Even before she joined the cast of General Hospital, Nancy Lee Grahn knew it was where she wanted to be. So one fateful day in 1996, the actress called the soap’s then headwriter, Michelle Val Jean, and executive producer, Wendy Riche. “I said, ‘Do you guys want me?” recalls Grahn. “And luckily, they did!”
That said, she certainly did not imagine the gig would run as long as it did! Now, as she marks her 28th anniversary, Grahn can easily sum up the experience with one word: “Grateful.”
How, exactly, did she know Port Charles was where she wanted to be? “I grew up watching it,” Grahn reveals. “We were an ABC family, so I watched Ryan’s Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live and, of course, General Hospital!”
Despite being familiar with the show and its cast, she had some trepidation that first day on set. “From my time on Santa Barbara, I knew that the cast of a soap opera is a family. They were my family for years, and now I was walking into someone else’s family. And it was important to me that I respect that, and that I recognize myself as being a guest in their home.”
The timing couldn’t have been better, as she was preparing to give birth to daughter Kate. “I always joke that Santa Barbara raised me, and General Hospital raised Kate!”
So what’s the secret to her success? After all, not all soap characters manage to last nearly three decades! “Outside of the crazy drama, Alexis is a lot like the women who watch the show,” she muses. “She’s a mom, she”s a professional, she cares about other people. But she’s also able to be many other things, all at the same time. She can do dumb things, smart things, sexy things, not-sexy things… at the end of the day, you’re never going to be bored with her!”
More: Maurice Benard (Sonny) tells all about his real-life love
But beyond that, “I really care about the audience. I care how I make them feel, and I also get a response back from them,” she adds. “So I get reviews — accolades and tomatoes thrown at me. [Over the years,] I’ve been mostly focused on them and our relationship, and I think that’s served me as far as keeping me honest in my work and serves them in that I’m giving them the best that I’ve got.”
More: Then-and-now photos of Santa Barbara’s stars
And that’s proven to be true even when the stories being told have… well, not necessarily been the best. Asked if there has ever been a story which felt completely out of character, so to speak, for Alexis, the woman who knows her best pipes up immediately. “The DID story, where I was donning a wig and calling myself ‘Kristina,” she recalls of the 2003 plotline. “I didn’t even really understand what I was doing, so that was definitely my least favorite story.”
All things considered, Grahn has good reason to be a happy camper. “I’ve had my wins and my loses, but hey, I’m still here,” she says with a chuckle. “Now if we could just get Alexis a good man. Or a bad man! She just needs someone to love!”
On this most special of occasions, celebrate the actress and the iconic character she’s created, why don’t you, by pouring over photos of her — and this is putting it mildly — eventful run in Port Charles via the below photo gallery.
