Lean On Me: Maurice Benard (Sonny) and Laura Wright (Carly) in a scene from GH’s anniversary episode.
Expect a poignant, emotional, and history-rich episode when General Hospital marks its 62nd anniversary on Tuesday, April 1.
In the milestone show, a cross-section of Port Charles residents will gather at the hospital for the dedication of the Monica Quartermaine Cardiac Care Center (Monica’s portrayer, the late Leslie Charleson, will be honored separately, later this year).
The occasion will give the characters the opportunity to reflect on what G.H. has meant to them over the years. Digest spoke with Laura Wright, whose Carly will share touching scenes with her ex-husband, Sonny Corinthos, in the episode.
Memory Lane
According to Wright, who will mark her 20th anniversary in the role of Carly in November, participating in a special episode like this one feels, well, special.
“This one honors Leslie Charleson, so that’s special,” she points out. “And I get to work with people that I don’t usually work with on an everyday basis, because they sprinkle in different people from the cast together.
There are a couple of scenes where everyone’s together, and that definitely feels special.”
Carly’s day starts out with her young daughter, Donna, and Felicia, who works at the hospital as a patient advocate and was close friends with Carly’s late mother, Bobbie Spencer.
“Donna wants to go see the [memorial] wall, the wall of people who have passed away who made General Hospital so special,” Wright explains. “And then Felicia let’s Carly know, ‘We’re celebrating 62 years [since the hospital’s founding].’ ”
Carly, Felicia and Donna then lovingly remember Bobbie, who passed away last year. Later, Carly meets up with her former hubby, Sonny. “When Carly and Sonny run into each other, Carly’s in the chapel,” the actress reports. “And they talk about, ‘how, it’s been a long time [since we’ve been coming here],’ and Carly says that she doesn’t think of loss when she thinks of General Hospital.
She thinks of all the nurses and doctors and her mom and how they’ve taken care of so many people. So, it’s very emotional and I think just kind of perfect. It’s a bittersweet thing for Carly in that moment. I think that a hospital would be, especially a hospital chapel.
It’s a place where people are healed and there’s so much great success, but there are also people who find themselves in the chapel to pray that the people they love make it. They kind of talk about that.”
While the oft-married Carly and Sonny are in different romantic spheres at the moment, their connection remains palpable. “They’re family,” Wright declares.
“And there is stuff coming up in a few weeks, stuff going on with Sonny, where Carly steps up — without a doubt, without a question — into a spot of support. They are family, whatever has happened in their romantic life, and no matter what, she’s got his back and vice versa.”
Wright’s stand-out memories of shooting the episode involve getting to be on set with actors whose storylines don’t often cross with hers.
“I loved being on set with Finola Hughes [Anna] and Jane Elliot [Tracy] and Wally Kurth [Ned],” she enthuses. “Most of the fun stuff is behind the scenes, like us being yelled at to stop talking and laughing so we can get to the scene and stuff like that [laughs].
Us trying to take pictures of each other and them telling us to hurry and put our phones away and to hide the scripts: ‘We can see your scripts!’ And [Scarlett Spears, Donna] is so adorable, the only kid on set, and we were having so much fun just hanging out with her. It was just a great day!”
The main event that brings all the characters together is, of course, “the unveiling of the wing and the honorary plaque to the character of Monica. I didn’t really have a lot of dialogue in those scenes, I was just in them, but Genie Francis [Laura] has a lot to say.
And I told her like, ‘I don’t think anyone can stand up and give a speech, a eulogy, a toast at a wedding better than Genie Francis!’ I mean, she, she nails it to me every single time.
I’m drawn in to what she’s saying. If I have any lines around it, I usually mess up because I’m too busy paying attention to what she’s saying! I love watching Genie do what she does because she’s so fantastic at it and she kind of pulls us in, you know? It feels like home when Genie’s there, and you feel like you’re part of a really beautiful cast with her at the center.”
