General Hospital Co-Stars Who Seriously Didn't Get Along
It's normal to not get along with everyone you work with as not all personalities mesh together in the same way. However, if you are a professional, you don't let your personal feelings get in the way of doing the job right. If you are an actor on a soap opera working in close quarters day in and day out with a co-star you don't like, that animosity cannot show on screen. After all, when acting your job is to step outside yourself and into someone else. If the pages in the script call for that someone else to feel friendship, love, and affection for another character played by an actor you seriously don't get along with, then you get along during the moments the camera is rolling because that is your job.
"General Hospital" actors are no exception to this rule. While two particular "GH" stars have been having a public feud for a while now that's heated up more in the fall of 2021, there are other stars who have been rumored to not like one another or at least who had a rough start of it when they first started working together. However, theyeventually became close friends.
Nancy Lee Grahn and Ingo Rademacher refuse to hide their animosity towards one another
At one time, "General Hospital" stars Nancy Lee Grahn and Ingo Rademacher played great friends who decided to get married and then decided they were better off as friends. Jasper "Jax" Jacks and Alexis Davis even remained friends until Rademacher said goodbye to the role he'd played on and off for 25 years after refusing to comply with Disney and ABC's COVID-19 vaccine mandate (via People). Rademacher's stance on vaccines and other things of a political nature during a divisive time in American history have allowed the animosity between Grahn and her former co-star to shine through in 2020 and 2021.
In fact, comments that Rademacher made at the start of the coronavirus pandemic led to Grahn blocking him on social media. In an Instagram post that seems to have vanished, Rademacher said, "No one thinks Chinese Americans are to blame for the Chinese coronavirus. If you don't have the intellectual capacity to understand we are referring to a country and not an ethnicity, I can't help you. You're an idiot." (via Showbiz CheatSheet)
Ingo Rademacher tried to rile up Nancy Lee Grahn
This statement about the coronavirus and its origins in China apparently irked Nancy Lee Grahn so much that she quietly blocked her co-star. When a fan alerted Grahn of Rademacher's posts, she simply tweeted, "I have seen these posts and will not engage. It is not my job to save anyone, nor do I feel any responsibility for my cast-mates. No one can use my name for anything unless I give it credence. I have not [and] do not. I can only lead by example. I intend to do my very best at that."
Rademacher then took to Instagram again and in another vanishing post wrote (via Showbiz CheatSheet), "A true liberal right there. I'm for free speech Nancy and would certainly never block any for their opinion." Flash forward more than a year and Rademacher and Grahn went to war again on social media, thanks to his vaccine refusal and a transphobic post.
Nancy Lee Grahn announces Ingo Rademacher's status with General Hospital
As the November 1 vaccine mandate deadline for Disney and ABC, which owns and airs "General Hospital" came and went, Ingo Rademacher stirred up more controversy on social media when he posted a disparaging meme featuring openly transgender U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine (via People).
When openly transgender "GH" actress Cassandra James (who plays Dr. Terry Randolph) called him out on Twitter without using his name, Grahn took it a step further by tweeting, "The fellow actor, #IngoRademacher, is mercifully no longer a part of the ['General Hospital'] cast. Transphobia [and] misgendering are disgusting [and] should be unacceptable in any industry, including soaps/acting. I stand with my costar [Cassandra James and] the trans community."
When Rademacher finally spoke out about his status with the soap, he condemned Grahn for announcing his departure before he could in an Instagram video. "So this is my official video to say that I'm no longer on the show," Rademacher said. "Which I never got a chance to do because Nancy announced it to everyone on Twitter, saying that I was 'mercifully' no longer on the show. Which was a huge disappointment to me. After having worked with somebody for 25 years, you would think they would show a little bit more respect and have a little bit more integrity and allow me to make that announcement to the fans."
Rademacher added that he would discuss Grahn further at a later date, but as of this writing, he has yet to do so.
Did Genie Francis and Tony Geary really get along as Luke and Laura?
Although Luke and Laura were the most famous couple on "General Hospital" and all of soap operas at one time, there were always rumors that actors Tony Geary and Genie Francis didn't get along. In fact, when Geary left the soap for the final time in 2015, "GH" brought Francis back for his exit story and then gave her a contract once he was gone. There were even rumors that Geary didn't want her there, giving Francis hesitancy about returning.
At the time, she told TV Line she was surprised by his exit as well as the show's plans to bring her back for it as she heard the same rumors fans were hearing. "I was like, 'Really? 'Really really?' And they said yes," Francis said. "The next question I had to ask was, 'Are you sure he wants me to be there?' Because he's been very vocal about not wanting it to be Luke and Laura reuniting. My next question was, 'Is this what Tony wants?' And they said, 'Absolutely.'"
In the end, Luke and Laura did not end up reuniting and Geary didn't even play his last scenes with Francis, although she was on the episode. All Laura ended up getting from Luke was a goodbye note.
Maurice Benard wasn't sure about working with Vanessa Marcil
Another popular "General Hospital" pairing that ran hot and cold off and on for decades was that of Sonny Corinthos and Brenda Barrett, played by Maurice Benard and Vanessa Marcil since the early 1990s. While Marcil last appeared on the show over a decade ago, according to Soap Hub, many fans still hope for her return and feel Brenda is the true love of Sonny's life.
However, when the two first started working together nearly three decades ago, Benard didn't think it was a good idea and explained that in an Instagram post in 2020.
"[Executive Producer] Wendy Riche and [Head Writer] Claire Labine thought it would be a good idea to put Sonny and Brenda together," Benard wrote. "The audience was all in! In the beginning I told my friend Vanessa it wasn't working for me. She could've told me to go to hell, but she chose to work her ass off, because she was so determined. I was very proud of her and the rest, as they say in show business, 'is history.'"
Today, Benard and Marcil get along famously and reunited in real life in July of 2021 when she attended his daughter's wedding. Benard shared a video of their wedding reunion on Instagram and they can be seen on the dance floor cutting a rug together, reminding fans of the chemistry they saw on their "GH" screens for years — and proving that just because a co-star relationship might not start out right, there is always hope for getting along and even becoming lifelong friends.