The American Broadcasting Company television network’s longest-running daytime soap opera is General Hospital (often referred to as GH). Additionally, it is Hollywood’s longest-running serial production.
General Hospital started on April 1, 1963, the same day that rival network NBC introduced The Doctors, its own medical daytime drama set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York.
The program’s initial run lasted half an hour until the network extended it to an unprecedented 45 minutes in 1976 and subsequently to an hour in 1978. Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband and wife duo that write for soap operas, are the authors of the serial.
The fast-paced action-adventure plotlines that were remarkably different from the more traditional domestic and social issues that had been the only focus of most soap operas during the previous decades are credited to General Hospital for starting several trends in the soap opera genre in the 1980s.
GH was dubbed “The Greatest Soap Opera Of All Time” by TV Guide in 2003, the year it celebrated its 40th anniversary. GH was also included in TIME Magazine’s list of the “Top 100 Television Shows of All Time.”
Who is Aunt Stella?
On the General Hospital daytime soap opera on ABC, Stella Henry is a fictional character. Since the character’s debut on June 7, 2017, Vernee Watson has played the role. Because of the actress standing behind her, Vernee Watson, Aunt Stella is a force to be reckoned with.
Vernee Watson is an actress best known for playing Vernajean Williams on Welcome Back, Kotter and Viola “Vy” Smith, the mother of Will Smith, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. As Curtis Ashford’s aunt, Stella Henry, she joined the General Hospital ensemble that year.
In a recent development, Watson won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2018 for Outstanding Guest Performer and then won in 2019 for the same character in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category.
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Watson, who was born on January 14, 1954, in the New York City region, attended Cathedral High School before enrolling at New York University to study math and acting.
She never completed her degree because she chose to concentrate on her growing acting profession, which at the time was primarily commercial work.
Watson was able to obtain her SAG card at the young age of 17 despite having only one line to her credit in the 1970 movie Cotton Comes to Harlem. She traveled with the Al Fann Theatrical Ensemble for five years after joining them in Manhattan the same year.
Aunt’s Role in General Hospital
In 2000, Watson played a clergyman who counsels Liz, and on May 13, 2013, Watson played a nurse. On the soap opera General Hospital in 2017, Watson-Johnson was given the role of Stella Henry, the aunt of Curtis Ashford, played by Donnell Turner.
Given her extensive background, it is not surprising that Watson has experience in the realm of soap operas prior to her Emmy-winning GH stay. She had an appearance at General Hospital in 2013 as a nurse.
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Stella is Curtis Ashfor’s aunt. Stella first made an appearance on the program to surprise her nephew Curtis on his birthday. She is thrilled to meet her nephew, who she hasn’t seen in a long time, and is looking forward to seeing her great nephew, T.J. Ashford (Krys Meyer).
Jordan Ashford shows up and ruins her happiness.
When Stella discovered that her nephew was seeing Jordan, the woman she believed to be responsible for her nephew Tommy’s passing, she was not pleased.
Conclusion
In the last episode, Curtis was shot in June 2021 while attempting to free Laura, who was being kept prisoner by Cyrus, when Stella went back to check on him (Jeff Kober).
After offering Jordan her condolences on the dissolution of her marriage to Curtis, she spoke to Portia Robinson (Brook Kerr) about her recent relationship.
Vernee Watson-Johnson was first featured in General Hospital in 2013 as a nurse. In 2017, she made her acting debut as Stella.
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