March 12, 1984, was a dark day in Port Charles that lightened considerably over the years.
Viewers gasped along with Nurse Bobbie Spencer during the General Hospital episode that aired 39 years ago today. When EMTs brought in a car-crash victim who was DOA, Luke’s sister drew back the deceased’s covering and…
“No!” cried Bobbie.
At the same time, just across town, Rick Webber was informed that… “No!” all over again. “Lesley’s dead,” Bert Ramsey told him. A casualty of an ice storm. (You can watch the scenes in full below.)
Yes, the ABC soap had killed off daytime superstar Denise Alexander, who’d previously played Susan Hunter on Days of Our Lives. Alexander was as beloved on General Hospital as she had been on her previous show. (In fact, ABC is said to have worked overtime to move the fan favorite from Salem to Port Charles.)
So of course, this grave matter could not go unresolved.
Though Alexander crossed over to Another World, where she played Mary McKinnon in the mid-80s, Lesley’s death was undone in 1996, when General Hospital revealed that all those years everyone had spent mourning her, she’d really been kept in a catatonic state by daughter Laura’s obsessive ex-brother-in-law Stefan Cassadine.
Finally, in 2021, Alexander was brought back to the show in a big way, thrust into the middle of the plot to bring down baddie Cyrus Renault. To say that viewers were pleased would be an understatement. The venerable veteran herself was overwhelmed by the response. “I am beyond grateful for all the kind and amazing and funny and sweet and caring and supportive and truly delicious messages,” she said. “I have never felt so appreciated.”
The Big Mistake GH Made 40 Years Ago With Denise Alexander and Dr. Lesley Webber
Veteran General Hospital fans recall the show’s Golden Age when the quadrangle of Lesley/Rick/Monica/Alan was front and center. Head writer Douglas Marland had thrust heroine Dr. Lesley Webber, played by fan favorite Denise Alexander, into the spotlight, which played an immeasurable role in saving the soap from being axed. Curiously, the show made a decision to end Lesley’s story in 1984.
Dr. Lesley Webber vs. Dr. Monica Quartermaine
The rivalry between Lesley and Monica (Leslie Charleson) was epic. Sure, Monica was happily wed to Alan (Stuart Damon) but Lesley wasn’t blind to the attraction between her husband Rick (Chris Robinson) and his fellow surgeon. Lesley keeping secret that her daughter Laura (Genie Francis) had killed David Hamilton (Jerry Ayres) and the subsequent quarantine at General Hospital that put Rick and Monica in close quarters for months put a strain on the Webber marriage.
Everyone initially believed that Rick — not Alan — was the father of Monica’s son AJ, which put the nail in the couple’s coffin. But there was a twist on the horizon. In one of GH’s most memorable scenes ever, Lesley confronted Monica in the Quartermaine courtyard over Monica’s deception after it came out that Alan was indeed the father of AJ! Monica accused Lesley of not giving Rick any passion in the bedroom, prompting Lesley to slap Monica across the face! (How’s that for passion!? Huh, Monica? Huh?)
Alexander’s endearing portrayal of loving Lesley drove stories on GH for years. Alas, in early 1984, after contract talks reached an impasse, Alexander left the show. Losing the actress was a mistake that the show never should have made. There had to have been a way to work things out! Sadly, Lesley died from injuries she sustained in a car accident on an icy, winter road.
She’s Alive!
Or so we thought. In 1996, a few years after Francis returned to the show as Laura, a story played out in which viewers learned that Stefan Cassadine (Stephen Nichols), who loved Laura, faked Lesley’s death, and the good doctor was held captive for over a decade. After emerging from an understandable catatonic state, Lesley took her place back in Port Charles society.
In a 2018 interview with TV Insider, Francis said that she championed Denise Alexander being brought back to the show. “I said to [then producer Wendy Riche] I could never imagine Laura being on screen without Lesley,” Francis said. “For me, the essence of her character was Laura finding her mother because that goes back to her beginnings when she was tossed back and forth between the Vining family and Lesley. For me, that’s what made Laura ‘Laura.’”
Alas, about four years after Alexander and Lesley came back, the show disrespected Rick and Lesley’s love story by rewriting his character, making him an icky philanderer with a nurse named Theresa Carter. (No such character existed back in the day.)
Matters were made worse after Rick was killed off; he later appeared as a ghost in the 2013 anniversary year. The writers threw in a line in which Rick said that wasn’t what happened, referring to the Theresa Carter mess but a full fix was never done (and, quite frankly, can and still should be).
Two highlights of Lesley being back were when she consoled Nikolas (then, Tyler Christopher) over the death of Emily (Natalia Livingston) and a confrontation with Monica at the nurses’ station when Lesley accessed some medical records in order to help Laura in the show’s 50th anniversary year. The two doctors bonded over loving their mutual children. Monica looked the other way so that Lesley could get the job done.
In early 2021, Alexander had a great scene when Lesley defended Laura from Cyrus (Jeff Kober) at General Hospital just as she had years ago when her daughter needed her. “Back from dead” can become overused on soaps but GH wisely employed the old “the body was taken from the morgue” switcheroo when it brought back Denise Alexander as Dr. Lesley Webber.
