"I have no friends. I have Alan"
An interview with Leslie Charleson as Monica Quartermaine

Putting an actor on the spot and asking them to speak in character is never easy, but Leslie Charleson, who plays feisty, smart and successful Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital, didn't balk or bristle. In fact, she got right into it in a matter of minutes, firing off Monica's opinions (as well as her own). Meet the real Monica Quartemaine, as she's never been presented before.

SOD: Sum up your father in law in three words.
Monica: Wonderful, annoying, irascible.

SOD: You've been on and off with Alan now for a very long time.
Monica: Very.

SOD: Is this the final on?
Monica: What's on?

SOD: Your marriage.
Monica: It's on? Do you know something I don't know? I don't know that it's on.

SOD: Aren't you residing together?
Monica: That has nothing to do with anything. The way I look at, they haven't said a civil word. The only time they said something nice was at Christmas and that was for the kids.

SOD: What is it about Alan that makes you live in the some house with him?
Monica: I suppose because his father and his mother are there. Mostly his mother would be upset. It's kind of been, since it's been so long, it's the understanding that we have at the moment. I don't really know. He's ... annoying, but he's there. It's the house, my house, actually, and I don't want anyone to get any other impression.

SOD: What's your favorite kind of surgery?
Monica: (pause) I don't believe I've been asked this question. This is very interesting. My very favorite kind is with no blood (laughs) and survival is the most favorite, its just survival, I suppose. May I ask if you made up these questions and what you were taking when you did it?.

SOD: I was probably having yogurt.
Monica: Well, I think it was tainted. My favorite is when they survive.

SOD: Why doesn't Monica have any friends?
Monica: (shocked pause) This is news. This is news. She doesn't?

SOD: Who are Monica's friends?
Monica: Well, who has any friends in Port Charles, really? Nobody likes anybody very much. Do I have no friends? Lila's my friend.

SOD: Doesn't count. Lila's your mother in law.
Monica: I like her. I don't have any friends?

SOD: People in the brownstone have friends. Monica doesn't ever say I'm meeting so and so at X.
Monica: I'm going to go move to the brownstone. Monica's in surgery. It's actually not such a bad question. You know, the interesting thing is I have many, many acquaintances, which is why ……

SOD: You have no friends.
Monica: I have no friends. (laughs) This is so depressing. I could have friends if I gave up Alan.

SOD: Alan has tried to murder you. Do you ever discuss it?
Monica: (laughs) Would you tell anyone if I ordered a glass of hemlock? (Leslie: Do you think we could all get out of here?)

SOD: Would you like me to repeat the last question?
Monica: Not particularly.

SOD: Alan has tried to murder you.
Monica: Twice.

SOD: Have you ever discussed it?
Monica: I'm not too worried about that, actually, 'cause he's never successfully accomplished this deed and I don't think he's really equipped to do it. I think if we did discuss it and we sort of thought about it, we would not be in the same room together.

SOD: So, its still a touchy subject.
Monica: Oh, absolutely. I just don't want to hear any kind of loud noises coming from the cellar.

SOD: Of all the men you've been with, who was the best lover?
Monica: I'm trying to think of who I've been with. The best lover ... lover ... that's difficult... I think excitement always breeds something that spices something else up, let's say married ten years, even with the ups and downs and things like that, then something comes along that's exciting as opposed to predictable and comfortable. I think there's a difference and you have to differentiate and I don't want to say. Actually, I don't think I'm going to open up my trap about that in case the occasion arises again. I'm not going to say I prefer one over the other. There's always something around the comer.

SOD: Monica, do you have any vices?
Monica: Vices? Saying yes is a good one. I am not very good at handling my emotional life. I'm very good at handling my professional life (Leslie: It bothers me a lot that Monica had to give up the assistant chief of staff position. I don't see any reason for it. To me, it seemed contrived. Maybe it's because the writers' strike has raised havoc with everybody's character.) I am led often by my heart and I don't often see the consequences. If it's there, I go for it. I sort of live the same way as I do surgery, just focus right in on what I have to do and it sometimes creates a lot of problems. That would be a vice. I'm willful, if that's a vice.

SOD. Do you gamble?
Monica: As in Las Vegas? No. Because I'm a poor loser, I don't like to lose, so that would never be something that I'd have a problem with at all.

SOD: What's the best hospital gossip you've ever heard?
Monica: That Amy's had laryngitis.

SOD: Which of your two sons is most like Alan?
Monica: Alan Jr. is Alan's son. Totally.

SOD: Don this worry you?
Monica: (pause) Yeah. (laughs) It's also very discouraging considering who is the mother of the other one. I hate to say this. It's annoying. I'm doing the best I can to alter that.

SOD: So then you believe In behavior mod.
Monica: I'm doing the best I can do to alter that.

SOD: What are your priorities in life?
Monica: That my sons have a relatively - if it's possible - comfortable upbringing. That I fulfill all my required duties as a surgeon, as much as I can possibly do, which is something that is very important to me. I have a great deal of responsibility at the hospital and as I said before, that my sons receive the best education, as much of a normal family life that they can possibly get and grow up to have a joy of life and an understanding and sense of humor in spite of Edward and Alan. That was in parentheses.

SOD: Do you go to church?
Monica: (gritting teeth) My sons do. Unfortunately as a doctor, there are attempts and we try to do that as a family, but it doesn't often - er - occur. But we try to instill that with the children. Church, Sunday school, and that information they receive. (Leslie. May I be excused? This is tough.)

SOD. What are your New Year's resolutions?
Monica: To never have one of these interviews again. And I promise with all my heart to stick by it.

SOD: How do you stay in shape?.
Monica: By having these interviews and throwing up afterward. (Leslie: God, Robert, this is so painful )

SOD. Which political candidate do you think you'll support in '88?
Monica: I don't think that's a question that one asks. At least we don't discuss it in the Quartermaine family and I'm not endorsing anybody at the moment because I haven't heard anybody who's impressed me that much actually. I have to hear some more things here. I think it's all rather discouraging.

SOD: Which women alive, living, do you admire?
Monica: That are living?

SOD: Yeah, we'll leave Susan B. Anthony out of this
Monica: Besides myself?

SOD: Besides you.
Monica: Good grief. Jim and Tammy. Sorry, just Tammy. OK. Let's see…..Margaret Mead, is she still alive?
Oh dear. There are special people. Katharine Hepburn of course. Erma Bombeck actually, is one of my favorite women. I just adore her. I really do. Gloria Steinem. The women that have made strides to have set up a structure to where we're recognized as individuals and are very much interested in getting us all together as equals and peers. That's important.

SOD: You support the ERA?
Monica: I do. For me. I've always supported that, it's never been a problem. We're much smarter than fellows. I mean women are much brighter. If it weren't for myself and Lila, Edward and Alan wouldn't have a clue as to what was happening. So the more recognition we get and the more appreciation that we have, the better off it is. If they'd just acknowledge the fact that we do know more, we're better equipped, we can deal with things a lot more practically and professionally and intelligently, at least in the bumbling pool of Quartermaines.

SOD: What's been your lowest moment?
Monica: Well, there have been a lot I suppose the lowest was when I really, really wanted to have Rick's baby. And had to relinquish that status and accept otherwise. He was, quite honestly, the love of my life.

SOD: Rick. The man you loved the most.
Monica: Yeah, I would think so. I worked the hardest for.

SOD: Do you think women always do the chasing?
Monica: I don't think anybody likes to think they're doing the chasing. I think it's a very odd thing, you chase and as soon as you get the catch, you like to be comfortable with that and then hope that they chase. Then you can move on, because you're comfortable with it. It's no fun chasing, it's worrisome and it gives you headaches and it's exhausting. And I think that's the hard part. I mean, it's always wonderful when someone comes up to you and immediately thinks you're the sun and the moon and the stars and you can control the situation, that's the nice part. But as soon as they step away, then you have to do the chasing as I have had to.

SOD: Edward drives Lila crazy and yet she stays with him. Has this been an inspiration to you or do you find it merely depressing?
Monica: I've learned a lot from Lila. Edward doesn't drive Lila that crazy or she'd pull out, it's as simple as that. Lila understands Edward, Edward understands Lila and they have their tiffs and he knows exactly where she is and she puts her foot down and that's the way it is. She says be quiet - I mean she says shut up, he shuts up. Lila, she loves Edward, she's tolerated him because she knows he can't live without her. For all of his foibles and his digressions, he will return and she's comfortable with that knowledge. As far as Alan goes, I haven't a clue. I wish I could be like Lila and accept everything like she does with Edward and his nonsense and all of that but I can't. I mean it's - No. Absolutely not. No.

SOD: What do you really think of Sean Donely?
Monica: A lot. I think it was all too brief, actually, and I didn't have much control over it. (Leslie. The writers did.)

SOD: If you were going to write the story of your life, what would be the title?
Monica: I have an idea for a title and I'm not telling.

SOD: Would you opt it for a miniseries or movie-of-the-week?
Monica: We're talking film, as in distribution all over the world. Good grief, man.

SOD: Who would you pick to play Monica?
Monica:There isn't anyone in the world who could play Monica besides me. Well, no, I refuse to say that anybody else could. Actually I was thinking that you can't play yourself, really. It would be awkward because I'd have to supervise everything.

SOD: Well, its very Shirley MacLaine.
Monica: Now that would be the one person that I think would understand the character better than anybody else and would have an idea, a real hook on the whole thing.

SOD: Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Monica: Well, my love for Rick got me into becoming a cardiologist. My biggest inspiration was Gail Adamson. She was my mentor. Took me out of the orphanage and backed me to go to med school.

SOD: How would you descibe yourself, what kind of woman are you?
Monica: (major hesitation) What kind of person am I? Well, actually, I'm ... I'm ... What am I? I'm very interesting and I'm very aggressive. I have a lot of purpose and direction. In the deep darkness of the evening I am very vulnerable and very emotional and I have a lot of fears that I hide, that are disguised by being as aggressive and as sure and as positive and as professional as I am. They cover a multitude of insecurities.

SOD: What else do I want to ask?
Monica: I think you've covered most of the embarrassing things of my entire life. (Leslie. This is tough).

SOD: Do you have a good memory?
Monica: What is your name?

By Robert Rorke, Soap Opera Digest, August 9, 1988