General Hospital alum Mark Hamill is known to millions of Star Wars fans as Luke Skywalker. However, to GH devotees, who go back to the 1970s, the actor will be forever known as Kent Murray, the nephew of Jessie Brewer, R.N., played by original cast member Emily McLaughlin. Hamill recalled his soap opera days on a recent visit to Live! With Kelly and Mark, the daytime talk show hosted by All My Children alumni Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, when he was promoting his role as The Flying Dutchman in The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. General Hospital origins View this post on Instagram Instagram Post"I started out in soaps," Hamill told Ripa and Consuelos, who played Hayley and Mateo on AMC. "I was on General Hospital when I was 18. I have a lot in common with you." Jessie Brewer became guardian to her late widowed brother's children, Kent and Ann, played by Hamill and Anne Wyndham (Nurse Stevens, Passions). The show saw some nice chemistry between Hamill and Wyndham, so the producers went ahead and cast them as brother and sister, unaware that the two actors were already acquainted! "I met a girl in drama school, and we were living together," Hamill shared about Wyndham. "We auditioned as brother and sister. I said, 'Let's act like we don't know each other, right?'"Ripa noted, "Good idea!" Hamill continued, "And so, we did the scenes, and they said, 'Gee, you kids have a lot of rapport with one another.' And we were like, 'Oh, well, we're just good actors.'"Like all good soap opera secrets, the truth came out when the show realized that scripts for the two actors were both going to the same address. "The producer brought us in," Hamill recalls. "In those days, they said, 'This is going to really look bad to the fans. It'll smack of incest."General Hospital, private livesAMC alum Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have welcomed many General Hospital alumni to Live with Kelly and Mark | Image: ABC/HuluAs a result, the off-screen duo kept their relationship hush-hush. "I love it," Hamill said of being on General Hospital. "I thought, 'Do I really want to do a soap?'" The movie star quipped good-naturedly, "The only time I ever watch them is to mock them openly! But it was great because it was a great training ground, and you learn to find your mark without looking down, find your light, and all that which is really important. The cast was just great!" Hamill recalls that he and other actors would poke fun at the over-the-top scenarios found on soaps when they'd be in rehearsal. But when the cameras rolled, everyone took it very seriously. "It was a great experience," he says. "You have a lot of material to learn." Ripa wanted to know if Hamill's wife, Marilou, of 47 years, knows about Hamill's former TV sister, whom he once dated. "Our anniversary is December 17th," Hamill said with a smile. "She's not just my wife, she runs the business. I bring home the paycheck, but she does everything. She works really hard. I was smitten immediately with her. [But] I needed to make sure she has a great sense of humor. I took her to see Annie Hall, the Woody Allen movie, starring [the late] Diane Keaton. She 'got' it. I thought, 'This is the one!'" Check your local listings for Live with Kelly and Mark broadcasts in your area.Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.