The second person I was introduced to to was Anthony Geary. Some people called him Tony. ..but I did not. He was an actor’s actor. Mr G had curly hair like me. When he was not acting he was sitting in his dressing room learning all of his lines.
His door was always closed. One day when it was open. I asked if I could come in and sit and talk. This man won 8 daytime Emmys for playing Luke.
Now what can I say about Jane Elliot? She had an aristocratic face. One moment her character was very nice then she was the queen of mean . She allowed me to come into her room and chat while she was putting on makeup.
I then met Prince Charming. Stuart Damon. He had been in a lot of tv shows and played Prince Charming on a special about Cinderella.
Jackie Zeman was so cute. She had a pixie face.
Rick Springfield joined the cast . He played a doctor. While he was on the show his father passed away in Australia. I went to the news stand and bought him a bunch of magazines he could read on the plane. How many times have you sung Jessie’s Girl and Don’t Talk to Strangers? When he came back from Australia he resumed his role.
My first scene was in Luke’s Disco. All the nurses and other actresses were there dancing with me. I had never memorized lines before. So much was going on in my head.
At the end of my scene, I heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor and everyone froze. It was Ms Monte and she was talking to me. “Richard the television is this big . You are talking like you are on a screen in a movie theater…bring your voice down.” So I did.
I had many scenes with Louise and other actors. Every so often it was time to weigh Louise in. But, we never showed numbers.
Another scene was in my bedroom as I called Louise to see how she was doing. Another scene showed us eating . They then hired an actress to play Louise’s mother. She had a lot of scenes with us and was very supportive of her daughter losing weight.
One day Ms Monte asked me to come into her office. I knew I was being let go. But I wasn’t. “Richard during lunch can you come to my office and give me a workout for thirty minutes.” I said …of course. I would bring my boom box and some cassettes. She always told me she felt better after our time together.
I was on GH about three weeks and I went to my dressing room which I shared with three other actors. In the corner was six bins filled with letters. I went outside and asked a production person if they made a mistake they must be for someone else in the cast. He told me, “Richard they are for you.”
When we finished shooting I took these trays and put them my car. I took them to my apartment. I curled up on my couch with a letter opener and carefully opened each envelope. They all said they are happy I am on General Hospital. They were inspired by Louise’s effort to drop the weight. Some of these letters were written by teenagers. ..women of every age and some from men. It was overwhelming to say the least.
The letters kept on coming. I even hired a lady to help me type the responses. Every time I taped GH I thought about all these people watching. To be continued…
