Stephen Vows to Bring Us Together
October 1996
“General Hospital is the best show I could have become involved in,” says Stephen Nichols, who you’ll remember, was teamed with me back on Days of our Lives. He played Steven, known as “Patch” because of his eye patch. “They have created a character who will be every bit as big as Patch ever was! He’s Stefan Cassadine and he will be involved everywhere, and with everyone. This is a really exciting storyline!” I asked him if he thought they’d pair us up again. “I’m sure Stefan and Katherine will get together, but the producers will hold out as long as they can. It has a bigger impact when they make fans wait, you know. It’s their ace.”
I told Stephen I have been quite nervous about the pressure of fans wanting Patch and Kayla again. We’re not those people anymore, I explained. “But we are! The chemistry is there. It will be like revisiting Patch and Kayla.” But I wasn’t so sure. “It doesn’t matter whom we play, we have the feeling, the guts, the soul, the connection. They’re gonna get Patch and Kayla.”
At the studio, Stephen’s dressing room is two doors down and Matt Ashford’s is across the hall. Stephen and I rarely work on the same day but when we do, we try to catch up for a few minutes. We’ve been to lunch a few times. “You’re just a firefly,” he says “You’re here, you’re there. It’s hard for me to catch you for five minutes!”
He and I sat in my dressing room the other day running lines like we used to do together on Days, and Matt pops his head in and says: “Wow, this is like a flashback! Kind of creepy” Yeah!
Stephen has watched GH recently to get a feel for the characters. He tells me: “I’ve never seen a soap this good! It’s a cut above. Tell the Australian fans to watch a week of Days and then a week of GH- there’s no comparison Everything’s better on GH, acting, writing, storylines.” But GH is on at 5am in Australia, I tell him. “Are you kidding? I hope they set their VCRs!”
Finally, he describes his new character, Stefan. “In the early eighties, the Cassadines were the arch-enemies of the Spencers, they were the evil force. My ‘brother’, Stavros, was the main player then and Elizabeth Taylor played my ‘mother’. I’m carrying that family tradition back into Port Charles. There’s lots of history, so I’m not flying blind. On the other hand, I’m not replacing another actor in an old character. It’s the best possible.”
What’s the difference between Steven Johnson and Stefan Cassadine?
“Stefan is more refined. The Cassadine family is from the Russian aristocracies who fled that country during the Bolshevik Revolution, when Nikolas was murdered. They bought a Greek island.”
Are Steven and Stefan the same kind of bad guys?
“Steven was street-smart and out for money. When he came to Salem, he didn’t have a plan. He was hurting and out to get Bo. On the other hand, Stefan has a finger on the pulse of Port Charles. He has a plan. He’s powerful and refined. The Cassadines are so sophisticated even the mafia is beneath him! Tell those Australians to get GH on at a decent hour!”
Meanwhile, it’s confusing with Stephen, Steven and now Stefan!
no comments