Luke Spencer is a fictional character in the American television soap opera General Hospital, played by Anthony Geary from 1978 until his departure in July 2015.

[3] Geary holds the record for most Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work as Luke.

The pairing, termed "Luke and Laura" by fans, was extremely popular with viewers, and led to the creation of the "supercouple" concept, which many other soap operas attempted to emulate.

[6] Anthony Geary was originally hired for a 13-week stint on General Hospital in November 1978, which eventually grew into a full contract role.

[18][19] Soap Opera Digest announced in April 2017 that Geary would make a guest appearance on May 4, 2017, in conjunction with the exit of Jane Elliot's Tracy Quartermaine.

In an effort to earn money to buy Scott a law library, Laura began working at the Campus Disco alongside Luke and became drawn to his unconventional way of living and sense of adventure.

Meanwhile, Luke was being pressured by Frank Smith to kill Mitch Williams (Christopher Pennock), a corrupt politician who was running for Senate with a platform to crack down on organized crime.

Realizing that he was likely a dead man, regardless of the outcome, Luke confessed his feelings to Laura the night before the hit, and overcome by anguish, raped her on the floor of the Campus Disco.

In an effort to save Luke, his friend Roy DiLucca (Asher Brauner), attempted to pull off the hit but was caught and seemingly killed.

The two then worked together to steal a black book containing evidence of Frank's criminal activities, and armed with a clue about a "Left-Handed Boy", went on the run.

While under his employ, Luke met his niece, Alexandria (Renee Anderson), who enlisted him to locate the "Ice Princess", a large, uncut diamond that she had painted and lost in transit to Port Charles.

In 1996, a young woman named Carly Roberts arrived in Port Charles and began working at General Hospital as a physical therapist.

The Cassadine-Spencer feud, coupled with Laura's bombshell news of her secret son Nikolas, proved catastrophic to her marriage with Luke.

Helena told Luke that Mikkos's long-lost son, Valentin, planned to come to Port Charles and unleash havoc on the Spencer/Cassadine families.

Lucky and his partner Dante Falconeri investigated Kristina's story and warned Sonny, who planned to place a hit out on Ethan, to stay away from him.

Though reluctant to forgive Sonny for impulsively accusing his son and trying to kill him, Luke nonetheless sympathized with his currently-strained relationship with his children.

After becoming engaged at Thanksgiving, Luke and Tracy were married (legally) again in front of their friends and family on December 21, 2010, and leave for a honeymoon trip to Prague.

At the Haunted Star on June 21, 2012 Luke finds Heather Webber eavesdropping on him and she later yanks him with a beer bottle, causing him to fall down to the ground, where she later held him hostage at a shack in the woods.

Luke tells Helena about Nikolas, Laura is forced to call Scott Baldwin's cell, which Natasha "Alexis Davis" Cassadine picks up.

At Tracy's insistence, Luke agreed to find out what was wrong and was stunned to learn he had been poisoned with a rare radioactive substance.

After he learned the results, he received a posthumous message from Helena in which she admitted while he may have killed her, she retained the upper hand in their ongoing game.

Luke later hires a gunman to shoot his son Lucas Jones and then tries to finish the job while he is at the hospital, but Julian sees him and stops him.

However, on February 6, after conspiring to commit mass murder by placing a bomb in the Haunted Star while it was full of people, it was revealed by the police that the fingerprints of "the man we have in custody", who was presumably Fluke, are actually those of Luke Spencer.

On April 1, 2015, he runs away to his old childhood home on Elm Street in order to remember what happened there that caused his breakdown, with Tracy, Lulu, Bobbie and Patricia chasing after him.

While there he remembers on April 1, 1963 (which was the show's premiere date), he accidentally caused his mother Lena's death, and then he killed his father by bludgeoning him with a bat.

After they find Lucky, the group head to Cassadine Island where Helena has been keeping young Jake Spencer, whom Luke thought he'd killed in a hit-and-run car accident.

Heartbroken, he goes to his childhood home with the intent of committing suicide but, after facing his past and saying goodbye to Bobbie and Lulu, decides instead it would be better to leave Port Charles.

While trying to escape captivity from Valentin on Cassadine Island, Lulu stumbles upon a skeleton baring an earring and wrist band similar to her father's.

On New Year's Day 2022, Tracy returns to Port Charles to inform Laura and Kevin Collins that Luke has died as a result of being killed during a cable car accident in Austria.

"[22] The following year, Mason placed Luke second place (behind Laura) on his ranked list of General Hospital’s 40+ Greatest Characters of All Time, commenting "From Mob flunky to mayor, Anthony Geary’s infamous alter ego was fashioned from a mold that was long ago broken, one from which sprang the kind of absolute scoundrel who is as infuriating as he is entertaining, as irrepressible as he is irresistible.