EXCLUSIVE: 'General Hospital' Meltdown — Anthony Geary Trashed Soap Opera for Its 'Weak Writing' Before TV Legend's Death at 78
The longtime 'General Hospital' star fumed over the show's 'weak writing' before exiting in 2015.
Dec. 15 2025, Published 7:30 p.m. ET
While General Hospital fans mourned the news of Anthony Geary's death at the age of 78, the beloved actor went to his grave with unkind words about the show, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
The soap opera legend died from complications three days after undergoing a planned surgery in the Netherlands, the country he moved to full-time in 2015 after leaving the daytime drama.
'Dragging the Corpse of That Relationship Around'
Geary and Genie Francis were the soap opera's most popular couple for years.
Geary originated the role of Luke Spencer in 1978 on the long-running ABC soap opera.
His wedding to Genie Francis' Laura Webber became a pop culture phenomenon, drawing an estimated 30 million viewers when the nuptials aired in November 1981.
However, Luke and Laura's romance became the focal point of the rest of Geary's career, and he made no bones about how much it irked him.
"I just get really tired of the whole Luke-and-Laura thing," the eight-time Emmy winner huffed in July 2015 shortly before leaving the show. "Genie and I have both been dragging the corpse of that relationship around for 30 years."
Forever Half of 'Luke and Laura'
Geary and Francis' Luke and Laura hold the record for the most-viewed soap opera wedding.
"Being hyphenated as Luke-and-Laura has been a real pain in the a--," Geary griped about how he couldn't escape being half of General Hospital's most-loved couples.
"It irritated me," he seethed. "Every time I was introduced anywhere in the last 33 years, they’d run the clip of the f------ wedding."
Luke and Laura's nuptials remain the most-watched soap opera episode in TV history, despite the characters tying the knot 44 years ago.
The fictional duo's long love story ended in divorce in 2001, though Francis left the show on and off over the years, returning for recurring arcs.
She returned in 2015 for Geary's departure from General Hospital, as he was written off sailing into the fog.
'Weak Writing' on 'General Hospital' Was His Final Straw
Geary won eight daytime Emmy Awards for playing Luke Spencer.
Geary complained about "being in an industry where an actor’s resume is less important than how he looks with his shirt off or how many Facebook followers he has. That is abhorrent to me… I feel bad for all the young [actors]. They don’t have a clue how to survive in this rat-infested jungle."
The soap icon had a clause in his contract allowing him to rewrite his character's dialogue, something he was asked to give up, and one of the reasons he quit the show.
Geary fumed about General Hospital's "weak writing" and how he wasn't about to let some new writer on the show tell him how to play a character he had inhabited for 37 years.
"After all my years with this character, I’m not about to let some new hire tell me how Luke would express an idea or emotion," he moaned at the time.
Geary's Obituary Fears
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Geary feared the headlines of his obituary would be about him being half of General Hospital's most iconic couple.
Geary made a prescient confession about how he would be written about upon his death, a decade before his passing.
"I have almost, but not quite, come to grips with the fact that my obituary is going to read: 'Anthony Geary, Luke of Luke-and-Laura, died today," he noted.
Geary's husband, Claudio Gama, confirmed the star died on Sunday, December 14.
"It was a shock for me, our families, and our friends. For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my companion, my husband," Gama announced.
