Having done nearly everything else in the entertainment industry, General Hospital’s Gregory Harrison discussed his first time being on a soap opera. He had nothing but praise for his scene partners but did regret one missed opportunity.
Terrified of Working on a Soap At First
On the June 5 episode of the Daily Drama podcast, hosted by GH’s Steve Burton (Jason) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), Gregory Harrison discussed his career and his time on the show playing Gregory Chase. He talked about being nervous when he first started because he knew the pace of making a daytime serial was fast. “I loved doing the show, you know?” he said, adding, “It started out as a 10-show arc three and a half years ago, and I thought, ‘Oof, am I even gonna be able to pull this off?’”
He did pull it off to great success but added, “Honestly, you guys are old pros at it, but I had never done a soap in my life. I’ve done everything else, you know, books on tape, movies, theater, and TV, and radio plays, I mean I’ve done everything.”
Having done theater and large plays, he wasn’t sure why he was afraid of doing a soap but admitted, “I was just so scared of it.” The mere thought of the daily grind terrified him, but after being out of work due to the pandemic, the sudser was the first job offered to him once the lockdown was lifted, and he jumped at the chance. “It turned into a three-and-a-half year gig with a character arc that I really had fun with and required me finding incremental changes in the character as this disease progressed and his relationships progressed. I had a ball with it,” he said, referring to his character’s bout with ALS. He enthusiastically remarked, “I loved it.”
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Praise For His Costars
He expressed the fact that he truly enjoyed working with the actors that were part of his storyline’s circle, noting that “Michael Easton (Finn) was just fabulous to me from day one and easy to work with and so committed, and so open to anything. I just love Michael. And Josh (Swickard, Chase) was the same, you know, for me.” One of his major scene partners was Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis), and he stated that it was fun working with her. “She comes in, and it’s like riding a bucking bronco, you know, you don’t know what she’s gonna bring,” he explained, further adding that “She’s full of surprises, which I loved.”
There was also another equally major actor he worked with. He explained, “But then…they put me with Jane (Elliot, Tracy) for the last six months or so, and we got to play and flirt, and if there’s anything I regret about them killing me off as fast as they did it’s that there was this relationship growing between Gregory and Tracy.”
That potential romance never had a chance to blossom because Gregory died from his illness. Reflecting on their time together, he incredulously added, “I mean the days that I had with Jane I was so excited to roll out of bed and go into work. And I never knew what Jane was gonna bring, but I knew it was gonna be incredible. She’s amazing. She’s a force of nature.” Both hosts agreed that Elliot always brings a superb performance to every scene she’s in. (Learn why Gregory’s death was actually a good thing.)
He finished his admiration for Elliot by explaining, “If she called me to do ANYthing, I would say, ‘yep, I’m there! I’ll work with you on anything, Jane, ’cause she blew me away every single day I worked with her. She just blew me away.”
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