10. Edward Quartermaine (1980)
Yeah, the old coot was only faking it, but he did such a good job he nearly scared daughter Tracy to death for real. Unfortunately, she failed his loyalty test when she refused to give him his heart medication unless he revised his will, so Edward banished her from Port Charles.

9. Stavros Cassadine (1983 and 2001)
Okay, we're cheating again, but presumed-dead Stavros has the honor of dying twice — once after he and Luke fought, he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck. The second time, he dropped into a bottomless pit in mother Helena's secret cryo-lab. He could still be alive...and the third time's the charm!

8. Zander Smith (2004)
Over the years, a lot of brooding, leather-wearing punks have hit PC, but when this troubled fugitive stepped out of a cabin with Emily and feinted for a gun, the hail of bullets from the SWAT team provided a haunting demise that stands (and falls) on its own two feet.

7. Victor Jerome (1989)
The wiry mob boss broke out of prison to run away with his beloved Lucy Coe — who had been assuming Alan, not Victor, was her secret admirer. When she rejected Victor, he swallowed a diamond pendant he had offered her and choked to death. Alan and Lucy covered up his death and dumped his body in the river to avoid any scandal.

6. Bill Eckert (1993)
Luke Spencer's "Luke-a-alike" cousin was gunned down by Frank Smith's mob in the catacombs in a tragic case of mistaken identity. In a daytime first (and, thanks to slick camera work and a good body double), Anthony Geary (Luke and Bill) got to "die" in his own arms.

5. Duke Lavery (1990)
After going through the time, pain and expense of extensive reconstructive surgery so he could be safely reunited with Anna and Robin, Duke's cover was blown by the mob, and he and new mob boss Julian Jerome shot each other. A mortally wounded Duke arrived at Anna's in time to say his goodbyes and die a gory death in her arms.

4. Dominique Baldwin (1993)
Suffering from an inoperable brain tumor, the gentle, funny, formerly deaf Dominique died in husband Scott's arms at their special place, the gazebo in the park.

3. Barbara Jean Jones (1994)
The victim of a tragic traffic accident, Tony and Bobbie's beloved daughter BJ slipped away quietly, and her heart was given to her ailing cousin Maxie. Despite the fact that BJ simply lay still in a hospital bed, her death shook everyone around her and changed GH for years to come.

2. Tony Jones (2006)
When GH's veteran neurologist succumbed to a deadly strain of encephalitis, it was swift, brutal and realistic. He wheezed, coughed and sweated as he bid goodbye to his friends, offered strength to his gay son, Lucas, and traded memories with Luke and ex-wife Bobbie. He smiled as daughter BJ's spirit came for him, and took years of GH history with him as he died.

1. Stone Cates (1995)
As with Tony, when a disease ravages a character, viewers are bound to be moved, but Stone's death was all the more powerful because of the immediacy of the AIDS crisis in the real world, and Stone also having infected beloved core cast member Robin Scorpio. When a blind Stone plaintively cried, "I see you, Robin, I see you," those watching were hard-pressed to see through their own tears.