Credit: ABC
During Steve Burton’s recent visit to General Hospital castmate Maurice Benard’s State of Mind vlog, talk perhaps inevitably turned to the soap’s holy trinity: Sonny, Jason and Carly. Benard shared an especially funny take on the trio that he called “the three amigos.”
“You’re the white knight,” he told Burton, “I’m the dark knight, and Carly’s kind of in between.”
Cue Burton doing a double take. “I’m the white knight?!?” he exclaimed. “I’ve killed 87 people!”
Doesn’t matter, not in the world of Port Charles. Despite Stone Cold’s illustrious career as a Mob enforcer, “you don’t do anything wrong, dude!” marveled Benard.
Back in the Day
It wasn’t always that way, however. In fact, before Jason was transformed from a future doctor to the kind of guy who sends people to the morgue, his portrayer got in a little hot water on the set. He’d started working on his craft behind the scenes with Benard, and Burton recalls, “In any scene, you were having me play death.”
Which was all well and good for some scenes. But during Jason’s date with Keesha? Not so much. So producer/director Francesca James had to pull him aside and ask what the heck he was doing and, whatever it was, stop it and lighten up!
Breaking the Cycle
Early on his career, Burton said that he’d been a people pleaser. Being mentored by Benard helped to change that. “When you invest in yourself, which I started to do — I started to work out consistently — it’s great for mental health,” Burton said. “I started feeling good about myself, I started liking what I saw, and you and I started working together.
“That’s how I became not a people pleaser… because I was investing in myself working out, and my hard work with you was starting to bear fruit. I was building my self-esteem because I was showing up for me.”
