It was only a matter of time when Rick Hearst, now playing Ric Lansing, returned to General Hospital and shared scenes with his TV brother Maurice Benard (Sonny). Hearst returned to television on August 22, but the much-anticipated showdown between the siblings didn’t air until September 16.
“We saw each other a few days prior [to getting the script for those first scenes together],” Hearst recalled. “He said to me, ‘How long are you here for?’ And I said, ‘I have no idea, Mo. For as long as they’ll have me. Until they kick me out!’ And he goes, ‘You and I, we’d better work together.’ He said, ‘I’m gonna be very upset if that doesn’t happen.’ And I was like, ‘You and me, both, brother. I really pray that does happen.’ And lo and behold, they had obviously already written it, our very first scenes — and man, oh man, it was on, on, on from the second [we got to set].”
Sonny and Ric have always been at odds since they were children because their mother, Adela, chose to raise Sonny on her own, leaving Ric with his father, Trevor Lansing. Ric blames Sonny for growing up without a mother. Even now, that animosity remains. And the chemistry the two daytime stars share brings that rivalry to vivid life on screen in every scene they share together!
“We giggle because we just love getting into it with each other,” Hearst confided. “Mo is an actor who delivers lines of dialogue in a way that is unique to him, and you don’t know what’s going to trigger in you to be able to respond in kind to what he does with the dialogue. That’s the thing that I think I always loved, and continue to love, about working with Mo.”
Ric has been trying to smooth things over with Liz, but he’s clearly holding grudges, turning in Alexis for disposing of a gun at the footbridge. And with the attorney representing Ava, that’s going to pit him against Sonny so it’s likely their sibling rivalry will continue for quite some time! Stay tuned!
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