Anthony Geary, an eight-time Daytime Emmy winner who portrayed one-half of General Hospital‘s iconic soap opera supercouple Luke and Laura, died Sunday in the Netherlands following an operation three days earlier.
His death was reported by his husband Claudio Gama to TV Insider. “It was a shock for me and our families and our friends,” Gama told the website. “For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my companion, my husband.”
One of the most popular and beloved actors in the history of daytime, Geary shot to superstardom as one of the industry’s most controversial anti-heroes. Joining GH in 1978 as hitman Luke, Geary was soon paired with Genie Francis’ Laura Webber. In a storyline that would prove groundbreaking and highly influential in the establishment of the 1970s soap-opera supercouple phenomenon, Luke raped Laura, a sign that the soap hadn’t intended to keep Geary around for long. But the duo were so popular with fans that Francis’ Laura forgave her attacker, and the couple became a long-running staple of the show.
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11/16/81
Genie Francis and Anthony Geary, Nov. 16, 1981, ‘General Hospital’
Bob D’Amico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
In 1981, the wedding of Luke & Laura set daytime ratings records and made national headlines in the mainstream media.
Born May 29, 1947, in Coalville, Utah, Geary was raised in a Mormon household, was discovered as a college actor by Chico and the Man star Jack Albertson, who cast Geary in a touring production of The Subject Was Roses. Though Geary maintained a lifelong affinity for – and connection to – the stage, he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, landing roles on episodes of Barnaby Jones, The Partridge Family, Room 222, The Mod Squad and, most memorably, a 1971 episode of All in the Family in which he played a friend of Rob Reiner’s Michael mistakenly believed by Carroll O’Connor’s bigoted Archie Bunker to be gay.
The actor launched his soap career in a 1971 storyline on NBC’s Bright Promise, then played rapist George Curtis on two 1976 episodes of CBS’ The Young and the Restless. That portrayal led to his breakthrough casting in 1978 on General Hospital. Despite the immense popularity of the supercouple, Francis left the role in 1982; she briefly returned to the role in 1983, and the couple officially left the show together in 1985. (They returned as the characters in 1993, with Francis leaving again in 2002; she has since returned to the role.)
Geary won Daytime Awards for his GH performance in 1982, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2015.
Outside GH, Geary maintained a steady acting career in primetime episodic TV throughout the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, including roles in Barnaby Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hotel, Sunset Beat, Murder She Wrote, and General Hospital: Night Shift, among others.
After retiring in 2015, Geary and husband Gama moved to Geary’s home in Amsterdam.
Last month, Gama posted an Instagram video from Amsterdam showing Geary watching a YouTube video of an interview with Francis on co-star Maurice Benard’s YouTube channel. Gama said Geary told him, “Those are two lovely and talented people, great friends and I miss them.“
Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
