General Hospital’s Steve Burton On Jason’s Monica Memorial Monologue: ‘I Was There Emotionally’
Jason Morgan is known for being stoic on General Hospital — he didn’t earn the nickname “Stone Cold” for nothing! — but the recent passing of his adoptive mother, Monica Quartermaine, has brought out a rich well of emotion in the character. Now, in a new interview with TV Insider, Jason’s Daytime Emmy-winning portrayer, Steve Burton, is opening up about the impact of Monica’s death on his character — and his real-life feelings about the loss of longtime co-star Leslie Charleson, who passed away in January.
Art Imitates Life
Burton began working with Charleson way back in 1991, when he assumed the role of Jason, who at the time was still going by Jason Quartermaine. The actor shared, “I never had to really prepare my scenes with her because we just had a connection as soon as I came on the show,” adding, “I’ll always cherish my time with her.”
He acknowledged that it was “surreal” to be playing out Jason’s grief over Monica’s death months after Charleson’s death, noting, “You have a woman who I love dearly who passed, but you had her character who was still alive … it was just this weird world to be in.”
In the storyline, it was Jason who discovered that Monica had died after going to her bedroom with the intention of breaking the news to her that Drew had been shot. While the pair had gotten closer in recent years, their relationship had often been strained, particularly in the wake of the 1995 car accident that left Jason with significant brain damage, wiping out his memories of his years being raised by Monica and Alan (his late birth father, played by Stuart Damon). Feeling suffocated by what he saw as his relatives’ desire for him to return to being the person he was prior to the accident, Jason longed for independence — and claimed it, even changing his name from Quartermaine to Morgan (the maiden name of his beloved grandmother, Lila) to solidify his break from the family.
That complex history fuels how Jason is processing the loss of Monica in the present. “He is obviously devastated,” Burton declared — and his emotional pain will be on full display when Monica’s memorial service kicks off on Thursday, September 25, continuing into Friday’s episode. Expect Jason to deliver a stirring speech at the church in front of his family and other members of the Port Charles community who come together to celebrate Monica’s life and legacy.
The actor said that his own emotions were close to the surface as he filmed the memorial scenes. “My relationship off camera was great with Leslie, so it wasn’t difficult to get where I needed to be,” he mused, sharing that “the most difficult part [was] controlling my emotions as opposed to going, ‘Oh, this is going to be a sad scene. I gotta prepare for this and hopefully the emotions come when they roll tape.’ It was actually the opposite.”
Burton had so much sentiment attached to the idea of saying good-bye to Monica — and Charleson — on camera that he chose not to even read his monologue until the day he taped it. “I didn’t want to go there prior to that day,” he explained. “So, I just got up early that day and learned my monologue. There was no planning. I was there emotionally already, so I just got up and spoke, and that was it.”
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