Remembering Beloved GH Stars Who Have Passed

John Beradino (ex-Steve), 1917-96 A native of Los Angeles, Giovanni Berardino, known as John, attended the University of Southern California on a football scholarship, but made the switch to baseball as an undergrad. Primarily as a middle-infielder, he played the sport in the major leagues for the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians (with whom he won a World Series in 1948), and Pittsburgh Pirates, taking four years off to serve in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. He retired after a leg injury in 1952 and switched his focus to acting, appearing in movies like the Hitchcock classic North by Northwest and TV series like the Western ANNIE OAKLEY. In 1963, by which point he was already a father of two (Toni and Cindy, with first wife Jeanette Barritt), he became a member of the original cast of GH as stalwart Dr. Hardy. In 1971, he remarried, and with wife Marjorie Binder, had another daughter, Katherine, and a son, John. Beradino netted three nominations for Daytime Emmys as Outstanding Lead Actor during his Port Charles run, which lasted until his death in 1996. Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie) described Beradino to Digest in 2013 as “an all-around amazing person,” noting, “He was a great baseball player, great actor and great friend, a wonderful husband to Marjorie and great father to his kids.”

Anna Lee (ex-Lila), 1913-2004 Born Joan Boniface Winnifrith in Ightham, Kent, England, Lee made her stage debut at 19 before making a name for herself in a bevy of British films. After emigrating to the United States in 1939, she starred in Hollywood pictures including How Green Was My Valley, the John Wayne flick Flying Tigers and as Sister Margaretta in the Sound Of Music. Along the way, she raised two daughters, Venetia and Caroline, with first husband Robert Stevenson; with her second husband, George Stafford, she had three sons, John, Stephen and Tim (better known by his stage name, Jeffrey Byron, who appeared on ALL MY CHILDREN as Jeff, ONE LIFE TO LIVE as Jeff and PORT CHARLES/GH as Mark). Lee made her GH debut as the Quartermaines’ regal and compassionate matriarch, Lila, in 1978, three years before she was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident, and remained with the show through 2003. She passed away the following year, a few months before she was slated to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys. (Jeffrey Byron accepted the honor on her behalf.) Lee’s on-screen grandson, Wally Kurth (Ned), remembered her to Digest in 2016 as “an actor that just adored being a performer and adored being an actress and loved Lila and loved being onstage and being at the studio.”

John Ingle (ex-Edward), 1928-2012 After moving to Los Angeles from his hometown of Tulsa, OK, Ingle taught English and theater at Hollywood High in the 1950s, then became the acting teacher at Beverly Hills High School in the mid-1960s, where his students included Albert Brooks, Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Louise Sorel (ex-Vivian, DAYS et al) and David Schwimmer. In 1954, he married Grace-Lynne Martin, and they raised five daughters, Jessica, Jennifer, Carey Haynes, Melanie and Christina. When he retired from teaching in 1985, Ingle’s own show biz career began in earnest, and he appeared in movies (Heathers) and prime-time (THE GOLDEN GIRLS) before GH tapped him in 1993 to succeed David Lewis as Quartermaine patriarch Edward (he’d done a previous stint in Port Charles in the 1980s as the police commissioner, and in 1991, he played the minister who wed Y&R’s Ryan and Victoria). Ingle exited GH in 2004 to play Mickey Horton on DAYS, but returned in 2006 and remained on the canvas until his death from cancer in 2012. In 2014, John J. York (Mac) told Digest, “What I miss the most is the big bear hug and the kiss on the lips I would get every time I saw him. He was a very affectionate man. He was a father figure to many people. He was an inspiration, not just as a husband and a father — because he has an incredible family — but to actors.”

John Reilly (ex-Sean), 1934- 2021 Reilly, who was born in Chicago, launched his acting career in his hometown in the mid- 1960s, and moved to New York to pursue a theatrical career. After turning down gigs on DAYS and THE DOCTORS, he notched his first daytime appearance in 1974, when he joined AS THE WORLD TURNS as Dr. Dan Stewart. He exited in 1976, then moved to L.A., where he toiled in prime-time (THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, THE BIONIC WOMAN, DALLAS) before landing on GH in 1984 as superspy Sean. After he was written out in 1995, he recurred on BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 as Bill Taylor (dad to Jennie Garth’s Kelly) from 1996-98, and in the interim, played SUNSET BEACH’s doomed Del Douglas in 1997, a role he reprised occasionally before the show’s 1999 cancellation. In 2005, he joined PASSIONS as Alistair Crane, remaining there through 2008. That same year, he reprised Sean on the GH spin-off GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT, and he briefly returned to GH in 2013. The actor, who passed away in January, is survived by wife Liz and five daughters. Emma Samms (ex-Holly) recalls, “He was a lovely man, a decent man — professional and easy to be around. He was fabulous.”