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William "Bill" Eckert was a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. He was the brother of Jenny Eckert, the father of Sly Eckert and look-alike cousin of Luke Spencer.
He was portrayed by Anthony Geary from 1991-93 and in 2015.
Storylines[]
Bill on the E.L.Q. Tracy (1991)
Bill Eckert was a member of the crew on the "S.S. Tracy". The Greenbelts, an environmental safety organization, protested the arrival of the Quartermaine boat. It had just exploded and sank in Port Charles harbor. Harlan Barrett of Barrett Enterprises came to Port Charles to salvage the "S.S. Tracy". He was impressed with Bill Eckert, who invented a unique machine which raised the ship. Harlan hired Bill as chief engineer with the promise of upward advancement in the company.
Bill is the cousin of the Spencer family who had just come to town with his young son, Sly Eckert, and recently divorced from his mother, Nancy. Bill's father died of a heart attack and Bill and his sister, Jenny Eckert, came into a large inheritance. Bill, now a wealthy man, moved into an abandoned lighthouse with his son Sly and Finian O'Toole, whom Bill had hired as a housekeeper. Bill was now dating Harlan's marketing genius daughter, Julia Barrett. Harlan brought her to Port Charles to run the cannery with ace in command, Bill Eckert.
Introduction of Bill Eckert (1991)
Harlan Barrett, Leopold Taub, Cesar Faison, and Larry Ashton formed a cartel to control global business via the use of a toxic substance, carbon disulfide, manufactured at a cannery they purchased as a clever ruse for their operations and a place to brew the drug with which they intended to rule the world. Bill and Jenny were both kept in the dark about the cannery's real intentions.
Meanwhile, Nancy having heard about Bill's newfound wealth, promptly wanted custody of Sly. Bill saw the dollar signs in her eyes and would not give in to her blackmail. Nancy began spying on operations at the cannery and discovered the carbon disulfide. She used it to make Bill appear inebriated at Sly's custody hearing. The cartel was worried with Nancy poking around and they wanted to make a still clueless Bill their newest member. The cartel then decided to eliminate Nancy.
Faison tried to use mind control to program Anna Scorpio to kill Nancy, but Anna and Robert Scorpio were onto Faison's plan. With the aid of a psychiatrist, she became immune to it. The Cartel's goal was attained anyway as Nancy was mysteriously murdered and Bill became the prime suspect. The real killer turned out to Bill's housekeeper and Sly's baby-sitter, Finian, who had a heated argument with Nancy and accidentally killed her.
Bill was brought into the Cartel, but a deliriously wicked Faison wanted Bill to prove himself before he was completely accepted. Bill's assignment was to kill Faison's nemesis, Robert Scorpio. By this time, Bill and Robert were good friends, so a "faux death" was arranged. Bill shot Robert on the waterfront, but Harlan was not fooled, so he decided to shoot Robert again. Bill shot and killed Harlan to protect his pal. A grief-stricken Julia promptly ended her relationship with Bill.
Bill dies
On Founder's Day, the Cartel was apprehended. Taub was killed and Faison escaped yet again. After Robert and Anna's presumed death, Bill started dating Robert's "widow", Holly Scorpio. Scott Baldwin came across information that pointed to Lucy Coe in a Port Charles art heist. He told Bill and Holly who concluded that Lucy had fed information about the local paintings to the wealthy Richard Halifax. When Halifax realized Bill and Holly were on his trail, he returned of all the art except Bill Eckert's painting, "Summer in Provence." This was the only painting Lucy did not know about. Halifax professed his innocence, but Bill knew he was lying. Then Bill goes to Paris where he reclaimed his artwork and had a fling on the side behind Holly's back, with his old flame, Victoria Parker. When Bill returned to Port Charles, Holly walked in on Bill and Victoria making love at his lighthouse. The spurned Holly was hell-bent on making the womanizing Bill pay. She smashed all the rare wines in his wine cellar, then left town.
In 1993, Bill and his cousin Luke Spencer came face to face when Luke's son, Lucky Spencer was sent back to Port Charles as his parents were still on the run from notorious mobster Frank Smith. Frank's men found Lucky staying with his friend/cousin Sly Eckert. They also found Sly's father - Bill Eckert - who was the spitting image of Luke. Bill was trying to protect Sly and Lucky from a hitman. Bill was then shot in a case of mistaken identity and died in Luke's arms.
On January 6, 2015, Michael mentions to Bobbie that Bill owned Bobbie and Luke's old childhood house on Elm Street after Michael's previous location for the A.J. Quartermaine Memorial Clinic fell through and he was going to use it. Bobbie mentioned that Bill never said anything and that she hadn't spoken to Jenny and Sly in years.
On January 7, Luke is being held captive by Fluke in the basement of Bobbie and Luke's child home and Luke thinks that Bill is alive and is his captor. On January 8, Ned tells Michael that Jenny was the executor of Bill's will and after a conversation with her, she didn't see a thing about the house on there. She would call Sly, who would get the estate since he was Bill's child, but he didn't know anything about it and didn't want too.
On January 23, 2015, Shawn would dig up Bill's grave with the help of Jordan, at the request of Sonny to see if he truly was dead. When he opened the coffin he had a shocked expression on his face. On January 26, 2015, It was revealed that Bill's remains weren't in it. On January 27, Helena and "Fluke" are mentioned that they both knew that Bill remains weren't in the coffin. On February 6, it was revealed that Luke was "Fluke" all along and that Luke has been keeping Bill's corpse in the basement of the old Spencer house.
On April 1st, 2015, it was revealed that Patricia Spencer had known Bill long before he had come back to Port Charles in the 1990s. The night Bill's aunt Lena died, Dr. Steve Hardy had Bill's father, Fred, called to the hospital. Bill was at first mistaken, naturally, for Luke by Patricia. He formed an instant bond of family with her in the wake of her mother's death.
Bill asked if it was Tim who did it, the entire Eckert family had known about Tim's violent streak. Patricia panicked when she remembered that Luke and Bobbie were home alone. Bill volunteered to help Pat in any way he could to confront Tim Spencer, only to discover that when they got back to the house on Elm street that Luke had bludgeoned his father. They saw that Luke was in shock so Bill helped Patricia hide Tim's body in the wall of the basement (where Bill's own corpse would wind up 51 years later), and took ownership of the house.
In the present, Luke remembered a dying Bill telling him after he had moaned the bitter justice of seeing his own face as the last thing he'd ever see, that he had told Luke, grabbing him by the hand, to forgive himself for what Luke had done to his mother, Lena.Crimes Committed[]
- Did not reveal that Luke Spencer had accidentally killed his mother Lena Spencer (allowed everyone to believe that Tim Spencer was responsible for Lena's death) [Apr 1, 1963; revealed Apr 1, 2015]
- Conspired with Pat to hide Tim's body in a wall in the basement of the Spencer childhood home after Luke had murdered Tim [Apr 1, 1963; revealed Apr 1, 2015]
- Kidnapped Victoria Parker [Pre-1991]
- Got into a physical fight with Mac Scorpio [May 10, 1991]
- Framed Nancy for stealing $25,000 from Harlan Barrett by planting it in her couch [June 7, 1991]
- Threatened to kill Nancy [Aug 23, 1991]
- Punched Paul Hornsby [Aug 26, 1991]
- Assaulted Scott Baldwin [Nov 4, 1991]
- Shot Robert Scorpio as part of their "faux death" arrangement [Nov 22, 1991]
- Shot and killed Harlan Barrett in defense of Robert [Nov 22, 1991]
- Arson; set fire to the engine room of the ship he was on [July 31, 1992]
- Pulled a gun on Father Martin and threatened to kill him [July 31, 1992]
- Shot Father Martin [Sep 3, 1992]
- Punched Ned Ashton [Nov 11, 1992]
- Kidnapped Lucy Coe [Dec 17, 1992]
- Held Richard Halifax at gunpoint [Feb 10, 1993]
Health and Vitals[]
- Disorientated at a child custody hearing after being exposed to carbon disulfide by Scott Baldwin [1988]
- Fell down stairs and later knocked unconscious during his altercation with Mac Scorpio [May 10, 1991]
- Shot in the leg by Father Martin; the wound later became infected [July 17, 1992]
- Became trapped in a net along with Holly Sutton [Aug 12, 1992]
- Beaten and robbed [Feb 24, 1993]
- Shot and killed by one of Frank Smith's men after being mistaken for his look-alike cousin, Luke Spencer [Nov 15, 1993]
Family tree[]
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| Bill Eckert |
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| Sly Eckert | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References[]
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