After months of speculation, Erika Slezak‘s character on General Hospital has been revealed. She’s playing Veronica Bard – a.k.a. Ronnie — Monica’s (Leslie Charleson) never-before-mentioned younger sister.
Though best known as One Life to Live‘s Victoria Lord Buchanan, a role she played for 42 years, Slezak welcomed the chance to create something entirely new with her GH debut. “Because she’s a brand-new character with no mention of her ever in the past, it was kind of up to the writers to tell me her background,” explains the six-time Daytime Emmy winner.
To make that transition smoother, executive producer Frank Valentini got her up to speed about Ronnie before she arrived on set. “Frank was very kind and sent me the first five unedited scripts, just so that I would have an idea of what I was doing,” she explains. “He sent them to me [in advance], so I was able to read them and learn them. So, I was pretty comfortable with the first five scripts, and I was able to, in my mind, figure out exactly who Ronnie is, how she behaves.”
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
The tale of two sisters is full of emotion and depth. “Ronnie and Monica were orphaned as children and placed in an orphanage shortly after their parents died,” Slezak recounts. Dr. Gail Adamson Baldwin (Susan Brown) became a foster mother to Monica, but Ronnie was put into a different foster home. While Monica flourished, Ronnie wasn’t as fortunate.
“It was just horrible, and she hated it, and it was awful, and the people were mean, and only did it for the money,” Slezak details. “So, when Ronnie turned 16 and was able to get out of the foster care system, she found Monica where she lived because they’d sort of lost touch. She showed up on her doorstep, hoping that Monica would say, ‘Oh, my God, yes, come live with me.’ Monica did the exact opposite. She said, ‘Sorry, there’s no room for you here,’ because she didn’t really want any embarrassing reminders of her past. Ronnie kind of said, ‘OK, if that’s the way you feel, I’ll see you.’”
The rejection didn’t break her, however. Ronnie returned to Durham, North Carolina, where she had been raised and worked as a waitress. “She enjoyed it. She met people. She was nice,” adds Slezak. “She realized that her upbringing had been very meager in the sense of education, so she decided to teach herself. She went to community college, she started reading, she educated herself. She’s dealt with a lot of difficulties. She’s still a very nice person, but when threatened, she’s tough.”
That will become evident in the weeks ahead. Her showdown with Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) in the Quartermaine crypt only marked the beginning of a heated storyline between the two. “When Ronnie arrives in Port Charles and she goes to the crypt to pay her respects to Monica, Tracy walks in, and is so appallingly awful to her,” says Slezak. “Jane Elliott said, ‘That’s the only reason you’re here, so I can be mean to you for three weeks.’”
Disney/Bahareh Ritter
For Slezak, working opposite Elliot has been a thrill. “Jane is a master class in acting,” Slezak praises. “She is fabulous about running lines and rehearsing. Every time she steps on the set, she is remarkable. I work with her a lot, and boy, you really have to bring your ‘A’ game for that. When Frank said, ‘You’re going to be working a lot with Jane Elliot,’ I went, ‘Yes, I will do it, yes, because that would be such a treat, to work with such a talented, terrific lady.”
Fans can expect plenty of fireworks as the tale unfolds. “Ronnie is constantly confronted by Tracy, who just won’t let it go,” teases Slezak, whose alter ego is like a fish out of water among the wealthy Qs. “She’s a poor kid who’s worked all her life and had to teach herself everything, and she’s very unused to all this money and everything that’s going on.”
For Slezak, that’s part of what made Ronnie such a compelling role. “If I were playing Viki, it would be quite different, because Viki was confident and strong,” notes Slezak. “But Ronnie is so out of her depth and doesn’t know what the hell’s going on when she steps into this town. It’s all she can do to sort of hold on and not let Tracy bully her around. It’s a different character completely and delightful to play. She has a lot of levels.”
General Hospital, ABC, Weekdays