The following interview of Tony Geary appeared in Us Magazine
November 24, 1981.
General Hospital's Luke and Laura
His loving Laura may leave him in the lurch, but Tony Geary has the last word.
by Pat Sellers
He's been called the James Dean, the Montgomery Clift and the Jack Nicholson of daytime television. In three years he's built a cult following rarely achieved even in more high-brow entertainment. But he's extremely reluctant to reveal the man behind the General Hospital hysteria. He says that when he's tried, his words have been twisted. So we decided to let Tony Geary speak for himself.
TG I've been doing interviews for 2 1/2 years, and I have my standard answers. But it's different now. Genie's considering leaving, and I feel like the show's become so hot now that now it's pot-shot time. I really don't want to mess around anymore. I don't want to say my favorite color is blue and I'm a Gemini. I've done that and who the hell cares?
You want to know about me? OK, here it is. If you can take it, take it. If you can't, then enjoy Luke Spencer, because that's me too.
PUNCH OUT
TG Gloria Monty [the show's producer since 1978] told me she wanted to do something that had never been done before on daytime TV: Create a true, classical antihero. I said, ''Good luck. Anti--we're cool. But hero? Give me a break.''
I did two other soaps before this one, and I said I would never do another. But I needed money. I needed to act and Gloria said, ''I'll give you all the freedom I can.'' By God, she went further than that. I've been given more freedom than anybody in the history of daytime TV.
Everybody constantly asks, ''What do you want to move on to? A nighttime show?'' I want to punch their damn lights out. This isn't school. We're not learning to act here. Gloria Monty has changed the face of daytime TV and turned this show into a phenomenom.
It makes me crazy when actors say, ''I've learned so much, now I'm ready to move on to nighttime TV--CHiPs!'' Or, ''I've been doing this soap for 12 years and I am so thrilled I finally got a Love Boat!''
But Elizabeth Taylor asked to come on our show. Cheryl Tiegs has been trying to get on. Sammy Davis came on the set--he's a fan. And you know what Gloria said? ''I don't need stars. I make them.'' God bless her. She's right.
TICKED OFF
TG Nobody gave a damn about my plans until Genie announced that she was going, then reannounced that she wasn't, then she was and dee dah dah. I don't know what's going on there. She changes her mind every 20 seconds, which is her perogative.
What ticks me off is seeing in print that I'm leaving the show or not renewing my contract. The only thing I've ever said is that my contract expires in 1982 and I have no plans beyond that. I don't want to stick around and watch Luke Spencer become just another soap character. He means too much to me, let alone to other people, for me to leave him at the bottom. I'd rather have him leave at the top.
But this isn't the top. I can go further with this character. Gloria Monty can take me further. I've got an actor's dream in my hands. A total fool would say ''I want out of here as soon as I can.'' I'm not that stupid! Where the hell am I gonna go?
I don't want to be another actor who says the phone is ringing off the wall. Actually, I'm disappointed that, as popular as the show is, and as good as my work is, I haven't heard from more people. The offers are coming in, but primarily they're for carbon copies of Luke. I'll be damned if I'll go and recreate a character that's taken my life's blood and that of everyone around me. Luke Spencer belongs to General Hospital. He will die on General Hospital and you will never see him again.
I've got too much else to say as an actor. I can create another character that will be just as magnificent, but everybody wants to cash in on what's working.
TURNED ON
TG I never in my life expected to be a sexual--I can't even say it. A sex symbol. I giggle. I mean, I can't believe it. It's very hard for me to buy myself as anything attractive.
I'm smart enough to say, before anyone else says it, ''This is not a pretty face.'' I know it. It wasn't intended to be, OK?
Now I'm not Marty Feldman, for God's sake. Just an incredibly unlikely candidate for this hysteria, however long it lasts. Right now I feel like a Hula Hoop. I'm a trend, and I know it will taper off. But I also know I'm a very gifted actor, and nothing will change that.
I've done scenes with Genie Francis--a young woman who is extraordinarily romantic and sensual--that I've found stimulating while I was doing them. But not while watching them. It's easier for me to watch scenes that have humor and action and adventure. See, I rarely find myself sexy. I truly have never watched myself on General Hospital and got an erection, you know what I mean? I don't turn myself on.
Anyway, sexy is totally subjective. What I might find sexy somebody else might not. To me, it has nothing to do with looks. I'm more turned on by an attitude, a self-assurance, a mystique. I can look at Farrah Fawcett or Bo Derek and say, ''What beautiful women,'' but they don't make my palms sweat.
I can look at Kathleen Turner from Body Heat or Karen Allen from Raiders and I am sexually excited. Katharine Hepburn turns me on. Look at Mick Jagger, who happens to be one of my idols. He's not an attractive man. But I think sexuality trancends physically and comes from knowing what turns you on and looking for that in other people.
NO RESPECT
TG Luke Spencer has brought out the most wonderful, outrageous parts of my personality. For 2 1'2 years, I've spent more time as Luke than I have as me. It could be considered a bit bizarre. It's a schizophrenic existence, he really takes over. But that's OK, because I really like him. I almost like him better than me. The only thing I like better is the fact that I created him.
I fight every day to bring him back to his roots, which are not that of a hero. I want America to know I resent the fact that he saved the world. I don't even respect him anymore.
When I first created him, he was not in any way acceptable. That was his beauty. He sang the song of the outcast. What was beautiful was that I made him lovable. Not acceptable, lovable. I didn't know I was doing it, but I loved him.
Now he's become so big--much too much of a hero for me. I think on one level he was sold out because he became so popular. People--the network, not Gloria Monty--took the easy way out: Let's make him a hero.
As much as Tony Geary enjoys being a successful actor, I try my best to protect Luke from Tony Geary's success. Even though Luke Spencer is a survivor, he must not be a winner. He must be fighting to win. As soon as he becomes Mr. Perfect, the story is over.
It has nothing to do with Luke and Laura. If Genie stays or goes doesn't matter. Luke doesn't need Laura to survive. The man I created doesn't need anybody, and that's the man I respect.
I'm not about to see Luke become Chad Everett or whatever TV thinks he should be, because TV can kiss my butt. I'll go back to Utah and raise horses.
BORN ANGRY
TG I guess what makes me so passionate about Luke is that he epitomizes what I need to say. I lived most of my life thinking I was not going to be all right. In my heat, I am not acceptable. I have a great deal of sensitivity and understanding for people, but you know who I like best? People who don't know where to turn. I love them because they're me.
I was born angry. I came embittered. I'm jaded. I've had a lot of experiences in my life; it's never been safe. I'm a total moral anarchist, and my heart is outraged that everything is not as progressive as it should be. I think that whatevermakes you happy, you should do. Nobody has the right to tell you otherwise. Whenever anybody tells me I shouldn't do this or that, I'm the first one to go do it.
I'm a very unstructured individual. I'd don't go for ''This is the mold--fit in or get out.'' I do not condone categories or requirements, and that goes for soaps, acting or life. I'm into the beauty of the imperfect. That's really what it's about for me.
