Claudia Zacchara-Corinthos (Sarah Brown)

Claudia Antonia Zacchara Corinthos (née Zacchara) is a character on General Hospital. On the series, she is the daughter of notorious NYC crime lord, Anthony Zacchara, and is a member of the Zacchara organization. The role has been played by Sarah Brown on contract status since January 31, 2008. Sarah Brown also played Carly Corinthos (1996-2001). After facing storyline issues, Claudia's character was written out and the character was killed off onscreen November 4, 2009.

Character conception and Arrival (2008)
With actress Laura Wright in the role of Carly, Brown returned to General Hospital in January 2008 as new character Claudia. Having previously won three Daytime Emmy Awards and two Soap Opera Digest Awards for her portrayal of Carly, Brown stated that a chance encounter with executive producer Jill Farren Phelps had precipitated discussions about her return to the series, and that they had never considered her reprising Carly.

Claudia grew as an awkward little girl who had a red shoe fetish, living with her deranged father and her strong confident mother. Anthony felt threatened by Dominica and decided she voiced her opinions too much. He divorced her and kept Claudia out of spite. At the age of 16, Claudia successfully seduced Trevor Lansing, her father’s lawyer. She wanted to test how much her father loved her. Instead, he shipped Claudia off to Milan, Italy, to live with her mother's brother. While being raised by her uncle Rudy, she learned the business and turned into a beautiful young vixen, who doesn’t take crap from anyone, including daddy dearest.

The character of Claudia is summoned to Port Charles in January 2008 by mob lawyer Trevor Lansing in the hope that she can assert some control over her wayward younger half-brother, Johnny Zacchara. Mentally unstable mob boss Anthony had divorced Claudia's outspoken mother Domenica and kept custody of their daughter out of spite. After a 16-year-old Claudia had seduced Trevor, Anthony had sent her to Milan, Italy to be raised by his brother Rudy. Now Trevor, who has been secretly running the now fully-insane Anthony's illegal operations for years, is surprised to find that Claudia, once a "gangly and awkward teen," is now a strong and vicious woman bent on taking over the Zacchara empire.

With Claudia debuting during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Brown noted in January 2008 that striking head writer Bob Guza had outlined the character beforehand. The strike ended a month later, and in December 2008 Brown acknowledged that the change in writers due to the strike had made Claudia "inconsistent" in that "half the things the writers had set up for me [ultimately] were changed ... you've made choices that don't work anymore and you're suddenly saying things that contradict what you did earlier." Claudia and Sonny Corinthos meet anonymously in a bar and end up in bed. Soon after, she realizes his identity, knowing that Sonny is "her chief rival for control over Port Charles." When Sonny learns who Claudia is and she makes her intentions for Port Charles known, the battle lines are drawn. Sonny rejects her further sexual advances, and leaves her for dead after an explosion. Claudia hires Jerry Jacks and Ian Devlin to kill Sonny; in the attempt, a bullet hits Sonny's son Michael instead, and the boy ends up in a coma. Jerry stabs Claudia on May 15, 2008 to cover his involvement in the shooting, and then kicks her into the river. She washes up on the beach and is found by Nikolas Cassadine. Nikolas takes care of her, and while delirious she accidentally admits that she had hired Ian to kill Sonny; Nikolas threatens to tell Sonny's second-in-command Jason Morgan unless Claudia turns herself in. Nikolas ultimately allows Claudia to leave without reporting her to the police because she is aware that he had paid Devlin $10 million for drugs. Anthony makes a sudden recovery and is finally released from his mental institution, immediately shutting Claudia out of the business. Weeks later, he gives his daughter the opportunity to gain status in the mob family when she is quarantined with Jason Morgan and Damian Spinelli: if she can kill Jason, he will allow her back into the business. Claudia’s attempt fails.

Johnny's girlfriend Lulu Spencer kills her ex-boyfriend Logan Hayes in self-defense; to protect her, Johnny tells Claudia that he had done it himself. Claudia dumps the body on the street trying to make it look like a hit-and-run, but Johnny is later arrested. Logan's estranged father Scott Baldwin — the prosecuting attorney in Johnny's trial — fabricates documents claiming Logan was a police officer in order to make Johnny's potential sentence the death penalty. To save Johnny, Claudia perjures herself on the stand, testifying that he killed Logan to stop him from raping her. Johnny is found not guilty.

Sonny and Claudia Corinthos (2008-2009)
Initially contracted for a one-year run, Brown later re-signed for another year, citing both financial motives and her desire "to learn more about Claudia."



Paired again with former co-star Maurice Benard (who plays Carly's ex- and Claudia's current husband Sonny Corinthos), Brown compared Claudia's dynamic with Sonny to Carly's: "Carly was a more outwardly insecure character who was always professing feelings of love and devotion to perfect strangers and people she identified with right away. She was more open, so she had much more drama on the table on a regular basis. Working with Maurice now, we want to keep things hidden under the surface, to make a bit more work for the audience to figure out what's going on. That's what they do in nighttime [television]. It's more interesting when you're not spoon-fed."

Sonny saves Claudia in a car crash in September 2008 and the two establish a friendship. Sonny invites Claudia to his wedding to Kate but the union was stopped when Kate was shot at the altar. Claudia sleeps with Sonny's brother, Ric Lansing, who begins falling in love with her. Anthony tells Sonny that if he wants to gain control of the Zacchara organization, he must marry Claudia. To prevent herself from marrying Sonny, she asks Jason to marry her. They initially plan on getting married that same day on October 24, 2008, but Claudia backed out at the last minute. Sonny himself has a plan to use the union to destroy Anthony, and he and Claudia marry in December 2008. Claudia — though falling for Sonny and feeling guilty about Michael's condition — insists to Johnny that she is using her position as Sonny's wife to protect them from suspicion in Michael's shooting, but Johnny fears that she will somehow lead Sonny to the truth about their involvement. Claudia receives a DVD from the presumably-dead Jerry revealing her role in the shooting, several copies of which he has hidden in the Corinthos mansion. Claudia tells Sonny about her father's role in the shooting of Kate Howard, and gives Sonny information that allows him to freeze Anthony's off-shore bank accounts. Prevented from fleeing to Brazil, a furious Anthony kidnaps Claudia on February 25, 2009, threatening to kill her unless Sonny brings him $20 million. Sonny arrives with the money, but finds Claudia tied to a bomb and rescues her. Sonny and Claudia later make love. Ric and Jasper Jacks learn that Claudia is responsible for Michael's shooting, and Ric decides to blackmail her with the information. Though she does not want children, Claudia becomes pregnant by Sonny in order to stay alive should he discover the truth.

Of the then-developing storyline that found Claudia trying to get pregnant by Sonny to protect herself from his wrath over her part in the shooting of his son Michael, Brown dismissed the idea that Claudia was "desperate": "I refuse to play a needy woman who relies on a pregnancy to save her life. Trust me — it won’t go there ... it’s not why I signed on to this show again. And I don’t think Bob [Guza] sees that kind of desperation in Claudia or myself. It’s not a road either of us are interested in travelling down. It’s also not what I do well. I like to think Claudia and I are a little more dimensional than that. Look, she ran the mafia in Italy with her uncle Rudy. She’s one of the guys. In many ways, she flourishes more in a man’s world than the men do ... Who wants to see a needy girl sit there, desperate for love from a man? There must be more dynamics in this relationship." At that time she called Claudia and Sonny's relationship "sick and twisted," suggesting that "once Claudia has his baby, perhaps love will blossom, but right now, I don’t think there’s a lot of love there." She added, "I don’t think Claudia would behave this way if she was in love with Sonny. I’m holding out hope that they will fall in love and fans will see that journey on camera." Calling Claudia's hiring of the hit man who accidentally shot Michael "a stupid move on Claudia’s part," Brown noted that the character "feels very guilty over her actions." The actress also voiced her interest in seeing how the writers would get Claudia out of this situation and how Sonny would forgive her.

Sonny initially throws Claudia out after Ric suggests that he may be the baby's father, but Sonny eventually allows her to stay until the baby's paternity is confirmed.

Departure (2009)
See Sarah Brown out as Claudia Corinthos for further details.

An amniocentesis later proves that the baby is Sonny's. On her way to tell him, Claudia is accidentally run off the road by Sonny's daughter Kristina and miscarries the baby. To make up for her miscarriage, she persuades Sonny to have another child.

Claudia overhears a conversation between Kate Howard and Olivia Falconeri discussing Olivia and Sonny's love child, who is Dominic Pirelli, one of Sonny's soldiers. She blackmails Olivia in to breaking up with her brother, Johnny, in exchange for secrecy. Sonny later refuses to have a child, leading Claudia to plan on seducing Dominic. Sonny asks Claudia to accompany him to Puerto Rico for a business dealing. The meeting goes well and Claudia asks Sonny to stay there on the island until her birthday, October 29.

After Sarah Brown tweeted a few statements alluding to the fact that she was leaving General Hospital, it was confirmed by the show that she is in fact on her way out.

Brown made the following statements via Twitter:

“Claudia Zacchara has been a wild ride, every ride stops when the music ends. The music stops mid Oct.”

“It's been nice being back at GH, but it's time for the character to come to an end, at least for me.”

“Have a film in the works for Nov — a lead role to die for — and we shall c what else comes up. Thank you for your support, means the world!"

Brown's initial tweet had many fans speculating on how the show would write off the character. In a recent Soap Opera Weekly interview, Brown stated that her character's miscarriage ultimatley led to her departure.

As the days become numbered, Sonny arranges a birthday party for Claudia as Jason arrives with further evidence with Claudia's involvement in Michael's shooting. At the party, Sonny publicly announces Claudia's betrayal in front of Port Charles's residents, leading her to take Carly as a hostage as she takes a car and escapes the Metro Court. Carly enters pre-mature labour and is able to take the wheel away from Claudia, leading Claudia to be knocked unconscious in the car. Carly escapes to a nearby cabin to delver her baby on her own, only to have Claudia find her. After Carly gave birth to her daughter, Claudia develops an obsession with the child. With Carly weakened by the labour, Claudia snatches the child only to be bludgeoned in the head by Michael.

Shortly after being killed by Michael, Jason lights the cabin on fire and buries the body in an attempt to cover the murder. Days after Claudia's murder, a mysterious photographer, Franco, takes photos of Claudia's corpse in an attempt to blackmail Jason Morgan.

Post-death
On January 29, 2010, Sonny was arrested for Claudia's murder, following semi-doctored evidence supported by Dominic Pirelli (it was revealed on that night to Sonny that Dominic was actually Dante Falconeri, his bastard son with Olivia). Prosecutor Claire Walsh was hired by Jasper Jacks to assure Sonny's conviction. After Carly perjured her self on the stand to say that Claudia was killed in self defence, Dante finds Michael, who was hiding out in Mexico. Michael tells Dante that he killed Claudia, not Sonny, and showed evidence to support his "confession". As Sonny's verdict was to be served, Dante tells the court that it was Michael who bludgeoned Claudia to death. Michael was placed on the stand was forced to confess, exonerating Sonny. Although Dante give up Michael hoping for a suspended sentence, Michael was served a five year prison sentence for Claudia's death, with everyone railing at Dante and blaming him for sending Michael to prison.

On January 23, 2012, it was revealed that Anthony used to pimp Claudia out to his business associates when she was younger, and Johnny who was previously believed to be her younger brother, was actually her son with Anthony's associate Gino Soleito.