General Hospital legends Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) and Genie Francis (Laura Collins) recently took a break from the Port Charles set for an emotional and honest conversation on Benard’s State of Mind podcast. On screen, Laura and Sonny are about to be closer, as well. After Laura discovers Professor Henry Dalton’s (Daniel Goddard) dead body in the trunk of her car, she turns to Sonny for help, an arc Benard is eager to explore.
“I think it’s great,” he raves to TV Insider. “She plays it real, to the hilt, and I’m right there with her. It’s a life-and-death situation for Laura, but Sonny plays it cool because that’s what gangsters do, right?”
Still, Sonny is a lot more worried than he appears. “What I like about the scenes is that Sonny’s dying inside, like, ‘This could be really bad,’ but he’s going to act cool,” says Benard. “She’s just losing it, and he tells her to calm down, to take it easy. It’s good stuff.”
Disney / Eric McCandless
The high-stakes storyline promises major ripple effects. “Laura hasn’t been in the situation, and now she’s right in it,” Benard points out. “It would make anybody lose their head, except Sonny, because even though underneath, he’s feeling a certain way, he’s dealt with the stuff before.”
In part one of their two-part conversation on Benard’s podcast, which premiered on November 16, Francis opened up about a variety of topics, from navigating teen fame to battling social anxiety.
In the second episode, which will drop at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on Sunday, November 23, Francis’ husband of 37 years, Jonathan Frakes, joins the chat. “We get into how they take care of each other, but he’s there for when she’s going through her social anxiety,” previews Benard. “And it’s a beautiful thing the way they hold hands.” They also discuss working with Patrick Swayze on the 1985 miniseries, North and South — where Francis and Frakes’ romance began — and Frakes’ iconic run as William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its films.
Benard says he had tried to book Francis as a guest in the past, but didn’t get the green light until recently. “I let her know how it would come out beautiful, and I’d take care of her,” he shares. “And she ended up saying yes.”
For Benard, that trust is key. “With any of the interviews, I just kind of take it like it’s a date, and I go from beginning, middle, and end trying to figure out who this person is,” he explains. “I don’t really see it as an interview; I just kind of see it as a conversation. And with her, we’re so comfortable together, we respect each other so much that you could tell in there. I consider part one beautiful in its way, and I consider part two beautiful in its own way.”
Benard will read some fan questions, including one from Sarah Brown (ex-Carly Spencer, GH) about the infamous 1979 rape storyline between Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura. (“Not the Sarah Brown,” Francis responds, surprised.) “It’s very intense,” Benard notes. “Sarah did State of Mind, and she revealed that she was roofied, so if you can imagine, that question in itself is going to be amazing.”
The actor says the sit-down gave him a deeper appreciation for Francis. “She’s someone who’s been famous since 14, and how she’s able to do it is incredible,” he says. “I started getting some fame at 24. I’m a man. To have to go through what she went through at that age takes a certain kind of person. That’s what I got out of this conversation, that this is a woman who’s been through it.”
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC
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