R.I.P. Old Friend
Memories by Dave
It's been awhile since John Reilly (Sean Donnelly) was on our screens in a regular basis. John passed away last weekend at the age of 84. He was a big part of the 80s storylines on GH and interacted with many people. He was a very strong leading man, and I want to mention the 3 scenes in which I remember him most.
This is my favorite wedding on the show. I know, there is a couple named L&L, but this was, hands down my favorite. Sharon Wyatt held it together in a way that should have won her an award. And John clearly had a good time. These two were such a great couple and worked well together in an adult relationship.
This was on Night Shift, so not everyone might have seen it. Robert was in a coma and he had a dream where he went back to the 80s with his friends and family. Everything was tongue in cheek and we got to see the old Scorpio house which was recreated meticulously. This was one of the best nostalgic episodes I have ever seen and everyone just had a blast with it. If you remember these characters during the 80s, you owe it to yourself to look this scene up.
He returned in 2013 for an episode. It was great to see him, but the script, to me anyway, was out of character for him. He would have been glad to see Luke and Holly. It was great to see him one final time. And meet Anna Donnelly. I always wondered at the time if the wheelchair was for the show, or if it was for him in real life.
If I wrote the show, I would have Anna Donnelly (the fireball daughter of Sean and Tiffany) come to Port Charles and meet with Robert and Anna and tell them of Sean's death. She has with her a piece of paper Sean had with him when he died, and on it was some cryptic symbols that Anna D. could not understand and wanted to know if it meant anything to them. They look at the paper, then look at each other with a knowing look and say "Yes..."
(adventure begins)
Karen here. Yes, it is a sad day to see this man go. He was always so dashing with his dimpled chin and sparkly eyes. Funny and kind as well. He also was on As The World Turns as Dr. Dan Stewart from 1974-76. John was a great character actor and was on many shows in the 70's and 80's including The Love Boat and Magnum PI. He played Bill Taylor on Beverly Hills 90210 as well.
If you want to see magic on GH, look up the Sean and Tiffany wedding that Dave mentioned. Pure comic gold.
Yes I saw this on Insta...I follow Finola. 😥 so sad. I watched BH 90210 too. So sad. Maybe if GH runs out of episodes because of covid they can rerun episodes of Sean and Tiff. ❤ and of course the others as well. 😊👍
ReplyDeleteSo sad - I loved those days on GH when he was there. So nice to see all the lovely tributes on Twitter, especially Jack Wagner, Finola and Tristan.
ReplyDeleteLindaV
Loved this post about Sean, and I was very sad to hear of John's passing. I totally agree about his and "Elsie May's" wedding, lol! Hands down best comedy GH ever did! As other's have said the tributes to him have been wonderful. He will be missed.
ReplyDeleteHe did such a good job on the show. I was surprised when Sean and Tiffany were written off. They were a fun couple to watch, equally adept with drama, comedy or adventure.
ReplyDeleteI adored John's Sean. He could do comedy, drama, and adventure storylines with what looked like little effort.
ReplyDeleteHe always had this vibe that he would be a really cool, fun person to hang out with.
Great memories Dave!!! :(
ReplyDelete"Karen says He played Bill Taylor on Beverly Hills 90210 as well."
That's funny that you would say that, because I have been watching him on that show a lot recently! :(