Roger Howarth is pictured on ‘General Hospital’.Photo:h Christine Bartolucci/DISNEY via Getty
h Christine Bartolucci/DISNEY via Getty
In his first interview following his exit after 11 years and nearly 900 episodes, Howarth toldSoap Opera Digesthe learned of the storyline shakeup “several weeks ago” when Executive Producer Frank Valentini called to tell him that once his contract with ABC expired, he “would not be offered a new contract and that the character of Austin would be killed, and that this was something that both wanted and needed to do to move story.”
Howarth continued, “For me, I felt it was very much like the scene inMoneyballandJonah Hillhad just told me I’ve been traded. I feel very respected and supported. For a long time, I’ve enjoyed coming to work, learning lines and saying them with really cool people.”
Howarth first joinedGeneral Hospitalin 2012 while crossing over as hisOne Life to Livecharacter Todd Manning following the latter’s cancellation that year. The actor — who won a Daytime Emmy Award for theOne Life to Liverole in 1994 — then went on to play Franco Baldwin (who was killed off in 2021) and later Austin Gatlin-Holt onGeneral Hospital.
Roger Howarth is pictured on ‘General Hospital’.Christine Bartolucci/ABC via Getty
Christine Bartolucci/ABC via Getty
Howarth finished shooting the long-running series in October. As for how things are going for him now, he noted that “life is great.”
“Everyone I love is happy and healthy. I have a grandkid who has taken her first steps. I’m adjusting to the idea that I have a lot of potential [career-wise] and I’m not scared and I’m not anxious,” he shared. “This feels like a new beginning to me and I really do believe that all things happen for a reason and I have a great trust in that. It’s a very exciting time to be me. I’m just really grateful. I know it sounds a little cliche, but I really am.”
“I’m just really grateful that I got to do something I loved for a long time and I’m excited about what’s next. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but in some sense I feel like I’m just getting started,” he continued. “You know, it was never the plan to keep the job for as long as I did. I did it because I enjoyed it and it was rewarding, but I moved to New York City with a bunch of other young actors and we were carving out lives for ourselves.”
Roger Howarth is pictured.Christine Bartolucci/ABC via Getty
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Outside of his work within the daytime soap arena, theAs the World Turnsalum — who shares two children with his wife Cari Stahler, to whom he’s been married since 1992 — has appeared on shows likeCalifornication,The FlashandDawson’s Creek. He also appeared in the filmsWhat Doesn’t Float,The Final Rose,Destruction Los AngelesandLiebestraum.
Though Howarth is “certainly ready for what’s next,” he toldSoap Opera Digestthat he would “one hundred percent” return to the soap opera world following hisGeneral Hospitalexit.
source: people.com
