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"General Hospital" Sadness: Remembering Nurse Amy Vining

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Published: February 11, 2008 at 11:02 PM GMT
Last Updated: March 21, 2008 at 11:02 PM GMT

By Ed Martin

Lost amid the recent rash of high-profile celebrity deaths was the passing last week of Shell Kepler, the actress who portrayed plot-driving gossip Amy Vining on General Hospital from 1979-2002.

Kepler's passing was as quiet as the strange disappearance of her character in September, 2002 – after 23 years on the show. We last saw Amy on the night before what was to be the second marriage of her sister, Laura Webber Baldwin Spencer, to Luke Spencer. Instead of recalling happy memories of her first marriage to Luke and going to the church with him, Laura instead remembered damning repressed memories (she killed her stepfather Rick) and was shipped off to a mental institution, where she languishes in a state of complete mental collapse to this day.

Amy, meantime, simply disappeared, never to be mentioned or referred to again. Kepler was all but forgotten until early last week, when a report of her death (in Portland, Oregon, to which Kepler had apparently relocated after disappearing from GH) appeared on TMZ.

Time passes, and memories fade, but Kepler's impact on daytime drama should not be forgotten. She was brought onto GH in 1979, when it was not simply a white hot soap opera but the most popular program on broadcast television with teenagers. Untold millions were totally caught up in the dysfunctional love story of Luke and Laura, the forbidden affair of Rick Webber and Monica Quartermaine, the madness of Dr. Alan Quartermaine, the rivalry between virginal Annie Logan and psychotic Heather Webber and so much more. Kepler was plunked down in the middle of all of this as Laura's stepsister, the daughter of the couple that had adopted Laura when mother Leslie Webber had given her up at birth.

It was at that time that GH was virtually spinning around Genie Francis, the actress who portrays Laura, and Kepler was right by her side through it all. Amy became a student nurse, and eventually a full time nurse at the hospital, and from her position at the nurses' station she was able to overhear or otherwise follow everyone's business. She often shared it with others, gaining a reputation for gossip and at one time or another exasperating everybody from chief of staff Steve Hardy to fiery schemer Tracy Quartermaine (with whom she memorably clashed on many occasions). If there was a blizzard, a hostage crisis or a personal or professional trauma anywhere on the show's canvas Amy was always somehow involved. If memory serves, she even fell in love with Alan Quartermaine while he was busily trying to murder his wife, Monica, and her lover, Rick.

Amy was so prominent on the show that she became a lyric in the 1981 pop ditty by The Afternoon Delights, General Hospi-Tale:

Amy Vining likes to blab,

Richard Simmons helps fight flab,

Susan's having Alan's baby,

Noah wants Bobbie for his lady.

(Yes, Richard Simmons once portrayed himself of GH. And the baby referred to in this stanza grew up to be killing machine Jason Morgan, now the most popular hunk on the show.)

But the real reason why Kepler deserves a prominent footnote in the history of daytime drama is because of Amy's inadvertent contribution to the circumstances that led to Luke raping Laura in the Campus Disco in the fall of 1979. Laura, who was newly wed to good-boy Scotty at the time, was working for bad-boy Luke at the disco. On the night that Laura was attacked by Luke, Scotty had asked Amy to tell her that he wouldn't be able to pick her up when her shift ended. Amy, who was distracted by other matters, forgot to give Laura the message, leaving her stranded at the disco after closing and thinking her marriage was in trouble. (Remember, the arrival of the cell phone was still a long way off.) Luke, you may recall, was in love with Laura, a girl he thought he could never have, and believed that he was about to be killed by the murderous Frank Smith mob. Hence, his deranged assault on Laura – which did nothing less than change General Hospital and all of daytime drama forever.

Had Amy delivered Scotty's message to Laura, who knows where all of those characters would be today?

Let us also remember that Amy was Laura's maid of honor at her 1981 wedding to Luke – an hour that stands to this day as the highest rated soap opera episode in television history. Kepler was prominent in the footage of the 1981 nuptials that accompanied the 2006 GH storyline that celebrated the 25^th anniversary of Laura and Luke's wedding. Curiously, even though Genie Francis briefly returned to the show at that time and Laura came out of her trauma trance long enough to re-enact her wedding to Luke, none of the characters were heard to ask, “Where's Amy?”

Over the years I have asked that very same question of a number of people in the soap opera business, including a few General Hospital cast members. I never got an answer.

Kepler was also a pioneer in the burgeoning business of celebrities selling their own products on home shopping channels. During the peak of her popularity as Nurse Vining, Kepler sold a line of clothing she created called Lacy Afternoon on the Home Shopping Club, the forerunner to the Home Shopping Network.

By the way, if you were a fan of General Hospital during its glory years (including the time Kepler was on the show) and you are dismayed by recent unpleasant changes on it (especially those involving the beloved Quartermaine family) you ought to check out the Web site SavetheQuartermaines. Log on, hear what other fans have to say, enjoy shared memories and make yourself heard. Express yourself!

To communicate with or to be contacted by the executives and/or companies mentioned in this column, link to JackMyers Connection Hotline.

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Reader Comments(9)

Wonderful article. I loved Shell Kepler as Amy! I am still so saddened that she is gone. God Bless her! The Nurses station will NEVER be the same! R.I.P. Shell!

Posted at 09:20 PM on Feb 13, 2008 by Maggie

Shell Kepler will always be remembered as part of the golden glory days of GH, when there was an ensemble cast (the show did not revolve around just a few characters); the show's nucleus was General Hospital and not the mob; the storylines were well-written, diverse, and creative; and the continuity and history of the characters was respected. In the glory days of GH, the actors were also treated with respect as well. Don't even get me started on that topic because it disgusts me how the current TPTB conduct themselves (i.e., firing Stuart Damon). SAVE THE QUARTERMAINES....I WANT ALAN BACK!

Posted at 09:57 PM on Feb 13, 2008 by

Posted at 10:00 PM on Feb 13, 2008 by Linda

Thanks for your article. I missed her very much after her departure. God Bless her. Rest in Peace Shell. I am a long time viewer of GH, and I often wondered where the character Amy went. She was on the show for 21 years and as with many characters on GH I hate the way TPTB dismiss some of our favorites i.e.: Alan and Emily Quartermaine. Stuart Damon was fired and altho it is Natalia Livingston's choice to leave, they could have replaced the actress. Bring back Alan (Stuart Damon) and bring back Emily!! SAVE THE QUARTERMAINES

Posted at 04:14 AM on Feb 14, 2008 by Cindy

I want Alan and Emily Quartermaine back on GH but that makes too much sense and we all know that GH, to include Guza, has lost much of the logic. Guza says he didn't want to recast Emily because "he loves Emily and Nicholas." That statement makes absolutely no sense and typifies his usual nonsensical response to every question and/or criticism about his treatment of the characters. He loves Emily and Nicholas so he kills off Emily??? Guza must think the fans are stupid. I've got news for him. The fans see right through his manipulative, condescending comments and manner. I'd have more respect for him if he flat out said he was slowly killing off the Quartermaines, rather than his calculating lies that he arrogantly thinks everybody is believing. I can't believe this is the same guy who wrote the superb drug addiction storyline for Alan Quartermaine. It is well-known Natalie Livingston wanted off GH. Can you blame her? I could see not recasting Emily if Guza and Company liked Natalie and felt she couldn't be replaced, but we all know that wasn't the case. This was a blatant and premeditated killing off of a Quartermaine and all the fans know it. An act of a desperate writer is to re-write past storylines, create offscreen scenarios to attempt to justify the obvious continuity deficiencies, and to try to alter the viewer's perception by pathetically telling the viewer what they "should" be seeing. Prime example, first Alan is a ghost, now Guza says he's a conscience. Guza says he was never a ghost. That's funny because when I playback the initial beginning of this storyline, all the characters refer to him as a ghost. Guza is obviously confused about his own storylines. Obviously, the loyal fans have had enough and that has generated the Save The Quartermaines campaign.

Posted at 06:39 PM on Feb 14, 2008 by

I loved Shell as Amy. She did have a crush on Alan. He at one time had her spying on Monica and Rick at the Hospital. I feel GH should have had some mention of her death on the show. I want Emily and Alan back on the shoe. It was disgraceful to fire Stuart Damon. He and Monica made the show. Guza has no respect for the history of these characters. Continuity and a shared history is what sets soap operas apart from "ordinary" T.V. We feel we know these characters and have a stake in what they do. Please get rid of Guza and bring back Alan. Guza just seems he is making it up as he goes along. Leslie Charleson is my main reason for still watching. Stuart was fired a year year ago. We the fans have not forgotten. That has not blown over. We are not over it. Save the Quartermaines.

Posted at 03:33 PM on Feb 15, 2008 by melanie

Yes, Shell did move to Portland Her brother lives here in Portland.
She kept herself busy writing, sewing, cooking, and of course volunteering at charity events those were her passions...it is what she loved to do most.
Shell and her boyfriend moved into an older Victorian style house in a very quiet neighborhood here in Portland, where she grew a wide variety of fruits, herbs, and flowers.

Posted at 10:18 AM on Aug 18, 2009 by Andrew

Posted at 10:21 AM on Aug 18, 2009 by Andrew