Anthony Geary
Geary in 2013
Born	(1947-05-29)May 29, 1947 (age 78) Coalville, Utah, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–2017, 2022
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Spouse	Claudio Gama ​ (m. 2019)​
Relatives	Brendan Steele (nephew)[1]

Anthony Geary (born May 29, 1947) is a retired American actor.^[2] Geary is best known for playing the role ofLuke Spencer on theABCdaytime dramaGeneral Hospital. He originated the role of Luke in 1978, and went on to earn a record eightDaytime Emmy Awards forOutstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series^[3][4] prior to his retirement.^[5]

In addition to his role as Luke, Geary had a prominent supporting role in the"Weird Al" Yankovic comedyUHF (1989); other notable films includeJohnny Got His Gun (1971),Disorderlies (1987),Scorchers (1991),Teacher's Pet (2004) andFish Tank (2009).

Anthony Geary was born May 29, 1947, inCoalville, Utah, a son of a contractor father and homemaker mother.^[6] He was raised aMormon.^[7]

Geary made his first appearance on television in an episode ofRoom 222 and later appeared inAll in the Family,The Mod Squad,Mannix,Marcus Welby, M.D.,The Streets of San Francisco,The Partridge Family, andBarnaby Jones.

Geary's first daytime role was on the NBC soap operaBright Promise from 1971 to 1972.^[8] He also played rapist George Curtis onThe Young and the Restless from August to November 1973.

In 1978, Geary was hired for a 13-week story arc to playLuke Spencer on the ABC soap operaGeneral Hospital. Luke Spencer began as ahit man andrapist who fell in love with - and subsequently married - his victim,Laura Webber (played byGenie Francis). His portrayal of Luke Spencer onGeneral Hospital became a contract role, and the pairing of Luke and Laura became a sensation. The 1981 on-screen wedding of Luke and Laura holds the record as the highest-rated soap opera episode of all time.^[9]

Geary holds the distinction of winning a record eightDaytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was first nominated in 1980, and had his first win in 1982.^[10][11] Geary was nominated again in 1983, before leaving the show in 1984.

Over the next several years, Geary took roles in various theater and television productions, as well as in several films, but did not reach his desired level of success in those endeavors. Despite the popularity of his work as Luke Spencer, filmmakers such asOliver Stonepigeonholed Geary based solely on the fact that he was a "soap actor". In a conscious effort to distance himself fromGeneral Hospital, he actively sought a role in"Weird Al" Yankovic's film debutUHF (1989), that of the quietly eccentric scientist Philo (named for television pioneerPhilo Farnsworth). Geary, a fan of Yankovic, went so far as to grow his hair out likeAlbert Einstein's and stay in character as Philo when meeting the film's casting team; he immediately landed the role.^[12]

In 1991, Geary returned toGeneral Hospital as Luke's cousin and look-alikeBill Eckert; Geary expressed a desire to play a different character than Luke.^[9] However, due to poor feedback from the viewing public, Bill Eckert was killed off, and Geary resumed the role of Luke in 1993, when Genie Francis returned toGeneral Hospital.^[9]

He was nominated in 1997 and 1998 for Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor, and had his second win in 1999,^[10] and his third in 2000. He received another nomination in 2003, and had his fourth win in 2004.^[13] When Geary won for the fifth time in 2006,^[11][13] he set the record for the most lead actor wins.^[9] Geary received another Emmy nomination in 2007, and in 2008, he again set a record for most lead actor wins with his sixth^[14] Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor.^[15]

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 ofGeneral Hospital's Luke Spencer. Geary publicly announced on Friday, May 8, 2015, that he would be leaving his role onGeneral Hospital.^{[citation needed]} Geary finished taping his last scenes on theGeneral Hospital set on June 23, 2015.^{[citation needed]} His last air date was July 27, 2015.^{[citation needed]} He later made a cameo appearance on a May 2017 episode to facilitate the retirement of co-star Jane Elliot, who played Luke's former on-screen wife Tracy Quartermaine.^[16][17]

The comedy movieUHF was an exception to Geary's dramatic roles. He also appeared in 1987'sDisorderlies, withrappersthe Fat Boys, and has appeared in more than 50 stage plays, including an award-winning one-man show titledHuman Scratchings in 1996.

Geary met Claudio Gama in February 1995, and the couple married in February 2019.^[18] Following Geary's retirement in 2015, he and Gama moved to the Netherlands, where Geary had owned a home inAmsterdam "for years".^[18][19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnthony Geary.

• Anthony Geary atIMDb
• Anthony Geary atThe Interviews: An Oral History of Television

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