Tuesday, February 5, 2008

General hospital, Shell Kepler death


Shell Kepler, best known for playing the gossip-loving nurse Amy Vining on "General Hospital," died on Friday of renal failure at a hospital near her home in Portland, Ore. She was 49. Just over the weekend I was talking about my early '80s love affair with "General Hospital" when a co-worker mentioned having run into Finola Hughes at a Fashion Week event here in New York. It was the summer of '79 and my mom hadn't gone back to work yet, so she was home hooked on "her stories" on ABC. My brother and I quickly got into them too, intrigued by the exploits of Monica and Alan Quartermaine (and evil sister Tracy), Bobbie Spencer, Robert and Holly Scorpio, Luke and Laura -- and dreamy Scotty Baldwin and Joe Kelly.