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Genie Francis (born Eugenie Ann Francis on May 26, 1962 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an actress who stars as Laura Spencer on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital from April 16, 1976 to March 27, 1982, from June 23, 1983 to February 11, 1985, from October 29, 1993 to September 6, 2002, and October 26, 2006 to November 22, 2006). Genie is of English (father) and Lithuanian (mother) descent. Her father is Canadian actor Ivor Francis, who died in 1986. Genie is a confirmed Catholic.

Laura's love affair and marriage to Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary), a man who had drunkenly raped her at one time, turned General Hospital into the most-watched daytime drama of the 1980s. She left the show in 1982 to try her hand at primetime, and landed her own series, Bare Essence, which was not a success.

Francis also appeared on Days of Our Lives as Diana Colville from July 15, 1987 to April 30, 1989 and on All My Children as con artist and incest victim Ceara Connor Hunter from June 23, 1990 to August 12, 1992. She reprised her role as Ceara on Loving in November 1991. These roles were the product of Francis trying to shed her image as the Pauline-esque heroine she got while on General Hospital. Eventually, she grew to accept the image and returned to GH in 1993. In early 1997 she took an absence from the show to have her second child and stayed away nearly a year and a half, an eternity in soap time, provoking speculation that she had to be threatened with legal action in order to return at all (as she finally did in spring 1998).

In September 2002 she abruptly left General Hospital following ABC's refusal to work out a contract she wanted. Laura's exit storyline entailed killing her beloved stepfather Rick Webber, then losing her mind and not remembering her husband Luke or any of her children. In 2004 she told USA Today that she thought ABC wanted her out after a 2001 interview where she admitted to heavy drug abuse during the Luke & Laura early '80s heyday. She also claimed a female producer (many took her to mean Jill Farren Phelps) would open her coat, ridicule her weight, and then walk away.

In 2004 she was offered a return to General Hospital, but Francis turned down the offer. In June 2006, Francis began negotiating with the casting directors on the show in returning to the role of Laura Spencer for a limited run through November. This coincided with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Luke and Laura's wedding. Her first airdate back on General Hospital was October 26, 2006.

She is married to actor/director Jonathan Frakes, whom she met while filming Bare Essence, and is the mother of Jameson Ivor Frakes and Elizabeth Francis Frakes. The Frakes family lives in Maine, where Genie operates a cottage furnishings and home accessories store, The Cherished Home.

Television filmography

• Roswell as Mother (2000)
• Loving as Ceara Connor Hunter (1991)
• All My Children as Ceara Connor Hunter (1990-1992)
• Days of Our Lives as Diana Colville (1987-1989)
• Bare Essence as Patricia 'Tyger' Hayes (1983)
• General Hospital as Laura Vining Webber Baldwin Spencer (1976-1982, 1983,1984, 1993-2002, 26 October 2006-22 November 2006)
• Francis also played Laura Spencer in an episode of Roseanne called Suck Up or Shut Up in January 1994
• North and South as Brett Main Hazard

Awards (won)

• Soap Opera Digest Awards
  • (1997) Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Lead Actress for General Hospital

• Soapy Awards
  • (1981) Soapy Outstanding Actress for General Hospital
  • (1980) Soapy Outstanding Actress for General Hospital

• Young Artist Awards
  • (1981) Young Artist Award Best Young Actress - Daytime TV Series for General Hospital

Award (nominated)

• Daytime Emmy Awards
  • (2002) Special Fan Award America's Favorite Couple for Luke and Laura Spencer on General Hospital

-Shared with Anthony Geary

• (1997) Daytime Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for General Hospital

• Young Artist Awards
  • (1982) Young Artist Award Best Young Actress in a Daytime Series for General Hospital
• (1980) Young Artist Award Best Juvenile Actress in a Daytime Series for General Hospital

See also

• General Hospital
• North and South
• Luke and Laura Spencer
• Supercouple

References

External links

• Genie Francis profile
• Keep Genie Francis(Laura Spencer) on General Hospital Petition

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