For Steve Burton, saying goodbye to Kelly Monaco on General Hospital was very hard to do.
The actor, 54, shared in the Friday, Nov. 1 episode of his podcast The Daily Drama, which he hosts with Bradford Anderson, how difficult it was filming his final scenes with Monaco, whose last episode aired on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
“I was really at a loss in the sense of I wasn’t sure how to play this. Obviously, we have a huge history,” says Burton, who filmed his first GH scene with Monaco in 2003. “Obviously, we’ve worked together for a long time, so there was all of these things going on, but I didn’t have a clear vision.”
Burton’s castmate Maurice Benard offered some words of wisdom at the time, telling the actor that “whatever happens in there is supposed to happen.”
“You don’t have to force anything,” Benard also told Burton. “Just let it work.”
Burton, who actually filmed his character Jason’s teary farewell to Sam (Monaco) in the hospital before her death, recalled, “I had to shoot that stuff with her first and then go backward.”
“It was very sad because Kelly was obviously leaving, and then the emotion of the character passing and all these things, and I just thought everybody really did a wonderful job,” Burton explained.
“It was really interesting to have gotten all that emotion out and then have to go back,” he continued. “I know people in movies do this all the time, but as an actor, it’s not your favorite thing to do.”
Dominic Zamprogna, who worked alongside Monaco since he joined the GH cast in 2009, discussed with Soap Opera Digest how the show’s long production hours played a role in the actors’ ongoing friendship.
“You become fast friends with people that you work with like that,” he told the outlet. “You’re in the trenches of 14, 15-hour days and shooting nights and everyone in the crew becomes like family, your castmates become like family — you argue and love each other like family do, and the three-and-a-half years that we were together on the show were a big, important time of my life and in my character’s life.”
To Zamprogna, 45, the work allowed him to know Monaco “in a way that I’d never known her before.”
“She’s a remarkable person,” he continued. “She’s tough as nails and admirable in so many ways, and it’s been cool to become a friend of hers. And that won’t end. It’s just that there is still an ending because you’re not working with someone anymore.”
“[She] is softer than her tough Philly exterior, and I never knew that side of her before working with her,” Zamprogna added. “I’ve been with her in very emotional states myself and we became very able to tell each other very personal things and kind of talk [to] each other through moments that I never would have anticipated that I would have with her because she gives off such a ‘tough girl’ vibe and she’s extremely cool and confident. But nobody is always cool and confident and tough, and that is what really endeared me to her.”
The actor still keeps in touch with Monaco and wishes her only the best as she explores a new chapter.
“I’ve found the greatest things in my life have come when it feels like a door is closing,” he explained, adding, “I was really trying to emphasize that to her.”
Monaco, who originated the character of Sam and appeared in more than 2,300 episodes of GH, earned a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2006 for best supporting actress. In a since-deleted reply to a comment on Soap Hub’s Instagram in October, she broke her silence about her sudden departure.
“What do you got concrete in your head she wasn’t fired she didn’t take the pay cut so she had to leave,” Monaco wrote. “‘No primary role’.. do your homework. When Billy Miller was fired, Sam’s storyline stopped. Stripping Sam of every characteristic she had,” she wrote. “Something I worked for decades to build… Slowly dismantling her, into a character that I did not recognize, let alone the audience. Call it what you will… retaliation at it [sic] finest. I will give a proper statement. The truth will set you free.”
ABC previously declined PEOPLE’s request for comment on the matter.
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General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC (check local listings).
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