In 1995 on Days of Our Lives, Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) gave birth to Kate Roberts (Deborah Adair) and Victor Kiriakis’s biological son, Philip. The year prior, Kate and Victor had gone to a fertility clinic to undergo in vitro fertilization. Vivian also went there, claiming that she was trying to have a child with her trusty sidekick, Ivan Marais — then stole the fertilized egg belonging to Kate and Victor and had herself implanted with it! Kate wound up delivering the baby at the Salem Inn.
In 2006, Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) ended her engagement to Brad Carlton (Don Diamont). He was still married to Ashley Abbott at the time, and Victoria pointed out, “Can you honestly tell me when we would be able to get married? Or when we could even go public with our engagement?” He assured her that he would divorce Ashley right away, but Victoria held firm. “I waited long enough for you to be free,” she said. “Now it’s your turn to wait for me.”
Photo credit: BRIAN LOWE/JPI
In 2006, Alicia Leigh Willis ended her General Hospital run as Courtney Matthew, who was pronounced dead on her final episode. Courtney, who had just given birth to her little boy, Spencer, learned that the newborn’s biological father was Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher, r.) and not Jasper “Jax” Jacks (Ingo Rademacher). Jax delivered the news, confessing that he had altered the paternity test to indicate that he was the dad. Courtney, who was deathly ill from encephalitis, was understandably angry and asked to speak to Nikolas — but she passed away before she could tell him the truth about the baby’s paternity.
In 2012, Kimberly McCullough’s Robin Scorpio-Drake was presumed dead in a lab explosion at General Hospital, a storyline decision made when McCullough decided to exit the show to focus on her burgeoning career as a director. Initially, the character’s death was supposed to be permanent and irreversible — but Ron Carlivati, who assumed the role of head writer once the story was already in motion, decided against it. He explained to Soap Opera Digest, “My first episode was right when that lab blew up. That was a planned-out, written thing. I was told that she is going to be rushed into surgery and Patrick [Jason Thompson] is going to try to save her and he’s going to lose his own wife on the table. My gut reaction was, ‘Wait. You’re going to see her die?’ … I thought, “Absolutely not! You cannot kill Robin Scorpio! What if [McCullough] changes her mind and wants to come back to the show?” I’m always picturing that scene where she walks in the door and Patrick’s mouth drops open. As a fan, I would be crushed to think, ‘There’s never a chance that they could be reunited.’ I talked with Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and then we talked with Kimberly [McCullough, ex-Robin] and came to more of a compromise” — which was the audience would soon find out that Robin was alive, but being held hostage.
In 2018, General Hospital introduced Josh Swickard in the role of Harrison Chase, Hamilton Finn’s surprise brother. The actor had originally auditioned for the role of Peter August, which went to Wes Ramsey. In his first interview with Soap Opera Digest, Swickard shared that when the job offer first came in, “My manager and agent and I conference-called and we pretended that we were [deliberating], but all of us knew, ‘We’re taking this!’ ” He also voiced his appreciation for his new castmates, saying, “All the vets on the show have just been really solid when it comes to, ‘Do you need anything? Do you have questions about how things work? Wanna run lines? Knock on my door.’ “
