We suppose we were sort of prepared for this news, given how infrequently Leslie Charleson has appeared on General Hospital in recent years. Still, it feels crummy to be typing the words

“It is unlikely that she will ever again return to the show.”

The veteran actress won the role of the future Monica Quartermaine back in 1977 (when the daytime drama recast Patsy Rahn, much to her co-stars’ chagrin).

And for decades, the alum of A Flame in the Wind and As the World Turns resided on the frontburner as the mercurial doctor dealt with everything from breast cancer to husband Alan’s infidelity.

As years went by, health concerns began to slow Charleson’s roll. In 2018, for instance, she tripped over her dog and injured her leg (necessitating that a temp be hired to pinch-hit as Monica).

A year later, she underwent surgery on her hand to repair “a fracture that I got rescuing my tortoise off of a hillside,” she Facebook’d.

Charleson made her last General Hospital appearance over the holidays in 2023. Her character has been mentioned often since then but has not turned up to exchange barbs with sister-in-law Tracy.

Now, though Closer Weekly reports that the actress is “doing her best to recover” from her injuries, “it’s harder for her to get around at her age. [She’s] doing OK under the circumstances” — and at least getting out and about and seeing friends.

But “although she’d be welcomed back to the show with open arms,” the site’s source added, “it’s unlikely she’ll ever return.”

Leslie Charleson, the beloved General Hospital star who assumed the role of Monica Bard Webber Quartermaine back in 1977, has been making only sporadic appearances in recent years, and has not been seen on the show since December 2023. Now, according to a story in Closer, a source close to the veteran actress says that in light of health issues, “Although she’d be welcome back to the show with open arms, it’s unlikely she’ll ever return.”

The Rest Is History
As Charleson told Soap Opera Digest in a 2023 interview, she never intended to make a career in Port Charles. She began her daytime career in New York, appearing in short-term roles on A Flame in the Wind and As the World Turns before being cast on Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, where she played Iris Donnelly from 1967-70.

After she relocated to Los Angeles, “I had decided I’d had enough of soaps; I was moving on,” she recalled. But when Tom Donovan, who had been her producer when she played Iris, took over as executive producer at GH, he “persuaded me to come in and meet with him and persuaded me to join the cast.”