He`s coming back! Anthony Geary, remembered for his role as Luke Spencer in ABC`s ”General Hospital,” is the show`s President`s Day gift to viewers. Geary, who left the daytime soap opera in 1984 after a five-year run, rejoins the cast at 2 p.m. Monday. But he`s not coming back as Luke Spencer, the man whose 1981 wedding to Laura Weber Baldwin (Genie Francis) was one of daytime television`s most celebrated-and watched-moments ever.
He`s coming back as a Spencer, but not Luke. Just how he`ll be reintroduced is all very hush-hush.
”We`re under a gag order not to say too much,” said Geary, who says his reasons for returning are that ”the timing was very good” and that Gloria Monty, who ran the show from 1978 to `86, when ”GH” was at its zenith, has returned as executive producer. She has big plans to change the series.
”What we`re really going to do is bring `General Hospital` up to the
`90s,” she explained. She`ll address the changes in today`s society by doing ”more with working people. Going heavily into environment. Plus, the humanity of our people and their struggle of today.”
With this blue-collar emphasis, subjects will be different, writing will change (they`re hiring prime-time writers), and the language will be that of the `90s. She also promises ”a lot of humor” in the series.
Geary recalled how he was cast as Luke Spencer, the program`s anti-hero.
”It was the role of a street person, and I was more or less, for the first 13 weeks, kind of a brilliant color on the palette.”
He remained in the role five years, which, instead of being a ”dry and uncreative experience,” turned out to be ”a constantly expanding
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experience,” he said. ”I`m hoping for another fix like that. There`s a collaborative feeling in working with Gloria that`s very gratifying.”
But playing Luke was taxing, too, he admitted. ”He was a grab bag of emotions and directions, a minor icon of anti-heroism in the `80s, and in many ways represented a lot of what was bad with the decade.
”He was violent, he was greedy, he was arrogant and a chauvinist. At the same time, he was romantic and sensitive. So to me an anti-hero is like a real human being, a combination of divisive forces.”
As part of the ”GH” make-over, Monty intends to introduce new characters, all related in some way to the program`s main families: the Quartermaines, the Spencers and the Scorpios.
She said, ”I loathe doing risque scenes just to titillate an audience,” but you can be sure there will be some sexy scenes. But they`ll be fun, she promised, citing as inspiration Meg Ryan`s faked orgasm in ”When Harry Met Sally . . .”
In the years since Geary left the series, he has made 11 films-”
Scorchers” with Faye Dunaway was the most recent-did five TV ”Movies of the Week,” nine plays and a nightclub act.
”So I haven`t been idle,” he said.
Still, he`s looking forward to the consistency of soap opera work. He found it to be ”a pleasurable experience.”