Genie Francis Admits She Was ‘Crushed’ Following Death of ‘General Hospital’ Costar Anthony Geary

Soap star Anthony Geary — who skyrocketed to stardom in the 1970s playing antihero Luke Spencer on General Hospital — died suddenly on Dec. 14 in the Netherlands at age 78 of complications from a scheduled operation three days earlier.

The curly-haired hunk controversially found fame by playing two TV rapists — George Curtis on The Young and the Restless then Luke on GH. In the latter role, Luke and his victim, Laura, became one of the most popular couples in TV history. The supercouple’s November 1981 wedding was watched by 30 million viewers, making the pop culture event the highest-rated daytime soap opera episode ever.

Geary’s performance as Luke stretched intermittently from 1978 to 2017. And while he played a ladies’ man, in real life the actor was married to a man. Widower Claudio Gama — who describes Geary as “my friend, my companion, my husband” — told TV Insider of the death of his longtime love: “It was a shock for me and our families and our friends.”

Geary’s other “life partner” — Francis — shared on social media one day after his passing, “I am crushed, I will miss him terribly, but I was so lucky to be his partner. Somehow, somewhere, we are connected to each other because I felt him leave last night. Good night, sweet prince, good night.”