Robert Scorpio

Robert Xavier Scorpio^[1] is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital, played by actor Tristan Rogers.

Casting

Tristan Rogers originally played the role from December 1980 through February 25, 1992. The popularity and longevity of the character was furthered by his involvement with the monumentally popular "supercouple" Luke and Laura, whose 1981 wedding brought in 30 million viewers and remains the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.^[2][3]

While Rogers' Scorpio had been "killed with no body found" when he left the series in 1992, Rogers returned briefly from November 15 to 22, 1995, as Scorpio's spirit to comfort the character's daughter Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), who is dealing with the loss of her boyfriend to AIDS-related illness and is herself HIV-positive.^[4] He returned again on January 27, 2006 till March 1, 2006, this time with Scorpio being very much alive. Rogers reappeared on April 13, 2006 and left again on November 16, 2006.

From August 5, 2008 through October 21, 2008, Rogers reprised the role of Robert Scorpio on the Season 2 of SOAPnet's General Hospital: Night Shift, a prime time spin-off of General Hospital which stars Scorpio's daughter Robin.^[5][6][7] He was featured in 12 of the season's 14 episodes, and Soap Opera Digest named the appearance their "Best Return" of 2008.^[8] Rogers later reappeared on General Hospital for four episodes starting December 22, 2008, as Scorpio attends Robin's wedding.^[9][10]

Rogers reprised the role for a brief period of time in February 2012, following the departure of Kimberly McCullough in the role of Rogers' on-screen daughter, Robin. Rogers reprised the role once again on November 15, 2012 to December 18, 2012. Rogers reprised the role once more beginning on October 4, 2013 as part of the return of the character's on-screen daughter's return. However, head writer Ron Carlivati confirmed on November 14, 2013 that Rogers would be departing the series in order to return to The Young and the Restless as his character Colin Atkinson. He departed on January 30, 2014.^[11][12]

Storylines

1981–92, 1995

Robert, an Australian, has an heroic past. He was involved in many adventures with his good friend Luke Spencer and his wife Laura Spencer. He has been an international spy for the WSB spy agency, and was police commissioner of Port Charles from 1983 through 1985, then again from 1988 through 1992 when he supposedly perished in an explosion in South America. When he resigned as police commissioner in 1985 he moved to Australia with his wife Holly to start anew, but returned to Port Charles when Anna and Robin needed his help for the Mr.Big caper but after he took down the mob he return to Australia to be with his wife. (Holly was presumed dead soon afterwards, so Robert ended up returning to Port Charles) Interim WSB Chief to tracked down agents that was killing other agents.

Robert and Holly Sutton married under strange circumstances. Holly was pregnant with the presumed dead Luke Spencer's baby and was about to be deported so Robert stepped in and married her. She ended up miscarrying the baby, but she and Robert eventually fell in love. Robert had a bad relationship with his brother Mac Scorpio when he first came to town because he blamed Mac for the death of their parents. Eventually the brothers patched up their relationship. Robert was presumed dead along with his wife, Anna Devane, in 1992. Their teenage daughter Robin Scorpio was left behind to be raised by Robert's brother Mac Scorpio. Anna Devane reappeared in 2001, but told her family that Robert was dead. However, Robert resurfaced in 2006, when Port Charles was stricken with a deadly strain of encephalitis. It came out that he was forced by the WSB to be incognito for 15 years as the only way to keep his families alive; he had no choice but to let them think he was dead.

Robert married Anna Devane when the two were on assignment for the WSB in Italy. The two were married in secret before either character showed up in Port Charles. After Holly "died", Anna and Robert remarried in 1991. When the evil Cesar Faison kidnapped Anna, Robert left Port Charles for South America to rescue her.

2006–08

Both Robert and Anna turned up alive in Port Charles in 2006 much to the surprise of their daughter, Robin. During his return in 2006, Robert told Robin that he was in the South Pacific trying to track a lethal dose of encephalitis. He said that he quarantined a village and torched it but two potential carriers slipped through the net: one was a chimp and the other was Luke Spencer. Robert and Robin's relationship was briefly strained due to him not telling her he was alive, but they soon became close again.^[7] When Anna returned in the summer of 2007, she explained that Robert was deep undercover on a mission to recover black market alien remains. Later, at the end of the summer both Anna and Robert were assigned on a mission in the Amazon. The character then appears on the prime time spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift when he narrowly escapes a plane crashes near Port Charles. Jagger Cates rescues him and brings him to General Hospital where it is revealed that he has a brain tumor. During an MRI, Patrick Drake tells Robert that the brain tumor is the result of another tumor, and tells Robert that he has colon cancer.^[13] Writer Sri Rao explained the storyline, stating "When I decided to bring Robert Scorpio back to Port Charles, I wanted him and Robin to come together as a family. The best way to do that would be to have Robert present with a medical condition."^[13] Rao went on to explain the cultural reasons for using colon cancer as a plot point, stating "I chose colon cancer because it's a disease that affects so many men and women in this country – but we don't really talk about it. [...] This is one of the cancers that can most easily be prevented if only people will get screened. Hopefully, we can raise awareness of this with our viewers."^[13] Rao reached out to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance to make sure he conveyed the story "authentically, responsibly and realistically".^[13] Robert falls into a coma, and both Mac Scorpio (John J. York) and Anna Devane (Finola Hughes)^[14] make appearances on the series to support the character. York took the opportunity to speak out and raise awareness on colon cancer.^[15] While in a coma, Robert dreams of Anna, Robin, Luke Spencer, Sean Donely and Tiffany Donely^[16] in a flashback to their old life in the 1980s. He comes out of the coma on October 14, 2008 and leaves for further treatment in Europe.

2012–14

In February 2012, Robert returns to Port Charles, after receiving news that Robin had died in an explosion. Robert's guilt over what he deems as his inability to protect Robin prompts him to consider suicide by jumping off of a bridge. However, a despondent Robert is found by Luke, who tells Robert that Ethan Lovett is his son, in an effort to pull Robert back from the brink. Luke, along with assistance from Holly, concocts an elaborate story that Ethan had been abducted by Helena Cassadine (Ethan had actually agreed to go along with Luke's lie), prompting him to leave Port Charles with Holly to rescue "his" son. As a result of this, Anna is left to grieve for Robin on her own. Over the next several months, a burgeoning romantic relationship begins to develop between Anna and Luke, with Luke continuing to keep quiet about his lie. It is only following a trip to Switzerland, where Anna had been led to believe a very much alive Robin had been held, that Luke comes clean. An infuriated Anna then demands that Luke track down Robert and admit to what he had done. Luke eventually does so off-screen, with it being implied that the two men came to blows. In November 2012, Robert returns to Port Charles at the behest of Luke, who has informed him of the return of the long-presumed dead Duke Lavery. Robert, much as Luke had, suspects there is something amiss about "Duke's" return from the grave. Robert is later intrigued by word that Olivia Falconeri claims to have seen a different face in a vision about Duke, and recruits Elizabeth Webber to produce a sketch of the other face. When the sketch is completed, it bares a striking similarity to Robert's long-time enemy, Cesar Faison, who is masquerading as Duke in order to get closer to Anna. It's revealed that "Duke" really is Faison. Anna though still believes that the real Duke is alive. Robert, John, and Anna confronts Dr. Obrecht, and then find the real Duke Lavery. Robert then finds Robin alive, but Dr. Obrecht injects him, so no one knows. Anna finds Robert unconscious, and Robert is put into a coma. Robert wakes up from his coma on October 4, 2013 and is greeted by Anna and Mac. After some initial scepticism on Anna's part, he finally convinces her that he saw Robin alive just before Dr. Obrecht put him in the coma. They decide not to tell Mac in order to spare him the anguish of false hope if Robert is wrong. After Faison escapes from prison with the help of Obrecht, and Anna learns from Nikolas Cassadine that Obrecht has been to Cassadine Island, Robert and Anna decide to pursue them to Cassadine Island, hoping to find Robin still alive.

Robert and Anna are held prisoner on Cassadine Island by Jerry Jacks in the same laboratory where Jerry had kept Robin. After several weeks of captivity Robert and Anna manage to escape in November 2013. They capture Jerry and take him back to Port Charles as a prisoner. The team then goes to Spoon Island and finds Robin alive, leading to an emotional reunion. They capture Obrecht and Faison. Anna decides that the only way to keep Faison out of their lives for good is to kill him. Robert is reluctant to go along at first, but in the end when he sees that Anna is determined to kill Faison, he joins in her in a joint execution, saying, "If we do this, we'll do it together." Robert covers their tracks and it remains unknown what really happened to Faison. He later announces that he'll leave Port Charles to help out Holly and her son Ethan, who got himself in trouble with a scam.

References

External links

• Robert Scorpio profile at Soapcentral.Com