Soap stud Anthony Geary – who skyrocketed to stardom in the 1970s on General Hospital – died on Dec. 14 in the Netherlands at age 78 of complications from a scheduled operation three days earlier.
The curly-haired hunk controversially found fame by playing two TV rapists – George Curtis on The Young and the Restless and Luke Spencer on General Hospital. But his extended stint on GH saw him turn Luke’s romantic fortunes around as his antihero character wooed and won his onetime victim, Genie Francis’ Laura Webber Baldwin.
TV Heartthrob’s Private Life Revealed
Claudio Gama described Anthony Geary as ‘my friend, my companion, my husband’ following the actor’s death in the Netherlands.
The supercouple’s November 1981 wedding was watched by 30million viewers, making the pop culture event the highest-rated daytime soap opera episode ever.
Geary’s performance as Luke, which stretched intermittently from 1978 to 2017, also snagged him an unprecedented eight Daytime Emmy Awards.
Yet, for all of his swagger as a small-screen ladies’ man, he spent more than 30 years in a relationship with a man.
Loved Ones Mourn Soap Legend
Genie Francis recalled Geary saying he ‘spoiled me for leading men’ after their years together on ‘General Hospital.’
Widower Claudio Gama – who described Geary as “my friend, my companion, my husband” – said of the death of his longtime love: “It was a shock for me and our families and our friends.”
Francis, 63, said of her late former costar: “He spoiled me for leading men for the rest of my life.”
One day after his passing, Francis shared on social media: “I am crushed, I will miss him terribly, but I was so lucky to be his partner. Somehow, somewhere, we are connected to each other because I felt him leave last night. Good night, sweet prince, good night.”
