On Working on General Hospital

"I never had it so good. I'm staying right here!"

Daytime TV: General Hospital Photo Album No. 1, 1981

 

"I really enjoy Luke's sense of humor. I'd like to see more of that. But I really can't complain. I think I'm given a tour de force daily and I don't ever expect to have one part that will give me the opportunity to do as much as I've done on this show. I do a lot of rewriting of dialogue because Gloria Monty's given me that freedom. I don't change the direction of the scenes, but I do take the thoughts that are written and put them in different words. And very rarely have I had any flack from Gloria about it. So I feel like I've gotten as much control with Luke as I could ask for."

Soap Opera Digest, January 6, 1981

 

"I like to party and I have relationships, but I don't pursue tight, personal relationships. I like many of the people around here very much, and I enjoy being with them, but I don't party with them. Now that Kin Shriner's leaving to do Texas, we're finally going to have a drink together."

Soap Opera Digest, January 6, 1981

 

"I have given my life to this show--physically, emotionally, spiritually. The work is harder than on prime-time TV. Genie and I have carried as much as 60 pages of dialogue a day, four or five days a week. No nighttime show, no film makes those demands."

People, November 16, 1981

 

"This is not going to be my career. But I will never again work without trying to achieve the dedication I feel here. It's ruined me."

People, November 16, 1981

 

"I'm usually pretty loose and the improvisation that goes on--Gloria loves improvisation. Sometimes things just happen and it comes off naturally. Luke has his own rhythm and the thing about improvisation is that spontaneous moment that you can't plan. What's really exciting is two people working together and getting off on each other's chemistry."

Quoted in the the Tribune (a local paper), November 16, 1981

 

"The minute Claire was involved, I let out a deep breath and relaxed. I knew we'd be OK."

TV Guide, October 16, 1993, on the return of Luke and Laura.

 

"People laugh when I say this, but I asked them to move my dressing room. A room became available that's exactly 63 steps closer to my car! You save miles every week. I'm also closer to the elevator. So much time is usurped by learning line, every minute counts."

TV Times (a section of the Los Angeles Times), January 2, 1994

 

"I have held on like a g--damn rottweiler, locking my jaws around what I know Luke Spencer to be. And I won't give up. Because that was what first got the attention. And that is what holds whatever shred of interest there still is. This character has lived longer than any writers, directors, producers or actors."

Soap Opera Digest, Spring 1996

 

"Look, I'm only an actor here. I like my job. Let me shut up, back off and stop trying to enforce who I think he is and do the best I can to give [GH brass] what they want. They were pretty thrilled with what I did. I did it pretty damn well. But you know how I did it? I said, 'Luke's asleep. He will rise again.'"

Soap Opera Digest, Spring 1996

 

"I don't spend time anymore wishing for things to happen. I do have my hopes up with this new writer that Luke will have a little more blood in his veins, and the danger will be closer to home. But I'll try to do whatever they give me. I'll give it my best."

Soap Opera Digest, Spring 1996, on Robert Guza, Jr.

 

"I really didn't think that I was going to live through it because I was so miserable. I had to leave the show when I did because it was to the point of do or die. I came out the other end just happy to be alive. It was so far away, though. I look back on it with affection."

Soap Opera Weekly, April 16, 1996, on leaving Luke the first time around

 

"At that time Luke was my entire life. I had no life other than that. I was a much younger man and a much more intense man about my career and everything. And I really thought at the time that I was making a step toward something else that I thought was going to be bigger and greater, and it terrified me because what I had was so consuming. And so I was wild. I was completely wild the whole time. But what was fabulous, was that so was Luke. He was completely wild. The writers liked this volatile bundle of nerves. They liked it, they embraced it. I mean, I was never asked to calm down, either as a person or as a character."

Soap Opera Weekly, April 16, 1996, on playing Luke the first time around

 

"A really, hot uncomfortable day in Los Angeles. We were all in morning coats, overdressed for the afternoon, for a very long day--and we were roasting. The clips from that show have followed Genie and myself for the rest of our lives, to the point where she cringes when she sees them. I'm like, 'Oh, God, are we going to see these again?' I'm glad other people enjoy it, but whenever we appear anywhere, there's always the wedding-vow clip. It was beautifully shot, but my memories are Number One, the experience was really uncomfortable, and Number Two, the clip has been haunting me the rest of my life."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on what he remembers about L&L's wedding

 

"Have I ever? I say that all the time, particularly when we get new writers. These are very difficult characters. I don't want them simplistic, I don't want them homogenized--we've experienced that. That doesn't work. I think it's part of my job to question and to say he wouldn't do this when he wouldn't. I've found through the years that people respect it. If you've been playing a character for 18 years or 20 years as Genie has--and we've had 25 different writers or more--there's only one consistent element, and that is the actor playing the part. It's unethical not to fight and say he wouldn't do that. If you don't you're not taking the character seriously. And if you don't take the character seriously, the audience isn't going to. You have to be true to yourself and you have to fight for the truth. Otherwise, there's no hope for this character. Characters aren't viable for years and years on soaps by being inconsistent."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on whether he tells writers "Luke wouldn't do that"

 

"Sure. Tristan Rogers used to do it all the time. Kin Shriner used to do it. All the actors that I work with. Everybody knows that as far as I'm concerned, they have the freedom to fire right back. Improvisation is often born out of not wanting to stop the scene even though somebody is lost. Sometimes that works really well because you're totally spontaneous and in the moment. It's not a matter of just getting out there and having fun and ad-libbing all over the place, it's a matter of knowing who you are and what you want and keeping on track. It's much more disciplined than people realize. I don't even like the word ad-libbing because it sounds like you're playing. Life is an improvisation, it's not an ad-lib."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996

 

"I didn't put myself in for the last four years because I didn't think I had any work that was appropriate for Emmy consideration. It was as simple as that. This year is different. This year I had the opportunity to regain some acting territory that I think I've missed."

TV Guide website, April 2, 1997

 

"I think we have an extraordinary group of actors on the show at the present time. The nominations, not only my own... it's like my whole acting family is there. It's not too hard to have chemistry with people who are cooking. I don't want to sound self-deprecating, because that's not my style, but I think chemistry has to do with listening--listening to the character and the actor as the character and just really being open to all the realities, not just the reality offered by the script."

TV Guide website, April 2, 1997

 

"You know, I took a job in 1978 and I'm still there, and it...it's utterly amazing to me."

Oprah, April 7, 1997

 

"I always said I would never tell, but, uh, but, a lot of the ladies that I did bedroom scenes with haven't been very shy about telling. I like to do them that way, you know."

Oprah, April 7, 1997 (from an interview on AM Chicago in 1984, on doing his love scenes in the buff)

 

"Well, for me, it's a...it's such a different experience. I was pretty wild in those days, and I had Luke Spencer and my own life so confused that I was livin' to close to the edge.... So I, um...ya, I'm gonna be fifty at the end of May , thank you very much. And I'm very...uh, I, and I really feel that uh, I came close to not makin' it."

Oprah, April 7, 1997, on playing Luke again

 

"I had an aunt of mine introduce me to her friends as 'my nephew Luke Spencer.' And, uh...that was when I thought I'd better leave this show."

Oprah, April 7, 1997

 

"I just had to work with the idea that Luke felt completely trapped and did not have a good idea--he had to go with this really bad plan. 'Cause no way would he have done it otherwise. There were so many other things he might have done in that situation before faking her death.... By the time we realized what the story really was about, there was so much already shot that you couldn't complain.... They were so wise about that. They didn't tell us anything until it was done. So then all you can do is go, 'OK, I'm in the middle of a really bad plan here--I'm just going to push ahead.' But we do go crazy."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997, on the Twist of Fate storyline

 

"We are the protectors of a franchise; that's the way I feel about it. The Spencer franchise. I'm always looking to how we stay relevant and how we keep these characters from being destroyed by bad writing or bad choices."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997

 

"There's a lot of blood on floors because of Luke Spencer. And I'm not a star, either. I may have some star power...but I'm a journeyman actor who never expected all this. I've approached this part the same way I would any other. I'd be just as much a pain in the ass in a play or a movie. And that's because I'm doing this to express the stuff that doesn't get expressed in life. That's why I'm here."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997

 

"I'm not here trying to get a job. This is my job. This is what I do and, sure, if a great play or movie came along, great. But I'm not waiting for it. I don't expect it. I don't interview for jobs, I don't audition for them. I have my job, and it's a good one. With all its heartaches and annoyances, this is still a great situation. I value it and hope it lasts."

TV Guide website May 14, 1997

 

"The meeting did not go well, but I made no ultimatums and there was certainly no violence. I really don't know if I had anything to do with his departure, but I wouldn't shed any tears if I did--I don't know any actor who wasn't complaining about the writing."

TV Guide, May 17, 1997, on the rumor of his fight with headwriter Richard Culliton

 

"The only thing I can say that I'm really clear about is that when Bob Guza came on as head writer a year ago, he put me solidly back on track. He plucked me out of the barren wasteland of moral certitude and put me back on the craggy cliffs of danger and emotional anarchy. He put me back on track so solidly and he was so courageous about letting me push the boundaries--...the darker side of Luke Spencer and his obsession with his family and his enemies, real and imagined--he put me so solidly on track that I've really just been coasting on that. I noticed this a long time ago: When you're on a show for years, good stories come and bad stories come; there's always going to be a lag. It's all cyclical. And I've always noticed that when we come off a really good story that is character-driven, and I know exactly what Luke is doing, I can coast on his adrenaline when the less spectacular material comes along. And I think that is what's happening now. When Bob allowed us to reopen the doors to the darker chambers of Luke's heart again, it fleshed him out. He's a cardboard character unless he's got the darkness. That's when he's a lot richer, more real, more appealing for me. So my intent when I pick up a script that is not as dramatic or focused as one might hope, is to just try to find Luke somewhere in a joke or in a line or in a relationship with another character, and just play that. And I underplay the rest of it."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"A long, long time ago a great acting teacher--it was [Lee] Strasberg--said to me, 'The weaker the material, the less you do with it.' So when you don't do much for days at a time, because the material is weaker than you would hope, you really have to fall back on the character and the relationships. The relationships are really strong on GH. The history holds us up. I can be in a scene with Jackie Zeman, and I don't care what we say--it's still gonna work on some level. It's pretty much the same with Genie, although it's much more complicated--it's difficult to have two people driving the scene. It can be easily off-balance. There are times when she's got to be strong in certain ways, weaker in others. It's a dance. The Luke and Laura relationship is always more complicated. But Luke's relationships with Bobbie or Tony or this new one developing with Carly--these dynamics are so clear that you can pretty much look at the other person and get through it. I always feel that if you've got one good moment in a scene, you're ahead of the game because you can focus on that and it'll put everything else in order. When you can't find anything in a scene, then you're f---ed. That's usually when Luke winds up smoking a lot of cigars."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"She tried to 'get' Luke Spencer, but he's a very difficult character to get. She had a certain place she wanted him, but it wasn't where I wanted him to be. We had a talk about it and I said, 'OK, you're the writer--write him the way you want him to be and I'll see if I can do it.' And I did. And I fell through the sofa cushions. Her attention wasn't on us."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997, on Claire Labine

 

"Yes. But you know what? It's not my problem. I can't take care of people."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997, on whether he scares writers

 

"I was invited in very early on to be a part of the birth of Luke Spencer. So now I really see no reason to diminish him for any writer's comfort."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"There is a malady in this business--and it happens all over daytime--writers come onto a show and rather than stick with the characters who have brought the show along thus far, they want a clean slate. They want to bring in all their new characters. It's just what they want to do, partially because they get residuals for the new characters, partially because they understand them better, partially because they don't have to do the background work. And we have tremendous background on this show. It cannot be ignored--the actors will know it and the audience will know it. But inevitably new writers will come in and go, 'Oh, OK, I got Luke figured out--he's a wild one' or 'He's a whatever' and it's never as simple as 'He's this, he's that.' There's no simple category that fits these characters! So, yeah, I am demanding and I do ask for changes, but--as you can tell by what you're seeing on air--there's only so much I can do."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"It seems to be my position to be the loudest of the actors--I sort of represent the group."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"And I also said, 'I must leave you with one thing--writers come and go, the producers come and go and, true, actors come and go, but the characters remain. So I figure my biggest job right now is keeping this character intact until you're gone.' That is how our meeting went. And then I was very pleased to hear within five to six days that he had taken a powder--so if I had anything to do with it, God bless me. Now I don't know how you're gonna write that without making me sound like a total a--hole."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997, on his rumored fight with Richard Culliton

 

"I really feel at this stage after 20 years with these characters--and I hate to speak for Genie, but I think she feels the same way--the biggest part of my job these days is hanging onto the franchise, making sure that it's not destroyed or discarded by people who either don't have the ability or the time to look into the history and build their stories out of what the audience already knows. We are now in this era where writers and producers come and go so quickly that nobody assumes they'll be keeping the job they currently have for very long. Therefore, they have no long-term investment in the future. It's like living in a community and not giving a damn that vandals are spray-painting graffiti in the school yard, because you won't be living there in two years."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"When Bob Guza came in, he didn't suddenly flood the show with new characters but actually reached into that treasure chest of past experience and relationships--and as a result of that we had 18 Emmy nominations. I rest my case. I guarantee you that the actors who were nominated--and I've heard from practically every one of them--that they chose scenes from the first four months of the [qualifying period]. Because after that, Guza was gone. We were stumbling the rest of the time."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"No! I did not punch him out. It did not get ugly. I stated my case and he tried to state his, but it made no sense to me and I said, 'Well, if there's any way I can help you...' Because I've offered and offered and offered. I'm willing to sit with these people, I'm willing to talk with them--and Wendy has been willing to have that happen. At least Claire Labine would sit and talk to me before she said, 'I can't write this character.' This guy thought he was writing it! So I have 10 weeks off this summer and I'm going to take it. I love the show and I love the character, but it's very painful year after year to get three months of good story that then goes completely to s---. It's very, very painful. But I'm sure it's as painful for the others as it is for me. But I must say this about Wendy: She has given me free reign to do what I can to keep my own stuff afloat, and I have to hand it to her for that. She truly tries not to restrict me from full-character bloom."

TV Guide website, May 21, 1997

 

"One time, in the middle of a very emotional scene, Foster sat down, raised his back leg and began a cleaning ritual that gratefully had never been seen on our set before."

Soaps in Depth, May 27, 1997

 

"Personally, it's been a 20-year association with a great character. Professionally, it's been 20 years of not being able to get work on any other show. But, it's a hell of a good living."

Soaps in Depth, May 27, 1997

 

"Driving home."

Soaps in Depth, May 27, 1997, on the best part of his workday

 

"I'm a big fish in a little pond, and after years of struggling to find bigger ponds, I'm now happy with what I'm doing where I am. I swim this pond pretty well."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"But I'm not looking for movies or other TV roles. This is my full-time job and I like it. I like doing Luke Spencer."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"I have a great job and I like what I'm doing. Over a 13-week cycle, I work three days a week, and I keep working on ways to bring more reality to Luke. It's not easy for the writers with 30 major characters. It's like running in front of a locomotive all the time trying to keep track of the storylines. I realize the biggest part of my job is keeping the character on track, making sure he hasn't violated his history. I must be attentive to what he might do and say because the audience has watched him these 20 years and they know him. They often know more than the new writers who join the show. I don't believe in catering to the audience by having Luke do things they'd like to see him do. I like to keep him provocative and challenge viewers instead of consoling them. I don't want Luke to be a big, comfortable sofa of a character. That's the tendency after many years--to make characters like Luke and Laura these wonderful neighbors of yours. There's no drama in that. Genie and I battle forcefully to keep the edges on our characters. One of the reasons for our longevity is the idiosyncratic approach to playing them. When we change writers we help steer, cajole, coerce and do all we can to keep the characters on track."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"I had my life and my career so confused when I was in my 20s and early 30s, I thought if I weren't making films or on Broadway, I wasn't an actor. My life became secondary to my role. I became more Luke than Tony. It got very confusing. When General Hospital was on the cover of Newsweek as TV's hottest show and the media was covering our every move, it was a heady time. It was a lot to survive. I was a flash in the pan."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"I wouldn't want to play any other character unless I played my son, for obvious reasons: I'd have another 30 years of my career."

Soap Opera News, June 10, 1997, on what other GH character he'd like to play

 

"I think we're all underrated."

Soap Opera Digest, July 8, 1997, on the question of who's the most underrated actor on the show

 

"That would have to be the return of Luke and Laura in 1993, and the difficulties with the series of writers that followed. I mean this in terms of holding on to who these characters were and are, as opposed to being redefined by people who don't have the investment in this couple that Genie and I have."

Soap Opera Magazine, October 28, 1997, on his biggest battle

 

"Power is a very subjective thing. I could be really poetic. I could tell you power is the dew that hangs on the leaves in the morning because it reflects the light. I guess power is something you don't feel, but you are perceived to have--and in the perception is the power. The reality is that I don't feel very powerful. I feel like a guy who knows what he's doing, and is quite willing to let my blood run on the walls to let people know I feel strongly about it. If that's power, so be it."

Soap Opera Magazine, October 28, 1997

 

"The older I get and the longer I'm on the show, art keeps imitating life."

Soap Opera Magazine, February 9, 1999

Continue to the next page