The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced on Thursday, September 3 than none other than Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital) will receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Honor at the upcoming 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, taking place October 30 in Hollywood, California.

In addition, next year in February, Genie will celebrate her 50th anniversary milestone of her debut on General Hospital where she first appeared on-screen as a teenaged Laura Vining back in 1977. She secured her place in pop culture history when an estimated 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the iconic 1981 wedding of Laura and Luke Spencer (the late Anthony Geary) Fast-forward to 2026, and Laura serves as the mayor of Port Charles.

Throughout her daytime career, Francis has also appeared on ABC’s All My Children as Ceara Connor, Days of Our Lives as Diana Colville, and CBS’s The Young and the Restless as Genevieve Atkinson. She won her only  Daytime Emmy back in 2007 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for her role as Laura on General Hospital.

Photo: JPI

GENIE FRANCIS TO MARK 50 YEARS AS GENERAL HOSPITAL’S LAURA

In a statement on her Lifetime Achievement honor, Genie Francis expressed, “I want to offer my deepest gratitude to the leadership of NATAS for honoring me with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award. This February marks 50 years since I first portrayed Laura on General Hospital. Stepping onto that set at just 14, I could never have imagined the extraordinary journey that lay ahead. I am deeply grateful to have been welcomed onto your television screens and into your homes for five decades; for the love, support, and loyalty I’ve been given; and for the privilege of being a small part of your lives.”

She continued, “Thank you to NATAS, my colleagues, the daytime community and, most of all, the viewers. My career in daytime television has truly been the adventure of a lifetime, and I am deeply honored by this recognition.”

Adam Sharp, President and CEO, NATAS said on the selection of the iconic actress, “We are thrilled to celebrate Genie Francis’s remarkable career. From Port Charles and beyond, she has left an indelible mark on the landscape of daytime television, and she continues to tackle bold topics as a courageous storyteller to this day.”

Photo: ABC

A CAREER THAT SPANNED DAYTIME, PRIMETIME AND THE STAGE

In addition to daytime, Francis began her career at the age of 13 guest starring on ABC’s Family. Thereafter, she has enjoyed a diverse acting career, with notable roles in the miniseries North and South and Bare Essence, as well as The Note. Following were numerous television guest starring roles ranging from: Third Rock From the Sun, Murder She Wrote, the final episode of  Perry Mason, Roswell, and more, plus numerous stage productions.

Francis and her husband, Jonathan Frakes, (best known for his role as Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation) have been married for nearly 40 years, and have two adult children, Jameson and Eliza.

MORE ON THE 53RD ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS

The Daytime Emmy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of genres, including daytime dramas, talk series, entertainment news, culinary, adventure, instructional and legal/courtroom programming. This year’s Gold & Silver Circle Inductees and ceremony presenters will be announced at a later date. Tickets will go on sale September 9, 2026.

The 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be a single ceremony in 2026, produced by NATAS Productions. Adam Sharp and Lara Gates are executive producers, with Leon Knoles returning to direct for a fifth straight year. Rachel Schwartz serves as Head of Daytime, and the firm of Lutz & Carr, LLP, provides accounting services for the competition.

Fans can watch the ceremony when it streams live on October 30 via the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) official website at watch.theemmys.tv or via the official The Emmys app.

What do you think of Genie Francis being named the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient at this year’s Daytime Emmys? Share your thoughts and reactions via the comment section below.

If you enjoyed the original song “Pray”as performed by Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) and Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza) on the September 1 episode of General Hospital, it is now available on all music streaming platforms and their is a music video forthcoming featuring Ali.

In story, suspicious music executive, Simon (Grady Eldridge) booked his new signings to perform at the Cat’s Eye Lounge in Rochester, New York. Trina and Gio take to the stage and perform “Pray” featuring Trina on vocals. The duo perform a second song later.

However, someone is still stalking Trina, and we see the previously shown disturbing collage of the young woman, and now a photo of her performing on the Cat’s Eye Lounge stage was added.

This moment left viewers questioning if it could be Simon, or Kai’s (Jens Austin Astrup) friend, Quinn (Jequan Jackson), who were both at the venue, and could have easily taken the photo, or is this all a red-herring and the real culprit who is obsessed with Trina hasn’t even been seen on-screen yet?

Courtesy/ABC

WHERE YOU CAN STREAM TABYANA ALI’S “PRAY”

Following the airing of the episode and over the last 24 hours, Tabyana Ali took to her Instagram to share that “Pray” was a poem written by her and turned into the track heard on General Hospital. Now you can download or stream it via You Tube Music, Apple Music, Spotify and more. She also shared a music video for the track is forthcoming.

Ali also wrote on her IG post, “PRAY poem by yours truly. Grateful to the amazing team who helped me.” Jumping into the comment thread were her GH co-stars including: Cameron Mathison (Drew Cain) who gave Tabyana 5 applause emojis and GH newcomer Kayden Brenna Tokarski (Scout Cain) who expressed, “You are so amazing and talented!!❤️”

Tabyana Ali has been playing the part of Trina Robinson ,the daughter of Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) and Portia Robinson (Brooke Kerr) since 2022, taking over from Sydney Mikayla who stepped away from the role to finish college.

Now below, check out the full performance of “Pray” from Tuesday’s episode of General Hospital, and a preview link for the track on Apple Music.

Let us know, what do you think of the song “Pray” and Tabyana Ali’s performance on the track? Who do you think is stalking Trina Robinson on General Hospital? Let us know your thoughts via the comment section.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by TABYANA ALI🌙✨🌺 (@tabyanaali)

On today’s, September 2 episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Dylan’s (Sydney Bullock) mother, Darcy Dylan (Kelly Sullivan) arrived in Los Angeles and make quite the err, splash, at the Bikini bar when she was introduced to the likes of Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) and eventually, Katie Logan (Heather Tom) and more!

When Darcy met up with her daughter, we learned that momma doesn’t have much cash and went on about being a single mom and the challenges it brings, and winds up getting an offer from Dylan to stay with her and off to the races we go! The introduction brought us the return of Kelly Sullivan to daytime TV.

Now, the two-time Daytime Emmy-nominated actress will chat live on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel tomorrow on Thursday, September 3 beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT to discuss her new role, her time away from daytime, and of course, her previous soap opera experience.

Photo: JPI

General Hospital fans remember Kelly as Crimson’s fashion editor, Kate Howard beginning in 2011, who battled dissociative identity disorder with her alter-ego, Connie Falconeri. Eventually, she was shot and killed by Ava Jerome (Maura West) in 2013, and had rekindled an old romance with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) along the way. Sullivan made one other appearance on the soap in 2014.

KELLY SULLIVAN BECAME SOAP FAMOUS FOR HER ROLES AS KATE/CONNIE ON GH AND SAGE ON Y&R

Next, Kelly moved over to The Young and the Restless where she played Sage Warner from 2014-2016. In story, Sage was involved with both Adam/Gabriel (Justin Hartley) and Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow).  Sage is the biological mother to Adam’s son, Christian, and gave birth to him before she died, as part of a huge umbrella story that involved Sharon (Sharon Case) and Dylan (Steve Burton) too.

When not acting, Sullivan has become an accomplished acting teacher. Her previous credits include: The Morning Show, Never Have I Ever, The Winchesters, and Chicago P.D to name but a few. Kelly will also be featured in the upcoming film Ethan Almighty: Ethan’s Law, with a cast that includes: Kelsey Grammer, Brandon Routh (ex-Seth Anderson, One Life to Live) and Trevor Donovan (ex-Jeremy Horton, Days of our Lives).

FANS CAN PARTICIPATE WITH KELLY IN THE LIVE CHAT

If you have a question for Kelly Sullivan, but can’t be with us for the live chat, you can drop it in the comment section below, and we may just ask it during the broadcast.

Now let us know, what did you think of Kelly’s debut scenes with the cast from The Bold and the Beautiful? Did you enjoy Kelly in her previous role on General Hospital and The Young and the Restless? Share your thoughts in the comment section.