The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Rosie: Where were you on November 16th, 17th in 1981? I know where I was. I was in front of my TV watching this:
[Clip of L&L wedding]
Rosie: Please welcome Genie Francis!
[Genie comes out amid cheers and applause. She and Rosie greet each other, then go to sit down.]
Rosie: Genie Francis is here! How are you?
[Genie waves to the audience.]
Genie: I'm great, thank you. How are you?
Rosie: Good to see you!
Genie: Good to see you.
Rosie: I was telling Genie in the hair and makeup that I feel like I know you. It's really weird. [Genie laughs.] 'Cause, like, for twenty years I've been watching you, I feel like you're my friend.
Genie: Oh, that's sweet. Thank you.
Rosie: Now that was something. That was pretty much the wedding. There was a lot of hoopla about that.
Genie: [Nodding] I know.
Rosie: It was all over. Do you remember this, the cover of Newsweek, the hottest show?
Genie: Right.
Rosie: That's a lot of attention.
Genie: And that little piece of tape has followed me through every show that I've gone on for twenty years.
Rosie: Oh, really?
Genie: And I was watching it backstage and I was thinking, 'I can't believe I talk that slow when they're giving me the lines.'
[Everyone laughs]
Rosie: Well, you were taking dramatic license. It was very meaningful, you were finally marrying Luke, after the years on the run and you had to stay in that room with the sheet between ya. Look, the 100 most memorable moments of TV. This is TV Guide, special issue, and look who's on the cover -- you. The other memorable moments were huge, like Nixon resigning and Ed Sullivan with The Beatles, and Luke and Laura.
Genie: I know, we couldn't believe this. We were so shocked. If anybody had ever told me that 15 years later it would still be a cover, I would never have believed it.
Rosie: Are you good friends with Tony Geary?
Genie: [Nodding] Yes, very close.
Rosie: Yeah. You're back on the show now.
Genie: Yes.
[Tape interrupted. Oops.]
Rosie: You went over to "Days of our Lives." What were you thinking? You left my show!
Genie: I was thinking I needed a job [laughs].
Rosie: Oh, right. That's a good thing. Has it been good being back? Are you having a good time?
Genie: We're having a great time. It's been a great place to have my first baby, 'cause, you know, it's sort of like a family there for me, you know, I grew up there.
Rosie: You're real-life baby. Not the show baby.
Genie: Yes, yes.
Rosie: A real-life baby. What's your baby's name?
Genie: Jameson.
Rosie: And how old is he?
Genie: He's going to be two, August 20th.
Rosie: Aww. And do you get to bring him to work?
Genie: I do. Not so much anymore because now he really runs around a lot and, you know, we have teeny little rooms and he doesn't like to be confined anymore, but I nursed him 'till he was 16 months and I had him with me all the time.
Rosie: Really? That's great, isn't it?
Genie: It was great.
Rosie: And is it sort of like your second family, the General Hospital people, 'cause you're there so many hours?
Genie: Oh, without question. Without question. I grew up there. It's family. When I was in labor -- can you belive this? -- I was in labor and they put me ? and I finally got the cramps and the pain. I wanted to feel, you know, the pain of labor and everything. And I started to feel it and they told me, you know, if you rock your hips it helps the baby to move down. And I'm standing there walking around, walking around. And there was a phone on the table next to my bed and I call the booth. I call General Hospital. I call them in the booth and I said, 'Hi, it's Genie! I just wanted to let you know I'm in labor! Tell everybody I said hi!'
[Everybody laughs]
Rosie: Now did you do the natural childbirth or did you have the drugs?
Genie: Oh, no, no, no. [The audience laughs with her]
Rosie: I don't blame you. 'Cause, you know, I adopted and I had the epidural anyway. [The audience and Genie laugh.] You know, I thought, what the Hell? I don't want to be in pain, you know? And your hubby -- a lot of people don't know this -- your hubby, look who he he is [she busts out the Riker doll] Jonathan Frakes.
Genie: There he is [laughs].
Rosie: Here he is. This is your husband, you're married to this doll! Where did you meet?
Genie: Well, actually we kept getting in the same shows, but we actually started dating after the second book of "North & South." It was sort of like the closest experience I've had in my life to being in a sorority 'cause Kirstie Alley and Terri Garber and I would-- Well, Kirstie was sort of like the ring leader, you know. Kirstie decided I didn't do enough with my appearance, so... [laughs]
Rosie: Oh, really? Maybe that's why she's been calling me. [Genie and the audience laugh.] She's been calling. I love her. She's a great lady.
Genie: Well, let her do your hair because she's great.
Rosie: She is? She's good at the hair?
Genie: Yes, she used to say to me, 'Genie, you can't get enough mousse in your hair.' [Rosie laughs.] She'd sit there and tease up my hair. Anyway, he was sort of like our date. We'd kind of like all get dressed up in Kirstie's room and we'd all go out with Jonathan and he was sort of like our date. And I had this huge crush on him and I was afraid to tell him, so I would always talk to Kirstie and this went on for months.
Rosie: And she would tell him, of course.
Genie: She did.
Rosie: Yeah.
Genie: After six months, but that's because he had been doing the same thing with her, so Kirstie was sort of like the little matchmaker.
Rosie: She was Chuck Woolery for you. [Genie and the audience laugh.] She made the love connection. Kirstie Alley is Chuck Woolery. Well, I'm so happy you're here. We'll talk more with Genie Francis after this break. Don't go anywhere.
Rosie: So, Genie, I know that you grew up on Long Island.
Genie: Well, yes, the first six years. Centerport, actually.
Rosie: Centerport, near me. And then you moved out to L.A. and you got your big break on TV.
Genie: I did.
Rosie: What show was that?
Genie: It was actually "Family".
Rosie: Funny you should say that, Genie, because we have a clip.
Genie: Oh, no!
[Clip of 'Family']
[Everybody laughs. The audience claps.]
Rosie: How cute were you? 'He's my boyfriend and you know it.' [Genie laughs.] Now were you a skateboard rider or did you have to practice for that scene?
Genie: No, no. That was my very first audition and my first job and can you believe, I knew to lie. I knew. I did. I had impressed them with the reading and at the end of it they said, 'So, Genie, can you ride a skateboard?' And I said, 'Sure, I can.' Never been on one before in my life, so I went home and I skateboarded -- it was a Friday and I skateboarded all weekend until 8 o'clock that Monday morning I went back to school and sure enough I got the job.
Rosie: And that was all you had to do, was that little three-foot--
Genie: Well, I was supposed to do a little more than that [laughs].
Rosie: Oh! [Laughing] But that's what it came down to.
Genie: They had doubles for both of us. So it worked out.
Rosie: Yeah, you see, you should always lie. Little kids that out there watching that want to be actors -- just lie. I did. No, because, you know, whenever I did a movie, they said, 'Can you drive a stunt car for "Another Stakeout?" Can you drive a souped-up stunt?' I said, 'I've had a souped-up stunt car for years.' I didn't even know how to drive a stick shift at the time. It was scary, Genie, it was. So your storyline now on "General Hospital", very heavy.
Genie: Yes, it is [nods].
Rosie: Yeah. Now you have a mystery child coming in from the... Constantines?
Genie: Cassadines.
Rosie: Yeah, same thing. [Genie and the audience laugh.] Remember when Elizabeth Taylor was on with them?
Genie: Right, she was a Cassadine.
Rosie: That's right. See, I watched. You're trying to catch me. Constantines. Cassadines. Captain Crunch. Whatever. [Genie and the audience laugh.] Can you tell us anything? What's the secret baby?
Genie: Well, it's Laura's baby.
Rosie: Yeah.
Genie: Right, right. It's Stavros' baby.
Rosie: Stavros and you.
Genie: Remember when Laura walked off the pier into the fog when I left the show the first time?
Rosie: Yeah.
Genie: Laura was gone from the show for about two years at that time, so this kind of explains what happened during that departure.
Rosie: Ohh. Hmmm. [Genie and the audience laugh.] Any secrets you could tell us?
Genie: Uh, no, actually--
Rosie: Come on, Genie. Come on.
Genie: I've told you as much as I know!
Rosie: That's all you know?
Genie: Yeah.
Rosie: Are you sure?
Genie: I'm positive.
Rosie: 'Cause I think you guys know, but you're sworn to secrecy or something.
Genie: Well, that's true, but actually we know very little.
Rosie: Really? Well, I watch it, I think that you're great, I'm so happy to meet you.
Genie: Thank you.
Rosie: Say hello to your lovely husband right here [she pulls out the doll] Jonathan.
Genie: I will [laughs].
Rosie: 'Genie, on the way home bring home some milk!' And your adorable baby. Thank you very much, it's lovely to meet you.
Genie: Thank you.
Rosie: Genie Francis, ladies and gentlemen.