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General Hospital married the legendary supercouple Luke and Laura on November 16 and 17, 1981. Across the country, college students cut class and gathered around TV sets to watch the festivities. The show scored a casting coup by having Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor appear in the episode as villainess Helena Cassadine.
General Hospital, the wedding of the century
While many were enthralled by the July 1981 marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in England, soap fans were glued to their TV sets to watch Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis) tie the knot. The couple had taken millions of TV viewers along with them as Luke and Laura brought down Frank Smith (George Gaynes) in 1980.
The following year, Luke and Laura, and their new bestie, Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers), prevented Mikos Cassadine and his family from freezing the world with his weather machine!
Safely back in Port Charles, Luke and Laura, their families, loved ones, and most of the town gathered at the mayor's mansion for the big event. Scorpio served as Luke's best man; Laura's sister, Amy (Shel Kepler), was the maid of honor.
Fashionista Delfina (Nita Talbot) made sure that everything was in order. The groom and the best man, and the bride and her father, Rick (Chris Robinson), and other members of the wedding pulled up to the mansion in old jalopies, adding to the festive nature of the day.
The wedding crasher
The wedding officiator referred to Luke and Laura as "heroes" for their heroic acts against the Cassadines, and he called them "children of their whole community."
"I, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, take thee, Laura Webber Baldwin, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health," Luke promised, taking his bride's hand. "To love and to cherish, till death do us part. And, thereto, under thee, I pledge my troth."
"I, Laura Webber Baldwin, take thee, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, to be my lawful wedded husband," Laura said, "to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part. And, thereto, I pledge thee my troth."
The ceremony went off without a hitch, but the reception? Not so much. Unbeknownst to the bride and the groom, Helena Cassadine, furious at the couple for their role in the death of her husband, put a hex on the newlyweds as they cut the wedding cake. "My curse on you, Laura on Luke," Helena declared from a distance. "My curse on both of you."
On the mansion's balcony, Luke tossed the garter to Rick (he soon married Lesley, played by Denise Alexander, his ex), while Laura put her back to the wedding guests and threw her bouquet over her head. She turned around to see who'd caught it, and it was Scotty (Kin Shriner), her ex-husband!
Shriner was lured back to General Hospital after leaving the show the previous year to take a role on Texas.
"There is no marriage!" Scotty declared as he threw the bouquet back up at the bride and groom. Luke threatened to kill Scotty as he scaled down the balcony, and he and Scotty got into a fistfight. The two men were pulled apart.
Scotty announced he was contesting the divorce. Luke declared that he and Laura were married and that they were going on their honeymoon! They rode off in a car together. "Baby, it was beautiful," Luke told Laura. "He will not contest. We're okay."
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While the divorce held up, Luke and Laura's ultimately did not. First, she was presumed dead for close to two years after the Cassadines kidnapped her in January 1982. Luke and Laura reunited in late 1983 and set out to see the world. They split years later. However, their story and the couple's marriage remain the most widely watched episodes of daytime ever, bringing in 30 million viewers!
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