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At 75 years old, former General Hospital star Gregory Harrison is just happy to be alive and still working as an actor.
At that nice round-numbered age, Harrison has a chance to experience something he never has in his career: Winning a major acting award.
Gregory Harrison is nominated for portraying his character's ALS journey
Harrison is nominated for a Daytime Emmy and will attend the ceremony October 17th in Los Angeles. He received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Professor Gregory Chase on General Hospital. It is the first Emmy nod of any kind for Harrison, who has a successful career spanning several decades after first becoming a household name by playing Dr. Gonzo Gates on Trapper John, M.D.
Harrison was honored for his portrayal of Gregory Chase as he dealt with the terminal disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for more than a year before passing away in May of 2024.
Harrison is proud to be nominated but he said he’s not in the acting business to win trophies. He discussed that and a lot more with Soap Opera Digest this week.
“I’ve had a 52-year acting career. And if you had asked me at 20 when I first hit Hollywood, ‘What do you want?’ I would have said, ‘I want to work until the day I drop. I want to be an actor til the day I drop,’” he said. “I don’t think of acting as a competitive sport. I’m a process-oriented guy ... I love Hollywood, I love show business, I love acting — but I love the day to day. I love developing characters.”
His character’s ALS was a long process and validating for Harrison, who treasured having the time to show his character’s gradual decline.
He noted that he played a character who died of ALS on the primetime series Touched by an Angel, but that was a much shorter story arc. On General Hospital, he had time to do a lot of research and think about how best to play certain moments.
“That people were moved is a reward for me,” he said. “I’ve had lots of fan reactions — people who have members of their family with ALS or who have experience with the disease have thanked me for for my performance and that means a lot to me.”
His Emmy reel was easy to put together
Harrison said putting together his Emmy reel was an easy and fun process.
“I loved being able to calibrate the slow erosion of Gregory Chase’s abilities because of this disease he had,” the former General Hospital star said. “And being able to find nuance and believability and show that while this guy is losing his faculties, he’s developing even more dignity and even more humanity.”
He included his scenes when officiating the wedding of Gregory’s son Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton). The moments when Gregory brain and voice malfunctioned and he froze while staring into space. And then, the bounceback after Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) went to the altar to give him a pep talk.
He loved working with the General Hospital legend throughout the arc.
“I loved that,” he said as he gave some insight into Tracy’s character. “And she was so thrilled to be able to go from playing this matriarch who was harsh and angry so much of the time to playing (a softer Tracy). You could see the 17-year-old in her character when she was with me and that was just so delightful to play.”
Harrison was terrified when he started on General Hospital
Harrison talked a lot about his early days on General Hospital, when like many soap newcomers, he struggled to get used to the fast pace of a daily show and the dozens of pages to tape in a day.
“I hadn’t been that terrified since junior high school, when I’d throw up before I made an entrance in the school play,” he said. “But after 10 shows, it was fun. I realized I could do it and then they offered me a three-year contract, so I said, ‘Absolutely!’ And it was the most fun job.”
At the ceremony, Harrison is most looking forward to spending time with his former General Hospital co-stars. He praised several actors including Swickard and Michael Easton, who played Gregory’s other son, Hamilton Finn. As well as Elliot and Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis).
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“I don’t know what the voters are going to lean toward,” he said. “And it doesn’t really matter to me, but I’m honored to have been validated by the voters and if I win it’ll be double the icing on the cake for me, because playing the part was where the award was. Having a career at 75 is where the award was.”
Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.
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