Tom Hardy (Matthew Ashford)

Dr. Thomas Steven "Tom" Hardy, Sr., MD (né Steven "Stevie" Baldwin, formerly Thomas "Tommy" Baldwin, Jr.) was a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera General Hospital. Tom is the son of Audrey Hardy and Tom Baldwin, and the adoptive son of Steve Hardy. He moved to Africa in 1997 and hasn't been seen since.

Background and early life
Audrey March fell in love and married Steve Hardy, and later divorced him when she was grieving after suffering a miscarriage. After the divorce, she soon married Tom Baldwin in an effort to push Steve away and show him she was over him. Audrey, however, couldn't bring herself to consummate the marriage. Tom raped Audrey, and when she found out she was pregnant, she filed for divorce and left town to protect her baby from his violent father.

Audrey returned to Port Charles in 1971 and told her sister Lucille that the baby had died, which was a lie. Audrey had in fact given birth to a boy she named Steven, after her true love, Steve Hardy. Audrey kept Steve, as he was called, in hiding. She was afraid that if Tom knew the baby lived, that he would contest the divorce, which was not yet finalized. Steve was renamed Thomas Baldwin, Jr., and called Tommy, and Tom Baldwin found out he was alive. He reclaimed his son and forced Audrey to resume their marriage. Tom then kidnapped Tommy and fled to Mexico. After a while, Tom was presumed dead and Tommy was reunited with his mother.

After several years, Tom Baldwin once again resurfaced, very much alive. He tried to reclaim both his wife, to whom he was still legally married, and their son. However, after finally realizing he was not wanted, he left town and their divorce was finally finalized. Steve Hardy and Audrey finally married and Steve adopted Tommy.

Simone Ravelle and Tommy
In 1987, Tom Hardy returned to Port Charles after graduating medical school. He met and married Dr. Simone Ravelle, an African-American pediatrician, in 1988. Audrey was worried that their interracial marriage would not be accepted and that they would face trouble because of it. Audrey and Simone became close, however, in the years that followed.

Simone soon found herself pregnant. When a racist patient made a comment about Simone's show of affection toward Tom, he and Tom got into a scuffle. Simone tried to break it up and ended up falling to the floor, suffering a miscarriage. Simone went away with her mother for a while after the loss. While gone, she met an African-American doctor named Harrison Davis. When she returned to Port Charles, Harrison also came and got a job at General Hospital. Simone and Tom struggled to get their marriage back on track and Simone turned to Harrison, and they made love. The next day, Tom came to Simone and they reconnected and made love. Simone then found out she was pregnant again, but did not know whether Harrison or Tom was the father, and she had not even told Tom about her affair with Harrison.

Thomas "Tommy" Hardy, Jr. was born in 1989, but Simone still did not know who his father was. She finally confessed her affair to Tom and a DNA test was done, showing that Harrison was his father. Tom stuck by Simone, and a custody battle ensued between them and Harrison. During the custody battle, Tom brought Simone's mother to town and she confessed that she and Harrison falsified the DNA test. Her mother thought that Simone and Tommy would be better suited with Harrison, instead of Tom. This meant that Tom was in fact Tommy's father.

Breakup with Simone and moving on
Tom later went to Africa to treat refugees there. He returned to Port Charles three years later and wanted to pick up with Simone and Tommy where he left off. Simone, however, had moved on and was now dating Justus Ward. After fighting with Simone and Justus for a few months, Tom finally agreed to a divorce. Tom moved on and dated Felicia Jones for a while, but that ended and Tom ultimately returned to Africa.