Anthony Geary, Common Hospital’s Luke Spencer, Dies At 78

Common Hospital star Anthony Geary has died at age 78. The actor made his debut on the long-running ABC cleaning soap opera in 1978 as Luke Spencer. That iconic function resulted in Geary, who was born on Could 29, 1947, successful eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations earlier than he left the collection in 2015.

Geary, who performed Luke Spencer on the cleaning soap opera, died on December 14 after experiencing problems from a latest surgical procedure. He had been residing within the Netherlands on the time of his passing.

His husband, Claudio Gama, launched an announcement to TV Insider saying that Geary’s demise got here as a “shock” to him in addition to their households and associates. The actor was Gama’s “pal, my companion, my husband.”

“It was a shock for me and our households and our associates. For greater than 30 years, Tony has been my pal, my companion, my husband.”

After starring within the play The Topic Was Roses, Geary obtained his begin within the leisure business on exhibits like All within the Household, The Mod Squad, Mannix, Marcus Welby MD and The Partridge Household.

Earlier than becoming a member of Common Hospital, the actor appeared on different cleaning soap operas, together with Brilliant Promise within the early Seventies and The Younger and the Stressed in 1973.

5 years later, Geary discovered large success after touchdown the function of Luke Spencer on Common Hospital. His character’s relationship with Laura Webber (performed by Genie Francis) grew to become a fan-favorite on the collection.

Luke and Laura ultimately obtained married, with about 30 million individuals tuning in to the episode that featured their marriage ceremony. It was a phenomenon not like another within the cleaning soap opera world.

In 1984, three years after the marriage episode aired, Geary determined to depart Common Hospital and tried to seek out different work on TV and the stage.

When continued success proved elusive, he not solely got here again, however he additionally performed a completely completely different character, Luke’s cousin Invoice Eckert, in considered one of many loopy storylines which have aired on Common Hospital over time.

Sadly, this new function did not work out, and the producers reworked Geary’s involvement with the cleaning soap opera by bringing again his authentic character, Luke, to play reverse Francis, who additionally left after which got here again.

Geary exited Common Hospital once more in 2015 as a collection common however returned in a visitor function in 2017 when Jane Elliot retired.

Common Hospital wasn’t the one present through which Geary performed the character of Luke. He made appearances on the spinoffs Port Charles and Common Hospital: Night time Shift, in addition to a crossover episode of the sitcom Roseanne.

Exterior of Common Hospital and his early work on exhibits like All within the Household and The Mod Squad, Geary has additionally appeared in quite a few different movies and exhibits over time, together with P.I. Personal Investigations, Perry Mason: The Case of the Murdered Madam, It Takes Two, Do You Know the Muffin Man?, Homicide, She Wrote, Roseanne and Fish Tank.

In line with TV Insider, Geary filmed a scene with Common Hospital alum Anders Hove for an unknown venture at some point earlier than he died.

The cleaning soap opera world is now mourning an enormous loss, with Geary abandoning a revered legacy from his function on the long-running Common Hospital that will likely be remembered for years to return.

Common Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.