One
of my favorite soap opera characters was Marco Dane (played by the late Gerald
Anthony) from 'One Life To Live' and 'General Hospital'. He was one of
those very bad boys who proved to be so popular that eventually they had to be
rehabilitated and downgraded to being a naughty boy at best. [Insert Luke
Spencer remark here.]
From Wikipedia:
Marco Dane is a fictional characterfrom the American soap opera 'One Life to Live'. The role was played by actor Gerald Anthony from its debut in 1977 through 1986, and from 1989 until 1990. Anthony crossed over in the role on sister soap opera 'General Hospital' on September 2, 1992 as Marco, remaining in the role through December 24, 1993.
From Wikipedia:
Marco Dane is a fictional characterfrom the American soap opera 'One Life to Live'. The role was played by actor Gerald Anthony from its debut in 1977 through 1986, and from 1989 until 1990. Anthony crossed over in the role on sister soap opera 'General Hospital' on September 2, 1992 as Marco, remaining in the role through December 24, 1993.
Apparently this is how it all began:
In 1977, Karen Wolek (Kathryn Breech), fiancée to Llanview Hospital chief of staff Dr. Larry Wolek (Michael Storm), was planning for her impending nuptials when ex-boyfriend Marco Dane arrived in Llanview. Fearful that Larry would not marry her if he were to learn about the confidence tricks and embezzlement schemes she participated in with Marco before her arrival in town, she agitated at Marco's presence. Karen and Larry married without Marco divulging Karen's secret past, while Marco planned to blackmail her into another business venture instead.
Finally establishing a business venture in Llanview, Marco forced Karen to become one of his prostitutes in exchange for his silence on their past dealings. After Marco took clothed photographs of naive, teen-aged Tina, he edited the images to make them appear as if Tina posed nude. When Marco published the photos of Tina, a livid Viki confronted a nonchalant Marco who conceded to none of Viki's accusations.
Karen admitted to the affairs and divulged her forced prostitution by Marco to Viki. Simultaneously empathetic to Karen's plight and livid with Marco's lurid behaviors, Viki proceeded to share and publish the story of Marco's business dealings with the help of her husband and editor-in-chief, Joe Riley.
Before the story could
be published, Marco found the murdered corpse of his brother, Dr. Mario Corelli
(also played by Anthony). Marco soon devised a plan to assume the identity of
his dead brother in an effort to frame Viki for his apparent murder.
I first saw Marco Dane when I picked up the storyline in 1980. An
afternoon hanging out with my friend Mary got me hooked on the show. By
that point, Marco and Karen were on the run, being hunted down by a hired
killer named Gus.
O’Bservation:
Gus was played by an actor I knew back in college, Dan
Lauria. I’m sure most of you know of him
as well from ‘The Wonder Years and plenty of other TV shows and movies. In my first Toobworld adventure, Toob Cooper
shared with his friends his theory that Dan’s character of Gus was the same
villain who appeared in ‘The Scarecrow And Mrs. King’, but known as Nardo. Toob’s theory was that his full name was Gus
Nardo and he was the no-good brother-in-law of Elaine Nardo from ‘Taxi’. (The last name finally assigned to him in 1984 - Thompson - was O'Bviously an alias.)
Anyway, getting back to Marco….
At some point I finally had to quit soap operas cold turkey. They were just eating up my afternoons. Mary got me hooked on OLTL, my first overnight job in the Hamptons got me re-hooked on ‘General Hospital’ during the Ice Princess storyline (my Mom first hooked me up back in high school), and an actor I knew in a Meat & Potatoes Theater production got me hooked on ‘Edge Of Night’ because he was going to play a Native American character on a spirit quest.
It was all too much.
Let's continue with Marco's story from Wikipedia:
Now a private investigator, Marco arrived in Port Charles in 1992, much to the intriguing delight of heiress Tracy Quartermaine Hornsby, who was in the middle of marital woes. Tracy preceded to engage in an extramarital romance while hiring Marco to investigate the mistress of her husband, Jenny Eckert, a distant cousin of Luke Spencer.
Marco, as a side venture, became a boxing promoter managing high school student Jagger Cates.
When Jagger discovered Karen and Sonny in bed together and learned she had been stripping and abusing drugs, boxer Jagger engaged in an altercation which left Sonny greatly injured. An incensed Sonny put a hit out on Jagger in retaliation, only to put the plan on indefinite hold at the insistence of Marco, who urged him to cancel the planned killing in return for a cut of Jagger's boxing winnings.
Marco left town when Anthony left the series in 1993.
‘One Life to Live’
Marco Dane / Mario Crawley
‘General Hospital’
Marco Dane
Anthony earned his second nomination and first Daytime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the latter portrayal in 1993 (his first being in the same category for the role on OLTL in 1982), becoming the first actor to win an Emmy for a crossover role.
O’Bservation:
Anyway, getting back to Marco….
At some point I finally had to quit soap operas cold turkey. They were just eating up my afternoons. Mary got me hooked on OLTL, my first overnight job in the Hamptons got me re-hooked on ‘General Hospital’ during the Ice Princess storyline (my Mom first hooked me up back in high school), and an actor I knew in a Meat & Potatoes Theater production got me hooked on ‘Edge Of Night’ because he was going to play a Native American character on a spirit quest.
It was all too much.
Let's continue with Marco's story from Wikipedia:
Now a private investigator, Marco arrived in Port Charles in 1992, much to the intriguing delight of heiress Tracy Quartermaine Hornsby, who was in the middle of marital woes. Tracy preceded to engage in an extramarital romance while hiring Marco to investigate the mistress of her husband, Jenny Eckert, a distant cousin of Luke Spencer.
Marco, as a side venture, became a boxing promoter managing high school student Jagger Cates.
When Jagger discovered Karen and Sonny in bed together and learned she had been stripping and abusing drugs, boxer Jagger engaged in an altercation which left Sonny greatly injured. An incensed Sonny put a hit out on Jagger in retaliation, only to put the plan on indefinite hold at the insistence of Marco, who urged him to cancel the planned killing in return for a cut of Jagger's boxing winnings.
Marco left town when Anthony left the series in 1993.
‘One Life to Live’
Marco Dane / Mario Crawley
‘General Hospital’
Marco Dane
Anthony earned his second nomination and first Daytime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the latter portrayal in 1993 (his first being in the same category for the role on OLTL in 1982), becoming the first actor to win an Emmy for a crossover role.
Until next time.....
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