General Hospital Mourns Monica as Jane Elliot Delivers a Heartbreaking Tribute to Leslie Charleson
Port Charles said goodbye to Dr. Monica Quartermaine — and to the woman who defined her. As General Hospital honored the late Leslie Charleson, 79, Jane Elliot reflected on a decades-long friendship that made the farewell sting.
General Hospital just pulled off one of those rare, gut-punch soap moments where the story and real life line up a little too closely. Port Charles came together to say goodbye to Dr. Monica Quartermaine on screen, mirroring the loss of her longtime portrayer, Leslie Charleson, who died earlier this year at 79. And for Jane Elliot, who has played Tracy Quartermaine on and off since the 70s, this was not just another storyline. It hurt.
The line between story and reality
Elliot told Variety that filming scenes with Monica still alive after Charleson had already passed made the whole process brutal and strangely prolonged. It wasn’t just grief — it was grief on a delay, and then again in real time as the show finally caught up.
"It was very, very difficult to play her alive when she had already passed in real life... I had to mourn her death twice."
That is some inside baseball about soap production: sometimes the show has to keep a character going on paper even when real life has moved on. In this case, living with that gap compounded the loss for Elliot.
A friendship that started long before Port Charles
This was never just about on-screen rivals. Elliot and Charleson first met in the 1960s in New York City, backstage at a theater, and clicked. Years later, when Elliot joined GH as Tracy in 1978, she discovered she’d be working opposite her old friend. Cue decades of Tracy vs. Monica fireworks on screen — and a totally different story off screen. They celebrated birthdays together, traveled, and showed up for all the big life stuff.
Elliot says Charleson left two holes in her life at once: losing a trusted acting partner and losing a friend. Over time, the line between those roles blurred — the person and the character — which made the goodbye harder.
The last Quartermaine of her generation
Tracy and Monica’s relationship evolved from prickly disdain to something like mutual respect, especially after the deaths of Alan, Edward, and Lila. They became the final two old-guard Quartermaines holding down the mansion. Now, with Monica gone, Tracy is the last of her generation. Elliot describes the loss as so severe it felt like losing a limb — all of Tracy’s contemporaries are gone.
How we got here (and why it stings)
- 1960s: Elliot and Charleson meet backstage in NYC and become friends.
- 1978: Elliot joins General Hospital as Tracy; unexpectedly reunites with Charleson as scene partners.
- On screen: Tracy and Monica feud for years, then gradually find respect.
- Off screen: The two stay close — birthdays, trips, and major milestones.
- Quartermaine losses pile up: Alan, Edward, and Lila pass, leaving Tracy and Monica as the family’s pillars.
- Earlier this year: Leslie Charleson dies at 79; GH later stages Monica’s farewell episodes.
- Now: Tracy stands alone as the last of her generation, and the show lets art and life meet in a way soaps rarely do.
As General Hospital says goodbye to Monica Quartermaine, fans aren’t just watching a character exit. They’re seeing a decades-long partnership — and a friendship — get its curtain call. It’s beautiful, and yeah, it’s rough.