Erika Slezak will wrap up her visit as General Hospital‘s Veronica “Ronnie” Bard on November 6, when Monica’s long-lost sibling returns to North Carolina.
Slezak, a six-time Daytime Emmy winner for her 41-year run as One Life to Live‘s Victoria Lord Buchanan, hadn’t acted on a soap since the Prospect Park reboot in 2013, but thoroughly enjoyed her three-week comeback. “It’s been very, very nice,” she told TV Insider before her first air date on September 26. “The story and the character are so completely different. I was always Viki, confident and strong. This is a totally different character, and I’m trying to find my way through it. It’s working. I think they seem happy.”
Her primary scene partner was Jane Elliot (Tracy Quartermaine), who was a big draw for Slezak. “I had met Jane many years ago,” Slezak relays. “She came to One Life to observe as a director or a producer, and I knew who she was. I went over and introduced myself, and we chatted a little bit. She’s a wonderfully delightful lady. It is amazing that she can play so mean. When Frank [Valentini, executive producer] said, ‘You’re going to be working a lot with Jane Elliot,’ I went, ‘Yes, I will do it, yes, because that would be such a treat to work with such a talented, terrific lady.’ Jane is a master class in acting. Every time she steps on the set, she is remarkable. You really have to bring your A game.”
Jane Elliot, Erika Slezak – ‘General Hospital’
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
Another legendary performer she shared screen time with was Genie Francis (Laura Collins). “It was almost the end by the time I got to work with her and I kept thinking, ‘Where the hell is Genie?’ Because I was in her dressing room the whole time,” Slezak told Soap Opera Digest. “And then they said, ‘She’s coming tomorrow! And when I finally got to work with her, it was wonderful, because I hadn’t seen Genie since we were backstage at The View [years ago]. She was wonderful, and again, so nice.”
While in Port Charles, Ronnie was roped into Martin Gray’s (Michael E. Knight) scheme to make it look like Monica left the Quartermaine mansion to Ronnie, though she really bequeathed it to Tracy. Once the ruse was exposed, and Monica’s real will left Ronnie money to start over in Durham, Slezak’s run came to an end.
“I will take away lovely, wonderful memories, because I was treated so well and so kindly, and that makes a huge difference,” Slezak reflects of her time in Port Charles. “When you’re all together for five days a week, for years, it becomes a family. One Life was my family as much as my real family. I mean, I didn’t love them, but I liked them, and they were my family because I spent so much time with them, and I’m going to take that away from here, too. This was my family for a short time.”
One that she wouldn’t mind revisiting. “It was delightful, it was terrific, it was a pleasure,” she raved to Digest. “Ronnie grew through this whole process, and learned — and yes, I would be open to coming back.”
Executive Producer Frank Valentini tells TV Insider exclusively, “We thoroughly loved having Erika here and the door is open for her to return.”
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC
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