'General Hospital' legend and Daytime Emmy winner

Anthony Geary, the Daytime Emmy winner who played half of "General Hospital's" supercouple Luke Spencer and Laura Baldwin, died Sunday. He was 78.

- BY CHRISTIE D'ZURILLA

TODD WILLIAMSON Invision/AP

'ONE OF A KIND' Geary won eight Daytime Emmys for "General Hospital."

ANTHONY GEARY, 1947 - 2025

"The entire #GeneralHospital family is heartbroken over the news of Tony Geary's passing. Tony was a brilliant actor and set the bar that we continue to strive for," "GH" executive producer Frank Valentini wrote on Monday in two posts on X. "His legacy, and that of Luke Spencer's, will live on through the generations of #GH cast members who have followed in his footsteps. We send our sincerest sympathies to his husband, Claudio, family, and friends. May he rest in peace."

The actor died of complications a few days after having planned surgery in Amsterdam, the city he and spouse Claudio Gama called home, Soap Opera Digest reported.

"It was a shock for me and our families and our friends," Gama told TV Insider exclusively Monday, saying that for more than three decades Geary had been his friend, companion and - for the past six years his husband.

Geary notched almost 2,000 episodes on "General Hospital," where he started as a cast member in 1978. Along the way he took a number of breaks from the show before wrapping up his "GH" career in 2015.

Even with those breaks, Daytime Emmys voters nominated Geary 17 times in the lead actor category. He took home the trophy eight times, in 1982, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2015.