genie francis

Genie Ann Francis (born May 26, 1962 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an actress who starred as Laura Vining Webber Baldwin Spencer on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital from 1976 to 1982, from 1983 to 1985 and from 1993 to 2002. Laura's love affair and marriage to Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary), a man who had actually raped her at one time, turned General Hospital into the most-watched daytime drama of the 1980s. She left the show in 1982 to try her hand at primetime, and landed her own series, Bare Essence, which was not a success. Francis also appeared on Days of Our Lives as Diana Colville from 1987 to 1989 and on All My Children as con artist and incest victim Ceara Connor Hunter from 1990 to 1992. She reprised her role as Ceara on Loving in 1991. These roles were the product of Francis trying to shed her image as the Pauline-esque heroine she got while on General Hospital. Eventually, she grew to accept the image and returned to GH in 1993. In early 1997 she took an absence from the show to have her second child and stayed away nearly a year and a half, an eternity in soap time, provoking speculation that she had to be threatened with legal action in order to return at all (she finally did in spring 1998). In 2002 she abruptly left General Hospital following ABC's refusal to work out a contract she wanted. Laura's exit storyline entailed killing her beloved stepfather Rick Webber, then losing her mind and not remembering her husband Luke or any of her children. Fans were horrified to see their favorite heroine shipped off to a mental institution, and perceived the ugly exit as a swipe at Francis herself. Francis also loathed the storyline. In 2004 she told USA Today that she thought ABC wanted her out after a 2001 interview where she admitted to heavy drug abuse during the Luke & Laura early 80's heyday. She also claimed a female producer (many took her to mean Jill Farren Phelps) would open her coat, ridicule her weight, and then walk away. She is married in real life to actor/director Jonathan Frakes.

Genie Francis

See also