When motion picture star, Robin Wright first came on to the scene, it was Santa Barbara’s co-creators and co-head writers, Jerome and Bridget Dobson, who cast the very ‘green’ actress when she was only 18 in the role of Kelly Capwell on the NBC soap opera.

Wright appeared as Kelly from 1994 to 1998, and became famous for her role as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride and since that time has earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jenny in Forest Gump, starred as Claire Underwood in Netflix’s drama House of Cards for which she won a Golden Globe. She also appeared in the films The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Wonder Woman, Blade Runner 2049, and Justice League to name a few.

In 2019, Robin added director credits to her impressive resume with her first feature, Land and later directed a couple of episodes of the hit Netflix drama, Ozark and more.

Photo: NBC

Santa Barbara’s Jerome Dobson and Daytime Emmy-winning star, A Martinez (ex-Cruz Castillo) recently chatted live on the Michael Fairman Channel were they offered up many behind the scenes stories of the beloved the soap opera. When the question came up of what was Jerry and A’s experience working with Robin Wright, both TV legends (and now Daytime Emmy Gold Circle Inductees) had some very interesting and complimentary things to say.

Dobson began, “When we tested her to come on the show, we weren’t sure of ourselves because she was basically a model, and hadn’t done any acting, but she had an interesting, very gorgeous look. But there was more than that to her.”

Photo: NBC

With her stunning looks and raw talent, Dobson added about Wright, “We thought, this may be a gold mine. We hired an acting coach for. She would have trouble some with some of the scripts, and she would come up to my office and we’d talk over the script. It’s like she had learned from Dame Judith Anderson (ex-Minx Lockridge), ‘I need to know why I’m saying this line, and why am I flirting with this person and where am I going?’ Robin was incisive, interested and involved, and she took off.

A, who shared numerous scenes with Robin, recalled, “One of the things that I sort of reduce it to is the two words, ‘b*s detector.’  I think that as you go through the the journey of doing this, you have to have, a ‘b*s detector’ operating at all times, just to check yourself. I learned early on that if  if you think you have just transgressed on your intentions in terms of being truthful, you need to stop yourself immediately. You don’t want to finish up something that’s already broken because you had a false moment in it.”

Martinez added, “You want to have a detector working, and when something doesn’t go right, you just stop, and I just thought what Robin developed in that regard was just impeccable. You look at the run she got on Santa Barbara and the depth and the truth that she found in that character.  She went from starting so raw, but I just thought her sense of honesty was impeccable. Working with Robin was a great joy. It is so great all that has happened for her, and for all of us that we get to know her. I once in a while run into her still, and it’s literally like Christmas. I just love her so much.”

You can watch the full chat with A Martinez and Jerome Dobson and their walk down memory lane on Santa Barbara below, and then take a look at an early clip of Wright in a scenes with Louise Sorel from the series.

Now let us know, did you know Robin would become a huge success from her work on Santa Barbara? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Early Wednesday morning, Michael Easton revealed that he has just taped his final scenes as Hamilton Finn on General Hospital.

The popular actor, who arrived at GH after his enduring run as John McBain on One Life to Live, took to his Instagram and announced his departure from the ABC daytime drama series, following weeks of rumors that he was out at the show.

Standing outside the entrance to the set of General Hospital in what seems to be the wee hours of the morning, Easton shared the following message to his fans: “I’ve always been partial to the Irish Wish goodbye. That’s where you leave the party without actually telling anyone you’re gone. But I thought you all deserved better.”

Photo: MEastonIG

Easton then expressed, “So, I just wanna let you know, I just filmed my final scenes here at General Hospital. I’ve loved every minute that I’ve been here. I want to thank the entire cast and crew for allowing me to share their stage this past 10 years. Most importantly, I wanna thank all of you for the kindness and love you shown me and my family. I won’t ever forget you.”

In an emotional closing, Michael ended his video message, with, “As I walk out here for the last time, and with apologies to the great Lou Gehrig, I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Ironically, the former New York Yankees baseball star in Easton’s reference, died of ALS (also known as “Lou Gehrig disease”), which was part of the storyline Michael recently played out on-screen with Finn’s dying father, Gregory, who had the same disease.

Photo: ABC

Michael punctuated his thoughts within the Instagram post with one final goodbye, “Thank you for your kindness. My heart is filled with love and gratitude.”

Currently in story, Finn has lost his sobriety after seven years, and is in the midst of a serious downfall after his father, Gregory passed away and his daughter, Violet (Jophielle Love) has been taken out of his home and has been served a restraining order to not come near here. How will Easton depart GH? Is Finn exiting the Port Charles canvas to get the help he needs?

Clearly, this marks the end of the line for Finn and Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) as they just had it out over his drinking, and with yesterday’s announced return of Jonathan Jackson (Lucky) to GH this summer.

Photo: ABC

Easton’s GH journey started when he took Llanview’s McBain to Port Charles after One Life was canceled. He debuted on the long-running soap in March 13, 2012. However, due to the legal disputes with ownership of the characters from One Life to Live, between ABC and Prospect Park, he had to leave the series. Michael’s last episode as McBain was in March of 2013. Next, General Hospital brought him back as a new character, Silas Clay, in May of 2013. Two years later in 2015, Silas was killed-off.  Easton made one more GH run, this time as Dr. Hamilton Finn which he had been playing since the spring of 2016.

Throughout Easton’s time on General Hospital, he has earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series back in 2018.  Given his recent performances, many suspect that Michael might close his time on GH with another Emmy nomination in 2025.

You can watch Easton’s emotional goodbye below.

Now let us know, what are your thoughts on Michael Easton’s exit from GH? Sad to see him go? How do you think the show will write-off Finn? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

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Earlier on Tuesday, it was revealed that General Hospital’s five-time Daytime Emmy-winner, Jonathan Jackson is making a return to the ABC soap opera for the first time since 2015.

Jackson is now set to reprise his role as Luke (Tony Geary) and Laura’s (Genie Francis) son, Lucky Spencer.  Shortly after the soap world was abuzz at the news of his imminent arrival back in Port Charles, Jonathan took to his Instagram with his own personal message to his fans.

Jonathan started, “Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I will be returning to General Hospital this summer as Lucky Spencer. Super excited and can’t wait to dig in and see what’s going on in Port Charles. Excited to see Genie Francis, obviously, and so many others.”

Photo: JPI

“Just wanted to say thank you to all of the fans over the years,” he continued. “Your persistence and love has certainly played a part in all of this. So I just wanted to say thank you. Also, to Frank Valentini (executive producer, General Hospital) and everybody at ABC for welcoming me back. Super excited. So, just sending much love, and I guess, I’ll be seeing you all fairly soon. God bless.”

Photo: JPI

The actor and musician’s video post was accompanied by the words, “excited for the journey” to continue, and so are we! Lucky was last seen in 2015 when Jackson returned to the soap to be a part of Tony Geary’s final storyline as Luke.  At the time of Lucky’s exit from the canvas he left things on good terms with Elizabeth and the children.

So, now the question is, h0w does Lucky arrive back in Port Charles this summer? Share your theories via the comment section below.