Anthony Geary (born May 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of

Luke Spencer Luke Spencer is a fictional character in the American television soap opera ''General Hospital'', played by Anthony Geary from 1978 until his departure in July 2015. Geary holds the record for most Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in ...

on the ABC

daytime drama A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored b ...

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest-running American soap opera in production, and the second in American history after '' ...

''. He originated the role of Luke in 1978 and received a record eight

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series prior to his retirement. Geary had a prominent supporting role in the

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific ...

comedy ''

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

'' (1989); other notable films include ''

Johnny Got His Gun ''Johnny Got His Gun'' is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist Dalton Trumbo and published in September 1939 by J. B. Lippincott. The novel won one of the early National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1939. A 1971 fil ...

'' (1971), ''

Disorderlies ''Disorderlies'' is a 1987 screwball comedy feature film starring the rap group, The Fat Boys, and Ralph Bellamy. The film was directed by Michael Schultz who previously directed The Fat Boys in ''Krush Groove''. Plot summary Winslow Lowry is a ...

'' (1987), '' Scorchers'' (1991), ''

Teacher's Pet Teacher's pet is a person that has an advantageous position compared to other students, where the teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or v ...

'' (2004) and ''

Fish Tank An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amp ...

'' (2009).

Early life

Anthony Geary was born May 29, 1947, in

Coalville, Utah Coalville is a city in and the county seat of Summit County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,363 as of the 2010 census. Interstate 80 passes through the town, as wel ...

, a son of a contractor father and homemaker mother.

Career

Geary made his first appearance on television in an episode of ''

Room 222 ''Room 222'' is an American comedy-drama television series produced by 20th Century Fox Television that aired on ABC for 112 episodes, from September 17, 1969 until January 11, 1974. The show was broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 ( EST) fo ...

'' and later appeared in ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'', ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III ...

'', ''

Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that ran from 1967 to 1975 on CBS. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. The title character, Joe Mannix, is a private in ...

'', ''

Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

'', ''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is a television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ...

'', and ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law, who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was o ...

''. Geary's first daytime role was in NBC soap opera ''

Bright Promise ''Bright Promise'' is an American daytime soap opera that ran on NBC from September 29, 1969 to March 31, 1972. Synopsis The show revolved around students and faculty at the fictional Bancroft College, located in the community of Bancroft, somew ...

'' from 1971 to 1972. He played George Curtis, who was a rapist, in ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'' and in 1978 was hired for a 13-week story arc to play

in ABC soap ''

''. Luke Spencer began as a

hit man Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

and later became a rapist who fell in love with and subsequently married his victim, Laura Webber (played by

Genie Francis Eugenie Ann Francis (born May 26, 1962) is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Laura Spencer on the television soap opera ''General Hospital'' from 1977 to present, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007. Fran ...

). His portrayal of Luke Spencer on ''General Hospital'' was well received and grew into a full contract role. The 1981 on-screen wedding of his character and Laura Webber holds the record as the highest-rated soap opera episode of all time. He holds the distinction of winning a record eight

for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was first nominated in 1980 and had his first win in 1982. Geary was nominated again in 1983, before leaving the show in 1984. Over the next several years he took roles in various theater and television productions, as well as in several films, but not at the level of success he had hoped for. Despite the popularity of his work as Luke Spencer, filmmakers such as

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

pigeonholed Pigeonholing is a process that attempts to classify disparate entities into a limited number of categories (usually, mutually exclusive ones). The term usually carries connotations of criticism, implying that the classification scheme referred t ...

Geary based solely on the fact that he was a "soap actor". In a conscious effort to distance himself from ''General Hospital'', he actively sought a role in

's film debut ''

'' (1989), that of the quietly eccentric scientist Philo (named for television pioneer

Philo Farnsworth Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...

). Geary, a fan of Yankovic, went so far as to grow his hair out like

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

's and stay in character as Philo when meeting the film's casting team; he immediately landed the role. Geary Emmy 2015

In 1991, Geary returned to ''General Hospital'' as Luke's cousin and look-alike

Bill Eckert ''General Hospital'' is the longest-running American television serial drama, airing on ABC. Created by Frank and Doris Hursley, it originally was set it in a general hospital (hence the title), in an unnamed fictional city. In the 1970s, the ...

, due to the actor's desire to play someone other than Luke. However, due to poor feedback from the viewing public, the character was killed off and Geary resumed the role of Luke in 1993. Tony appeared in more than 50 stage plays, including an award-winning one-man show titled Human Scratchings in 1996. He was nominated in 1997 and 1998 for Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor, and had his second win in 1999, and his third in 2000. He received another nomination in 2003, and had his fourth win in 2004. When Geary won for the fifth time in 2006, he set the record for the most lead actor wins. Geary received another Emmy nomination in 2007, and in 2008, he again set a record for most lead actor wins with his sixth Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor. Geary set a record in 2012 with his seventh Daytime Emmy win and again in 2015 for his eighth win for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Drama Series after 16 nominations for the same role of

's Luke Spencer. Geary publicly announced on Friday, May 8, 2015, that he would be leaving his role on ''General Hospital''. Geary finished taping his last scenes on the ''General Hospital'' set on June 23, 2015. His last air date was July 27, 2015. He later made a cameo appearance on a May 2017 episode to facilitate the retirement of co-star and former on-screen wife Tracy (played by Jane Elliot). An exception to his series of dramatic roles is the part of a scientist/studio engineer in the comedy movie ''

''. He also appeared in 1987's ''

'', with

rappers Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

the Fat Boys The Fat Boys were an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York, who emerged in the early 1980s. The group was briefly known originally as the Disco 3, originally composed of Mark " Prince Markie Dee" Morales, Damon "Kool Rock-Ski" Wimbley, ...

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geary, Anthony 1947 births Living people Male actors from Utah American male film actors American male voice actors American male television actors American male soap opera actors Daytime Emmy Award winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winners People from Coalville, Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah