LOS ANGELES — Oh, the frenetic life of a soap-opera star.
I’m inside the Prospect Studios near the Silver Lake area of L.A. watching Maurice Benard — better known to “General Hospital” fans as the dashing crime lord Sonny Corinthos — do his thing.
One moment, his character snarls fiercely in the face of a Russian mob boss, and just minutes later he totally shifts gears to make goo-goo eyes with his fiancee, Kate Howard, played by the lovely Megan Ward.
“I can’t wait for the world to see how much in love we are,” Sonny Corinthos says in a soothing, soulful tone that is guaranteed to melt hearts in living rooms across America.
Cut and print . . . and move on.
All the things you’ve heard about toiling on a soap — how they burn through script pages and turn around scenes with lightning speed — are apparently true. “We jam around here,” Benard says.
“You only get one take, man. Only one take.” Benard, 45, started doing this kind of hectic work in 1987, when he landed a role on “All My Children.”
Since 1993, he has played the intense and enigmatic Sonny, and he says that, at times, it has been a grind.
“After a while, it starts to get to you. You get burned out.”
Ah, but Benard has been having a blast on the job lately. Dramatic occurrences in Port Charles have compelled Sonny to leave the mob behind — at least for now. The romance with Kate appears headed for the altar next week, despite the fact that Sonny cheated on Kate (and she knows it).
The story line has given Benard a chance to stretch as an actor and play some different emotional textures.
“I’m really into it,” he says. “It allows me to be kind of like a George Clooney for a while. There’s some romance and a lightness to it. It’s something I haven’t done in 15 years.”
Despite his Emmy-certified acting experience and his undeniable status as one of the most popular stars in daytime television, Benard sometimes still finds it hard to believe that he ever made it out of Martinez, Calif.
“I had a lot of Sonny in me when I was a kid,” he admits. “I used to have a low-rider, and I hung out a lot on Main Street in Walnut Creek, just looking for girls and for fights. And I also drank a lot.”
On a whim, Benard tried his hand at modeling, which led to roles in several Bay Area theatrical productions. After landing the part of Nico Kelly on “AMC,” he relocated to Southern California, where he lives in the Hollywood Hills with Paula, his wife of 18 years. They have two daughters and a son.
