Anthony Geary (born May 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of Luke Spencer on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital. He originated the role of Luke in 1978 and received a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series prior to his retirement. Geary had a prominent supporting role in the "Weird Al" Yankovic comedy UHF (1989); other notable films include Johnny Got His Gun (1971), Disorderlies (1987), Scorchers (1991), Teacher's Pet (2004) and Fish Tank (2009). Early life Anthony Geary was born May 29, 1947, in Coalville, Utah, a son of a contractor father and homemaker mother. Career Geary made his first appearance on television in an episode of Room 222 and later appeared in All in the Family, The Mod Squad, Mannix, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Streets of San Francisco, and Barnaby Jones. Geary's first daytime role was in NBC soap opera Bright Promise from 1971 to 1972. He played George Curtis, who was a rapist, in The Young and the Restless and in 1978 was hired for a 13-week story arc to play Luke Spencer in ABC soap General Hospital. Luke Spencer began as a hit man and later became a rapist who fell in love with and subsequently married his victim, Laura Webber (played by Genie Francis). His portrayal of Luke Spencer on General Hospital was well received and grew into a full contract role. The 1981 on-screen wedding of his character and Laura Webber holds the record as the highest-rated soap opera episode of all time. He holds the distinction of winning a record eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was first nominated in 1980 and had his first win in 1982. Geary was nominated again in 1983, before leaving the show in 1984. Over the next several years he took roles in various theater and television productions, as well as in several films, but not at the level of success he had hoped for. Despite the popularity of his work as Luke Spencer, filmmakers such as Oliver Stone pigeonholed Geary based solely on the fact that he was a "soap actor". In a conscious effort to distance himself from General Hospital, he actively sought a role in "Weird Al" Yankovic's film debut UHF (1989), that of the quietly eccentric scientist Philo (named for television pioneer