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Actor Anthony Geary, best known for his portrayal of Luke Spencer on the ABC soap opera “General Hospital,” died Sunday at age 78.

TV Insider broke the news of Geary’s death on Monday. The report lists Geary’s death as a result of complications from an operation scheduled three days earlier, but offers no other details.

“It was a shock for me, for our families and for our friends,” Geary’s husband, Claudio Gama, told the outlet in a statement. “For more than 30 years, Tony has been my friend, my partner, my husband.”

Among those paying tribute to Geary on social media was fellow actor Genie Francis, who played Luke Spencer’s wife, Laura Webber, on “General Hospital.”

“He was a powerhouse as an actor. Shoulder to shoulder with the greats,” he wrote in

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She went on to note, “I’m devastated, I’ll miss him terribly, but I was so lucky to be his companion. Somehow, somewhere, we are connected to each other because I felt like he left last night. Good night, sweet prince, good night.”

Originally from Coalville, Utah, Geary grew up in a Mormon home with three sisters. She honed her acting skills in college and then moved to Los Angeles, where she made her television debut in an episode of the ABC sitcom “Room 222” in 1970. A year later, she appeared alongside Rob Reiner, who also died Sunday at age 78, in an episode of “All in the Family.”

Geary found his niche in daytime soap operas, appearing on “Bright Promise” and “The Young and the Restless” in the early 1970s. But it was his portrayal of Luke Spencer on “General Hospital” that put him on the Hollywood map for legions of viewers. He and Francis became the show’s most powerful couple, and their characters’ on-screen wedding made television history when it was watched by 30 million viewers, and Princess Diana reportedly caught the episode via bootleg.

As iconic as Luke and Laura have become, their relationship wasn’t initially envisioned as a whirlwind romance. In a controversial 1979 episode, Luke sexually assaulted Laura, although the show would go to great lengths to reconsider this plot point as a romantic “seduction” in future years after Geary said that he and his co-stars “came under a lot of attack from feminist groups and, rightly, victims’ groups.”

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Geary initially left “General Hospital” in 1984 and later appeared on “Murder, She Wrote” and “Roseanne,” among other shows, as well as big-screen films such as “UHF,” starring “Weird Al” Yankovic. Still, he found it difficult to shake off the character of Luke Spencer, and in 1991, he returned to “General Hospital” as Luke’s cousin, Bill Eckert. He would continue to reprise the role of Luke until 2015 and received a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for his acting during his tenure.

Although Geary never publicly addressed his sexuality, Gama revealed on Instagram in February that the two men married in 2019, shortly after moving to the Netherlands. In her most recent social media post, shared on Sunday, Gama did not mention her husband’s health.

Speaking to TV Insider at the time of his departure from “General Hospital,” Geary said he felt “really, In fact lucky” to have been a part of the soap for more than three decades, but admitted: “I get really tired of the whole Luke and Laura thing.”

“Every time I’ve been introduced somewhere in the last 33 years, they’ve played that fucking wedding clip. It’s like having your high school graduation photo taken,” he said. “No one wants that! And yes, this is a guy who is biting the hand that fed him. I understand it perfectly. “I think that at 68 years old I can say these things, and certainly now that I no longer have a contract.”