have children, we either have to live without a legacy, or find something else. I'm really much more interested in living than I am in leaving anything behind. I'm not even interested in leaving much money behind. You know, I have people I love, but I'm not obligated to take care of them. So they can have whatever's left, that's all there is to it. My life is very spontaneous in that sense, and I am in the moment. I live on impulse as much as I can. It keeps me interested, you know? And also, it helps as an actor to have some impulses left after all these years.

One impulse Geary does not harbor is the paternal one. "I have a 5-year-old nephew who satisfies any needs to have children," he says. "I'm not interested in fathering children. Some people are good at that; I wouldn't be. I'm too selfish. I'm 50 years old, man. What kind of life would that be for a kid? He'd know his old man till he was 70...no, no, no. I try to leave my good qualities to people in other ways, and I don't have the ego needs. I do think that once you lose your parents, if you don't have children, there is an existential thing you gotta get through called, 'I'm the end of this line.' But I tend to believe, like the Hindus in Bali, that you just keep coming back and coming back within the same family groups." Does that make him a religious person? "No. I'm a thinker."

Geary's paternal needs also are satisfied by his felines, "Max and Shiffy. Max is pedigree Persian. And Shiffy's a fur ball; we're not sure what gender. She's either a very soft man, or a hard livin' woman." Max and Shiffy greet him at the end of his work day, at which time the actor's routine usually consists of "coming home, washing the makeup off. Then I tend to my cats, put on some music, have a glass of wine, and go to my computer and write for a few hours." Out of necessity, Geary makes his home in Los Angeles, where GH is taped, but as often as his schedule allows, he flees La La Land for his home in Europe. "I spend as much time as I can there, because nobody knows me there, and nobody asks what you do; that's an American thing. My home is in a place where you have to know someone very well before you would presume to ask what they do for a living, because it's considered extremely rude. And there's no sense of celebrity there; nobody really cares. I'm practically commuting from my home in Europe, at times. I've flown home for three days because I've missed it."

Although Geary characterizes himself as an introvert, he stops short of taking on the antisocial mantle. "I have very few close friends, but they are who I prefer to spend my time with. And I do spend a lot of time alone; I always have since childhood. Being alone doesn't frighten me. But I wouldn't say I'm antisocial. I think there was a time in my life when my behavior was extremely antisocial, during the rushing-current years, but that all came out of fear. I don't mind people, I just don't seek them out. And I've never been one to keep in touch with anybody. People make me offers, 'Hey, let's go out to lunch,' or 'Let's have dinner,' and you know what, the second you're out of my life I end up losin' your number. It's nothing personal--just how I am. Those who really know me understand that--those who don't usually get all bent out of shape about it."

Geary isn't thinking about slowing down anytime soon. While many are quick to dismiss the big 5-0 as merely a number, Geary fully embraced the changes that the advent of his sixth decade on earth have brought to his outlook on life. "It's a very daunting number; 50 is half a century. That really hit me. I don't know what that means, except a long time!" he laughs. "I've lived hard, I've lived well, but I'm very healthy, and I'm extremely motivated to live. I think 50's pretty good. It's been a lot better to me than I could have ever imagined. On a personal level, my life is better now than it's ever been. Ever. I'm so much calmer and ready to face the challenges that I don't even feel like the same person. And that's really only happened over this last year."

To the casual observer, Geary's shoot-from-the-hip musings could be misinterpreted as arrogance when taken out of context; but take the time to listen with both ears, and one realizes Geary is simply a man who has little stomach--or time--for B.S. "Part of it is, I'm 50--I've got 20 minutes left!" he continues. "I know what's important to me. Don't f--- with me about anything else! I don't have time for it. I'm not interested. And you do get a certain freedom in knowing that. You realize what your priorities are, and you realize how much time you've wasted in your life appeasing people that you don't even like--and I just don't bother anymore. I try to be kind, I try to be generous, but the point is, don't f--- with me. Sometimes, you just have to push people away with attitude. Otherwise, they tend to sap your psychic energy. And I have nothing against emotional terrorism." Geary takes a beat, before saying with a hearty, tension-breaking laugh, "I may turn out to be a very grumpy old man."