Daytime TV Performer of the Week: ‘General Hospital’s Daniel Goddard Goes Out With a Bang in More Ways Than One

Daniel Goddard wrapped up his stint as Prof. Henry Dalton on General Hospital this week. Some performers exit their soaps with a whimper. Goddard went out with a bang that was both figurative, and, unfortunately, literal as Henry was murdered by Jenz Sidwell (Carlo Rota).

Goddard finally got to share some screentime with Genie Francis (Laura) as Henry had, shall we say, “embellished” the “damage” done to his lab by trespasser Rocco (Finn Carr), who is Laura’s grandson. (Fans of The Young and the Restless know that Francis and Goddard played mother and son, Genevieve and Cane, respectively, in Genoa City.)

Raves to Francis are also due as Laura lambasted Dalton for his lies that could have permanently affected Rocco’s future. Goddard came in strong as Henry felt confident that he could manipulate the situation to his advantage. Slowly, Goddard let Henry’s façade crack a bit. He played Henry fully aware that his confrontation with Port Charles’s mayor was being recorded and that Laura was not going to rest until Dalton came clean.

Henry never had a lot of friends in town, so when Laura assured him that he’d face the wrath of not only her and her family, but also the Quartermaines, we saw Goddard play Henry as less than confident that his framing Rocco was going to work.

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After his fight with Laura, Dalton needed a stiff drink. He went and got one (probably, more) at the Brown Dog Bar where he encountered Josslyn (Eden McCoy), who cozied up to him to try to get some intel on what Dalton was doing. Any good actor will tell you that the key to playing someone who’s had too much to drink on television is to act like you’re perfectly in control of your faculties. You try to act not drunk, and you’re oblivious to the fact that everyone around you knows that you’re not likely to pass a breathalyzer.

Goddard effectively played that Dalton didn’t think he’d had too much to drink when he clearly had over imbibed.

At the bar, Emma (Braedyn Bruner) asked Henry why she couldn’t pop into his lab if nothing shady was going on in there. After all, she noted, she was his research assistant. “Well, you’re not a very good one, are ya,” Dalton inadvertently comically quipped as Goddard had his character struggle to maintain his balance.

Goddard didn’t slur Dalton’s dialogue, an easy trap to fall into, to where it could have been difficult to decipher. Instead, he carefully chose his words as Dalton wanted to make sure that he was making perfect sense. To Dalton, it did.

GH threw another trope at Goddard in his final episodes as Emma threw a drink at Dalton. The actor played his character as inebriated, but not so inebriated that he didn’t take Vaughan’s advice to hit the road after agreeing to see him the next day at the WSB.

Alas, Dalton made a fatal mistake by thinking he and his research were still important to Sidwell. He headed over to Wyndemere to meet with his boss.

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Instead of getting support from Sidwell, Henry erred by sharing that he was meeting with the WSB the next day. Told he was becoming a liability, Sidwell pulled out a gun and “cut him loose” by firing a bullet right into his heart. (And who thought the parapet was the most dangerous place to stand at Wyndemere!)

Goddard had one last scene to play as his corpse was stuffed into Laura’s trunk, and she discovered Dalton’s body in there after having car trouble.

A confrontational scene with a GH legend. A slap in the face. Getting to play drunk. A drink tossed on him. Taking a bullet to the chest. And playing a corpse. GH gave Goddard everything but the kitchen sink in his final shows, and the actor delivered.

Doing the Lazarus bit is difficult on soaps when you’ve died on screen, although Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) and Nathan (Ryan Paevey) have managed to do so! If we’ve indeed seen the last of Henry Dalton, let’s hope another soap scoops up this fan favorite, as they say at General Hospital, “Stat!”

General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC