Scott "Scotty" Baldwin is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera General Hospital and its now-defunct spinoff Port Charles. The character debuted played by child actors in the 1960s until Kin Shriner assumed the role in 1977. Scotty is often remembered as part of the love triangle with Luke and Laura Spencer; when Scott's wife Laura Webber left him for Luke Spencer, his devastation led to a drastic personality change, and the character became one of General Hospital's long-running villains. However, on Port Charles, the character was portrayed in a more heroic sense.
The character was originated as a child in the 1960s, played by the child actor Johnny Whitaker on 1965.[1] He was succeeded by Teddy Quinn in 1966, Tony Camp from 1969 to 1972, Don Clarke from 1973 to 1974, and Johnny Jensen from 1974 to 1975.
The character of Scott is most commonly associated with Kin Shriner, who assumed the role beginning August 2, 1977.[2] Shriner left the series briefly on September 19, 1980 to play Jeb Hampton on Texas, and returned in 1982 for a one-year contract.[3] He returned again on November 27, 1987,[4] and left on December 24, 1993. Shriner reprised the role in 1997 on the spinoff Port Charles.[5] He left Port Charles in 2001 and returned to the original series,[6] until his departure in 2004. Shriner returned in 2007 and departed again in November 2008. With the departure of actress Rachel Ames as Audrey Hardy, Scott became the oldest character (in real time) appearing on General Hospital, having been introduced in 1965.[citation needed]
On January 14, 2013, it was announced that Shriner would return to General Hospital on February 19, making him the latest in a slew of returning fan favorites.[7]
Development
When Kin Shriner assumed the role in 1977, Scotty is a respectable young adult. He enters law school and has a promising future with his career and young love Laura Weber. The two marry in 1979. However, when Laura is raped by Luke Spencer and subsequently falls in love with Luke, Scotty's devastation hardens his character. Laura leaves him and marries Luke in 1981. Scotty leaves town as Shriner left the series to pursue other opportunities. Executive Producer at the time Gloria Monty asked him to return a year later, ready to turn his character into a "rat."[8] Scott becomes known for lying and scheming.[9] Fans accepted the change, both because he was more interesting to watch, and because they understood the character's past and felt that the betrayal of both the love of his life (Laura) and one of his good friends (Luke) left him a broken man, and in turn caused him to become bitter and jaded about the world. Shiner explained in 1982:
I haven't gotten any flak for being a bad guy. People feel Scotty's behavior is justified because of his past. How would a guy feel when his woman (Laura) is raped, and then becomes involved with the rapist? No man is going to be the same after that.[8]
Storylines
1965–75
The young Scotty Bentley first came to Port Charles with his mother Meg Bentley and stepsister Brooke, after the death of his father Lloyd. There was a lot of family strife in the first couple of years as Meg became engaged to the dashing Dr. Noel Clinton, sending Brooke into a tailspin. Brooke never liked her stepmother Meg and felt that the engagement to Noel was a slap in the face to her dead father. In retaliation, Brooke seduced Noel, and the two left town and wed. Meg was devastated. A short time later, she met and married Lee Baldwin. Lee adopted Scotty, and the three became a family. Unfortunately, Meg developed breast cancer and had to have a radical mastectomy. The illness caused Meg to have a mental breakdown, and Lee had no choice but to put her in a sanitarium where she died soon thereafter. Lee now had to raise Scotty on his own. Scotty eventually left the show (went away to law school) for a time.
1977–83
When he returned, he obtained a job at the hospital, where he met the young Laura Webber. They fell in love and, after many obstacles (including the manipulations of Scotty's on-again/off-again lover and Laura's nemesis Bobbie Spencer), they finally married,[10] but their happiness was short-lived. Laura went to work at the Campus Disco for Bobbie's shady brother Luke, who became obsessed with Laura and eventually raped her. In spite of this, Laura fell in love with Luke, ran off with him, and later divorced Scotty after less than two years of marriage.
In 1981, at Luke and Laura's wedding, Scotty showed a darker side, as he caught the bridal bouquet and announced he was contesting his divorce from Laura. Since then, although Scott's more scrupulous side has re-emerged more than once, he always returned to engaging in underhanded and often illegal activities, even as district attorney of Port Charles. He has had several brief relationships, and in 1982 married Susan Moore, supposedly for financial reasons while he began an affair with Heather Webber. Susan was the mistress of the wealthy Alan Quartermaine, who with Susan had a son, Jason, with a considerable trust fund. Susan was murdered, and Jason was then raised by Alan and his wife Monica. Scott left Port Charles soon afterward.
1987–2004
Scott returned in 1987 and helped to destroy Bobbie's marriage to Jake Meyer, before becoming involved in an off-on relationship with Lucy Coe. The two remained good friends, even after Scott married Dominique Stanton, and Lucy offered to be a surrogate mother for Dominique when Dominique learned that she was dying. Sometime after Dominique died, Lucy gave birth to their child, whom Scott named Serena, after Dominique's beloved childhood home Serenity. After an ill-advised engagement to Katherine Bell, Scotty left town once again in late December 1993, then returned to Port Charles in 1997.
Scotty has a seat on the board of General Hospital, which he received after negotiating a solution to a nurses strike. He was also Luke's attorney during the murder trial of Stefan Cassadine, although they fought constantly about how to handle the case, and as a result of Felicia's testimony, the case caused great strain in Luke and Laura's relationship. Scotty used this as an opportunity to continue manipulating all things Laura, and they eventually started dating again. Luke was still in the picture though, which caused extreme jealousy on Scott's part. He pushed Laura to finalize her divorce with Luke, and then Scotty and Laura traveled to Hollywood together. Much of the storyline revolved around Scotty's struggle to suppress his jealousy of Luke, out of his genuine desire that Laura return to him willingly. Scotty did eventually blurt out a marriage proposal to Laura, but she ended up choosing Luke instead of him. Scotty couldn't talk her out of it, and eventually turned to his ex-girlfriend, Bobbie Spencer.
When Luke and Laura were planning their new wedding, Laura's adoptive father, Dr. Rick Webber, returned to town. Scott and Rick had some kind of shared secret, and Rick pulled strings to help Scott get elected to a position as District Attorney. It seemed that Laura was starting to remember something, and Scott and Rick went to the Scorpios' yard, where they dug up the human skeleton of Rick's old mistress, who had been killed (accidentally) by Laura. When Laura remembered and tried to confront Rick, he died from a blow to the head. Scott tried to pin the blame on Luke (supposedly because he feared that Laura had done it), and played on Luke's guilt that he may have caused Laura's mental breakdown by pushing her to remember. Luke was sentenced to life in prison but escaped and left town.
Bobbie eventually broke up with Scott, because of his dirty tactics against Alexis in the run for D.A. Later, Luke returned to town and was arrested again. But Nikolas Cassadine had obtained tapes of Laura confessing to Rick Webber's murder, and Alexis used the tapes to force Scott to drop the charges against Luke, in return for Alexis dropping out of the election. Scotty then had Luke committed to an asylum, for what he had done to Laura. Scott was an extremely corrupt DA, frequently using his position to take action against his enemies, and at one point even ordered Luke arrested by his own son, Lucky.
During the storyline with the Port Charles Hotel fire, Scotty faked his own death in order to steal a treasure from Skye. He was faced with an investigation by Internal Affairs and fled the city with the money, presumably leaving with his daughter Serena. From an offshore tropical beach paradise he sent Luke a farewell videotape, taunting him.
2007–08
In 2007, Scott returns, and it is revealed that he had frequently been visiting the comatose Laura. In March, Luke's daughter Lulu Spencer and stepson Dillon Quartermaine intercept a letter from Alan Quartermaine to Luke. In the event of his death, he had the letter sent identifying Scott as Rick Webber's killer. Soon afterward, Scott visits Laura and confesses to her. He explains that he had gone to see Laura that night and heard screaming coming from the attic. When he got inside he saw Rick trying to inject Laura, so he had grabbed a candlestick and hit him over the head, unintentionally killing him. He left, and by the time Luke got there, Laura had been so far gone that she didn't remember Scott's having been there. Lulu had already told her mother the truth, unsuccessfully hoping it would bring Laura out of her catatonic state. Meanwhile, an ex Iraqi soldier, Logan Hayes, comes to Port Charles and it is eventually revealed that Scott had fathered a son in Texas around the same time that Logan was born. Logan admits he had found letters Scott had written to his mother, and a DNA test proves they are father and son.
In the beginning of 2008, Scott and Logan have a rift when Scott accuses Logan of taking police files to blackmail Johnny Zacchara, in order to keep him away from Lulu, whom Logan is trying to win back. Scott puts pressure on Alexis Davis to hand over her job as District Attorney to him. In July, Lulu kills Logan in self-defense, devastating Scott. Johnny takes the blame for Lulu, and Scott is the prosecutor in his trial. He uses dirty tricks to get Johnny the death penalty, including forging papers stating his son was working undercover for the police. Scott calls to the stand Lulu, who has become mentally unstable from the ordeal. Johnny is acquitted, and Scott is enraged.
When Scott finds out Lulu was the killer, he threatens her in front of Laura, who awakens and defends her daughter. Scott then kidnaps Laura and takes her to Los Angeles, to relive their honeymoon. Luke, Tracy, Nikolas, Lucky, and Lulu pursue them and bring her home. As Laura boards a plane to France to seek further treatment, Scott is seen behind her on the plane. It is presumed he has gone to live in Paris near Laura and his daughter, Serena.
2013—
In February 2013, Scott resurfaces in Port Charles, revealing to a bewildered Luke that he and Laura are engaged. Scott's return to town also coincides with the appearance of a replica of the infamous Ice Princess Diamond, which had been addressed to Lulu on Valentine's Day. Scott than tries to marry Laura before Luke tries to get Laura back. Scott succeeds, but Laura spends a great time away with Luke, after Lulu is kidnapped. When Laura finally does return, Scott asks her for a divorce, saying it is best for both of them. He then focuses his energies on winning back his old position as district attorney of Port Charles.
Scott is given incriminating evidence on his running mate, Lazaro, with resident mob boss, Sonny Corinthos. Scott approaches Lazaro, who bows out of the race. After notifying the mayor Scott is named district attorney. As his first act as D.A. he attempts to send Heather Webber back into custody along with serial-killer, Franco, for fraud and aiding and abetting Webber during Robin Scorpio's kidnapping. Heather contests the charges and confesses that Franco is Scott's son. Back when Laura had requested a divorce from Scott, he was consumed with anger and grief, and had gotten intoxicated at Kelly's one night. Heather, who was also drunk, had found him there, and that is when Franco was conceived. Scott doesn't believe it, but Heather has a birth certificate and D.N.A. tests to back up her claim. Scott realizes that Heather is telling the truth but laments the fact that his career is over because of what will come out about his familial connections.
On January 8, 2014, it was mentioned that Scott had finalized his divorce from Laura. Scott also told Lucy that after their one night stand his feelings for her have returned, because he was never tricked by Jerry Jacks.
In 2023, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Scotty #11 on his ranked list of General Hospital’s 40+ Greatest Characters of All Time, commenting that "It’s no wonder this rascally attorney’s hair is always fantastically askew: Next to the wisecracks in his head are countless plots, both the cajillions that he’s already hatched and executed, and — dare we hope? — the many that are yet to come."[11]
Luke and Laura Spencer are fictional characters, and the signature supercouple from the American daytime drama General Hospital. Luke is portrayed by Anthony Geary, and Laura is portrayed by Genie Francis. Though other supercouples came before them, Luke and Laura are the best known outside of the soap opera medium and are credited with defining the term supercouple and leading other soap operas to try to duplicate their success.
Laura Spencer is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Laura, originally played by Stacey Baldwin, was introduced in 1974 as the illegitimate daughter of Lesley Webber. The character was written out in the summer of 1976. In early 1977, Genie Francis took over the role of the rebellious teenage Laura. In 1978, thanks to the efforts of executive producer Gloria Monty's plan to entice younger viewers, the character's popularity skyrocketed in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to her pairings with Scott Baldwin and, most famously, Luke Spencer ; the latter became a popular supercouple among soap opera fans and viewers. Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding – which featured a guest appearance from Elizabeth Taylor — was viewed by 30 million people. In 1981, Francis quit the show, claiming unequal treatment compared to Geary, and the character was written out as having disappeared the following January. Francis returned for a brief stint in late 1983 to reunite Luke and Laura, and then again in late 1984 when Laura was revealed to be pregnant.
Nikolas Cassadine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Originated by actor Tyler Christopher in 1996, he left the show on July 14, 1999. Due to Nikolas' importance on the soap, he was immediately replaced by Coltin Scott on July 20, 1999. Scott left the role on April 16, 2003, as Christopher made his return on April 21, 2003. Chris Beetem temporarily played the role in 2005. Christopher vacated the role on July 28, 2011, after he was let go from the series. Christopher once again reprised the role on a recurring basis in honor of the soaps' fiftieth anniversary; he was later upgraded to a series regular. Actor Nick Stabile took claim of the role in June 2016 in Christopher's absence. In 2019, Marcus Coloma was cast in the role as a series regular, with Adam Huss temporarily stepping in 2021–2023. Coloma departed in January 2023. In August 2023, Huss returned to the role.
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 a Drama Series for his work as Luke. He was the show's fifth most tenured character after Monica Quartermaine, Laura Spencer, Scott Baldwin, and Bobbie Spencer.
Helena Cassadine is a fictional character who is the main antagonist of the American soap opera General Hospital, famously originated by film actress Elizabeth Taylor in November 1981. After a brief stint by Dimitra Arliss in 1996, Constance Towers took over the role in 1997 and has returned — for periods of varying length — nearly every year since.
Tracy Quartermaine is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She is played by actress Jane Elliot, who originated the role in 1978 and has played her intermittently since that time, primarily on GH and briefly on The City from 1996 to 1997. In 1980, Elliot won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding supporting actress and was nominated again in 1993. Briefly in 1989, while Jane Elliot was on maternal leave, Christine Jones took on the role. Tracy Quartermaine is currently the show's fifth longest-serving character after Dr. Monica Quartermaine, Luke Spencer, Laura Spencer, and Scott Baldwin.
Monica Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network, played continually since August 17, 1977 by longtime soap opera actress Leslie Charleson. She is a cardiologist at the eponymous hospital, and widow of physician Alan Quartermaine. The role was originated by Patsy Rahn in 1976, who played the role until showrunners replaced her with Charleson. Charleson's tenure with the serial is one of the longest in American soap operas.
Lulu Spencer is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network, portrayed by Alexa Havins Bruening. Previously, Lulu was portrayed by child actress, Tessa Allen from 2004 to 2005. The role was most notably portrayed by Julie Marie Berman from 2005 to 2013. Emme Rylan stepped into the role in 2013 and exited in 2020. Havins Bruening assumed the role in 2024.
The history of General Hospital refers to the ABC Daytime soap opera, General Hospital, a daytime American television soap opera. It ranks as one of the world's longest-running soap operas, and was in continuous production until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Set in the fictional town of Port Charles, New York, the show primarily revolves around the lives and relationships of the people connected to the town's hospital. The show has aired over 15,000 episodes as of May 22, 2022, and has spawned several spin-offs since it was originally broadcast.
Lesley Webber is a fictional character from General Hospital, that is an American soap opera on the ABC network. Actress Denise Alexander portrayed the role from March 13, 1973, through February 28, 1984, as a series regular, and from 1996 to 2009 as a recurring character. Alexander briefly returned to the series in 2013 to commemorate its 50th anniversary and has since made subsequent appearances in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Lee Baldwin is a fictional character on the daytime dramas General Hospital and Port Charles.
The Spencer family is a fictional family on the American soap opera General Hospital. The family was created by Douglas Marland and first introduced in 1977 when Bobbie Spencer arrived in Port Charles. Bobbie's brother, Luke debuted in 1978. Supercouple Luke and Laura Spencer are part of this family, known for their romance and many adventures. The Spencer family is characterized as an adventurous bunch, but many in the family have struggled with various types of substance abuse. They are known for their longstanding feud with the Cassadine family. The family is currently represented by: Laura, Carly, Lucas, Michael, Josslyn, Cameron, Jake, Aiden, Rocco, Charlotte, Wiley, Donna, and Amelia. The Spencers are the owners of the Haunted Star yacht, which is a staple establishment in the Port Charles community.
The Hardy/Webber family is a fictional middle class family on the soap opera General Hospital.
Heather Webber is a fictional character and a main antagonist from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was introduced in the summer of 1976. Though played by several actresses, soap veteran Robin Mattson, who stepped into the role in 1980, is most recognized for her portrayal of Heather until 2016. In 2022, Alley Mills assumed the role; she departed in 2024.
Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Spencer, RN is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera General Hospital, portrayed by Jacklyn Zeman. She debuted in December 1977, after playing Lana McClain on the sister-soap One Life to Live. Zeman went on to appear on General Hospital until 13 July 2010. The character is the sister of Luke Spencer and mother of Carly Corinthos. In February 2013, it was announced that Zeman would be returning to the role; she first appeared on March 22 and once again vacated the role on April 15. However, on October 22, it was confirmed that Zeman would be returning to the show, with her first airdate slated to be on November 27. Zeman continued in the role until her last appearance on April 27, 2023, shortly before her death on May 9 of that year.
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