Monica Quartermaine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Leslie Charleson as Monica Quartermaine
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General Hospital character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by |
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Duration | 1976– | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
First appearance | 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by | Eileen Pollock and Robert Mason Pollock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Tom Donovan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book appearances |
Robin's Diary The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli |
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Spin-off appearances |
Port Charles General Hospital: Night Shift |
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Classification | Present; recurring | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other names |
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Occupation | ELQ shareholder (5%) Chief of Staff at General Hospital Chief cardiologist at General Hospital |
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Residence | 66 Harbor View Road Port Charles, New York |
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Family | Quartermaine |
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Adoptive mother | Gail Adamson (foster) |
Spouse |
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Sons | A. J. Quartermaine |
Daughters | Dawn Winthrop |
Adoptive sons | Jason Morgan |
Adoptive daughters | Emily Quartermaine |
Stepdaughters | Skye Quartermaine (adoptive) |
Grandsons |
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Granddaughters | Emily Morgan (adoptive) |
First cousins | Lorena Sharpe-Barrington |
Other relatives | Lila Rae Alcazar (adoptive step) |
Monica Quartermaine is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. She is a member of the Quartermaine family, a long-running family on the series. The role was originated by Patsy Rahn in 1976. Rahn was supposedly fired in the summer of 1977, and was replaced by Leslie Charleson on August 17, 1977. Charleson has appeared continuously since 1977 making her one of the longest-tenured actors in American soap operas. According to Ms. Charleson in an interview, she claimed she had to introduce herself to the cast as the new "Monica" and inform them that Ms. Rahn had been fired and that she was her replacement.
Monica is Chief of Staff with a specialty in cardiology at the eponymous General Hospital, an original and on-going setting of the serial. Her various affairs, primarily with fellow doctors Jeff Webber and his older brother Rick Webber, as well as her quarrels with husband Dr. Alan Quartermaine and their dysfunctional family, were all major stories on the show throughout the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
In her time on the show, Monica has battled breast cancer, and dealt with outliving all of her children. She is the owner of the Quartermaine mansion, which she often reminds her family of when they begin quarreling, which is a regular occurrence in the Quartermaine household. She has been known to throw them out of her house.
In 2006, she only had rare appearances; however, new storylines developed in 2007 (an investigation into the murder of Rick Webber, the deaths of her husband Dr. Alan Quartermaine and daughter Emily Quartermaine), and she is being featured more prominently.