Michael Easton is saying goodbye to “General Hospital.”
Easton, who has played at least three other characters on the series during his more than 10-year run, announced his exit on Instagram early Wednesday morning. He captioned the post, “Thank you for your kindness. My heart is filled with love and gratitude. #gh #goodbye.”
In a video message accompanying the post, Easton said, “I’ve always been partial to the Irish goodbye. That’s where you leave the party without actually telling anyone you’re gone. But I thought you all deserve better, so I just want to let you know that I just filmed my final scenes here at ‘General Hospital.’”
“I’ve loved every minute that I’ve been here,” continued Easton. “I want to thank the entire cast and crew for allowing me to share their stage this past 10 years. Most importantly, I want to thank all of you for the kindness and love you’ve shown me and my family – I will never forget you, and as I walk out of here for the last time and with apologies to the late Lou Gehrig, I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
The video concluded with Easton holding his phone to his left as he began his walk off the Prospect Studios soundstage.
“The class, grace and elegance in which you just did that is why I will miss you every working day,” responded Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis Davis), one of the first of many actors from the show to comment on Easton’s announcement.
Joining the cast of “General Hospital” in March 2012, soon after ABC announced he would be reprising his role as John McBain from “One Life to Live” by taking the character from Llanview to Port Charles, Easton, alongside co-stars Kristen Alderson who played Starr Manning, Roger Howarth who played Todd Manning and Kassie DePaiva who played Blair Cramer noticeably helped boost storylines and ratings for the long-running daytime drama series. However, just one year later, Easton, Alderson and Howarth would exit the series due to a lawsuit against ABC over using the characters by Prospect Park Networks, which had previously licensed the characters as part of its plan to reboot “One Life to Live.”
Opting to keep the actors on the show, the network had the show’s then head writer Ron Carlivati (now at “Days of our Lives”) create new characters for each actor to play. In the case of Easton, he returned to the show in May 2013 as Dr. Silas Clay, the twin brother of his “Port Charles” character Caleb Morley. Sadly, the character was killed off in August 2015. However, that didn’t stop the show from employing Easton. By March 2016, Easton was back on screen, playing his most recent character, Dr. Hamilton Finn.
In addition to his time on the three ABC soaps, Easton is best known for roles in shows such as “Ally McBeal,” “The Practice,” and “Mutant X.” He also starred in science fiction-based shows like “VR. 5” and “Total Recall 2070” and short-lived dramas “Two” and “413 Hope St.”
Easton first made a name for himself on television in 1991 when he portrayed Tanner Scofield on “Days of our Lives.”
Reportedly, Easton will last appear on the Thursday, June 27 episode of “General Hospital.”