Hallmark star Jonathan Frakes just opened up about his devotion to his wife General Hospital star Genie Francis. And after 38 years, Jonathan still feels awed that the soap opera icon fell in love with him.
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Find out what the Hallmark star shared about his bond with the General Hospital icon. And keep reading to learn how Genie and Jonathan first met.
Jonathan Frakes – Shares Love Story With Genie Francis
General Hospital star Genie Francis and Hallmark star Jonathan Frakes share an unbreakable bond. And the star of Hallmark’s A Biltmore Christmas told People how they first connected as well as why he worried that the soap opera legend wouldn’t want to date him.
Famed as a director and actor, including Star Trek, Frakes reflected on the nearly 40 years he spent with his wife Genie. And the 71-year-old revealed, “We’ve been together for 38 years. I met my wife, the wonderful Genie Francis, on a show called Bare Essence, which was the last of the nighttime soaps.”
However, Jonathan worried that Genie would feel that she seemed “too young for me!” Bare Essence gave Francis the opportunity to work in prime time TV in the wake of her fame on General Hospital as Laura Spencer. And at the time, the then-20-year-old Genie co-starred with Anthony Geary. Frakes was 10 years older.
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But although Bare Essence didn’t last long, Jonathan and Genie starred together in the miniseries North and South. And along with Patrick Swayze and Kirstie Alley, the couple worked on “location in Charleston and Natchez.”
Genie Francis – ‘Fell In Love’ With Jonathan Frakes
But amid filming, the two “fell in love,” recalled Frakes. “And now, somehow, she wasn’t too young for me. So we have been together ever since our first date on North and South when we took a break for Memorial Day and went to New Orleans 38 years ago.”
However, Frakes modestly marvels that Francis “somehow took a chance on me. Because I was like, number 37 on the call sheet on North and South,” he noted. “And she was up there with Patrick Swayze and Lesley-Anne Down. So why she would go out with me is a mystery!”
But then the actor soared to fame as Commander Will Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation. And that led to directing opportunities. However, Genie has stayed in daytime TV’s spotlight, including Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless and General Hospital.
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And Jonathan revealed that his wife often does “two shows, probably 30 pages of dialogue. The soaps were not affected by the [SAG-AFTRA and Writers’] strikes, so she’s been working straight through.”
And the couple share two children. But Frakes worries about his actor/writer daughter Eliza. And he explained, “She has this idea, because she was raised with the two of us, that this is how [things work]. And we both know that that’s not the case, right? So it’s hard, I would think, to come into a family where two people have been as fortunate as Genie and I have been.”
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