The character of Lucy Coe has been a fan favorite since she first appeared in GENERAL HOSPITAL in 1986. Cast member Lynn Herring was only hired for a short-term gig, but the character became so popular that she stayed and even helped start the one GH Spinoff, PORT CHARLES, in 1997! But since she’s not seen as often these days, some newer viewers might not know that she’s led a pretty wild life!
Lucy was originally a hooded librarian who was involved with Kevin O’Connor and served as his alibi in a murder case. She broke out of her shell, later had an affair with Bobbie Spencer’s husband Jake, married Tony Jones and then married Alan Quartermaine, who wore a scandalous red dress to their wedding ceremony!
While married to Alan, Lucy had an affair with Scotty Baldwin and became pregnant. After miscarrying his child, she ended up with Scotty, but later left town. When she returned, Lucy found that Scotty had fallen in love with Dominique, who was suffering from fatal brain cancer. After turning a new leaf, Lucy agreed to be her surrogate, and though Dominique died of an inoperable brain tumor, she lived long enough to hear her baby’s heartbeat. But sadly, she wasn’t alive when Lucy gave birth to Serena in a cabin during a snowstorm.
After Scotty was forced to flee town by the mob, Lucy joined Damian Smith and returned to her scheming ways, betting him that he couldn’t seduce Bobbie from Tony. But during this time, Lucy met Kevin Collins, who helped her return to the kinder, gentler woman Dominique had believed in before her untimely death.
Things then took a strange turn for a while when Lucy and Kevin discovered that his daughter Livvie had been seduced by a vampire named Caleb. After defeating the evil bloodsucker, Kevin threw a surprise wedding and Lucy ended up marrying her “Doc”. With her life now filled with magic and mystery, the appearance of another creature of the night, Stephen Clay, led Lucy to discover that she was actually a vampire slayer (at least for a while)!
Lucy was also instrumental in creating the annual Nurses Ball for General Hospital to raise funds for AIDS research, although after a while a lack of funds ended the gala event. But in 2012, nurses Sabrina Santiago and Felix DuBois tracked down Lucy to help revive the ball. Lucy’s return to Port Charles got a little complicated when she thought John McBain was the vampire Caleb and Sam McCall was Livvie, but it was later revealed that musician Stephen Clay was insane and believed he was a vampire named Caleb.
With Kevin spending so much time out of town with patients, Lucy distracted herself by trying to reboot Deception Cosmetics with Laura Spencer, but it never materialized. While helping Scott run for district attorney, they became close and slept together. Although Lucy wanted to remain married to Kevin, she couldn’t deny her feelings for Scott and their marriage ended. Unfortunately, Lucy was shocked to find out that Scott was also sleeping with Bobbie and was devastated when the guy decided to be with the redhead instead!
Lucy became implicated in the death of Morgan Corinthos after catching Ava Jerome throwing the young man’s medicines in the trash. While she was able to use this knowledge to extort a donation from Ava for the Nurses Ball, it cast a shadow over this year’s event as she felt guilty for helping Ava cover up her part in Morgan’s death. During the ball, Sonny and Carly confronted Lucy, who tearfully confessed everything she knew.
An entrepreneur by training, Lucy also entered the real estate business and helped broker the sale of a number of Port Charles properties, including Sonny’s restaurant, Pozzulo’s. She was also the one who broke the news to Scott that his father Lee had passed away and helped him erect an intimate memorial to him. And when Kevin was on trial for his part in Ryan Chamberlain’s killing spree, Lucy was there to support her “doc”. And even as she geared up for the 2019 nurses’ ball, Lucy still found time to poke her nose into Kevin’s affairs.
Lucy authored a travel guide to Port Charles and eventually managed to relaunch Deception by hiring Sasha Gilmore as a partner and also the brand’s new face. And when Maxie Jones quit purple, Lucy grabbed her to take her to work. But both women were upset to learn that Lucy had gotten her financial backing from Valentin Cassadine! Lucy’s business took a turn when she hired Brook Lynn Quartermaine to perform a song during a presentation when the young woman’s neck injury prevented her from singing and she was trying (and failing!) to synchronize with Amy Driscoll’s vocals!
When Sasha feared losing her job because she got pregnant, Lucy was instead looking forward to taking a new approach and selling cosmetics to expectant mothers. However, Lucy was less than excited to learn that Scott was dating Liesl Obrecht and even slapped him to try to talk sense into him! At Christmas Lucy hopped onto Santa’s lap at the hospital thinking she was flirting with Kevin and was surprised to find out it was Martin Grey! But it all worked out as they spent the night together and decided to see where this could go!
Working alongside Maxie, Sasha and Brook Lynn Quartermaine, Lucy worked to take Deception’s IPO public and it was a huge success, making them all a ton of cash. Valentin gave Martin an ultimatum, saying he could choose Lucy as his lover or him as his client, but Martin and Lucy eventually gave up his bluff and went public with their relationship. Lucy also found herself giving Aiden Webber advice about ghosts, not realizing that he thought Franco Baldwin was stalking his mother, Elizabeth Webber! Later, Liz herself asked Lucy to put her in touch with a medium.
Stay tuned to see how Lucy’s story continues!
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