Scott Clifton Explains Why He Missed ‘General Hospital’ Farewell to Leslie Charleson

Monica Quartermaine’s (Leslie Charleson) memorial on General Hospital last month was well attended by many of the show’s regular cast members and characters. Curiously absent was Monica’s sister Tracy’s (Jane Elliot) son, Dillon (played the longest as a young adult by Scott Clifton, and last portrayed by Robert Palmer Watkins).

Fans speculated that Clifton could reprise Dillon for a day or two if an arrangement had been worked out between The Bold and the Beautiful (the soap on which Clifton plays Liam Spencer), his current employer, and GH. While hopping from one soap to another isn’t commonplace, it does occur (e.g., Wally Kurth doubles as Ned on GH and Justin on Days of Our Lives).

“Nobody reached out to me, and I didn’t expect anybody to,” Clifton explained to TV Insider on the 2025 Daytime Emmys red carpet. “To be fair, if they reached out to me, why wouldn’t they also reach out to [to other past cast members], you know? There are so many actors you could really bring back to celebrate Monica.”

Clifton muses that it could have been a contractual issue, but such decisions are “above his pay grade,” as the saying goes. “I don’t know the legalities of it — if you can be on contract and then be recurring on a different show?” he mused.

#MonicaQuartermaine‘s death should be akin to Lila’s & bring all of her loved ones—on screen & off—back to pay their respects with LENGTHY flashbacks from Tracy, Jason, Michael, Ned, Lois etc—even ones that include former castmates (as done for Anna Lee) @GeneralHospital

— opinedTV (@opinedTV) July 21, 2025

One thing is for certain, Clifton would have loved to have paid tribute to the late Charleson, given his fond memories of working with the late star. “Leslie was the kind of character she played on TV if you strip away all the poor choices [that Monica made],” Cliftons said. “I remember the Quartermaines were sort of [mean] to Dillon, right? That was kind of the joke. Tracy had come back to town, and the reaction from the family was, ‘Oh, God. Tracy’s back.’

Disney/Christine Bartolucci

“She had brought her delinquent son [Dillon] with her,” the actor recalled of his GH debut in 2003.  “I remember the character of Monica was always being kindhearted [towards Dillon], and I don’t know if it was written that way. I think that was Leslie; her and Stuart [Damon, Alan] both. It was a unique situation that really did feel like a family.”

With the passage of time (Clifton’s been gone from the show since 2007), he’s come to appreciate on a deeper level what it means to have been on GH. “I don’t think about, like, ‘legacy’ a lot or my ego, really, but [when I do] there’s a part of my ego that is really proud to have been a Quartermaine,” he said. “There was a very special combination of people there.”

Bell-Phillip TV Prods. / Mauro Sostini / CBS

Nowadays, Clifton is equally proud to be a member of the Spencer family on B&B. “The word ‘Spencer’ used to mean a different thing to me,” he said with a smile, noting that there’s a Spencer clan on GH, too!

Bold and the Beautiful, Weekdays, CBS

General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC