Credit: ABC/Getty Images
We knew that this day would have to arrive eventually. And at the end of the December 7 episode of General Hospital, arrive it did.
RELATED STORY
General Hospital’s Surefire Way to Keep Bobbie’s Memory Alive — and Introduce a Galvanizing New Character
In a preview for the following day’s show, Tracy, who has been overseas helping Bobbie clean up the mess left in the wake of Luke’s passing, was on a plane, presumably headed home to Port Charles. She looked at her phone, let out a gasp and wept.
We knew at once what that meant. At last, the soap is going to address the death of beloved vet Jacklyn Zeman by revealing that Bobbie is no longer with us, either.
It’s going to be heartbreaking to say goodbye — and to watch both the actress’ and the character’s nearest and dearest do so. But we have great faith that General Hospital will do right by the daytime icon and the heroine that she played for 45 years.
A native of Englewood, NJ, Zeman got her soap start with a one-day gig on The Edge of Night as, ironically, another Bobbi. She tried out for the role of Reenie Szabo on Ryan’s Hope (which went to future All My Children star Julia Barr), then landed in short order an under-five part on One Life to Live, then a six-month contract to play Lana McClain on the same show.
That gig extended to two years!
Knowing a good thing when it saw one, ABC kept Zeman in the family, and just days after One Life to Live killed off Lana, sent her portrayer to General Hospital to scrub in as hooker-turned-nurse Bobbie. Smart move. The rising star had the chops to take Laura’s on-screen rival from a hated villainess to an adored protagonist.
In a particularly rough year of losses for General Hospital, Zeman passed away at age 70 on May 9 following a brief battle with cancer.
