5 Things You Might Not Know about General Hospital
General Hospital has began back in the 1960s and is still one of the most popular soap operas in the U.S. In fact, it’s listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-running soap opera production in America, as well as the 3rd longest-running drama. The series also holds the record with 13 wins at Daytime Emmy Awards. It seems that we already know everything about General Hospital, but we tried to find information even the biggest fans of the show might not know. This won’t be General Hospital spoilers but fun facts about this popular daytime soap.
1 – General Hospital premiered on April 1, 1963 and it was created by Frank and Doris Hursley, soap opera writers, husband and wife. The suggested name was “Emergency Hospital”, but that was, obviously, changed. In the first couple of years, the storyline was set in an unnamed city on the 7th floor of “General Hospital”; episodes were 30 minutes long.
2 – Laura Webber and Luke Spencer are one of the most popular soap opera couples ever and their TV wedding was aired in 1981. This episode is the highest rated hour in the history of American soap operas with approximately 30 million viewers.
3 – Elizabeth Taylor made a memorable appearance on the show, but there’s a secret behind this. The truth is, she wasn’t actually on set with other General Hospital actors; instead, her scenes were shot elsewhere and afterwards spliced together in order to make it look like this superstar was there.
4 – Jonathan Jackson, an actor who played Lucky Spencer, wrote the song “Elizabeth”, the one that Lucky sings to Liz Webber on many occasions. This actor is, obviously, a talented musician, too. However, ABC bought the right to his song “Elizabeth” and that’s why actors playing Lucky (after Jonathan Jackson left General Hospital) are able to sing it.
5 – The role of Robert Scorpio was originally imagined as a guest appearance. Tristan Rogers was hired on for 2 days, but did such an amazing job that the character stayed with General Hospital for 12 years. His popularity is probably connected with the involvement of Robert Scorpio with one of the most beloved TV couple, Luke and Laura.