Tristan Rogers, the Australian actor behind the magnetic Robert Scorpio on “General Hospital,” died Friday after a battle with lung cancer, according to his manager. He was 79.
In an email to The Times, Rogers’ manager Meryl Soodak said his client was “a family man” who is survived by his wife, two children and a grandson.
“[He was] loyal, kind and loved his role of Scorpio,” Soodak said.
Rogers’ signature commanding voice and poised bravado made Scorpio a fan favorite on the long-running soap opera, and became his most recognizable role. As the enemy-turned-close-friend of star character Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary), Rogers appeared in some of the most memorable moments of the show’s run.
In true soap opera fashion, Scorpio would allegedly die a dramatic and fiery death in an explosion in South America in 1992, only to return alive for a short stint in 2006.
Through every iteration of his “General Hospital” career, Rogers embraced Scorpio’s status as an ‘80s TV icon.
“I think this character will follow me to my grave,” Rogers told the New York Times in 2006.
Rogers was born June 3, 1946, in Melbourne, Australia. Out of high school, he played in a rock band with friends and began taking up modeling roles, he recalled in an interview. For “extra money,” he acted in small TV and soap opera roles in Australia in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, including stints in the shows “Bellbird,” “Number 96” and “The Box.”
Early in his career, his Australian accent deterred casting directors from booking him for American shows, Rogers recalled in a 2022 interview. However, in 1980, he found himself auditioning for what was supposed to be a small, single-episode role on “General Hospital.”
This caught the eye of Gloria Monty, the show’s visionary producer, who asked Rogers to stay on as a recurring character.
Rogers was key to shaping the character of Scorpio, from his name to his risk-taking bravery, on what would eventually become the longest-running daytime soap opera in American television history, according to Guinness World Records.
“I started in earnest, I had a feeling that I had done something right. I had evolved into the character. [Scorpio] took everyone by surprise, he looked different, he sounded different, he conducted himself in a different way and the public latched onto this right away. And so all of a sudden, away we went,” Rogers said in a radio interview earlier this year.
While the show was set in a New York hospital, the late 80s saw it shift focus into an action adventure storyline that heavily featured Scorpio as an agent of the fictional World Security Bureau, or WSB.
Broadcaster ABC notes that the change kept the attention of viewers and contributed to the continuation of the show’s success, as spies and agents created complex and popular mystery storylines within the “General Hospital” universe.
According to the New York Times, the second week after Rogers’ character was revived in 2006, “General Hospital” was the No. 1 daytime drama among young women, drawing larger-than-average audiences back to the show.
Rogers also acted in the series “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bay,” and “Studio City,” as well as voice-acting in the Disney animated film “The Rescuers Down Under.”
Genie Francis, who played Laura Spencer in “General Hospital,” said of Rogers on X, “My heart is heavy. Goodbye my spectacular friend. My deepest condolences to his wife Teresa and their children. Tristan Rogers was a very bright light, as an actor and a person. I was so lucky to have known him.”
Kin Shriner, also an actor on the show, added in a video posted on X, “I met Tristan 44 years ago at the Luke and Laura wedding. We were stashed in a trailer and I was taken by his Australian charm. Over the years we’ve worked together … we always had fun. I will miss Tristan very much.”
In one of his last interviews, Rogers reflected on the joy of his acting career.
Twenty-five years ago on Sept. 11, 2000, UPN debuted a comedy called “Girlfriends” that followed the lives of four Black women living in Los Angeles.
The show’s creator, Mara Brock Akil, who’d gotten her start writing on shows like “South Central,” “Moesha” and “The Jamie Foxx Show,” was tired of seeing out-of-touch depictions of Black women on screen. She wanted to raise a mirror to Black women and showcase them in their fullness as fleshed out characters who are ambitious, creative, messy at times and most importantly nuanced.
The first season of “Girlfriends” on DVD.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
For eight seasons until the show was abruptly canceled in 2008, viewers tuned in to watch the tight-knit friend group that included Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross), Toni (Jill Marie Jones), Lynn (Persia White) and Maya (Golden Brooks) navigate relationships, sexism at work, beauty, classism, sexuality and everything in between. Today, “Girlfriends,” which was added to Netflix’s catalog in 2020, is widely considered one of the most influential TV shows to affect Black culture.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of “Girlfriends,” DCDG & Co., an L.A.-based fine arts agency, has teamed up with the cast and Loren LaRosa of iHeartRadio’s “The Breakfast Club” to independently curate an art exhibition that pays homage to the groundbreaking series. The showcase, which explores the show’s core themes including sisterhood, ambition and self-discovery through photography, sculpture, paintings, an installation and more, will be on display from Friday through Sunday at the Line Hotel in Koreatown.
Each artwork featured in the all Black women exhibition was selected by the “Girlfriends” cast and LaRosa — all of whom are first time art curators. The three-day event will also feature an artist talk led by DCDG & Co. co-founder Delaney George on Saturday, which is open to the public.
A sculpture of a Black woman’s head titled “She” by Alé Reviere was selected for the exhibition.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“[This] show deserves to be celebrated and if we in the culture don’t do it, then we’re just waiting for the powers that be or networks that are transitioning to a digital space,” says David Colbert Jr., co-founder of DCDG & Co. “These moments might get passed up on.”
“Girlfriends: A Visual Tribute” is part of DCDG & Co.’s ongoing curatorial series called Iconic Visions, which invites individuals in various creative spaces like TV, film, music, fashion and sports to step into the role of curator.
When Colbert brought the idea about doing the exhibit to his friend Brooks — whom he met at Frieze a couple of years ago — her response was an immediate yes.
“We are wearable art,” says Golden Brooks. “We are visual art in the space of a TV show.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“I always want to do something special for [these milestones] because it is a bookmark of everything that “Girlfriends” has done,” says Brooks. “We are still uplifting communities. We are still entertaining and empowering the daughters of the mothers who watch the show, so we’re kind of raising generations of young women.”
Brooks, who has been a longtime supporter of the L.A. arts community, says having an art exhibition to celebrate the anniversary was the perfect way to blend both of her passions.
“We are wearable art. We are visual art in the space of a TV show,” she says. “This also inspired artists to celebrate how they see us as women of color, as women in a space of unity and connection, and what better way to be the springboard and the catalyst to celebrate what sisterhood looks like?”
White, who’s been drawing and painting since she was a child, had a similar reaction to being a part of the exhibit. “When they sent me the links to the art, I literally got tears in my eyes,” she says. “I was just really touched by the women and [their] different experiences.”
“Girlfriends: A Visual Tribute” also features a solo exhibition put together by DCDG & Co. cultural curator Erika Conner, which is a collection of photos of iconic Black women including Rihanna, Lil Kim and Naomi Campbell, taken by renowned photographer Cheryl Fox.
While the main exhibition pays tribute to “Girlfriends,” there’s only one artwork — a mixed media piece by Jillian Thompson that uses acrylic, thread and collage — that displays the beloved friends group’s actual faces. All of the other artwork draws inspiration from the show’s aesthetic, style and themes.
McKayla Chandler, a multidisciplinary artist based in L.A., created an interactive installation for the exhibit called “Mama’s Hands Only.” The installation mimics a living room and features a couch, rug, an entertainment center with family photos sprinkled on top and an old school TV that displays episodes of “Girlfriends.” The focal point of the installation, which hangs on a wall above the couch, is a large portrait of Chandler’s mother braiding her hair as she’s done since she was a little girl.
A close-up of multidisciplinary artist McKayla Chandler’s installation titled “Mama’s Hands Only.”
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“To me it feels like connection. Any young, Black woman or Black kid in general can relate to sitting in their mom’s lap and getting their hair braided,” says Chandler. “[The show] is really about these friends going through life together, going through different relationships and even bickering with each other, [then] coming back together. It’s a very special bond that they have with each other, so [with] me thinking about showing my mom here and having this place for you to sit down, look through someone’s old photographs and watch ‘Girlfriends,’ it lends to the nostalgic feeling of it all.”
Although Tiffany “Just Rock” Brown, a photographer based in L.A., primarily takes photos of men, particularly male rappers, she decided to submit a few images for the “Girlfriends” exhibit because she grew up watching the show with her family. Her photo, titled “In This Light,” that was selected for the show depicts two Black women embracing while on the set of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” music video, which was shot in Nickerson Gardens.
A painting titled “Leona’s in the Upper Room” by Marie Jose is featured in the “Girlfriends: A Visual Tribute” exhibit.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“These girls are the epitome of what you see when you come to these areas, but they’re also the inspiration for high fashion, for all those things that don’t get acknowleged,” she says. It reminded her of the void that “Girlfriends” filled when it debuted.
“I think there’s beautiful representation of what [Black people] have done and what we’ve accomplished, and “Girlfriends” is a true representation of that,” says Brown. “Women that were dressed flawlessly. They were beautiful. They were successful. They were just living life and trying to find love, just regular stories. It’s very much still a space that’s missing [in television], but I think it should definitely be celebrated.”
Like Brown, Brittany Byrd, a multidisciplinary artist from L.A., was also introduced to “Girlfriends” at a young age. “It was just always on in my house,” says Byrd. “I just remember seeing Tracee Ellis Ross and I was like, ‘Damn, she’s beautiful!’”
For the exhibit, Byrd created a piece titled “Episode 17,” which is inspired by an episode in Season 4 titled “Love, Peace and Hair Grease.”
“It’s mostly about Lynn and her exploring her hair through her identity as a Black woman, but whether you’re mixed or all Black, hair is something that is at the top of our minds,” says Byrd, who was still putting the final touches on her 6-foot painting. “Whether it’s done or if we’re polished, we’re always just kind of seeking those questions of validity through societal beauty standards when it’s like we’re as beautiful as we feel. So I want my piece to just evoke emotion.”
As she prepares for opening night of the exhibit, Brooks says she’s most excited to meet all of the artists and to see how all of the artwork comes together.
One of her favorite pieces in the exhibit is a massive, hyperrealism painting by Alé Reviere. Fittingly titled “See Through You,” it depicts a young woman’s face, staring intensely back at the viewer.
A painting titled “See Through You” by Alé Reviere is featured in the “Girlfriends” tribute exhibition.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“All of her features were just so us,” says Brooks. “The texture of her hair and the expression on her face. There was a pain. There was a sadness, but there’s also sort of this freedom and unapologetic look in her eyes.”
