Nancy Lee Grahn Debuted 25 Years Ago Today as General Hospital's Alexis Davis - Michael Fairman TV
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Nancy Lee Grahn Debuted 25 Years Ago Today as General Hospital’s Alexis Davis

Photo: ABC

Back on September 26th, 1996, (25 years ago today!) the new character of Alexis Davis made her debut on ABC’s General Hospital, and brought to the iconic soap opera, the talents of Nancy Lee Grahn.

Grahn, had already made a name for herself with her captivating portrayal of lawyer Julia Wainwright Capwell on Santa Barbara for which she won a Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy in 1989, in a tie with AMC’s Debbi Morgan.

Back in April, General Hospital, marked this milestone with a special episode for Grahn, that could be remembered come next year’s Emmys.

Alexis, or shall we call her “Natasha”, was introduced on GH as the daughter of Mikkos Cassadine and his mistress, whose throat was slit by Helena Cassadine, which has played into Alexis’ story for many years to come.  At the time of her entrance to the show, Wendy Riche was GH’s executive producer.

Through the years, viewers have witnessed Grahn’s portrayal of: a tough legal eagle, an honest depiction of a woman battling the bottle, failed romances, while all the time being a loving and faithful mother to her three daughters, Sam, Molly, and Kristina.

Nancy won her second Supporting Actress Daytime Emmy, this time for her role as Alexis in 2012, and has been a multi-nominee in the Lead Actress category for her performances on the ABC daytime drama series.

Kate Grahn, Nancy’s daughter took to social media within the last few hours since we posted this story to share a video on how thankful she and her mom are to GH fans and Nancy’s time on the show which afforded her the ability to have and raise Kate.  Check that out below.

Here’s to Nancy for giving us 25 years of her on-screen work as Alexis!

Congratulate Nancy and tell us your favorite Alexis Davis moments via the comment section.

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She is a great actress the sad thing is she had to bring politics into everything we are all out here trying to find a escape from that and she just keeps it going . She always has so it has turned me off because I just wanted to be entertained and Nancy conservatives who have a different opinion watch GH you can turn people off no matter what side of the fence you are ion. Congrats for your tenure

This isn’t fair. Reminds me of when I hear: “Just shut up and dribble.” No one has to be quiet for your comfort.

If you can tolerate the Cheetoh you can certainly tolerate an actress on a soap opera who only reads the lines they write for her.

Then just watch the show and don’t follow them on social media. That seems like the easy way to handle it. Nancy is a person aside from her character. You like Alexis. Focus on that.

Agree with you. I understand and respect that she has different opinions and positions. The thing is –from her posts if you have opinions and positions which are different from what she thinks, she appears to be intolerant of others beliefs/opinions. Stick to acting and leave politicis out of it as other GH stars do.

There’s no rules requiring viewers to follow actors social media posts. Nancy has a right to post as does every citizen. Ingo posts contradictory messages than Nancy, yet both are able to be professional in scenes where long term friends Alexis & Jax are concerned.

Congrats to Nancy!!!! 25 years flew by so fast. I love her portrayal as Alexis/Natasha. Hopefully, she’ll be freed out of prison sooner rather than later, so we can see her maybe mix it up with her family roots, the Cassdine’s, more interaction with her nephew Nicholas and also Spencer, too. I’m looking forward to a bigger and better storyline for NLG, she’s definitely worth it. I totally miss her with Julian. They totally ruined Julian the year he took orders from Olivia Jerome to kill Alexis. Her chemistry with Julian was off the charts. I also liked her relationship with Neil, too. Her time with Ned never really made sense. And don’t get me started on Jax/Ingo.
It was always the hot and steamy scenes with Alexis and her real first love with Julian that night in the car when boring boring boring Sam was conceived.

Well done to Nancy, thanks to you for your portrayal that is never dull and your inspirational political activism on social media. I love how you speak your truth and don’t hold back.
Nancy, I wish you more years on GH, maybe a Supporting Emmy win next year and a new more thoughtful bigger storyline being out of prison. I would love for William deVry, to return because Julexis was always so fascinating and hot. So much passion between the characters but unfortunately the writers ruined that with Julian attempting to kill Alexis and his brief time with Dr Nero as Charlie went nowhere.
William deserved better from GH, then he was tossed out, once again like the trash, the show, killing him off last winter.
Long live Alexis and thank you NLG for years and years of fantastic acting in a variety of storylines. Reconnect her back into Port Charles, Alexis deserves to finally find a solid long lasting love! She’s got such a history with the Cassdine’s with Victor back and the show rebuilding the family, I look forward to her reconnecting with her family and roots.
Bring Julian back!!!! I’ll never forget the juicy and hot scenes with Julian and Alexis. (Minus the murder attempt.)

Love to Nancy.

Jeremy, you’ve hit it out of the park! In my mind anyway… I agree with your assessment of the actress (including her activism) as well as the character, including her romantic partners (particularly Julian, with whom the actress had amazing chemistry). Take care, Friend!

I loved Nancy on Santa Barbara with lane Davies lol

Mark,
Oh, me too. They were a wonderful couple. Remember the suprise wedding?

congrats NLG, and to many more years.

Years back, I’d get a little thrill whenever Alexis was on. Nancy always had a fresh approach to the character; I never saw her “phone it in”. But, the past two or three years, I have the opposite reaction. I feel it’s just a matter of time before she does something madly self-destructive, then repents, then does it again…and again. Drinking, wrong men, ethically challenged decisions. It’s a sad treadmill the writers have placed her on. Nancy has valiantly kept Alexis human and watchable, but she deserves much better. Maybe this stint in jail will be a new beginning.

She deserves a full redemption. It’s a soap. She can get her law license back. Many less likely things happen all the time (i.e. return from the dead!)

Soap hound…I agree with you. Tough to watch a character who had so much promise when she came to Port Charles continually be given self-destruct stories by the writers.

Ms. Grahn does exceptional work with anything they throw at her. But I especially like how they’re taking their time with her “repentance” storyline in the slammer. This feels so real because of the timing and what Nancy is bringing to the table in her spectacular performances.
Congratulations on 25 years! i look forward to seeing you on GH for many, many years to come!

Never liked her. Who does she think she is knocking anyone who doesn’t agree with her politics? Not a nice person.

Right. She is like Robert DE Niro, if you dont agree with his politics he has no use for you! Same with Nancy. And Nancy, enjoy the ONE thing you and Robert have in common!

Alexis is a failure on so many levels. I dont know about her career but her love life, she is a relationship killer. Why not pair her with Harmony and let her completely change her life. It would be interesting to tell this story. I do like the actress who plays Harmony and they need to find a story for her.

Timmm,
I really envy you that you know Nancy Lee so personally that you can comment on her failures on “so many levels” I like and admire her for her accomplishments as an actor, mother and not being afraid to speak out on many issues, including politics. So many stars are reluctant to say anything,for fear they will be seen in a bad light as they have done with her. Nancy tells it likes it is, and knows she’ll never please everyone.

Well Violet, I was speaking about her characters failures. I don’t care what she says in her personal life.

Timmm, So sorry, I misread you.

I’m not sure if Alexis would ever “switch teams”, but if she did, I doubt it would be for Harmony, a woman who did significant damage to two of her daughters’ lives.

Maybe Alexis would channel “Satan!”

Well, I could always do that, of course… but we wouldn’t want Marlena to get jealous!

When they were telling the alcoholism story, I really wish they would have brought Scotty Baldwin into it. He witnessed his father Lee – also a lawyer – self destruct with alcohol for years, but eventually managed to come out of it. Maybe he might have had some insights to share with Natasha, given that history?

General Hospital

Cameron Mathison Previews New Game Show ‘Beat The Bridge’ (Promo)

As previously reported, Cameron Mathison (Drew, General Hospital) will be seen doing double duty this summer when he premieres in June as the host of Game Show Network’s Beat The Bridge.

Now, while Cameron will be the host with the most, that doesn’t mean he will stop playing GH’s Drew.  In fact, Mathison taped the game show in 2023, so it will now air for the first time in 2024.

Taking to his Instagram this week, Cameron shared his enthusiasm and some new hosting snaps, sharing, “Our newest game show host reporting for duty😎 Head over to the Game Show Network YouTube channel for your first look at the show and don’t miss Beat The Bridge premiering this June! I can’t wait for you guys to see this!”

Photo: GSN

In Beat The Bridge, an enormous interactive bridge dares players to cross by stepping on the right answers to challenging trivia questions. As they play, each steps forward and puts money in their team’s bank, with bonus money for each successful crossing. Here’s the catch: the team gets to keep the money only if it can “beat the bridge” by returning one of its players back across before time expires.

Photo: ABC

Meanwhile, on GH, Drew and Nina (Cynthia Watros) recently had hate-sex. Do you think its a one-time deal? Where will Drew’s story take him next under new head writers, Patrick Mulcahey and Elizabeth Korte? Stay tuned.

Now below, check out the first promo for Beat The Bridge from the Game Show Network with you host, Cameron Mathison.  Then, let us know, will you be checking out the game this summer? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

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A post shared by Cameron Mathison (@cameronmathison)

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Nina Confronts Ava for Sabotaging Her Relationship With Sonny and Signs the Divorce Papers

Looks like Nina (Cynthia Watros) and Ava (Maura West) are back to be each other’s sworn enemy number one. By the end of the Monday, April 22nd episode of General Hospital, the women know where they stand with each other after Nina goes in on Ava accusing her of wanting Sonny (Maurice Benard) all to herself, while her marriage has been on the rocks.

In story, at Nina’s office, Ava shows up to see Nina and says she is sorry about what happened with Sonny and that he reacted the way he did, acknowledging that is was over the top, even for Sonny. Ava says she’ll smooth things over, but Nina says she now understands how manipulative and transparent Ava really is.

Given their horrible history, Nina goes in on Ava and how she should never have trusted her. Nina wants to know how long has Ava had this agenda dating all the way back to telling Nina to turn Carly (Laura Wright) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) into the SEC. Ava says she never told her do to that, but Nina wants to know how long Ava has been playing her for a fool.

Courtesy/ABC

Ava says she moved in with Sonny to keep Avery safe and she wants to be on good terms with Avery’s father, Sonny. Nina thinks she likes being in Sonny’s inner circle. Ava tells Nina if she goes to him about her advising Nina to call the SEC on Carly and Drew, it won’t work.  Sonny still considers Nina a traitor and he will think she’s lying because she’s so desperate to win him back. Ava says if Nina would stop blaming everyone else that maybe Sonny would respect her.  Nina says “like he does you?” Ava says Sonny not only respects her, but he also counts on her.

From there, Ava launches into why she and Sonny understand each other, after all, Sonny is a powerful, turbulent, and sometimes violent man. She goes so far to say if Nina wanted someone to just sit by the fire with and play with their grandchildren, she’s got the wrong guy.  Ava then talks about Mike from Nixon Falls (Sonny with amnesia) and how Sonny hid the darkest parts of himself from Nina back then, whereas with Ava they are the same similar creatures, so he doesn’t have to hide anything.

Courtesy/ABC

Nina wants to know just what Ava wants with Sonny? What is her end game? Ava responds that they understand each other, in ways she can’t with Sonny. Nina tells Ava she can go ahead and have it all and signs Sonny’s divorce papers. Ava walks out with the documents, while Nina in tears at her desk, takes off her wedding rings and has her assistant come in so she can messenger the rings back to Sonny’s address.

The episode and these scenes featured great performances by Cynthia Watros and Maura West. You can check some of the scenes below.

Now, let us know, what is Ava’s next move? Is she going to become Mrs. Sonny Corinthos? Do you like Ava and Nina as enemies? Comment below.

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General Hospital

Ellen Travolta Makes Another Return to General Hospital

If General Hospital’s Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) nuptials are on, you didn’t think Grandma Gloria Cerullo would miss out on the festivities, now did you?

Casting news from Soap Opera Digest reveals that Ellen Travolta is back taping scenes that will air the week of May 13th on the ABC daytime drama series.  When viewers learned that Carmine Cerullo, was also on his way back to Port Charles, now in the face and body of actor George Russo, it only made sense that Grandma Gloria would join Grandpa Cerullo. Look for them both mid-May.

As most people know, Ellen is the older sister to John Travolta. She first make appearances as Gloria back on GH in the mid-90s. Most recently, she returned to the Quartermaine mansion to meet up with daughter, Lois (Rena Sofer) and granddaughter Brook Lynn for Thanksgiving in Port Charles in 2023.  Michael Fairman TV interviewed Rena Sofer and Amanda Setton late last year where they shared what it had been liking working with Ellen, who remains very close to Sofer in real-life.

Photo: JPI

Amanda shared: “We fell in love immediately. What’s crazy is my maternal grandmother was Grandma Gloria. I had her till I was 30 and we were so close. She was really like a second mom to me. So, when I got this script and I’m reading “Grandma Gloria”, it was so bizarre. And then in meeting Ellen, she looks like my grandma – same haircut, same high cheekbones. It really did feel like I had a few days with my grandma. It was very, very special for me. Ellen is sweet, prepared, professional, talented and funny to boot. So, it was one of the best weeks I’ve had at work. I hope she comes back. My fingers are crossed.”

Photo: ABC

Now, we can’t imagine Brook Lynn and Chase’s wedding day to be smooth sailing, in fact, expect just the opposite, but could it be Grandma Gloria who is ultimately the hero or the calming voice of reason for any pre-wedding jitters? Stay tuned.

So, glad to know that Ellen Travolta will be back for Brook Lynn and Chase’s big day? Comment below.

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