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Happy ANNAversary! Finola Hughes Celebrates Today 30 Years On General Hospital!

By Michael Fairman

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Simply, the best!  I think all General Hospital fans would agree that one needs to look no further than former spy and now federal agent Anna Devane, as one of the top daytime female character to be admired who has survived insurmountable odds, fought the bad guys, has been a mother, a lover, and a grandmother … and is sexy as all get out doing it!

Daytime Emmy winner Finola Hughes (Anna), who is a nominee again this year, has brought her style, grace and heracting chops to General Hospital for 30 years and today is the day we celebrate Finola and Anna Devane.

Earlier today, a very special edition of #AskGH was all the rage on Twitter with Finola answering fans questions and many video tributes have been posted and poured in for the big  “AnnaVersary”!

In addition, in honor of her 30th anniversary, Finola also appeared on The Rachael Ray Show.  During her visit, she surprised Dr. Ian who is a superfan of GH.  Finola revealed to the good doc that she brings big news.  GH is giving him a small role on the soap.  “You know, I may not be the commissioner anymore but we’ve managed to secure you a role as a cop on our show,” said Hughes!

After the jump watch a special video tribute put together lovingly by robertannafan and Finola on The Rachael Ray Show.  Then share your well-wishes for Finola, and tell us your favorite Anna Devane moment!

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Both the videos were fun to watch..
and=
Finola you rock !!!!!

Finola does rock, su. I wasn’t even born when she first appeared on GH, but I completely adored her on AMC. She is just one of those people who just attract, and she’s beautiful inside and out, I’m sure. Go get ’em, Finola….

Someone on a soap opera—even if there was a break—that long and having many front burner storylines, i consider a lead actress and not supporting!!!

Read her reason for putting herself in supporting this year it was in SOD last week I am sure you can probably read it on line! Congratulations to FH and please bring Scorpio home from Genoa City and back into her arms! Miss those two’s wonderful chemistry!!!!

Tristan Rogers signed a new contract with Y&R in January,so Robert will not be returning to GH in 2015.

Jimh..
supporting actor has nothing to with how long one has been with a soap..
It’s that a Supporting actor’s day is typically pretty short, whereas its very common to have lead Actors work 10 or 12+ hour days ..

Some actors are an everyday person (lead) and others are sporadic (supporting)

Finola is one of the greats, for sure!

Hi Jim. She definitely has been lead in the past, but not for this nominating year she wasnt. She didnt drive story nor did she have enough screen time to warrant lead. Which is why the Peggy McKay thing boggles my mind. She is the epitome of what supporting actress should be. Finola is a smart cookie…..she knows that under this regime her character has been made to look like a bungling fool who cant even make an arrest for jaywalking. Finola was truly supporting in 2014. I have enjoyed all of her work and I hope one day GH will find a regime who will restore the character of Anna to her former glory and prominence.

I know what your saying…Peggy Mckay i love her and she is great but is rarely on and has no real story of her own…FH may not have a real story of her own(well, she did loose her commisioner job and dealt with Duke somewhat which is more story than brief appearances at Days with Peggy who hasnt any of her own story) and FH is shown more so in comparison FH feels more like lead than Peggy…im just glad the emmys are back on tv!!!

Of all of the actresses/female characters I’ve watched in Daytime television over the last 50 + years, Finola Hughes/Anna Devane are the women I most admire & would like to be, when I grow up. 😉

She’s the best! Lucky us for seeing her work onscreen!

Congrats to Finola on her 30th ANNAversary! How lucky and fortunate we fans have been for all these years to have the opportunity to enjoy the talents of Finola and the wonderful character of Anna Devane!!

The video tribute is amazing! I’m sure it was difficult to select scenes when there have been so many many great scenes and storylines involving Anna over the years!

Some of my favorite storylines over the years have been the flashback backstory of Robert and Anna and the Alien/Faison story. Favorite scenes are way too numerous to mention!! Comedic scenes between Anna and Frisco, family scenes with Robert, Anna and Robin, fierce scenes between Anna and Faison, etc., etc.

Again, congrats to Finola!! Hope to see many more years of Anna Devane!!

Finola deserves all the love and admiration she is getting today! A class act all the way around and a wonderful actress. I’ve been a fan since she first appeared on GH in 1985. Anna has had some great storylines over the years and Finola always makes the most of what she’s given. Love love love Finola and Anna Devane!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FINOLA, YOU TOTALLY ROCK! I started watching GH when i was 10, what i love most was when the character of Anna was introduce and later Robin, but what made anna so great was she was like one of the guys, she held her own and could kick butt too, there really wasn’t many women doing that back then in soaps and still today no female character stands out like Anna did, closes one was Jordan, but RC/FV somehow don’t Know how to write kick ass female characters. Still, i love Anna, but i feel RC/FV don’t do the character justice, first of all she should be trying to figure out what happened to Robin, its so wrong that Anna an Patrick bought into Robin fake story and just left it at that. Anna should also be seen spending more time with Emma, after all Emma was the reason she stayed in pc. Also, Anna should go back to being a Spy, its not working for her trying to enforce the law, since under RC/FV regime the character will never solve a crime to save her life. As a spy she’s more in the middle and this way the show can bring in these bad villains for short story arc, i.e like terrorist. I’m not sure if the audience wants to see Anna become buddies with Sonny, but i think the character should be involve in bring down more dangerous characters and have Sonny become that one bad guy every hero had as back up. Remember how Robert befriended Luke and they became buddies and even save the world? Lets be real, Sonny is not a real mobster, yes he’s killed a few bad guys and A.J, but since the show has decided he’s not going to pay for those crime, what other crime is he really committing ? the crime of self righteous? has he really terrorize PC? So to conclude, lets see Anna hanging out with Emma, trying to figure out what s going on with Robin, have a bigger villain come to town and try to really destroy PC so that Anna can then team up with Sonny, be on friendly terms with him, put Helena on warning for messing with Robin, and get her A team back, open a P.I agency, and team up with Felicia, Jordan, and spinneli and solve some dangerous crime and fun capers, oh and no way in hell let her work along with Sam as a p.i, sam can’t solve a crime if her life depended on it

Thanks for your tribute, Michael! I have adored Finola for what seems like a life time. I’m so happy she still reigns as the great Anna Devane 30 years after her first episode on GH. She is a treasure !

OMG, 30 years! We should all hope to look as good as Finola looks as she ages gracefully! My favorite story with her character was when Grant Putnam kidnapped her and kept her in a cage. I know, morbid but her and Brian Patrick Clarke were golden together!

Thanks for the shoutout! It is really hard to pick one favorite Anna moment, but I will go with the scene from 1990, Sean tells AnR that it was his fault they broke up and the Swede was alive

Finola has played Anna beautifully throughout the years,time has
been as kind to her as she has been to us. And the Emmy goes to
Finola Hughes.

Was so happy to see Finola return to General Hospital. Also liked her in Charmed and Staying Alive (you could really see her dance).
Just wish Ron C would give her a prominent role with Anna doing cool things like she used to do. Right now she’s no more than window dressing…she can do more that has a lot more fun and adventure than the dark, downer stories we’ve had the past few years. She really solved crimes and would have never given up on Robin.
Unfortunately, this has happened to other favorite actors GH has brought back, like Ian, Frisco, Kristen, and Tristan. We’re hopefully finishing the Fluke fiasco, and now we get to see Kiki and Morgan try to make Michael look like an alcoholic, Ava wanting to die, again another baby being tossed around for drama, Carly enabling Sonny and saying she’s a good mother, etc. At leased write more upbeat, complicated stories than what we’ve had lately. Also wouldn’t mind Duke getting rid of the beard.

This was a great celebration for a great actress and one of the greatest characters to ever be created for daytime television. Her performances, when they chose to actually use her, are flawless and she continues to reminds fans like me why I still watch GH. Kudos to a classy lady for an amazing occasion.

This was a really wonderful celebration. Even though Anna was nowhere to be found on GH over the past couple of weeks, it was so much fun seeing Finola on The Chew and The Rachel Ray Show as well as having her live tweet with fans on the day of Anna’s 30th anniversary. The photos and videos The Findom shared via twitter over the past few weeks have been phenomenal! Kudos to Finola for reaching this amazing milestone in her career and may she continue to bring us more Anna Devane.

I still think Finola is one of the best things still happening on GH and also in that group are Tony Geary & Jane Elliott. I wish they would use her more! I wish her Congratulations for this great moment! 30 years is really something especially in a genre like daytime TV. She is a class act and clearly the fans believe that too!

I don’t think anyone is more deserving of this 30 year celebration than Finola Hughes. She handles her work and her interaction with fans like the true pro that she is and she is very generous by donating all the proceeds from her GHFCW fan gatherings to charity every time she has a gathering. Kudos to her for being such a class act!

I’d love to congratulate Finola Hughes on this awesome accomplishment. Kudos to her for always keeping the doors to GH open and Kudos for GH for knowing which character and actress they would need to bring back to help meld legendary and beloved with “let’s try some new stuff”. FYI, I still pick legendary and beloved!

I remember Anna’s very first episode, as well as the hideous fake scar being worn as “penance.” Always thought Anna was Gloria Monty’s best female creation and the actress remains the gold standard at GH. Now, can we please get a storyline for Anna worthy of Finola Hughes’s great talent? That would be the most fitting celebration of 30 years of Anna Devane and Finola Hughes!!!!

Ditto!. Have loved Anna at first sight. Let’s give her a storyline and a romance–and not that creepy Sloan.

Such a talented, beautiful and classy actress! Congratulations and best wishes. Thank you for always delivering your best.

Let’s get real for a moment: Finola’s “30 years” were far from continuous, so it’s not the major milestone promoted here. I think she’s been off the show almost as long as she’s been on the show. Same thing goes for Tony Geary, and with him, he seems to be gone one-half of every year.

I did some research and found out that Finola has been playing Anna(on GH) for roughly 15 years in total.

Thanks, Tim. You’ve proved my point.

Is it not true that Finola premiered as Anna thirty years ago? I believe the celebration by fans is an acknowledgement of the 30th anniversary of Anna’s arrival in Port Charles.

Thanks for the heads-up, Tristan, but reread the headline to this story and you’ll see what I mean.

It was the anniversary of Finola’s 1st appearance on GH as Anna Devane. I don’t think anyone assumed she had actually been on the show for 30 years but she did also play Anna Devane on AMC.

In addition to Finola 3 of her cast mates will be celebrating their 10 year anniversaries in 2015,Jason Thompson,Kelly Monaco and Laura Wright all started on GH in 2005.

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‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

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Dominic Zamprogna

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing, during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

On last week’s episodes of GH, Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door, he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned.

Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC

HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT

Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where Dante and Elizabeth previously, recalling, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, ‘Well, so much for that!'”

Fast-forward to early 2025 and as Zamprogna remembered it, “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said, ‘We’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth,’ My internal monologue is going, ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is … or not.”

Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprogna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric … and a big fan base with with Jason … and you know, you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Dom and Liz

Photo: ABC

DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES

In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is 100% down for. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.”

Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit, The buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other, and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect: Ric, Sonny, Lulu. There’s so much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”

You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.

Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither guy  for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.

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GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

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Patrick J. Gibbons

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.

However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.

Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC

FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG

Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!

Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”

MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL

Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).

Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI

PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY

Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”

It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”

A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”

He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”

Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.

So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.

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‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Admits That He Didn’t Expect the Role of Michael Corinthos to be Recast, and Would Consider Working on Another Soap (Exclusive)

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Chad Duell, the Daytime Emmy-winning actor, who stepped away from the pivotal role of Michael Corinthos on General Hospital, opened up about: his previous decision to leave the series after nearly 15 years, where’s he’s at now after time away from the demands of a daytime soap opera, and took a stroll down memory lane with some of Michael’s most-acclaimed storyline during his run, during a livestream chat on August 19 on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel.

Viewers last saw Duell on-screen as Michael in January of 2025, and with his successor in the role, Rory Gibson making his debut at the GH Nurses’ Ball in episodes that aired later in May. It was clear that during the conversation, Chad was a bit surprised that the GH brass decided to recast him when he thought he was just taking some much needed time off.

Burn-out of the daily grind of being on a soap was definitely a part of Chad’s decision to take a break. Duell explained “People know when you’re doing something for so long or your character is kind of in the same place for so long or doing the same stuff over and over again, you do get a a little burnt out, you get a little stiff, stale, a little stiff at times. I didn’t want that to be any sort of lasting impression. I have 15 years of a body of work of I’ve done on that show, which is fantastic.”

Chad Duell

Photo: ABC

WHILE CHAD WAS AWAY GH RECAST MICHAEL CORINTHOS WITH RORY GIBSON

Chad shared, his mindset when leaving GH was, “I’m taking some time away, we’ll see what happens.” Then he added, “Obviously, they decided to go in a different direction with Michael when I was gone. I didn’t think they were going to bring somebody back in my place. But you know, it’s the business. You never know what can happen.”

Duell also shared he has not watched a single episode of General Hospital since he left the series, but now feels he reenergized following the loss of his father and stepping away from the GH, “I’m in a place now mentally, where I’m ready to sink my teeth into it again.”

Courtesy/ABC

Even though he is no longer Michael on GH, Chad was very happy with his final storyline where Michael was set on fire when a bomb exploded at Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) penthouse. “It was fun to put him in a dangerous situation, because I was wanting Michael to be in something scary instead of trying to be a hero character or just things happening around him, but to be the center point of tragedy happening to him. (I always saw) Michael as the heart of the (Corinthos) family.”

When Michael was badly burned the show chose not burn his face, which normally a soap does when they are recasting role and switching actors. Chad weighed-in, “They didn’t burn my face because I told Frank Valentini (EP, GH) I’m willing to come back. It was just a little bit of a break. So, I assumed that if they would have burned my face, they could have brought somebody back looking different than me… if that’s what their plan was.”

Courtesy/ABC

MEMORABLE MICHAEL STORYLINES

One of Chad’s most memorable performances was the in the storyline of Michael’s rape while he was sentenced to prison in 2010 and the confession of it in 2011. “It was so well-written and I was very nervous,” recalled Chad. “When I get really nervous about something, it ends up being really good when I do it, because it just means I care a lot about it”

“I have to put a lot of effort and work into it, and I really want it to be good.  I was working with Dominic  Zamprogna (Dante) and Steve Burton (Jason) a lot during those scenes, and Laura Wright (Carly). It was great working with Steve and Dominic, especially, during that storyline.

A NEW SOAP ROLE FOR CHAD?

As to a future soap opera role, Chad is open to the idea and would love to jump back in to a juicy role, “I know people over at The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless. They know that if they’re interested, I would love to come in for a screen test or something, and they can see what I’m doing.”

Meanwhile, Chad has been busy putting out new music under the moniker Duelly and during the interview he explains how he creates his EDM tracks and much more. You can stream his latest single, Static in the Quiet Room on Spotify, Apple Music and You Tube Music.

You can check out the full conversation with Chad Duell below.

Now let us know: what show would you like to see Chad cast on down the line? BTG, DAYS, B&B, Y&R, or a new role on GH? What did you think of his thoughts on the casting switch while he was away in the role of Michael? What was your favorite Michael storyline during Chad’s 15-year run on the ABC soap opera? Let us know via the comment section.

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