Before They Were Soap Stars: GH’s Nancy Lee Grahn’s Big ‘Knight’

General Hospital’s Alexis Davis, played by Daytime Emmy winner Nancy Lee Grahn, is known for her tendency to make bad decisions, filibuster, hypocritically act against her stated moral values, judge others by a different standard, and lose all her reason in the face of a big strong man. Finally, we know where she learned all of those things.

Before They Were Soap Stars: Nancy Lee Grahn

Long before she arrived in Port Charles, in 1996, even before she played basically the exact same character, outspoken lawyer and single mom with a weakness for hopelessly damaged men Julia Wainwright on Santa Barbara (1985-1993), Grahn made a guest appearance on a Season 1 episode of Knight Rider in October of 1982.

General Hospital: Role Model

Grahn played Jane Adams, assistant to Senator Maggie Flynn (Carole Cook). And guess what the Senator is like? Just guess! Senator Flynn thinks she always knows best. She has impeccably high standards…which she manages to get past when applied to her.

Her life is in danger, but she refuses to back down – even if it hurts other people in the process. And, when offered protection by – who else – the Knight Rider, himself, David Hasselhoff, she fights him every step of the way.

Looking Around

This leads Jane to pair up with Michael Knight (not the one on General Hospital, that’s Michael E. Knight who plays Martin Grey) to figure out who is after her boss – and flirt along the way.

Hasselhoff isn’t the only 1980s hunk Grahn batted her eyelashes at. She also guest-starred on Magnum, PI with Tom Selleck, The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby, Simon & Simon with Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker, Little House on the Praire with Michael Landon, and Quincey M.E. – the original CSI!

Want to find out what Nancy and The Hoff find during their investigation – and what develops between them in between the sleuthing? Watch the entire episode, here.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.