Part one of the highly-anticipated guest appearance of Steve Burton (Jason, General Hospital) on Maurice Benard’s (Sonny, General Hospital) You Tube series, State of Mind, was posted on Sunday.

In it, the longtime co-stars and good friends discussed: Steve’s beginnings as an actor, his parents divorce and his decision in his teen years to go live with his father, what it was like for Burton when he attended Beverly Hills High School, the start of his acting career, and eventually landing at General Hospital in the role of Jason Quartermaine.

The duo also discussed how a few years into Burton’s run as Jason, Maurice was cast as Sonny, and at one point, as the story goes, Benard saw something in Burton and helped Steve grow as an actor.

Photo: JPI

Some of the highlights of their ‘State of Mine’ talk included: finding out what went down behind the scenes that led the character of Jason Quartermaine to become Jason Morgan. As it turns out, it was Burton’s on-screen dad, the late Stuart Damon (ex-Alan Quartermaine), who kicked things off when he said something to the powers-that-be.

Steve shared, “Stuart Damon was a huge advocate for me. He would always go up (to producers) and say, ‘Hey, give this guy something. He’s good. He’s got something.'” He added (as to the Jason Morgan character shift), “I believe it was Elizabeth Korte who is now our head writer, and I believe, it was something between her and Bob Guza (former GH head writer). I don’t know who’s idea it was, but what happened was, you and I (Benard) were starting to work together a lot off-camera as Jason Quartermaine, still. We were breaking down my scripts. Then, they made a decision to change my character and have me work with you.”

Benard brought up what he pegged as “The Three Amigos”on GH –  Carly (Laura Wright), Jason, and Sonny, where Maurice sees Sonny as the dark knight and Jason as the white knight.

Photo: ABC

Later, Maurice gave major kudos to Steve for his 1998 Emmy tape where Burton shared scenes with Kimberly McCullough’s Robin. Maurice told Steve that it was “raw” and “one of the greatest Emmy tapes I have ever seen.” Burton took home his first Daytime Emmy that year for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Daytime Drama Series.

Photo: JPI

Watch the full conversation between Maurice and Steve below. Then, let us know what you thought of it via the comment section below.

Ahead of next week’s 51st annual Daytime Emmys Awards, several of the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress nominees participated in two virtual panel discussions for the SAG-AFTRA Foundations Conversation Series.

First, Lead Actress nominees: Finola Hughes (Anna, GH) Tamara Braun (Ava, DAYS), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, Y&R), Annika Noelle (Hope, B&B), and Cynthia Watros (Nina, GH) spoke on their nominated reels, competing against other actresses, and some of their behind the scenes back-stories in a chat moderated by Variety’s Jim Halterman.

Second, Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series nominees: Thorsten Kaye (Ridge, B&B), John McCook (Eric, B&B), Eric Martsolf (Brady, DAYS), and Scott Clifton (Liam, B&B) also spoke with Halterman. The gentlemen shared what scenes were on their nominated reels, how they feel about competing against each other, and for an Emmy, plus who helped them the most when they first started on the soaps, how they got their SAG cards and more.

Photo: JPI

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations series is an essential resource for actors, filmmakers and students of discussions with performers, exploring the process and profession of acting. In addition, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the most comprehensive, educational and state-of-the-art resources to SAG-AFTRA members.

Photo: JPI

The Foundation believes that the contributions made to our culture by performing artists are not only valuable, but essential. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation relies entirely on donations to provide emergency assistance and free educational programs to SAG-AFTRA artists.

The Daytime Emmy nominee conversations are made possible thanks to the generosity of the foundation’s supporters.  During the pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation has given over $7 million in disaster relief to more than 7,500 performers.

Now, below take a look and what this year’s Lead Actor and Actress nominees had to say about being their nominations. Then, share your thoughts via the comment section. T

he 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount + beginning 8pm ET/PT on Friday night June 7th.

After the tragic events surrounding the death of former General Hospital star Johnny Wactor (Ex-Brando Corbin) came to light, now the last place he worked, the Level 8 bar in downtown Los Angeles, has taken to social media.

Wactor died with a bullet to the chest, when he and co-worker, Anita Joy, were walking to their cars in the streets of Los Angeles in the wee hours of the morning on May 25th, and came upon three masked thieves wearing masks were trying to steal the catalytic converter from Johnny’s vehicle.

When Wactor tried to approach one of the men, he was shot and killed.  In the aftermath, Anita Joy revealed that Level 8 has not provided proper parking for its employees on her Instagram post expressing, “These criminals need to be caught – Level 8 needs to provide parking for their late hour staff as they originally promised – This cannot be something that isn’t responded to with action, it needs to be addressed in a manner to prevent anything like this ever happening again to the best of their ability – Level 8 needs to contribute to Johnny’s family to honor and respect him for all the hard work and effort he did for them.”

Now, on a post on the bar’s Instagram account they say they are looking into ways to keep their employees safer, expressing, “At Level 8, we take safety very seriously. Since we opened, we have provided the option for security escorts to the nearby parking lot to our staff after hours. And in light of this tragic incident, we have been talking to our team and professionals in the field, and are actively researching additional safety measures for our staff.⁠ We understand that a tragedy such as this impacts everyone differently and profoundly. We are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for everyone at Level 8. ”

Photo: ABC

Level 8 also shared on the loss of their co-worker: “It is with a heavy heart that we mourn a valued and cherished team member, Johnny Wactor, whom we lost to a random act of violence a week ago. This has been difficult to process for all who knew him. He was beloved amongst his peers and co-workers, and we will all miss his talent and generous spirit. Our hearts go out to his family and everyone affected by this senseless, terrible tragedy. ”

What do you think about Level 8’s statement that they are looking into more safety measures for their staff, especially given that Anita Joy took them to task for the bar not having employee-specific parking that is safe, which might have saved the life of Johnny Wactor? Comment below.

 

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