General Hospital Wayback: Remember Holly Sutton

She was an alluring, feisty and haughty English beauty. But Holly Sutton – a General Hospital favorite and one of the best con artists in soap opera history – had only one real desire: she wanted to be loved. So it’s truly a shame that the two men she set her heart on both loved another.

Introduction

Luke Spencer, fed up with the world and in deep mourning for Laura – presumably a victim of madman David Gray – decided to put the hustle and bustle of Port Charles behind him and retreat into nature. Having established a camping site deep in the mountains, Luke was perturbed to hear splashing sounds coming from the nearby lake.

Upon investigating, Luke was captivated by the sight of a raven-haired beauty indulging in a morning swim – completely nude! Further encounters with this mysterious nymph left Luke absolutely fascinated, and he managed to elicit her name, Holly Sutton, and her nationality – British.

After rescuing his new acquaintance, who had injured her foot, Luke invited her to spend the night in his tent and the two wind up making love. The next morning, Holly was gone and Luke was left to wonder if the encounter was real or merely a concocted fantasy.

There’s Oil In Them There Hills
Holly was an altogether real woman but she was also revealed to be part of a consortium of criminals out to bilk the residents of Port Charles in a well-rehearsed oil swindle. And her meeting with Luke was far from accidental.

In fact, it was set-up so that Holly could ingratiate herself with the town’s most popular citizen and convince him to lead the charge of investors who would inevitably covet the “oil-rich land” that her co-conspirators were out to sell.

But somewhere along the way, Holly began to fall in love with her mark and when the con resulted in a murder, she and Luke were forced to hightail it out of town with the killer in hot pursuit.

While on the run, Holly admitted her role in the scam and apologized to Luke for betraying him. Despite his immense sadness, Luke still fought valiantly to help free Holly from her tormenters and when she was spirited away to Vancouver, he and Robert went there to rescue her.

A Friend in Need
Holly and Luke tried to make a real go at a relationship but the specter of Holly’s earlier betrayal proved to be a major stumbling block. After a particularly nasty argument about trust, Luke stormed out of their apartment, bags packed, ready to embark on another mountain retreat.

After being waylaid by a vicious bandit, Luke found himself caught in an avalanche and severely injured. The recovered body of the bandit – killed by the same onrush of snow – was misidentified as Mr. Spencer and Holly mourned her lover.

Not only was she now alone in a town still hostile towards her over the oil fracas but Holly was hit with the one-two punch of a positive pregnancy test and the threat of deportation.

Feeling it his duty to protect his best friend’s girl, Robert Scorpio proposed to Holly, assuring her that the marriage would be in name only and serve the dual purpose of keeping her in the country and legitimizing her unborn child.

Dream Team
Holly accepted Scorpio’s proposal and the duo found themselves actually falling in love with one another. They weathered the heartbreaking miscarriage that Holly suffered and when Luke turned up alive and well, they chose to remain Mr. and Mrs.

Together they adventured and investigated and helped the PCPD close some of their biggest cases – including the murder of Susan Moore, the Prometheus Disc caper, and the Avalon Spa blackmail ring.

When Robert’s first wife Anna Devane arrived in town, Holly feared she would lose her husband but Robert reaffirmed his love for his current missus and the two exited Port Charles for a new life in Australia.

Loss and Return
A few years after their relocation, Robert returned with sad news: Holly had perished in a plane crash. However, in actuality, Holly had been injured in a car accident and never boarded the doomed aircraft.

Instead, she had been hidden away by her shady relatives and upon finally awakening from a coma, Holly learned that Robert had resettled with Anna. Trying to be noble, Holly had stayed away and left Robert to his newfound happiness with his ex and the daughter they shared.

Holly briefly slid back into her villainess ways but reuniting with Robert set her back on the straight and narrow. When Robert was presumed dead alongside Anna, Holly was devastated and tried to move on with Luke’s look-alike cousin Bill Eckert but he two-timed her with Victoria Parker.

Betrayed and angered beyond words, Holly engineered a split between her cheating paramour and his lover and then smashed Bill’s entire cache of vintage wine. With her revenge completed, she set off for parts unknown.

Darkside

A darker and more mercenary-minded Holly returned to Port Charles decades later and ransomed a cure for a weaponized strain of encephalitis that had been plaguing several Port Charles residents. On another visit, she revealed that she had given birth to a son – Ethan Lovett – and that Luke was the boy’s father.