Jacob Young Reveals How a Call to Anthony Geary Helped Him Land ‘General Hospital’

General Hospital didn’t recast the role of Lucky Spencer, the TV son of Genie Francis (Laura) and the late Anthony Geary (ex-Luke), lightly back in 1999 after Daytime Emmy-winner Jonathan Jackson left Port Charles for other projects.

Actor Jacob Young (ex-Rick, The Bold and the Beautiful), who stars in the independent film A Murder Between Friends (which he also directed), was up for the coveted role. A chance run-in with a pair of Young’s former B&B castmates set in serendipitous motion a call that played a role in his move to Port Charles.

“Anthony Geary was a big part of me getting on General Hospital,” Young told TV Insider at a screening in Century City for A Murder Between Friends. “Jonathan was leaving, and [the show] wanted to make sure that they had somebody playing Lucky. Tony had a big, big say in recasting because they didn’t want to recast him [lightly]. Tony had been working with this young guy for so many years. Jonathan had three Daytime Emmys at the time.”

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Young had gone through an initial casting process and was poised to go on tape in the hopes of landing the role. “The night before [my test], I ran into Ian Buchanan [ex-James, B&B; ex-Duke, GH] and Susan Flannery [ex-Stephanie, B&B] on Franklin Avenue [in Los Angeles]. Susan says to me, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m screen-testing tomorrow for General Hospital.’

“And she goes, ‘What character?’” Young continues. “I said, ‘Lucky Spencer,’ Tony Geary’s son. Susan goes, ‘I love Tony. I’m going to call him.’ So, she called him.”

Does Young feel that Flannery’s phone call and discussion with Geary helped tip the scales in his favor? “It definitely did,” Young states. “I don’t think I would have gotten that role without that support.” In 2002, Young won his own Daytime Emmy for playing Lucky in the now-retired category of Outstanding Young Actor in a Drama Series.

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Just as Jackson has returned to GH over the years, so has Young with B&B. After he returned to the half-hour soap (following the cancellation of All My Children in 2011, the show on which he played JR Chandler), Rick emerged as a more forceful presence at Forrester Creations.

Rick wouldn’t hesitate, on occasion, to remind everyone that Stephanie’s firstborn, Ridge (Thorsten Kaye), was, in fact, not a Forrester by blood but rather a Marone, as his father was Massimo Marone (Joe Mascolo), not Eric Forrester (John McCook).

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“I felt like Rick had been a stepchild for so long,” Young recalls. “I wanted to up him and make sure that he had a voice in the company… Rick had been put down for so many years. I’m not going to play a character that’s not going to speak up for himself.”

Young says the show’s writers picked up on Rick’s new attitude and soon, he began seeing Rick standing up for himself in the scripts.

“Brad [Bell, head writer/executive producer] and I discussed it, and we ended up moving forward with that angle,” Young shares. “Rick has a fond place in my heart. It was at the beginning of my career. I would not be where I am today without The Bold and the Beautiful. I was 17 when I got the part and didn’t know my head from my toes. I had a really wonderful experience on B&B.”

Now, Young’s making movies, and he plans to bring more films to the big screen. His character, Josh, in A Murder Between Friends, is a man who gets together with friends for a college reunion when a murder takes place. “Josh is kind of a wild card,” Young teases.

A Murder Between Friends is a playful whodunit/Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, starring and produced by Joan Collins (Alexis, Dynasty; Alexandra, Guiding Light), Young, Trent Garrett (ex-Asher, AMC), Percy Gibson, and Toby-Alexander Smith (EastEnders). The film was shot on location over two weeks at Úsobí Castle in the Czech Republic.

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Collins stars as Francesca Carlyle, a legendary TV star, who sets out to solve a murder that takes place on her estate. “She’s a mixture of Angela Lansbury and Auntie Mame,” Collins tells TV Insider of her character. “I like murder stories, and I thought A Murder Between Friends was a great idea!”

A Murder Between Friends, Now Streaming on Video on Demand Platforms