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Chris Robinson, who is best known to soap fans as Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital, the role he played from 1978 to 1986, has died. The actor was 86.
In Memoriam: Chris Robinson of General Hospital
MJ Allen, a filmmaker and musician, reported the news of Robinson's passing on his Facebook page. The actor was born on November 5, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida. He died at the age of 86, peacefully in his sleep, at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona, on June 9. Robinson's official cause of death was heart failure.
As a performer, Robinson played over 100 roles in TV and movies from 1957-2022. He is best known to soap fans for his performance as Dr. Rick Webber, which ran from 1978 to 1986. The show's love quadrangle with the characters of Rick, Lesley (Denise Alexander), Leslie Charleson (Monica), and Alan (Stuart Damon) was instrumental in propelling the series from the bottom of the ratings to the top, making GH a pop culture phenomenon. Both Charleson and Alexander passed away earlier this year. Damon died in 2021
Robinson was the first actor to say the famous line in the Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup TV commercial, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
After GH killed off Lesley in 1984, Robinson was paired with Judith Chapman's Ginny Blake. Rick and Ginny wed to give their son, Mike (David Mendenhall), a stable home life. After Ginny gave birth to Rick's son, Rick, Jr., the couple left Port Charles.
After exiting GH, Robinson was reunited with Alexander on Another World. He played Jason Frame and she was Mary McKinnon on the NBC serial. His next soap role was The Bold and the Beautiful's Jack Hamilton, Taylor's (then, Hunter Tylo; now, Rebecca Budig) father, who romanced both Stephanie (Susan Flannery) and Sally (Darlene Conley).
Chris Robinson's Return to General Hospital
Robinson reprised the character of Rick in 2002 in a controversial storyline that was met with immense fan disapproval. In a rewrite of what viewers saw on screen in the show's heyday, a new story revealed that Rick had been unfaithful to Lesley with a nurse named Teresa Carter (a character that had been retroactively created for this story). Scotty (Kin Shriner) killed Rick, and the good doctor's reputation was forever sullied. The trauma sent Laura (Genie Francis), Rick's daughter, to a sanitarium.
In 2007, Robinson reunited with GH pals, including John Reilly (Sean), Charleson, and Alexander, at a General Hospital fan event.
In 2013, Robinson appeared as Rick during GH's 30th anniversary as some kind of hallucinogen conjured up by Monica and Tracy (Jane Elliot). "That is not what happened," Rick shouted at Tracy after she brought up the confusing storyline that drove Laura into a catatonic state. (That's the closest the viewers received to a rewrite of the Teresa Carter tale.)
Robinson's other credits on the big and small screens include 12 O'Clock High, The Donna Reed Show, Sea Hunt, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, Bob Hope Presents, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Barnaby Jones, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, and Murder, She Wrote.
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The former General Hospital star is survived by his wife, Jacquie Shane-Robinson, and his sons, Shane, Coby, Christian, Taylor, Christopher Robinson, Christopher Lance, and adopted son Robb Walker, and grandchildren, Ivy, Ava, Davey, Brooks, and Knox.
Soap Central sends condolences to Robinson's family and friends, and the General Hospital family at this difficult time.
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