On Luke Spencer

"I can't explain the popularity of Luke. But J.R. is truly a bastard, whereas Luke is schizophrenic. He's an anti-hero in the true sense. He can be as dark and as evil as anybody, and yet he can also be as sensitive, as vulnerable, as caring as a boy scout. But he is not a cliche, black and white character--he's very gray, very complex. And if that's a clue to his success, it's that surprise element in him. The audience doesn't know quite what to expect from Luke."

Soap Opera Digest, January 6, 1981

 

"Luke's a guy with bad qualities, but he's also sensitive and romantic. People root for him. They want him to make it."

Newsweek, September 28, 1981

 

"My face is not the face of a sex symbol, but Luke Spencer isn't interested in being pretty."

Newsweek, September 28, 1981

 

"It's more fascinating to play a character with grays. Luke is an actor's dream because he's so volatile and alive."

Newsweek on September 28, 1981

 

"Hutch is very good looking, much better looking than Luke."

Reprinted in Daytime TV: TV Superstars: Soap Opera's Greatest Stories, March 1982

 

"Luke started out a deregulated nightmare. He was greedy, chauvinistic, violent. But when he became popular there was a need for ABC to make him more 'regular.' They pretended the rape was really a seduction. Luke became mayor of the city and every year he wound up saving the earth."

TV Guide, February 16, 1991

 

"It was a surprise to me how much energy this takes. Bill was low maintenance. But Luke burns at a higher flame. I'd forgotten how much he loves life. I'm 10 years older--he almost burned me out then! Being a little more mature now, shall we say, I do have a better sense of pacing. But I fall asleep easily at night."

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

 

"Luke is an antihero. An antihero is a man who does not have heroic qualities, but who--under certain circumstances--rises to the occasion and performs in a heroic way. Luke is a man with terrible flaws, great weaknesses, too much passion. You don't solve these problems by having children. And if you do, you don't have a story. I look at Luke over the last two years as having been asleep. That was a user-friendly Luke.... As long as I hold on to what I believe is the core of this character--even if I can't use it--then it's there. I'm hoping Bob Guza will wake him up in a big way. We have talked about the real Luke. He's unpredictable; reluctant to give and dangerous to cross."

Soap Opera Digest, Spring 1996

 

"Claire is a brilliant writer and I admire her work, and I enjoyed the exercise of being the Luke she could find. It's just not the Luke I prefer. One of the things about Luke that was attractive, I think, was that I was never a matinee idol. I never looked good. I had a certain style. There was something inside that is untamable, that is sensitive without being sentimental. There is a dangerous edge in a woman who would allow him to take her to places she might not even want to go--but with him, maybe. That's because Luke is a guy who was completely unwanted in society. His father was a drunk, they had no money, his aunt was a madam, his sister was a whore. This was a kid who just couldn't get the brass ring, until he got Laura. And how did he get her? He raped her. He raped her and then seduced her. You can't take that mind-set and because they've got kids, make a plow horse. I think that's over now, and we're looking down a new road, hoping it isn't all sunshine. I enjoyed the battle of trying to keep him on track, and this experience of trying to be a more user-friendly Luke for a couple of years has taught me that I can do it. It may not thrill me. It may not feed me. So what I can't put into Luke, I put somewhere else."

Soap Opera Weekly, April 16, 1996

 

"Well, baby, that's what I do. The more dangerous, the better. No good ever comes from homogenization. When Luke and Laura were returned to the show and were the sweetest couple in town, nobody gave a damn--including me. Luke had become a sofa cushion. In my mind, he is reborn."

TV Guide, October 26, 1996

 

"I put in every one of those references. The scripts originally had Sonny Corinthos offering to have somebody bump Nikolas off, and Luke saying, 'Oh, no, that's out of the question.' But it's not out of the question. Luke is not a forgiving man. He considers Nikolas a child of rape--and rape is a real hot-button for Luke Spencer. We may be painting ourselves into a deep, dark corner, but this is the Luke I know and believe in. He will do anything to protect his family from perceived threat."

TV Guide, October 26, 1996

 

"I don't think Luke justifies any of his feelings--he just has them. Everybody knows the Luke and Laura romance began with a violent event--with a rape. Perhaps not a typical rape, but she was taken by force. That's an issue that's never really been resolved in Luke's mind. And the thought of another man having his wife by force and then her conceiving a child of that rape or that misuse of her body, this pushes all of his unresolved problems. I think he sees Nikolas as a product of rape. It's going to be really difficult for him to ever see Nikolas as anything else. He has to believe Laura was taken; he can't believe she was a willing participant in making this child. People have asked me a couple of times, 'Don't you think that's inconsistent?' But when you have unresolved issues, you don't want them right in your face. Nikolas is a threat on many levels. Luke's an extremist and an emotionally volatile man, and at the bottom of all of it is his protection of his family. It's not really about the kid so much, it's about the family. At this stage, Luke is not able to see Nikolas as Laura's son, he only sees Nikolas as a Cassadine. That's how I understand his behavior, but I'd never try to justify it. He's planted drugs on the kid, he's doing some extreme things which I'm loving. This is a guy who'll do anything to protect what he perceives as a threat to his own. That tracks right back to his childhood, so there's no inconsistency whatsoever as far as I'm concerned. I'm not interested in a hero. The people with the chinks in their armor are more interesting to the audience. This is an opportunity to show some vulnerability and some madness because it's all in there. It's all in him.... The way Luke looks at it, the kid was a match. He didn't choose to be a match. That's the luck of the draw. Just because it was him doesn't mean that we have to bow down to him. It could have been anybody. And secondly--even more importantly--somewhere in the back of Luke's psyche, Lulu is now contaminated with Cassadine blood. I don't think he would ever be able to embrace his daughter the way he does his son. He's an unforgiving man. I have planted the seed way back in the deepest edges of Luke's psyche that Lulu is not a pure Spencer anymore. They've not written that, but I have planted those seeds. If we continue to play this character long enough for Lulu to become a young woman, there's some real interesting stuff there if a writer ever wants to let those seeds bloom. This is the kind of thing I've always done with this character. I believe he's a living person. The one great thing an actor can do in daytime is give a character history. And when you give them history the audience can tap into, that's gold. Way back when Laura was taken away by the Cassadines, the seeds of hatred and murder were planted in Luke's heart. We're now getting some blossoms as a result of that history. And perhaps one day we'll be able to deal with the fact that Luke has problems with Lulu. At this point, she's just a baby, and he adores her, but I've planted the seeds. Lucky's my first born and the only pure-blood Spencer."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996

 

"Not so far. I wish he'd been written differently at times. Without slamming any writers--I don't want to do that--when we came back, it was with a terrific story right out of the Luke and Laura hope chest. Then I think we spent a year being some people I didn't know. I regret that year, but I don't think we had anything to do with it. As for me, I'm content with him. As long as we push the envelope and continue to keep the character on the edge and keep the audience a little uncomfortable, I'm a happy guy."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on whether he has any regrets about Luke

 

"Well, they have paired Luke in the past, not terribly successfully. I think that Luke Spencer can flirt with anybody. I think he's a serious flirt, but as kind of wild he is in other areas of his life, this is a one-woman man, and Laura's his woman. I wouldn't be terrifically excited about them putting Luke with anybody else--apart from flirting. I think Luke and Lucy have an interesting relationship. The sexuality is close to the surface there, but they're not going to sleep with each other as long as this man has Laura."

TV Guide website, April 2, 1997

 

"I love my character no matter what turns the plot takes. This character has taken a great deal of my life and he has given a great deal to my life."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997

 

"Suicide."

Soaps in Depth, May 27, 1997, on his choice of Luke's final scene

 

"Fortunately, Luke is an idiosyncratic character. I battle to hold on shades of gray in him. On soaps, we tend to be black or white. Luke has always fascinated me."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"At heart, Luke is much more a D'Artagnan (the fourth Musketeer) than a contemporary man. Someone asked me if I thought Luke could be relevant to the 21st century. I said he could be as relevant in the 21st as he would have been in the 17th. He's a romanticist, a cavalier of the classic order."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"We try to give Luke some volatility, which is attractive at 30, but it can be annoying at 50. The challenge is making the volatility meaningful. You still go over the cliff, but now it's an internal cliff."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"To be honest, I can't think of a character other than Luke that I could play every day. He's an anarchist."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"You know, I don't have traditional matinee idol looks, for God's sake. My character isn't a traditional leading man. If anything, he's an antihero. He actually raped Laura, to whom he's now married. It was a groundbreaking situation for daytime drama. It got a lot of attention, although it was date rape, not a vicious criminal act. I believe Luke's remorse and his faithful love and respect for Laura and their children, his turnaround, have made him popular with the audience."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"To me, Luke is the same man he always was. Maybe a little older--and he has life experience. Given experience, one tempers one's behavior."

Soap Opera News, June 10, 1997

 

"Yes, I think the worst thing that could happen to Luke is that someone he feels responsible for is injured or hurt. He is a protector by nature."

Soap Opera Digest, May 11, 1999

 

"He is loyal to the death. He would put himself in front of any bullet intended for anybody he loves. That's a very strong, positive quality in him."

Soap Opera Digest, June 22, 1999

On Luke and Laura

"After the sweatiest honeymoon on record, maybe other sides of our relationship can emerge."

People, November 16, 1981

 

"Luke fantasizes they will live happily ever after, but he knows better. He knows Laura is still young. He's about ten years older, which is a big difference in that age group. Any man who has had a relationship with a younger woman--and probably the same thing goes for a woman loving a younger man--knows the younger person has to go through a lot to be with them. There's a clock in the back of Luke's mind saying that the time is going to come when Laura will wonder what she's missed, and she'll try to regain it."

Reprinted in Daytime TV: TV Superstars: Soap Opera's Greatest Stories, March 1982

 

"I feel great about [switching from Bill back to Luke]. I did that new character and I basically didn't want to do Luke without Laura."

Soap Opera Weekly, November 2, 1993

 

"With Luke and Laura, the stakes have to be very high--there has to be an adversary. These aren't characters who sit around talking about their relationship. These are eccentric characters who drive the plot."

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

 

"Luke and Laura have a life force of their own. They've lived in the audience's hearts [for the past decade], without our even wearing the clothes. So it's sort of like picking up where we left off."

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

 

"They've been together for ten years, they have a child, they've lived under very precarious circumstances which, rather than driving them further apart, helped them get closer. Even after ten years, given their history, I don't think Luke goes to bed each night without hoping that in the morning, she still loves him."

Daytime TV, March 1994

 

"What we're trying to do is make our old friends who are coming back to the show feel at home again. Hopefully, we can also bring back some fond memories of where you were ten to fifteen years ago. Maybe that was a happier time for you. I hope through our continuity, we can establish a kind of touchstone of wonderful feelings that you can all relate to."

Daytime TV, March 1994, on the return of Luke and Laura

 

"Luke is not a hyphenated character."

Soap Opera Digest, Spring 1996

 

"The very first runaway story--The Left-Handed Boy with Sally/Max and Hutch. It was so successful that all the other soaps--and ours--have adapted it. How many young couples have run away since as an adventure? It started with the fight with Scotty and Luke on the boat and ended up with the solving of the Left-Handed Boy. It took us about eight months, and for my money, it's never been done as well. It was beautifully laid out.

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on his favorite L&L storyline

 

"Before I give my prognosis, I'd say my hope is a lot more trouble because that's been a lot more fun to play. Genie and I sort of make our marks with the edgier, more emotional material. We do it well, and it also rings true for these characters. What doesn't ring true for them is a happy, contented home life. That doesn't work for us. The prognosis itself? Dangerous, but not critical. I think it will be worked out in the end, but I don't know if the feelings that have been stirred up from this will ever be resolved. Just like life, you can forgive and love and go on, but sometimes you never forget. It does affect the future, and it should--this was a major event in their lives. I don't think we can ever just walk on happily into the sunset again without looking over our shoulders."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on the revelation that Laura has a Cassadine son

 

"The history of the characters is where the richness lies. You can bring new characters in, but it's always best to bring them in through the history of the character. Bob Guza, who was here briefly to lay this story out for us with Stefan Cassadine, was a dialogue writer way back during that first runaway story. He always got the characters because he was there as they were being created. He was able to say, hey, you guys have really been wasted here, so we're going to dip into the history. I think he came up with gold. I'm real happy with any time they can keep the history of the characters alive. I really think the audience is far more interested because that connects to their own history. At the same time, you've got to keep moving forward. There are plenty of stories yet to play with new villains. One of my favorite villains ever on GH was Faison. Anders Hove, a Danish actor, was just a wonderful actor. He made Faison a fascinating and very dark villain--the kind of villain audiences love. He was very attractive and very sexy. I'd love to see that character pop up again. When you deal with Luke and Laura, you need to take a broader brush stroke because there's room for it. It's soap opera, not soap pen pals. Look at your queen bitches of daytime--it's all about taking characters that are really sort of out there. The Lukes and the Lauras, the Erica Kanes--every show has them. You've got to crank them up a couple of notches so you get something other than infidelities to deal with. Otherwise, every show is the same. I'm all for new villains as long as they fit the franchise.

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996

 

"Yes, I would. Why not? I'm not into politically correct. When it comes to the theatre, as I told you, I think it should be disturbing. I know the network would never do it today, but of course I would.... They backpedaled like crazy. They never expected the audience to respond to Luke's side of it like they did. It annoys me that people portray this as if we outraged the audience. We didn't do that. We did a rape, and the audience fell in love with Luke. That wasn't our fault. Nobody was trying to denigrate women or put one over on anybody--that's rewriting history. The audience responded to Luke and his pain. Gloria (Monty, GH's executive producer at the time) wasn't afraid of that. She was a woman who believed-she didn't go to focus groups--she believed in 'I'll lead the audience, not follow them.' That's the way I feel, too. When you start following the audience, the tail is wagging the dog. You bet I'd do it again--in a flash. It's a great dramatic moment. But I don't think anybody else has got the courage to do it again."

Soap Opera Magazine, November 19, 1996, on whether he'd do the rape scene today

 

"I sure didn't. I had no concept. I don't really think 15 years in advance, but the marriage seemed like a good idea at the time. Luke had wanted Laura for a long time, so it was a great relief to him."

Soap Opera Update, November 26, 1996, on whether he thought L&L would stay married for 15 years

 

"The conflict that the Cassadines brought up in the marriage is something that we need. It's a soap opera. If you have two people without problems, you don't have a story anymore. Luke and Laura have been classically, romantically and eternally linked. It's difficult to find something that can shake them, and this is doing it."

Soap Opera Update, November 26, 1996

 

"This was the first time a story like that had been told, which is now a staple for daytime. We were the first to do it, and for my money, it's never been equaled."

Soap Opera Update, November 26, 1996, on the Left-Handed Boy storyline

 

"Luke flirted with her, and she was Laura's shopping partner. For three months, the audience saw her as a woman. It was very dramatic and very risky at the time. The audience was just shocked and horrified and delighted and thrilled when she took the wig off."

Soap Opera Update, November 26, 1996, on Sally/Max, the hitman in the Left-Handed Boy storyline

 

"[Genie] really came back as a favor to take me away. I was chomping at the bit to get out."

Soap Opera Update, November 26, 1996, on the couple's departure in 1983

 

"The roots of these characters are so deep and solid and understood by us. They were created by both Doug Marland and Gloria Monty, who really cared. They built an extraordinary foundation. I could play Luke till I drop dead--and probably will--and there will still be things to play based on that foundation, those roots. And that's really lovely. I see that in Genie every time we do scenes about motherhood--where Laura comes from is always present in Luke's mind."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997

 

"I don't like to be Luke without Laura. She is his heart and his humanity. I don't want a major storyline without her.... I don't want another romance. I'd rather lay low in Genie's absence and protect the Spencer franchise. She's the only woman for Luke. They're not going to do any affairs--we're not going down any of those usual roads. He can flirt with everybody--and he does, shamelessly--but the man is not going to violate those vows. No way. The marriage will be on hold, and I'm OK with that as long as we've got the family. She's got part of the family--Lesley and Lesley Lu--in one place, and I've got Lucky here, so we'll never close that door. There's plenty of stuff to do. I can always support other storylines. I'm not that concerned about it. Hopefully, Genie will do what she needs to do for her family and still want to come back."

TV Guide website, May 14, 1997

 

"I don't like to do Luke without Laura. She is his heart and his humanity. I don't want another romance. I'd rather lay low in Genie's absence and protect the Spencer franchise."

TV Guide on May 17, 1997

 

"One of the wonderful things especially with ABC 15 years ago was that Genie and I can do other things and they won't kill off the characters. Luke and Laura are sort of permanent staples of American daytime. How bad can that be?"

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"When the infamous rape occurred, Genie was 16 or 17. They'd never do that scene today because it is much too controversial. The audience responded not only to her pain but to Luke's. So we had two people victimized by one person's passion and obsession. That story wouldn't be done today. Those roots were so politically incorrect, I try to hang onto them in these politically correct times. It's difficult in drama to be politically correct because conflict is the basis of drama. We all have conflicts. What would life be without them, without insults and unacceptable behavior? Hurt feelings are part of everyone's life."

Soap Opera News, June 3, 1997

 

"I like the fact he is a one-woman man. He may flirt shamelessly, but he'd never be unfaithful to Laura. I'd never want him to be. In a way, it is more difficult to keep a marriage alive on a soap opera than in real life. As soon as a soap couple is happy together, it's over. But we've kept the conflicts alive. Laura is an angel to Luke, the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Luke couldn't be better."

Soap Opera News June 3, 1997

 

"I don't have to justify it. I believed it from the beginning. I don't have a problem with it starting with a rape. That's obviously a question from a politically correct point of view. I'm not saddled with that point of view. I thought it was obviously dramatically perfect."

Soap Opera News on June 10, 1997

 

"The night of his inauguration, he's all alone in the mayor's mansion and walks out onto the balcony. I shudder just remembering the moment. It was a wonderful scene of a man who had reached a dream and finds it empty.... It was very touching because Genie and I were both fully in character. Even after we rehearsed it, we stayed in character."

Soap Opera News, June 10, 1997, on his most memorable scene with Genie

 

"The writers are responsible for the highly romanticized relationship. No tips."

Soap Opera News, June 10, 1997

 

"It was played as a rape, desperate and dirty, and then there was a quick rush to rewrite it as a seduction. By the way, it was also child molestation--Laura was only 17 at the time--but that was never talked about. My biggest concern is that we don't rewrite it again to make it politically correct. Any man who takes a woman's body by force to make himself feel better is a monster. And we need to deal with that.... If Laura were here, there'd be an awful lot of talk. Instead, we have Luke alone on the edge of the abyss in an existential crisis--and that's my favorite place to work from. But if they can get Genie to come back--and believe me, they're begging--there can be a very powerful second level to this. After all, Laura is the one who fell in love with her rapist. That's an even more dangerous story to tell."

TV Guide, March 7, 1998

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