Disney/Christine Bartolucci
I Will Remember You: A wide swath of the GH cast participates in the memorial for Bobbie.
On Wednesday, January 10 and Thursday, January 11, the town of Port Charles comes together to mourn the late, great Bobbie Spencer — and by extension, her beloved portrayer, Jacklyn Zeman, who passed away on May 9, 2023 from cancer.
Laura Wright (Carly) says that when shooting the arc of Carly first learning of her mother’s passing through to the memorial, “I shot, I think, 11 episodes in four days. So, it was a lot. [The powers-that-be] were like, ‘Are you okay? Can you do this?’ But I wanted to stay there emotionally. Normally, that would have taken a couple of weeks to shoot, and that’s a couple of weeks of being sad and instead, with it all being done in four days, we were all emotionally just really there. But it was intense, emotional stuff. We were really happy to get it done, and to have stayed in that emotional bubble. I would get off work, come home, eat dinner and go to sleep at seven o’clock at night because I was up at 4:30 to get to work. But in those three or four days of work, like I said, everyone was right there — hair, makeup, the directors, the crew. At the end of the last day, I posted a picture and said, ‘I just want to give a big thank-you to everyone,’ and it was so true — everyone just really wanted to make it to the best we could, for Bobbie and for Jackie and for the fans who have loved this character for as long as she’s been on and been on the ride with her. And there are so many incredible, beautiful things [in the episodes] that were written for the fans, and with the fans in mind.”
That includes Ryan Carnes’s return as Lucas, Bobbie’s adopted son. Wright was happy to reunite with her on-screen brother, reporting, “I saw him and I screamed, ‘Oh, my God!’ and I gave him a big hug. It was great to see him.”
Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Brotherly Love: Ryan Carnes returns as Lucas for the memorial shows.
As for the actual memorial show, “A couple of things stand out,” Wright begins. “First of all, everyone looked beautiful. I gave a three-page monologue/eulogy at the very end, and so I got to see everyone — I got to see Genie Francis [Laura], Becky Herbst [Elizabeth], Kin Shriner [Scott]. And I said to Shawn [Reeves], our costume designer, ‘Everyone in black looked so beautiful and everyone looks so different.’ It’s hard to find that many different black dresses that fit each character, and I was like, ‘What a fantastic job you did.’ Everyone looked so appropriately beautiful. But from walking in the door [to the church set], to every eulogy until everyone hugged each other with tears when it was over, the support [among the cast] was amazing. I mean, it was all for Jackie. You walked upon set and her picture was up and the pamphlet for the celebration of [Bobbie’s] life with her face were there and there were people with tears in their eyes and crying before we even started, because we knew we were there for Jackie. Every time someone finished a eulogy, they were hugged and supported. When I was standing up there doing mine, I was just looking out at all the faces and trying not to just lose it because I had to get through it. Seeing the faces and seeing the tears streaming down everyone’s faces … It was just beautiful.”
At the conclusion of taping, Wright continues, “There was a rainbow outside the studio in the middle of the afternoon — a full, beautiful rainbow. I’m getting chills talking about it! It felt like that was Jackie saying, ‘I’m here.’ I’ve worked there almost 19 years and I’ve never seen anything like that. Jackie absolutely loved GENERAL HOSPITAL. She loved playing Bobbie Spencer. And she was grateful and happy to be there every single day she was there. So, it was just a day for Jackie, it really was.”
Lynn Herring (Lucy) concurs. Shooting the memorial, she says, “was very emotional and overwhelming. But we knew we were honoring her correctly. The writers did a beautiful job and honestly, it felt like Jackie was there.”
