Fan favorite James DePaiva is back on daytime, having begun shooting episodes of General Hospital (GH) on June 6 as a character whose identity remains under wraps… but is rumored to possibly be Dr. Jeff Webber (Liz and Hayden’s dad).
According to the July 3 issue of Soap Opera Digest, his return was set in motion last April when he ran into GH’s executive producer, Frank Valentini, at the Daytime Emmys. Valentini had been in the same position at One Life to Live when DePaiva played Max.
“I saw Frank, gave him a handshake and a hug and he said, ‘Would you ever think of doing General Hospital?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And a week or two later I got the call,” shared DePaiva.
It was good timing, considering wife Kassie (ex-Blair) was asked to return to Days of Our Lives (DOOL) as Eve, which also shoots in Los Angeles.
It left DePaiva needing to figure out what he would do next since they weren’t heading back to New York. Now the couple can concentrate on getting their acting careers back on track.
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Agreeing to come to work on GH, without even knowing the character he was going to play, was a leap of faith. But it had an added bonus for the veteran daytime actor.
He received a warm welcome from many old friends, including Wally Kurth (Ned), who played Kassie’s love interest Justin on DAYS.
As DePaiva shared with Digest, “Frank was saying, ‘Have you met Maurice [Benard, Sonny]?’ as Maurice and I are giving each other hug. ‘Yeah, we’ve met!’ We did an appearance together 30 years ago, when he was on All My Children [as Nico].”
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