GH’s Maurice Benard And AMC Alum Liz Vassey Tackle Ageism On SOM

Hollywood really is a small town. If you are in the Entertainment business, chances are you will run into people again. General Hospital’s Maurice Benard recently reunited with All My Children alum Liz Vassey on his video podcast of State Of Mind 30 years after she screen-tested with him at the tender age of 15. Both have been busy and had a lot of ground to cover!

Maurice Benard And Liz Vassey: Catching The Acting Bug

The duo began as if no time had passed. Vassey (ex-Emily Ann Sago, AMC), already a big fan of Benard’s (Sonny Corinthos) video podcast, spoke up quickly. “I just want to say something right off the bat,” exclaimed Vassey. “I am so impressed that you are doing this. I did a deep dive. I know you went online and did a deep dive into my life. I’ve done a deep dive into yours. This show is so impressive. You are destigmatizing and normalizing talking about mental health. You are to be applauded. I think you are saving lives. I am so impressed with you, and I just wanted to say that right off the bat. I am a fan.”

Benard wanted to know more about her early years and what made her want to become an actress. For the budding thespian, it all started with a move to the Sunshine State. “We moved to Hollywood, Florida, which is this tiny little place close to Miami,” she began. “I thought of Ginger from Gilligan’s Island, you know, glamorous Hollywood. I saw my sister in a play, and I said, ‘Mom, I want to try out for a musical.’”

Her mother wasn’t convinced. “My mom loved me very much but thought I would take a gigantic sh*t on the stage. And this shy little child would get up on stage and not be able to do it. She was like, ‘Your sister can take you.’ I ended up getting the part of Oliver in Oliver because they needed a girl to hit the high notes.”

The Screen Test That Changed It All

At 15, the talented teen found herself auditioning at All My Children with Benard, who played Nico Kelly back then. She described the mind-blowing experience. “I met you and your dimples were like the first thing I saw when I went to the screen test.” They both laughed! “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing,” she continued. “I saw another girl rehearse with you. She was looking up and down a lot while she talked and I thought, “Oh, I guess TV actors look up and down a lot while they talk. I didn’t know! But you were great. You were so kind and welcoming. I remember that day.”

But Benard mentioned that they didn’t get to work together as Vassey ended up getting the role of Emily, a role that snagged her a Daytime Emmy nomination as Outstanding Juvenile Female in 1990. “I worked with Trent Bushey. He played David Rampal, and I had this big crush on him.

“They [AMC] did this strange 180,” she recalled. “I found out that my father was a pimp, on the show, not in real life. My father was a pimp. He was Billy Clyde [Tuggle; Matthew Cowles]. My mother was a prostitute. My stepmother was a prostitute. So, in my second year on the show, I called myself Misty Deadeye because all I did was cry. All I did was look around and cry with these dead eyes. I was on the show for two years.”

Liz Vassey: The Family That Shaped Her

Upon returning home, everything had changed. “After I screen-tested, we flew home and my father was gone by the time I got home. My father, as it turned out, had fallen in love with someone else. My father was a minister. It turned out that it had been going on for a period of time. My mother knew. I did not.

“My mom and I were living in a home owned by the church because he was a minister,” she clarified. “So, we didn’t know what we were going to do because I had graduated from high school a year early. I wanted out because it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

“I thought I would get an early admission to college.” The actress talked about how her plan changed…thanks to AMC. “My mom will get the first job she has ever had in her whole life and then I got the soap. So my mom, and my grandma, Gaga, the three of us moved into Hell’s Kitchen together. Lived on 52nd and 8th in this one-bedroom apartment. It was like the estrogen brigade.”

Movement As Medicine

Vassey found a healing outlet in her mobility. “I have always been athletic, but running became very important and sacred to me. It gave me something to do every morning. It gave me an outlet for anger and frustration. It became a huge part of my life.

“I am also an adamant hater of isms,” she admitted. “You got your racism, sexism, and ageism, and living in Hollywood where the ageism is made, I thought I want to make something that shows people of a certain age in a certain light because I think we all suffer from this delusion that older people are cute or occasionally they let them rap in movies with Adam Sandler. I want to show them as fierce. As athletes. And when I say that I mean some of these times they kick my ass, people who are two decades older than I am. So I thought, ‘I am going to make a documentary!’”

Vassey teamed up with her husband, David Emmerichs, a camera operator, and Boston Marathon female legend Kathrine Switzer, and put a call out on social media for running enthusiasts from ages 50 to 90 and created a profound look at finding health and inspiration at any age in the documentary The Human Race on Amazon Prime.

Liz Vassey had so much more to say on healing after her parents’ divorce, seeking therapy for commitment issues before finding her “True North” in her husband, David Emmerichs, spirituality, and dealing with consecutive losses. She discusses her career spanning more than three decades including her experiences on AMC, CSI, Two and A Half Men, and the challenge and the rewards of writing vs acting. Catch the full episode here.

Fans can follow Liz on Twitter. Follow Maurice Benard on Twitter, Instagram, or State of Mind.

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.

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