Lynn Herring Celebrates 38 Years as GH’s Lucy Coe

About a decade ago, General Hospital initiated a series of veteran actor/character returns to Port Charles. Much to the delight of viewers, Lynn Herring was among those returnees. She brought her dynamic character of Lucy Coe back to the canvas just in time to revive the Nurses Ball. Now, Herring is celebrating major milestone.

Life Beings at Thirty…Eight

“Thank you for all the warm thoughts on Lucy’s 38th anniversary,” Herring tweeted. “So appreciated.” The actress originated the role of Lucy in 1986, appearing as a seemingly mousy librarian, who provided an alibi for Kevin O’Connor (Kevin Bernhardt) during the Laurelton Murder Mystery storyline.

Kevin turned out to be indeed guilty of murder, but that didn’t stop Lucy from ingratiating herself into Port Charles society. She had an affair with Bobbie Spencer’s (Jacklyn Zeman) then-husband Jake Meyer (Sam Behrens). She went onto to marry Dr. Tony Jones (Brad Maule) and Dr. Alan Quartermaine (Stuart Damon). Lucy conspired with partner-in-crime Scotty (Kin Shriner), but met, arguably, the true love of her life in Dr. Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom).

Herring took a break from playing Lucy in 1992. She left the ABC soap opera and joined the cast of Days of our Lives as Lisanne Gardner. Her stay in Salem was brief; Lisanne died but Herring soon rose like a Phoenix by coming back home to GH as Lucy.

The ex-librarian acted as surrogate to Scotty and Dominque’s (Shell Danielson) daughter, Serena (Carly Schroeder). In 1997, Herring (along with Lindstrom and Shriner) was chosen to headline Port Charles, the GH spinoff, that aired until 2003. The actress made an appearance on GH in 2004 to attend ex-mother-in-law Lila Quartermaine’s memorial when the show wrote in the death of her portrayer, Anna Lee.

Lucy wore a red dress for the occasion in honor of the scarlet gown she wore when she married Lila’s son, Alan. Herring took a break from appearing on the show until 2012. That’s when Sabrina (Teresa Castillo) reached out to Lucy to ask her to help bring back the Nurses Ball.

Herring not only reprised Lucy, who reclaimed her duties as emcee of the gala that brings awareness and financial resources to HIV/AIDS. Lucy not only never fails to entertain at the ball, but she also gives heartfelt messages about how, despite medical advances, AIDS/HIV is still a serious issue and should be treated as such.

Lucy shared a fun, comedic romance with Martin Gray (Michael E. Knight), Laura’s (Genie Francis), half-brother but that cooled off after Lucy had a fling with Scotty. Last year, GH paid tribute to Herring’s early days by having her disguise herself in her mousy librarian persona when she snuck back into Port Charles while she was supposed to be in hiding. Lucy ended up crashing the Nurses Ball (of course!). The annual gala be the same without Herring and loveable Lucy. Soap Hub congratulates Lynn Herring on her big anniversary!