(Super Soap Weekend, Nov. 15, 2008)Everyone knows the love story of Luke and Laura Spencer. Their wedding on General Hospital back in 1981 was the highest-rated hour in American soap-opera history. Their union has produced three children: Nikolas, Lucky and Lulu.
The royalty status of Tony Geary and Genie Francis isn’t lost on Greg Vaughan, who plays their son Lucky. When Genie come backs to play her recurring role of Laura, Greg admits, “I catch myself watching them (tape their scenes) in awe.”
Greg continues: “I think I speak for Tyler Christopher (Nikolas) and Julie Berman (Lulu) when I say that we are just watching them and thinking, ‘These guys are a part of history.’ Not just the history of daytime, but the history of television. Thirty million people watched these two get married. The foundation they laid for television was great, and just being a part of that history and being able to say, ‘Yeah, Luke and Laura are my parents,’ is pretty great. Most anyone you ask knows who Luke and Laura are, women especially, and just being a part of that is nice.”
While Greg loves being a part of American soap-opera history, he also can’t wait to see what’s coming next for Lucky and his future.
Greg explains: “There is so much about Lucky that is undiscovered. There is much he hasn’t really embarked on. I think there is something greater that has not been told with my character.”
Like most actors, Greg is eager to delve deeper and really get to the crux of Lucky. “I love the character; I just think there’s been a very minimal amount of opportunity to show what this character can do — not just what he has already done, and the history of the character.”
Later this year, Greg will be celebrating a personal milestone. “I will be the first actor to portray Lucky longer than six years. For me, I hope that for the next few years, he gets to do something, something really challenging and interesting. I’ve been waiting for a great opportunity to do something. I’ve only been given one chance with the drug story, and that never really went anywhere. I’m just hanging on.”
And Greg is content to hang on for as long as it takes, because he knows he is a part of something that is much bigger than his character. “There is just so much that is great about General Hospital and the history of the show. It’s been on television for 45 years, and the fact that I am a part of that is really cool.”
Coming next month, you can also see Greg on the original Beverly Hills, 90210, when Season 7 is released on DVD. Some of you might remember that Greg portrayed the recurring character of Cliff Yeager, the hunky firefighter who dates Donna Martin.
