While participating in a virtual fan event, General Hospital (GH) star Maurice Benard was asked to sound off on the actresses who’ve played his on-screen partner, Carly Corinthos, Soap Hub reports. Always one to break through the artifice of the entertainment industry, Benard avoided giving a generic answer.
“I like that question,” Benard responded, before taking a moment to consider all four actresses who’ve perform the role: Sarah Joy Brown, Tamara Braun, Jennifer Bransford and Laura Wright.
“Sarah was a phenomenon,” Benard stated about Brown, who originated the role of Carly in 1996. “She won three Daytime Emmys by the time she was 25. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.”
After five years in the role, Brown was replaced by Tamara Braun, who played Mrs. Corinthos from 2001 to 2005.
“Then, we had Tamara. It took a long time to gain the audience [with her],” Benard continued, speaking of the current Days Of Our Lives actress. “I kept telling people, ‘Just wait. She’s got a vulnerability,’ which got me. I could barely talk with Tamara [she was so vulnerable]. It took a while for the fans to jump on. Then, they did.”
“She got better and better but she always had that vulnerability,” Benard added. “She became hugely popular.”
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Upon Braun’s exit, Bransford was brought aboard. It was a very brief tenure, lasting about seven months in 2005. Despite the early exit, Benard remembers her fondly.
“I loved Jennifer,” he told the Fantasy Events zoom crowd. “You never know what’s going to happen from one second to the next.”
When Laura Wright entered the Port Charles scene a month after Bransford’s exit, she made an immediate impact on the GH audience. And Sonny Corinthos can’t take any credit for that.
“I had nothing to do with Laura’s success,” Benard admitted. “I would love to say that I did, but I didn’t. She did it herself. She came in and knew exactly what she wanted.”
This November, Wright will have 16 years of experience playing Carly Corinthos under her belt, more than the other three actresses combined.
“With her power as an actress and her emotion, she made this character her own without any help from mine, which was amazing, I thought.”
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