Tony did a lot of regional theater. In one experience, someone called out, "Hey Luke. Where's Laura?" During the last scene of "Jesus Christ Superstar." I don't think he had a chance to do theater once he had smashing success as Luke. He was just too recognizable. I know I would have had trouble seeing him playing anything else.
Soaps are a dead end for an actor if they stay too long. The more successful, the more it is a career-ender. I think Tony was very lucky to have found and created Luke. NO one gets everything in life. Things turned out pretty well for him.
Victor Garbor had an amazing voice and has had an amazing career on Broadway. He honed his craft starting with Godspell where he got to shine. He went on to play in top Broadway hits such as Sweeney Todd, Damn Yankees and has even hosted the Tony Awards. He chose the roles to further his Broadway career. In Tony's case, Tony did not have the best voice, especially for Broadway, maybe off Broadway. I think Ginger and I discussed this once that Tony, at the height of his fame chose to go to Vegas and play the most disgusting vulgar sex type shows and on looking back Tony said it made him sick thinking about it and was embarrassed that he ever did it. These type of things can follow you around in some Hollywood circles. I think Tony struck gold playing the lovelorn Luke pining for Laura and they had magic that has never been duplicated. I think Tony was lucky to have had daytime success. When you think of who were top actors in the late 70s and into the 80's we are talking Tom Selleck as Magnum, Lee Horsely playing Matt Houston, James Garner playing Rockford. These were muscular dark haired hunks who were portrayed as guys who could put up a good fight if needed. On the movie screen was Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarenegger, Bruce Willis, and Burt Raynolds.who also were these muscular action type guys. I think Tony fit into Daytime like a glove that was meant for him. He may feel he missed out but I'm not sure he would have found the success he did in Daytime. There are plenty of Daytime stars who found out the hard way that Daytime success does not transcend into movie stardom. Tony may have stumbled a few times in his decisions but he has a cozy retirement where he loves to be. To me, that is success.
Thanks so much for that. I always notice how poised and shy Tony seems to be during interviews. I think he turned on his "public Luke" when accepting that first award.
I always think of Victor Garber and his career. Tony could have had the same diverse career and continued to work just as Victor does had he wanted to. Victor started out doing Godspell off broadway
and didn't have many leading man roles, but chose well. He did a lot of work on Broadway. Tony is just as or more talented. He should have had a better agent.
Totally agree. There’s so much to take from this interview some (gulp) 40 years later.
Love the bravado and how determined he was to make a mark. Reminds me of his first Emmy win. Looking back, Tony has said of that time, “it was hard not to be impressed with yourself 😀”
It really struck me when the interviewer asked if “there’s life after Luke?” Such was the power of the character they were asking that even back then!
Tony, when he returned in the early 90s, has said he knew then he would never play another character.
He told NLG in her wonderful interview from a few months ago he wished he had gone to Broadway around the time of this interview and really leveraged his new found fame.
And yes, Ginger. Sad he didn’t achieve some things but glad we got so many great years of LnL!
Wonderful interview! Some of it makes me sad, though, as some of his dreams were not realized. He wanted to do Broadway. He wanted a major film. Those things were out of reach probably because he was such a success as Luke. The fans were right about screen chemistry. They were an amazing couple. The leasts that they could have done was to bring back Genie while he was still available to them. We could have had a lot of years of wonderful storytelling and the special treasure that they brought to GH. Sad for us. Sad for everyone.
Always fascinated by these early interviews. This looks to have been shot right around the time of the wedding and just before Genie left. So, at the height of the hype! Some really good stuff that I had never seen before
Message Thread
« Back to index