In 2012, Roger Howarth (pictured with Laura Wright as Carly, who would become Todd’s love interest) made his General Hospital debut as his One Life to Live alter ego, Todd Manning. The following year, he was forced to switch to a different character (Franco) due to a legal altercation between ABC and Prospect Park, the company that had purchased the creative rights to OLTL. “I was thrilled to be asked,” he told Soap Opera Digest in 2023 about first joining the show. “I love the character of Todd and I thought it was a really cool idea to have Todd and [Todd’s ex] Blair and [Todd’s daughter] Starr in a completely different environment and to see how they would behave in a different landscape. I remember my first day, everyone was really sweet and supportive of me.”
In 2013, Scott Reeves exited General Hospital as Steven Lars Webber, a role he had begun playing in 2009. Steve exited the canvas when he was arrested and transported back to Memphis for causing the death of a patient there — and in the process, he broke the heart of Olivia Falconeri, who he had been slated to wed that very day! In 2018, Lisa LoCicero (Olivia) joked to Soap Opera Digest, “It was like, ‘You may think you’re cute, but he just decided to go to jail instead of marry you!’ I was always making him lasagna and bringing him barbecue. I did everything right! You suffer a lot of indignities on a soap opera, you really do.”
In 2013, Darnell Williams who became a soap superstar and a Daytime Emmy winner for his work as Jesse Hubbard on All My Children, exited Young and Restless as Sarge. He had joined Y&R in the role the previous May. Introduced as Jack Abbott’s physical therapist, Sarge’s final scenes were opposite Lamon Archey, who played Sarge’s nephew, Mason Wilder.
In 2020 on Bold and Beautiful, Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) cleared her guilty conscience by confessing to her ex, Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), that her brother, Thomas Forrester, was still in love with Liam’s partner, Hope Logan — and that influenced by Thomas, she had recently kissed him because she knew Hope would witness it, thus causing problems in Hope and Liam’s relationship. “I don’t even know how I got wrapped up in Thomas’s game,” Steffy lamented. “I’m really sorry.”
Photo credit: HOWARD WISE/JPI
In 2020, Brook Kerr made her General Hospital debut as Portia Robinson, an accomplished doctor and the mother of fan fave Trina Robinson. She was already familiar to daytime fans for her 1999-2007 run on Passions as Whitney Russell, and told Soap Opera Digest of her new soap gig, “It has been such a blessing and I’m just so grateful. [The audition] came out of the blue and when it did, I was like, ‘Yes! This is perfect!’ GH has such a good reputation, and working with the cast and crew and everyone there, who have such professionalism and grace, and do everything so well and efficiently — I’m just really excited. It’s been a really great new adventure.”
