General Hospital star Finola Hughes is paying tribute to her former costar Anthony Geary following news of his death on Sunday, December 14.
“Tony The original. He took my breath away, so magical, creative, fearless. The thing of legend. So glad I spent time with you and Claudio in Amsterdam for a couple of summers,” Hughes, 66, captioned an Instagram post on Tuesday, December 16. “The best host, conversationalist, deep thinker, witty, kind raconteur. Deeply mischievous, naturally my kids adored you.”
She added, “Thank you Tony for the really, really good times, for sharing your heart and spirit. Claudio I love you, we send our hugs. I’m always going to think of Tony out on the canals in his boat, slowly sailing through Amsterdam. GOAT.”
Hughes has played several characters on General Hospital — including Anna Devane, Dr. Liesl Obrecht and Alex Devane — since 1985. She crossed paths with the late Geary on the show, who made his debut as Luke Spencer in 1978.
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Geary’s husband, Claudio Gama, confirmed that the actor died at age 78, three days after undergoing surgery.
“It was a shock for me and our families and our friends,” Gama shared in a statement to TV Insider on Monday, December 15. “For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my companion, my husband.”
Us Weekly reached out to ABC for additional comment.
After leaving his General Hospital role in 2015, Geary relocated to Amsterdam where he lived with Gama. The actor said that he had been thinking about retiring from the show for “10 years,” after discovering his love for Amsterdam. (Geary returned to Port Charles for one final cameo on the soap opera in 2017.)
“Ever since I found the place where my heart is, which is the city of Amsterdam. I never felt as comfortable or as authentic as I have felt there,” Geary said at the time. “One of the reasons I became an actor is that I felt not at home in my skin and not really comfortable with the people I grew up around, and it became a sanctuary for me to live in my imagination.”
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He added, “In Amsterdam, I find the whole city is just a big playground for my imagination and I feel very comfortable there.”
Hughes isn’t the only former General Hospital star who has spoken out in the wake of Geary’s death. Genie Francis, who played Geary’s onscreen love interest, Laura, took to X with a lengthy message about the late actor.
“No star burned brighter than Tony Geary. He was one of a kind. As an artist, he was filled with a passion for the truth, no matter how blunt, or even a little rude it might be, but always hilariously funny,” she wrote. “He was the anti-hero, always so irreverent, but even the most conservative had to smile. Working with him was always exciting. You never knew what might happen.”
Francis added, “He spoiled me for leading men for the rest of my life. I am crushed, I will miss him terribly, but I was so lucky to be his partner. Somehow, somewhere, we are connected to each other because I felt him leave last night. Good night sweet prince, good night.”
