| Tracy Quartermaine | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jane Elliot as Tracy Quartermaine | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| General Hospital The City |
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| Portrayed by | Jane Elliot | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1978–1980, 1989–1993, 1996–1997, 2003– | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 1978 (on GH) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Douglas Marland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Spanky (by Luke) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Residence | 66 Harbor View Road (Quartermaine Mansion) Port Charles, New York |
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Tracy Angelica Quartermaine Spencer[1] (formerly Ashton, Williams, Hornsby, and Soleito) is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She is played by actress Jane Elliot, who originated the role in 1978[2] and has played her intermittently since that time, primarily on GH (1978–1981, 1989–1993, 1996, 2003–present) and briefly on The City (1996–1997). In 1980, Elliot won the Daytime Emmy for outstanding supporting actress, and was nominated again in 1993.[3] Briefly in 1989, while Jane Elliot was on maternal leave, Christine Jones took on the role.
Tracy is the spoiled, rich, and often badly behaved daughter of the wealthy Edward Quartermaine and Lila Morgan Quartermaine. She has two sons, Ned Ashton and Dillon Quartermaine; two stepsons, Lucky Spencer and Ethan Lovett; and a stepdaughter, Lulu Spencer. Many of her storylines over the course of 30 years involved feuds with her sister-in-law, Monica Quartermaine,[4] Tracy's unsuccessful attempts to find love, her determination to gain power in ELQ, the family company, and her attempts to one-up family members who have tried to displace her or her sons in the family company or in her father's affections. While Tracy wanted to get in good with her father, Edward, he still deemed his son Alan Quartermaine, Tracy's brother, his favorite. As of 2011, Tracy is married to Luke Spencer.
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Tracy, revealed through backstory to have been born on April 6, 1947, was introduced as a character on the show in 1978, as a divorcée and neglectful mother. Backstory established that she had married young to Lord Lawrence "Larry" Ashton and had a son, Ned Ashton. When she divorced Larry Ashton, her son Ned spent a great deal of time with his grandparents or at boarding school while his mother focused on travel or her social life. She was a more involved mother to Ned's much younger half-brother, Dillon. Tracy took Dillon with her to Europe to avoid being charged with a hit and run accident and to keep Dillon's father, Paul Hornsby, from taking custody. She succeeded in keeping Paul out of Dillon's life and raised the boy mainly in Europe. At one point, she lived in the SoHo district of New York City, where she was briefly married to mafioso Gino Soleito. She returned to Port Charles with a teenage Dillon and left him with her parents.
Tracy arrived on the scene of Port Charles in 1978 as the sinister daughter of Edward and Lila Quartermaine. The Quartermaines had resided in Port Charles for just over a year when she began to cause trouble for her brother Alan and his wife Monica Webber. This was fueled by her discovery that Monica was having an affair with Tracy's first love, Rick Webber. Her mission was to determine that Monica's unborn child was indeed not a Quartermaine heir, but rather a Webber heir. This was a problem as both Monica and Rick were married to other people at the time, Monica to Alan, and Rick to Lesley Williams, mother of Laura Webber. In 1980, her father, Edward, tried to test her loyalty by "pretending" to have a heart attack. Tracy had failed the test miserably. When she failed to give her father his heart medication, he disowned her, and banished Tracy from the Quartermaines. Tracy was married at the time to Mitch Williams, but, later divorced because she kept the paternity of Alan Jr. away from him. She did not know that her husband was having an affair with Susan Moore, the mother of Alan's illegitimate son, Jason.
Upon financial need and assistance from her mother Lila, Tracy returned to Port Charles in 1989, just a year after her son, Ned Ashton, returned. Upon her arrival, her first husband Lord Lawrence Ashton was introduced to the scene with his new wife. Tracy's major concern was the impending romance between her brother Alan and his friend Lucy Coe, who became an instant enemy of Tracy's. At the same time that Alan was having an affair with Lucy, Alan's wife Monica was having an affair with Tracy's son Ned.
In 1989, Tracy and the rest of the Quartermaines faced tragedy when Edward Quartermaine's jet crashed on a desert island. Everyone grieved including Lila and Tracy, who was determined to find out what had happened to her father. Also in 1989, Tracy was accused of the murder of a man who was later turned out not to be dead. Scott Baldwin was her attorney and later became her romantic flame. At the same time that all of this was happening, both Alan and Tracy were fighting for ownership of ELQ, the family company. As a result of her actions, Alan blackmailed Tracy into resigning from the family company.
In the early 1990s, Tracy and Larry tried to figure out the secrets of her then sister-in-law, Lucy Coe. It was later revealed by Larry that Lucy was pregnant with the child of Scotty Baldwin in lieu of Alan Quartermaine. This resulted in a divorce for Alan and Lucy and a quick reconciliation for Monica and Alan. Also, Tracy kicked Larry Ashton out and he left town forever. Later on, Tracy became enticed with Paul Hornsby, a young man who had no interest in her whatsoever, but instead was infatuated with Jenny Eckert, a distant cousin of Luke Spencer and then wife of Ned Ashton.
Tracy found Jenny to be a threat to her happiness with Paul. Tracy had decided to dig up some information on her to keep her away from Paul. However, Paul found out what had been going on and decided to leave Tracy with their son, newborn Dillon Hornsby. In a moment of rage, Tracy made a mistake, ran over Jenny Eckert with her car, and fled the scene of the accident. Later, Jenny remembered seeing Tracy behind the wheel and blackmailed her into getting a divorce from Paul and sharing custody of Dillon with Paul. Tracy fulfilled most of the terms, but in the end, was forced to vacate the Quartermaine house. Edward decided that she should take a long vacation until everything died down with the family company. Tracy was supposed to give Paul joint custody of Dillon, but because she did not like Jenny and what she did to Ned, she took Dillon with her to Europe. With that, Dillon and Tracy left the scene for three years.
Tracy returned to Port Charles in 1996, with hopes of taking over the company from her son, Ned. At the time, Ned was leading a double life, one as a son and financier at ELQ, and another as a rock star, known as "Eddie Maine". However, Tracy soon fell out of favor with the family again. She blackmailed her old acquaintance Sydney Chase (Morgan Fairchild) into selling her the building located at 212 Greene Street, in the SoHo section of New York City. Living briefly with Dillon in the building's penthouse, she became involved with local mafioso Gino Soleito, whom she eventually married. Soleito died soon thereafter, and Tracy became—in her words—the crime family's new "godmother". Her new status served as the inspiration for a twisted joke on Thanksgiving Day 1997, when she sent a group of her henchmen to Port Charles to rob her family at gunpoint and pretend to threaten their lives. In the course of the "joke," the prepared food was ruined, continuing a long-running streak of ruined Quartermaine Thanksgiving dinners that resulted in the family ordering take-out pizza.
In 2003, Tracy returned to Port Charles.[5] This time, she came with her son Dillon (now a teenager and using the surname Quartermaine). The first time he met the family, it was apparent to Dillon that they did not approve of him simply because he was Tracy's son. Tracy explained to everyone, including Skye, that she was a Quartermaine, by blood, and that was the distinction between the two of them.
Tracy blackmailed Skye for $5 Million when she told her about her true parentage. Tracy told Skye how Edward sold her on the Black Market right after she was born. Skye refused to give into her blackmail and ultimately revealed all to the Quartermaines and Tracy's part in it. The entire family got angry with Tracy, and Lila kicked Tracy out of the mansion. When Tracy left town, she left Dillon behind with Edward and Lila.
Tracy returned to Port Charles in 2004 after Dillon was arrested. Since no one else was willing to bail him out of jail, his friend Sage Alcazar decided to call Tracy. By this time, the bond that Tracy and Dillon once shared began to tear and Dillon began to find out the exact kind of person that his mother really was.
Also, in 2004, Tracy was devastated by the death of her elderly mother, Lila Quartermaine. Tracy lashed out on the entire family once again before having a heart-to-heart with big brother Alan, Sr. Tracy also delivered a kind and caring eulogy at her mother's funeral.
At the same time, Tracy begins scheming with the help of Jasper Jacks to take over control of ELQ from Ned. This included proving that Ned was corrupt and that Edward was not of sound mind. Edward, with the help of Luke Spencer and Skye Chandler-Quartermaine, eluded Tracy and Alan's plots to "take care of Daddy".
Tracy fell victim to a cruel prank at the hand of her son, Dillon Quartermaine, and his girlfriend, Georgie Jones, for Luke Spencer. The plan was to get roughly $15 Million he planted in her bank account to bail Helena Cassadine out of extradition. Since Tracy did not want to give him the money, Luke decided to pull the ultimate prank on her. He would have Dillon call Tracy from Las Vegas and tell her that he and Georgie eloped. Knowing this would get Tracy to Vegas, Luke used this as an opportunity to manipulate Tracy's weakness: alcohol.
Once Tracy arrived in Vegas, it was too late - Dillon and Georgie were married. This drove Tracy into a drunken fit. Luke offered to buy her a few more drinks and they both proceeded to get more drunk. Since Tracy drank more than Luke did, she was completely incapacitated when Luke proposed marriage and she accepted. The following morning, when she woke up, Luke revealed everything to Tracy and the conditions to ending their marriage from hell.
At first her marriage to Luke was platonic, and it continued because of finances, but she had to fight romantic feelings for Luke, who continued to be devoted to his former wife and great love, Laura Spencer, who briefly came out of a catatonic state in late 2006. Tracy had to deal with her son Dillon's entanglement with his stepsister Lulu Spencer. She advised Lulu against having an abortion when she became pregnant by Dillon, feeling Lulu would eventually regret her decision but was supportive when Lulu did abort the baby. Tracy told Luke that she was relieved for Dillon's sake that he would not become a father while he was still so young. During the storyline, Tracy referred to her own "three pregnancies" and it was strongly implied that she had an off-screen abortion at some point in her life. Tracy began to be haunted by her recently deceased brother Alan Quartermaine, who served as her moral compass, as she doesn't have much of a conscience. As Tracy began to be supportive of Lulu, really acting as a mother to her when she most needed it, the ghost of Alan decided it was time for him to move on.
In 2007, Luke and Tracy's marriage has moved more away from platonic and closer to love. [1] Tracy helps Luke to try to maintain custody of Laura Webber. Her son, Dillon, and Lulu Spencer find evidence to suggest that Laura did not kill Rick Webber, but Scott Baldwin in fact did. Tracy and Dillon agreed to keep the evidence of the revelation from Luke Spencer, as it will destroy Luke that he caused Laura's physical breakdown. [2] Tracy has also come to care about Lulu. Edward is up to no good and sends Tracy to a mental hospital after she talks to Alan in front of Lainey and also she found out that her only ally was Lulu.
Tracy discovered that Lulu's friend, Logan Hayes, was the son of Luke's enemy, Scott Baldwin. She has forbidden Lulu to see him but that had not worked. She had asked the Quartermaine's, Nikolas, Lucky, and Elizabeth to keep Lulu away from him. When Tracy decides to crush the family company, Edward Quartermaine has no choice but to let Tracy out of the mental house and she is the only person who can get through to her stepdaughter, Lulu Spencer.
With Tracy out of Shadybrooke, she could now focus on ruining Lulu's relationship with Logan Hayes. The first step was to get Scott Baldwin to admit that Hayes is his son. After receiving iron-clad proof that the two were related, Scott tried to get back into Logan's good graces. As it failed and Tracy was determined to get Luke back home, she offered Logan money to play nice with his father and regain good spirits with Lulu after using her to make Maxie Jones look good. Hayes rejected the offer and suggested to Tracy that Lulu would go back to him when she realized how real their connection was but both were unaware that Lulu already agreed to Scott that she would give Logan a second chance. Upon realizing this, Tracy slapped Scott and resented him more for manipulating Lulu back into Logan's arms. This indicated that Tracy genuinely cared for Lulu's well-being. At the same time, Luke returned, pretending to be Tracy's masseur, Ramone, finding out that Tracy cheated on him with this guy. [3]
Upon Luke's return from hiding Laura Spencer from Baldwin, Tracy revealed to Luke what happened with his daughter and Scott's son. Lulu at the same time got mixed up with Jason Morgan and Johnny Zacchara, a mobster's son. Now, Luke and Tracy were teamed up to protect Lulu and her safety. Tracy has offered her to come back, but she declined. Luke had asked for Tracy's assistance in the matter, and she accepted, despite Ghost Alan warning her against interfering with Luke's events. He exclaimed that he did not want to be "damned to haunt the rest of the Quartermaines together...forever". Tracy replied that he was a self-presumed hallucination. [4]
Though Alan continued to haunt his troublesome sister, he still continued to serve as her conscience and sole guardian.
A few days before Halloween 2007, the Spencers received an invitation from Nikolas Cassadine to attend a fancy dress Black and White Ball in Alan's honor. While both Tracy and Luke sneered at the thoughts of that function, Tracy reminded him that if they wanted to gain leverage on Baldwin and Hayes, and keep an eye on Logan and Lulu, it would be a good idea to attend. [5]
At the function, she came late and did not actually appear at Wyndemere Castle. It was, however implied that Tracy was expected to be late, by Luke's admission. When she finally arrived at Wyndemere Castle, she was isolated by the burgeoning storm and she stood on the deck by herself for 90 minutes before getting up to Wyndemere. [6] Alfred, the Cassadine family butler, mistakenly scared Tracy, allowing her to lose her balance and fall down an entire flight of stairs. Luke kissed her, thankful that she was alive and did not fall victim to Anthony Zacchara. [7] He, Scott Baldwin, and Cooper Barrett rescued her from the collapse, while Tracy and Luke and Scott barricaded themselves in the master bedroom, where Luke vowed to "nurse her back to health". When Tracy offered for Luke to go search for Zacchara, he told her that he did not want her to be his next victim. [8]
In 2008, Tracy filed a malpractice suit for her out-of-town again husband, Luke. The lawsuit was filed against her sister-in-law Monica Quartermaine, which resulted in a hospital brawl in the General Hospital elevator. Tracy told Monica not to operate on Luke because of her emotional strain against the deaths of Alan and Emily; however, she did anyway, and froze on the operating table. Since Tracy filed the medical malpractice suit, she has been kicked out of the family's (esp. Monica's) mansion with frozen access to the family money. When Luke did return, she explained to him that she still loved him, but was not going to continue to be married to him. Luke told her that he was not going to give up on their marriage so easily, but she shrugged and left the monument, which was their "Haunted Star Casino".
Recently, she and Luke left town because Luke was being investigated by his connections with the Zacchara family, which invested in his Haunted Star Casino. The mob family left him to take the fall with the I.R.S. because he stole money from them. Afraid of what he would be up to, she agreed to leave with him. Tracy returned without Luke because he was not spending the money and enjoying their time the way that she wanted him to. Upon returning, she discovered Lulu in bed with Johnny and nearly forbade it from happening. Lulu, who has a soft spot for bad guys, shrugged off Tracy's request to stop seeing Johnny.
At this time, Monica was in rehab after being indicted in court for hit and run. Tracy visited Monica and learned that she was doing fine and was ready to return to work in a few weeks, which pleased Tracy. Tracy visited Monica in rehab and asked for advice about how to save Lulu's life. Monica told Tracy that if she could turn back the clock, she would do everything to save all of her children, especially Jason. With that, she told Tracy that if she wanted to save Lulu's life, then she had to do everything in her power to drive a wedge between Lulu and Johnny. After that, she visited Johnny in his holding cell where she told him about her brush with the mafia. She explained to him that she was once a mob boss and she heard about how his father Anthony Zacchara murdered his wife: Johnny's mother. She told him that if he really cared about Lulu, he would let her go.
In October 2008, when Lulu was in her darkest hour, Tracy had one of her 'men' track down Luke. He turned up in Mexico, so Tracy headed there, but not before blackmailing Edward into getting the money laundering charges dropped. Once she was satisfied, she flew to Mexico, soon finding Luke in a bar, of course, passed out drunk. They prepared to leave after Tracy paid the bar tab, but were stopped by a police officer. Luke was wanted for destruction of property and not paying bar tabs. Tracy paid off the cop but was frustrated when he soon returned for more cash. What she didn't realize was that it was a different cop, a much more honest one. He took the money, and arrested Tracy for bribery. Luke tricked the officer, so Tracy didn't go to jail. But in the end they both ended up in jail.
In November, it was announced that Laura had awoken from her coma. There was a question of whether or not Luke would stay married to Tracy or go back to Laura, the love of his life. On November 20, Tracy filed for a divorce, leaving Luke to be with Laura as she's always been the one who has his heart, not Tracy. Luke, however, told Tracy he loved Laura but that his love for Laura had changed. Now Tracy was the only woman for him!
With a new dawning beginning as Luke proclaimed his love for Tracy, being unconvinced and stubborn, Tracy shut Luke out lying to him and making him believed they were already divorced. However, the obvious love between the two lead to many ploys by Luke to win the new love of his life back. This happened on New Year's Eve when Luke planned a surprise party for Tracy. Tracy thought that it was a stupid gesture and a waste of her time and money. They played roulette, Tracy asked Luke what Laura's Birthday was. He replied December 21. Tracy then said that if the ball landed on 21 Luke will leave the country and give her a divorce but if it landed on 6 (Tracy's Birthday) she had to take him back. The ball landed on 6 and they bring in the new year with a passionate kiss.
2009 started off with a bang in the hospital, and showed how close Tracy and Lulu had become over the years. Tracy then bailed Luke and his new friend Ethan Lovett out of jail. Tracy fixed the results of a DNA test to show that Luke was not Ethan's biological father, after Helena Cassadine pointed out how much alike the two were, but Tracy did not know the true outcome. It was later determined that Ethan was, in fact, Luke's son and Tracy's stepson. Tracy struggled with Luke's affections for Ethan's biological mother Holly Sutton who eventually left town again. Luke took off for the summer, and Tracy did not go after him. When he returned they began to get closer. Luke, Ethan and Lulu spent Thanksgiving with the Quartermaine's, and Tracy spent Christmas Eve with the Spencers. In 2010, Tracy has been there for Luke in the problems his children have been having. She has tried to protect Ethan from working with Johnny, and his problems with Kristina Davis. She bailed him out after he was arrested. When Tracy becomes suspicious of Elizabeth baby's paternity Helena has her kidnapped. Luke comes to rescue and they are both held captive in Greece in Helena's dungeon. Tracy becomes deathly ill and Helena refuses to give her medical attention. Luke comes up with a story claiming that their marriage isn't really legal and Tracy is angry enough to regain her strength. Luke reveals that the story was fake and they are legally married, but she doesn't believe him. It remains unclear if the marriage is legitimate or not.
Tracy is furious with Luke, and wants him out of her life. Luke tries several times to win her back, but when all else fails he concocts a scheme where he steals millions of her money and vanishes. He hopes that this will inspire her to retain interest and seek him out. At first she refuses to locate Luke, but later Tracy admits to Lucky that she can't help but miss her "husband." She hires Lucky to find Luke. Lucky pretends to accept her offer, but instead embarks on a secret mission for Interpol in Ireland.
Tracy appeared less frequently in 2010. She continues to live with Edward, Monica and her niece Maya Ward in the Quartermaine mansion, and at one point exposes her granddaughter Brook Lynn Ashton as a con artist.