Leslie Charleson is an actress known for her portrayal of Dr. Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital from 1977-2022 and 2023-present. Charleson is the longest-running cast member on the show.
Biography[]
Charleson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her career began on the short-lived soap A Flame in the Wind in 1964. In 1967, she was an original cast member of Love is a Many Splendored Thing. She played Iris Donnelly Garrison and was part of a highly popular love triangle with David Birney and Donna Mills.
Charleson has also worked in prime time. In 1976, she appeared in the pilot for the Quinn Martin TV crime show Most Wanted, but neither she nor costar Tom Selleck were kept on for the series.
In 1977, Fred Silverman, then President of ABC, asked her to join the serial General Hospital, which by that time was near the bottom of the ratings and near cancellation. Charleson replaced Patsy Rahn as Monica Webber, a doctor caught between her husband Jeff Webber and his back-from-the-dead brother, her true love, Rick Webber.
In February 2007, she protested the firing of her on-screen husband, Stuart Damon, telling the press that she was not happy with the decisions of the producers and that all the actors on the show over 40 were worried about their own fate.
Filmography[]
- The Return of the Muskrats (2006)
- Friends (2004) (Herself)
- General Hospital (Dr. Monica Bard Webber Quartermaine - August 17, 1977–present)
- Dharma & Greg (2001)
- Port Charles (Dr. Monica Bard Webber Quartermaine #2 - 1997-2000)
- Diagnosis: Murder (1997)
- Woman on the Ledge (1993)
- Greatest Rescues of Emergency! (1978)
- The Rockford Files (1977)
- The Streets of San Francisco (1974-1976)
- Barnaby Jones Cannon (3 episodes, 1972–1975)
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1975)
- Happy Days (1975)
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (2 episodes, 1972–1973)
- The F.B.I. (1973)
- The Day of the Dolphin (1973)
- Emergency! (1972)
- Medical Center (1972)
- Adam-12 (1972)
- Mannix (1970)
- Love is a Many Splendored Thing (Iris Donnelly Garrison #1 - 1967-1970)
- As the World Turns (Alice Whipple #2 - 1966)
- A Flame in the Wind/A Time for Us (Pam - 1965)