General Hospital Exclusive: How Andrew Hawkes Found Out Cullum Was Being Killed Off
General Hospital star Andrew Hawkes figured his days as corrupt WSB Agent Ross Cullum were probably numbered, but the actor tells Soap Opera Digest he didn’t realize Cullum was being killed off until a memorable trip to the wardrobe department.
How Andrew Hawkes Learned Cullum Was a Dead Man
“I found out because I was brought in for a suit fitting,” Hawkes shares. “When I came in, they were sewing in squibs,” sealed pouches of fake blood used to dramatize gunshot wounds like the one that sealed Cullum’s fate.
“About a week later, I still hadn’t heard the official word,” he recalls. “And then Frank Valentini, our executive producer, said to me, ‘You know what’s going on, right?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘It’s happening on the 18th of May.’ That was my last day.”
His last day was memorable for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was having John Oliver on set, filming his entrance as Z. “I thought there was nobody cooler than John Oliver to come in and play Z,” he enthuses. “I’m a huge fan of his and it was just another great experience that General Hospital gave me, getting to spend the day there with him.”
What Happened After Cullum’s Final Scene
After Josslyn (Eden McCoy) shot Cullum dead, Hawkes admits he “felt a sense of relief. I was like, ‘Okay, they put a bullet in me and now I’m done for the day!’ I was lying there dead on the ground for another couple of scenes, and I was able to almost crash and fall asleep! And my mind kept thinking about all the people at the show who made this whole experience for me … I was kind of just going through everyone and I was probably radiating a little love.”
Once he officially wrapped filming, Hawkes made a beeline for Valentini. “I went up to him and said, ‘Hey, Frank, before you take off, I just want to get a couple minutes of your time,'” the actor says. “Frank, along with Mark Teschner and Lisa Booth in casting, gave me an incredible role, an incredible experience, and I just really wanted to thank him for taking a chance on me. They could have had anybody come in to do this part — any number of fantastic actors, actors who had some kind of big name value, but they went with me, and it was such a huge learning experience with incredible people. I made wonderful friends and just had a wonderful time, and I let Frank know that.”
In turn, “Frank was very complimentary and sweet to me, as he always was, and made me feel good about the work I’d been doing,” smiles Hawkes.
Valentini tells Digest that the show will miss having Hawkes in the mix at GH. “We love Andrew,” he says. “He has been the perfect bad guy, and we wish him nothing but the best.”
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