What Happened to Ric Lansing on GENERAL HOSPITAL
It’s been a while since Ric Lansing was on GENERAL HOSPITAL so it’s understandable if newer viewers might not know who the guy is. And maybe longtime fans just need a refresher? Well, that’s where we come in! The character was introduced back in November 2002 and has always been played by Rick Hearst (except for a couple of days when Nick Kiriazis stepped in while Hearst was undergoing surgery). His first stint lasted until 2009, and then Hearst reprised the character in early 2014 for a few months before returning at the end of the year and remaining until 2016. Hearst won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2004 and 2007 for his work on GH.
Attorney Ric Lansing was in Port Charles for months before revealing to Sonny Corinthos that he is his half brother. He has always disliked his sibling because when they were children, their mother chose to leave with Sonny and abandoned Ric. Trying to get to his brother, Ric attempted to flirt with his wife, Carly Corinthos, but eventually fell in love with Elizabeth Webber. They got married and Liz became pregnant, but sadly miscarried. Accusing Sonny of causing her to lose the baby, Ric kidnapped a pregnant Carly intending to hold her hostage until she gave birth so he could steal her baby! Carly escaped and Liz divorced him but when she learned she was pregnant with Zander Smith’s child, Ric stepped back in to remarry her and raise the child together. But their relationship couldn’t survive Ric’s obsession with Sonny and they split again.
When Carly was kidnapped by Lorenzo Alcazar, Ric became Sonny’s ally to help rescue her. He also pursued and married Sonny’s ex, Alexis Davis, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Molly Lansing Davis, in 2005. Ric also helped Alexis discover that Sam McCall is her long-lost daughter, but when Ric and Sam’s relationships soured, the pair ended up in bed together! Jason and Alexis found them together and Alexis divorced Ric. He tried to go back to Elizabeth, insisting she was the only woman he ever loved, but she wasn’t having any of it. While attending the Back and White Ball with Skye Quartermaine, Ric was impaled by a sword and required a blood transfusion which Sonny reluctantly agreed to.
Ric began working for Anthony Zacchara and got Johnny Zacchara acquitted of murder. Grateful, his sister, Claudia Zacchara, thanked Ric with sex, and their affair continued even after her father forced her to marry Sonny. When she got pregnant, Ric taunted Sonny with the possibility the baby could be his. But in June 2009, Ric decided to leave the drama behind and move to Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, Claudia contacted Ric to inform him her baby was Sonny’s, but then she miscarried in a car accident.
In 2014, Ric returned to Port Charles as Sonny was going to war with Julian Jerome. Sonny suspected Ric of financially backing Julian, but he insisted he was just in town to reconnect with Molly. Although he did also find time to ask Liz out on a date! After Ric was arrested for shooting someone, it was revealed that Julian had framed him, so Anna Devane arranged for him to fake his own death by having Nathan West shoot him in an attempted escape. Ric was later abducted from Witness Protection by Carlos Rivera under Johnny Zacchara’s orders. Shawn Butler and Jordan Ashford rescued him and brought him home to Molly unharmed.
Ric tried to reconnect with Elizabeth, but she was obsessed with Jake Doe, so he hired Hayden Barnes to pretend to be his wife. This helped Ric get closer to Liz, but when the scheme was revealed at the Nurses Ball, Liz dumped him. Next, he charmed Nina Reeves into marrying him, but it was all a scheme he’d cooked up with her mother, Madeline Reeves, to get their hands on the family fortune. After that fell apart, Ric again tried to reconcile with Liz, but she had moved on with Franco and wanted nothing more to do with him. That was the last Ric was seen in Port Charles, but who knows what the future might hold!
