The memorial for Dr. Monica Quartermaine, played by the late Leslie Charleson, on General Hospital would not have been complete without the presence of Genie Francis, whose character, Laura Webber Collins, has a rich and loving history with Monica.
Francis combined Laura’s roles as both the mayor of Port Charles and her being Monica’s dear pal and delivered a poignant performance that has earned the Daytime Emmy winner this week’s TV Insider Performer of the Week honors.
Prior to the service beginning, Laura greeted Jason (Steve Burton), Monica’s son, and not only gave him her personal condolences, but she also noted that Monica’s role at General Hospital made her a respected figure in Port Charles.
“It’s impossible to overstate how important a pillar of this community your mother was,” Laura said. “She was right at the heart of it all. I respected her more than I can say. She’s also a friend of mine. I’ll miss her a lot.”
Laura let Jason know that her mother, Lesley (Denise Alexander), wasn’t able to be at the memorial because she’d caught a bug and couldn’t travel. The legendary rivalry between Monica and Lesley was instrumental in propelling the serial to the top spot in the ratings. The dynamic deserved to be acknowledged, and kudos to GH for doing so. Francis was tasked with playing on-screen that Lesley is still with us, but sadly, Alexander also passed away this year.
ABC
When Laura got to the podium to speak, Francis dug deep into the history Laura and Monica shared to give a proper tribute to her pal, bringing some peace to those who loved her in the process. The characters didn’t interact a great deal after Francis returned to the show in 1993, however when Monica went through her breast cancer ordeal, Laura made sure to visit her. GH provided a nice flashback scene from that time in the episode, which reminded viewers of the long-running friendship between the two women.
As close as Monica and her late husband Alan (Stuart Damon) came to divorcing each other back in the early 1980s, that never happened (at least not back then). Laura answered why that was the case in her eulogy.
“Even though Monica married into the Quartermaines, she was a Quartermaine, through and through,” Laura said with acute insight. One reason Monica and the Quartermaine name were so synonymous with each other was that Edward Quartermaine (David Lewis, John Ingle) thought of Monica as one of his own.
“I could see how much Edward truly loved and respected Monica,” Laura said.
Francis’s performance in this episode resonated especially with lifelong GH fans who watched “back in the day,” as they say, and agree that Monica was indeed a Quartermaine. Kudos to GH for including Laura’s time working for Edward as ELQ’s receptionist into the script. Laura spoke to Monica’s interactions with the Quartermaine family from firsthand experiences and observations.
Laura went on to acknowledge the many losses that Monica had had in life — she was preceded in death by all three of her children (Dawn, Emily, and A.J.) and Alan — but hastened to add that those tragedies only served to deepen her compassion for others.
“I will miss Monica with all of my heart, but I know that she lives on in her family, and in her legacy at General Hospital,” Laura concluded.
Through her powerful and understated work in this episode, Francis especially lived up to a hashtag that circulates on social media that reads #GenieIsGH. She is the heart and soul of the long-running program. The actress embraced what must have been difficult material to play given the real-life parallels of losing both Charleson and Monica.
Brava to Francis because not only did Laura help Monica’s loved ones with finding peace, but she also did the same for the show’s viewers, who adored both Charleson and her character, Dr. Monica Bard Quartermaine.
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC
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