What you need to know
The legacy of Dennis Alexander and Tristan Rogers will live on in Port Charles.
Following the deaths of two popular General Hospital stars who played Dr. Leslie Weber and Dr. Robert Scorpio, respectively, on the ABC soap opera, co-writers Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten recently told TV Insider that they plan to pay tribute to the late actors with a tribute episode dedicated to their characters.
“We will miss him very much. We want to pay tribute to Tristan and Robert in the same way we did to Leslie (Charlson) and Monica (Quartermaine),” they said of Rodgers, who died in August at the age of 79 after disclosing his cancer diagnosis a month earlier.
What about Alexander? Van Etten, 35, continued about the actress, who died of natural causes at age 85 last month, saying, “We want to make sure we accomplish the same goal that I think we have with the story of Monica’s death. We want a story that carries[Leslie and Robert’s]names into the future, so we can continue to feel Robert and Leslie’s presence for years to come.”
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Eight months after Leslie Charleson passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 79, writers have dedicated a two-part farewell to the actress and her character. In September’s tribute episode, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), Ned Ashton (Wally Kurth) and Drew Cain (Cameron Matheson) all looked back on their history with Monica.
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The writers emphasized how important it was to be respectful of both the actors and the characters they spent decades portraying. In Charleson’s case, she embodied Dr. Quartermaine for nearly 50 years.
“Monica was a pillar of General Hospital,” Korte, 62, explained to TV Insider. “She was the heart of the Quartermaine family. The Quartermaine family is our crazy, wonderful family. It was very important for us to show the entire staff, especially Jason and Tracy, to both these characters and the actors.”
