Anthony Geary Dead at 71: The Real Reason He Left General Hospital

Some news I wish I didn’t have to write: Anthony Geary, the guy who made Luke Spencer a daytime TV legend on ABC’s General Hospital, has died. He was 78.

The news

Geary passed away from complications following surgery that took place three days earlier. He was living in the Netherlands. His husband, Claudio Gama, confirmed the news and shared how long their bond went back — decades before their marriage.

"It was a shock for me and our families and our friends. For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my companion, my husband."

Luke Spencer, the role that made him, and the job that wore him out

• 1978: Geary first shows up in Port Charles as Luke Spencer.
• End of 1983: He’s out — and not quietly. He later said he didn’t just leave General Hospital, he fled, even telling a stage director he’d rather put hot pokers in his eyes than come back.
• 1991: Executive producer Gloria Monty persuades him to return. He comes back with a deal — reportedly a lot of money, guaranteed vacation time, working about six months a year, and the right to improvise his lines.
• July 27, 2015: He exits as a series regular after saying the grind had worn him down for two decades.
• 2017: Pops back in when Jane Elliot’s Tracy Quartermaine leaves. By then, Luke and Tracy are married on the show.
• January 2022: On-screen, Tracy tells everyone Luke died in a cable car accident in Austria.

Geary was blunt about why he finally stepped off the treadmill. After back surgery in 2014, he realized his time and energy weren’t unlimited and he didn’t want to spend what was left collapsing on a soap set.

"This show has been a huge part of my life for over half my life, and Luke Spencer is my alter ego. But I’m just weary of the grind and have been for 20 years. There was a point after my back surgery where it became clear to me that my time is not infinite. And I really don’t want to die, collapsing in a heap, on that G.H. set one day. That wouldn’t be too poetic."

One odd twist from the early days: Geary originally auditioned to play Sen. Mitch Williams, not Luke. And Luke, as planned, wasn’t even supposed to be long for the world — he was meant to be killed off when his initial contract ended, and there was talk of writing him out again after the infamous 1979 episode where Luke raped Laura. The show didn’t do that, and instead doubled down on Luke and Laura, which made soap history and also left a legacy the series has had to reckon with ever since. Their wedding became a TV event — Elizabeth Taylor cameoed as the villain, and even Princess Diana was reportedly a fan — but it’s built on a storyline that has not aged well. That contradiction is part of why Luke Spencer remains one of the most talked-about characters in daytime.

When Geary returned in 1991, the show first tried him as Luke’s twin, Bill Eckert. Fans were not into it. In 1993, Bill died in Luke’s arms, and Geary resumed playing Luke full-time from then on.

By the way, the return deal was lucrative enough to make a dent: his net worth was estimated at $9 million at the time of his death.

A mountain of Emmys, and tributes from the people who knew him

Geary won eight Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series — 1982, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2015 — and was nominated nine additional times. That total is, frankly, ridiculous in the best way.

General Hospital’s executive producer Frank Valentini called out exactly that in a statement.

"The entire General Hospital family is heartbroken over the news of Tony Geary’s passing. Tony was a brilliant actor and set the bar that we continue to strive for. His legacy, and that of Luke Spencer’s, will live on through the generations of G.H. castmembers who have followed in his footsteps."

Genie Francis, who played Laura Webber — Luke’s love interest and later his wife — wrote a moving goodbye. Their partnership defined the show, for better and for worse, for decades.

"He spoiled me for leading men for the rest of my life. 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."

Beyond Port Charles

Geary grew up in a non-showbiz family — his father, Russell, was a contractor; his mother, Dana, was a homemaker — but he was movie-obsessed enough to keep a log of everything he watched. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Utah and starred in a college production of The Subject Was Roses opposite Jack Albertson. Albertson took him on tour, and that trip led Geary to Los Angeles.

He made his screen debut on Room 222 in 1970 and popped up on All in the Family soon after. His first soap role came on NBC’s Bright Promise, playing a man in a mental institution. Other early credits included The Young and the Restless, Dan August, Barnaby Jones, and The Streets of San Francisco. He played a psychotic killer in the 1974 TV movie Sorority Kill.

During his 1983–1991 break from GH, he produced and narrated stories for a children’s radio program, appeared in a 1984 stage production of Antony and Cleopatra with Lynn Redgrave and Timothy Dalton, and went through a full year without a single acting gig. He also ran into the bias that follows soap stars. He was cast in Oliver Stone’s Salvador in 1986 — until Stone learned about the Luke Spencer baggage and pulled the offer.

"Nobody wanted Luke Spencer in their movie. And I understand that now, because for those 30 seconds or whatever, somebody [watching] would say, 'Oh, isn’t that that guy on …?' And then they would be taken out of the film."

He still found his way into a run of cult favorites and curios: Disorderlies (1987) opposite the Fat Boys; UHF, where he played scientist Philo opposite 'Weird Al' Yankovic; and Scorchers (1991) as a preacher.

Survived by

Geary is survived by his husband of six years, Claudio Gama; his sisters, Jan Steele and Deann Geary; and his nephews, Brendan Steele and Dax Geary.

Whether you know him from the most-watched wedding in soaps, from Philo in UHF, or from the years he spent quietly turning a daytime archetype into something sharper and stranger, he left a mark that’s not going anywhere.