Michael Easton Reflects on Port Charles Vampire Romance with Kelly Monaco
When the General Hospital spin-off Port Charles paired Michael Easton and Kelly Monaco as Caleb and Livvie in a daring vampire romance in 2001, a cult favorite pairing was born. In a new interview with Swooon marking the 25th anniversary of “Tainted Love,” the storyline arc that started it all, Easton reflected on the creation of the Caleb/Livvie love story.
From Here to Eternity
Port Charles premiered in 1997, but by 2000, its struggle in the Nielsen ratings inspired the show to ditch the traditional method of soap storytelling in favor of telenovela-style 13-week arcs – or “books,” as the show referred to them. By the next year, PC’s powers-that-be decided to push the envelope even further by introducing supernatural elements. Enter brooding vampire Caleb Morley.
At the time, the vampire storyline was so secretive that Easton, who hadn’t worked in daytime since his 1990-92 stint as Tanner Scofield on Days of Our Lives, wasn’t told until after he signed his contract that he’d be playing a bloodsucker. “I figured, it’s a soap opera, the guy’s a doctor, lawyer, or a cop. How hard could it be?” he recalled to the publication.
To sell the dark romance between Caleb and Livvie, their portrayers had to hit the ground running with a believable on-screen chemistry. “Poor Kelly was just stuck with me,” Easton said. “Trial by fire. Live without a net. They introduced us, we shook hands, and then they said, ‘Now put your fangs in and go roll around on those silk sheets together.’”
Almost immediately, viewers were hooked on both the gothic love story and the connection between the two actors. “I just remember always feeling safe with Kelly,” Easton shared. “There was something unspoken from the very first scene. We trusted each other. I wish I had better words to explain it, but more than anything, I think that got us through the storm.”
Easton was quick to credit his leading lady’s emotional accessibility as making his job easy. “When you look into Kelly’s eyes, you can get lost with her, and I think that’s what I tried to do every day,” the actor mused. “Block out all the outside noise and just be in the moment and invite in all the raw feelings that come with that, and hopefully, along the way, do justice to a really well-written story.”
In bringing Caleb to life, Easton said, he focused on the vampire’s single-minded focus on his beloved Livvie. “I realize that Caleb was intended to be the villain of the arc, but early on it occurred to me that he only existed to be in love with this one woman,” he explained, “and anybody who tried to stop him, in his mind, they were the villain. It was Caleb and Livvie against the world, and they were willing to die for one another, which made it something of a tragic love story. It was a very simple concept, but it was grounded in affection, desire, romance, obsession, and passion.”
Life After Death
Caleb was killed off at the end of “Tainted Love” — but true to his vampire roots, he didn’t stay dead, and Easton soon returned to Port Charles as Caleb’s rock star alter ego, Stephen Clay. The show was canceled in 2003, and its final episode featured Caleb’s wedding to Livvie — who by then was a vampire herself.
After Port Charles ended, Monaco joined GH as Sam McCall, a role she would play until 2024. Easton, meanwhile, moved to One Life to Live, where he portrayed detective John McBain until the series ended in 2012.
That same year, Easton brought McBain to GH, where the show briefly explored a romance between his character and Monaco’s. The following year, Easton briefly reprised his Port Charles role of Stephen Clay on GH before being reintroduced as Stephen’s brother, Silas Clay. Silas also became a love interest for Sam, continuing the on-screen partnership between Easton and Monaco long after Caleb and Livvie had captured viewers’ imaginations on Port Charles.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.