Anthony Geary, who played Spencer until his retirement in 2015, originated the role in 1978.
Luke and Laura must continue their epic romance into the afterlife.
In a shocking move, General Hospital kills Luke Spencer, the popular character who first came to Port Charles 44 years ago, portrayed by Anthony Geary.
OK, maybe it's not too shocking to see that Geary retired from the longest-running soap opera in 2015 and Luke has been present almost exclusively offscreen since then. But for GH fans, Luke Spencer's death marks the end of an era.
Luke died like he lived - offscreen. On the January 3 episode of GH, Luke's widow Tracy Quartermine (Jane Elliot) tells her former and eternal flame Laura (Genie Francis) that Luke was killed in a cable car "accident" in Austria. Being a soap opera, it was later implicated that Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) was behind the accident.
Geary entered General Hospital in 1978 for what was supposed to be a 13-week run, but audiences responded well to the character, who, like Francis Laura Weber, brought in younger audiences. The writers scrapped the plan to kill Spencer and instead capitalized on the popularity of the pairing of Luke and Laura.
Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding attracted 30 million viewers, making it the highest-rated episode in soap opera history and one of 20th century television's most memorable moments.
Their storybook romance, however, began on a highly controversial note with the rape of Laura by Luke. Until later years, Laura's rape was regarded as a kind of seduction, that is, until 1998, when Luke and Laura's son Lucky (Jonathan Jackson) found out about it. Lucky confronts his parents, who include Luke and the audience, to identify what he did as sexual assault.
Geary had a love/hate relationship with the character, initially leaving the role in 1984 to pursue other opportunities. However, he found that the character's popularity was "such that it was difficult to do much," as he told EW in 2008. He returned to Sudser in 1991—but tired of playing Luke, he played Luke's similar-looking cousin to Bill Eckert.
While a classic soap run, the GH fanbase wasn't buying it. Gerry reprized the role of Luke Spencer in 1993 and remained so until 2015 - although he took some much-needed hiatus from the show during that time.
"Once upon a time it was very difficult for me to realize that my obituary in the paper would have read, 'The fame of Luke and Laura died today.' It was very upsetting when I realized this," Gerry told EW on the sidelines of his final episode of General Hospital — though he'll be back in 2017 for one final appearance.
Despite his ambivalence on his Luke Spencer legacy, Geary won eight Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama, a record in that category.
"It's been a really exciting ride," Geary said at the time of his and Luke's final bow. "In the end, it's been worth it."
Well, no death is final in soap opera land. I guess there's always a chance that Luke could return as a ghost. Or that it was actually an evil twin who died in an accident. After all, stranger things have definitely happened in Port Charles.