Gloria Monty (August 12, 1921 – March 30, 2006)[2] was an American television producer working primarily in the field of daytime drama.
[3] With O'Byrne, Monty directed summer stock productions and led acting and speech workshops at The New School in New York City, where her pupils included Marlon Brando, Demi Moore and Tony Curtis.
Fred Silverman, the head of ABC, gave Monty thirteen weeks to turn the show around, with cancellation threatened if she did not succeed.
[5] To accomplish this turnaround, she increased the show's pace, and focused main storylines on younger characters to reach out to younger viewers, particularly the pairing of ingenue Laura Spencer (Genie Francis) and troubled criminal Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary,[5] whom she knew from his stint on her previous series, Bright Promise).
[citation needed] Monty was accused of perpetuating dangerous misconceptions about rape, implicitly exalting violence against women.
General Hospital received cover stories in both People, Soap Opera Weekly, and Newsweek,[2] which referred to Luke and Laura as the “Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara of Soapland”.
Monty also fired a dozen actors, in what the press described as a "bloodbath", including actress Jennifer Guthrie, who played heroine Dawn Winthrop.