Connect with us

General Hospital

25

Nancy Lee Grahn Debuted 25 Years Ago Today as General Hospital’s Alexis Davis

By Michael Fairman

Published

on

Photo: ABC

Back on September 26th, 1996, (25 years ago today!) the new character of Alexis Davis made her debut on ABC’s General Hospital, and brought to the iconic soap opera, the talents of Nancy Lee Grahn.

Grahn, had already made a name for herself with her captivating portrayal of lawyer Julia Wainwright Capwell on Santa Barbara for which she won a Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy in 1989, in a tie with AMC’s Debbi Morgan.

Back in April, General Hospital, marked this milestone with a special episode for Grahn, that could be remembered come next year’s Emmys.

Alexis, or shall we call her “Natasha”, was introduced on GH as the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine and his mistress, whose throat was slit by Helena Cassadine, which has played into Alexis’ story for many years to come.  At the time of her entrance to the show, Wendy Riche was GH’s executive producer.

Through the years, viewers have witnessed Grahn’s portrayal of: a tough legal eagle, an honest depiction of a woman battling the bottle, failed romances, while all the time being a loving and faithful mother to her three daughters, Sam, Molly, and Kristina.

Nancy won her second Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy, this time for her role as Alexis in 2012, and has been a multi-nominee in the Lead Actress category for her performances on the ABC daytime drama series.

Kate Grahn, Nancy’s daughter took to social media within the last few hours since we posted this story to share a video on how thankful she and her mom are to GH fans and Nancy’s time on the show which afforded her the ability to have and raise Kate.  Check that out below.

Here’s to Nancy for giving us 25 years of her on-screen work as Alexis!

Congratulate Nancy and tell us your favorite Alexis Davis moments via the comment section.

25 Comments

25 Comments
oldest
newest

She is a great actress the sad thing is she had to bring politics into everything we are all out here trying to find a escape from that and she just keeps it going . She always has so it has turned me off because I just wanted to be entertained and Nancy conservatives who have a different opinion watch GH you can turn people off no matter what side of the fence you are ion. Congrats for your tenure

This isn’t fair. Reminds me of when I hear: “Just shut up and dribble.” No one has to be quiet for your comfort.

If you can tolerate the Cheetoh you can certainly tolerate an actress on a soap opera who only reads the lines they write for her.

Then just watch the show and don’t follow them on social media. That seems like the easy way to handle it. Nancy is a person aside from her character. You like Alexis. Focus on that.

Agree with you. I understand and respect that she has different opinions and positions. The thing is –from her posts if you have opinions and positions which are different from what she thinks, she appears to be intolerant of others beliefs/opinions. Stick to acting and leave politicis out of it as other GH stars do.

There’s no rules requiring viewers to follow actors social media posts. Nancy has a right to post as does every citizen. Ingo posts contradictory messages than Nancy, yet both are able to be professional in scenes where long term friends Alexis & Jax are concerned.

Congrats to Nancy!!!! 25 years flew by so fast. I love her portrayal as Alexis/Natasha. Hopefully, she’ll be freed out of prison sooner rather than later, so we can see her maybe mix it up with her family roots, the Cassdine’s, more interaction with her nephew Nicholas and also Spencer, too. I’m looking forward to a bigger and better storyline for NLG, she’s definitely worth it. I totally miss her with Julian. They totally ruined Julian the year he took orders from Olivia Jerome to kill Alexis. Her chemistry with Julian was off the charts. I also liked her relationship with Neil, too. Her time with Ned never really made sense. And don’t get me started on Jax/Ingo.
It was always the hot and steamy scenes with Alexis and her real first love with Julian that night in the car when boring boring boring Sam was conceived.

Well done to Nancy, thanks to you for your portrayal that is never dull and your inspirational political activism on social media. I love how you speak your truth and don’t hold back.
Nancy, I wish you more years on GH, maybe a Supporting Emmy win next year and a new more thoughtful bigger storyline being out of prison. I would love for William deVry, to return because Julexis was always so fascinating and hot. So much passion between the characters but unfortunately the writers ruined that with Julian attempting to kill Alexis and his brief time with Dr Nero as Charlie went nowhere.
William deserved better from GH, then he was tossed out, once again like the trash, the show, killing him off last winter.
Long live Alexis and thank you NLG for years and years of fantastic acting in a variety of storylines. Reconnect her back into Port Charles, Alexis deserves to finally find a solid long lasting love! She’s got such a history with the Cassdine’s with Victor back and the show rebuilding the family, I look forward to her reconnecting with her family and roots.
Bring Julian back!!!! I’ll never forget the juicy and hot scenes with Julian and Alexis. (Minus the murder attempt.)

Love to Nancy.

Jeremy, you’ve hit it out of the park! In my mind anyway… I agree with your assessment of the actress (including her activism) as well as the character, including her romantic partners (particularly Julian, with whom the actress had amazing chemistry). Take care, Friend!

I loved Nancy on Santa Barbara with lane Davies lol

Mark,
Oh, me too. They were a wonderful couple. Remember the suprise wedding?

congrats NLG, and to many more years.

Years back, I’d get a little thrill whenever Alexis was on. Nancy always had a fresh approach to the character; I never saw her “phone it in”. But, the past two or three years, I have the opposite reaction. I feel it’s just a matter of time before she does something madly self-destructive, then repents, then does it again…and again. Drinking, wrong men, ethically challenged decisions. It’s a sad treadmill the writers have placed her on. Nancy has valiantly kept Alexis human and watchable, but she deserves much better. Maybe this stint in jail will be a new beginning.

She deserves a full redemption. It’s a soap. She can get her law license back. Many less likely things happen all the time (i.e. return from the dead!)

Soap hound…I agree with you. Tough to watch a character who had so much promise when she came to Port Charles continually be given self-destruct stories by the writers.

Ms. Grahn does exceptional work with anything they throw at her. But I especially like how they’re taking their time with her “repentance” storyline in the slammer. This feels so real because of the timing and what Nancy is bringing to the table in her spectacular performances.
Congratulations on 25 years! i look forward to seeing you on GH for many, many years to come!

Never liked her. Who does she think she is knocking anyone who doesn’t agree with her politics? Not a nice person.

Right. She is like Robert DE Niro, if you dont agree with his politics he has no use for you! Same with Nancy. And Nancy, enjoy the ONE thing you and Robert have in common!

Alexis is a failure on so many levels. I dont know about her career but her love life, she is a relationship killer. Why not pair her with Harmony and let her completely change her life. It would be interesting to tell this story. I do like the actress who plays Harmony and they need to find a story for her.

Timmm,
I really envy you that you know Nancy Lee so personally that you can comment on her failures on “so many levels” I like and admire her for her accomplishments as an actor, mother and not being afraid to speak out on many issues, including politics. So many stars are reluctant to say anything,for fear they will be seen in a bad light as they have done with her. Nancy tells it likes it is, and knows she’ll never please everyone.

Well Violet, I was speaking about her characters failures. I don’t care what she says in her personal life.

Timmm, So sorry, I misread you.

I’m not sure if Alexis would ever “switch teams”, but if she did, I doubt it would be for Harmony, a woman who did significant damage to two of her daughters’ lives.

Maybe Alexis would channel “Satan!”

Well, I could always do that, of course… but we wouldn’t want Marlena to get jealous!

When they were telling the alcoholism story, I really wish they would have brought Scotty Baldwin into it. He witnessed his father Lee – also a lawyer – self destruct with alcohol for years, but eventually managed to come out of it. Maybe he might have had some insights to share with Natasha, given that history?

General Hospital

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

Published

on

By

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.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

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

Published

on

By

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.

Continue Reading

General Hospital

‘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)

Published

on

By

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.

Continue Reading

Video Du Jour

Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

Recent Comments

Power Performance

Heather Tom

The Bold and the Beautiful

Airdate: 7-24-2026

Popular

25
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x