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General Hospital’s Nancy Lee Grahn Dishes About Her Reunion With Erika Slezak: ‘A True Joy’

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Daytime Emmy-winning One Life to Live legend Erika Slezak (ex-Victoria Lord) began filming last week at General Hospital in a highly anticipated, albeit mystery, role. It’s well-known that her ties to the show’s executive producer, Frank Valentini, stretch back several decades — he began working behind the scenes at OLTL as a stage manager in 1986, eventually working his way up to show runner — as does her relationship with actor Chris McKenna (GH’s Brennan), who played Viki’s son Joey from 1990-93.
But given that Nancy Lee Grahn is best known for her long GH run as Alexis Davis, which kicked off in 1986, and her Daytime Emmy-winning turn as Julia Wainwright Capwell on Santa Barbara (1985-93) before that, it may come as a surprise to some fans to learn that Grahn also crossed paths with Slezak in the fictional world of OLTL’s Llanview. In fact, that’s the show on which Grahn kicked off her television career.

We Meet Again

On Instagram, Grahn shared a photo of herself with Slezak on the GH set and reflected on their past affiliation. “My very first job on television was ‘One Life To Live,’ ” her caption began. “I was finishing school and working on the show as a non contract recurring character, Beverly Wilkes,” who made her Llanview debut in 1980. “I had grown up watching OLTL with my mom and sister, so to be working with Judith Light [ex-Karen], Gerald Anthony [ex-Marco] and Erika Slezak was surreal and thrilling.”

Fast forward several years, and Grahn was still on the show. She was also still working without a contract, which left her “free to do other things as long I gave them 7 days notice,” the actress’s post continued. Grahn described how she was “seriously being considered” to play the part of Stella Siegel on an NBC series, The Gangster Chronicles. “I was on my 3rd screen test and it had narrowed down between myself and actress Kathleen Lloyd,” Grahn explained. “I was being flown from NYC to Los Angeles for that test, and decided to stay in LA regardless. Not being under contract, I was [required] to give OLTL seven days notice. The produce Joe Stuart, sued me for leaving even though I had every right to leave.

“I was very young and intimidated by this threat and went to Erika for advice,” Grahn went on to write in her social media post. “Erika, without being asked to, went directly into  [Stuart’s] office and told him in no uncertain terms that what he was doing was unconscionable, mean and unwarranted. She got right in the middle of a lawsuit and stood up for me, because she believed what her boss was doing to me was wrong, and undeserved. She spoke up for me. That’s the kind of woman Erika is. In addition to that, she’s an outstanding, consummate well awarded actress who was a mentor to me as I watched her and learned up close how to be truthful and effective in this medium.”

Given the esteem in which Grahn has held Slezak for so long, the actress was, of course, delighted to reunite with her at GH. Grahn enthused, “to meet up with her again after decades, still beautiful and elegant as always, was a true joy. It is no secret how much I respect and appreciate formidable, courageous women, and Erika is unquestionably one of them.”

As for that lawsuit? “My case was settled in arbitration and I won,” Grahn reported.

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