Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Off To A Good Start: Kristen Vaganos (Molly) and Rick Hearst (Ric) quickly found their footing as GH family.
As General Hospital fans have observed online, the on-screen father/daughter bond between returning character Ric Lansing and the apple of his eye, Molly Lansing-Davis, was quickly apparent when Rick Hearst stepped back into the role last week — despite the fact that the last time Ric was on the canvas, Molly, now played by Kristen Vaganos, was being played by a different actress, Haley Pullos.
“I’m going to say this openly and genuinely: I love my Haley,” says Hearst. Pullos, who assumed the role of Molly in 2009, exited the show in 2023 in the wake of the hit-and-run charge she incurred after causing a wrong-way crash on a Los Angeles freeway. She surrendered to jail for 90 days in April 2024, and was released after sentencing in July. On that day, Hearst shares, “Nancy [Lee Grahn, Alexis] had asked me to do a video for her and I recorded a video for her to tell her that she has an incredible road ahead of her [that includes a nine-month DUI program, private counseling, community service and a program developed by MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving] that I know she’ll take advantage of. I know that she’s going to be an extraordinary girl, beyond who she was before. We go through things in life, we make mistakes, but the beauty of it is that if you have the ability and opportunity to correct and right your wrongs and turn your life around, that’s the gift that we get. And that’s what I really wished for her.”
When it came to forging a relationship with Vaganos, “We just connected instantly,” Hearst marvels. “I know what it’s like to take over a role,” he notes, referring to his Guiding Light stint as Alan-Michael (1990-96). “I know what it’s like to take over a character who was beloved, an actor who was beloved in a role, and have to take it wherever I was going to take it and have my stamp [on it]. And when I look at Kristen, she is all of that [and] more. She is such an incredibly dedicated and diligent and intelligent and soulful poised-for-her-years actress. The fact that she shows up every day, ready to go, guns blazing, all-in, ‘Let’s make this the best we can make it,’ is the kind of stuff that reinvigorates the cast around her — both her and how she interacts and is connected to Kate [Mansi, Kristina]. They have this unique fire between the two of them, and I walked into that when I met Kristen. I knew it was going to jive.”
As they started working together, “She’s so full that it was easy for me to be able to reach to her. While she is very defined in her playing of Molly, she is open to what’s coming at her because she’s so poised and, and open to the process. We just dove right in and she was very welcoming. I adore her! I can’t say enough amazing things about her. She’s just a delightful, inspiring light to be around.”
Vaganos is equally effusive about her Port Charles pop. “It’s so exciting to have him on the show,” she tells Digest. “Working with Rick is amazing. He’s the best! He is such a kind, sweet and smart guy, and he’s also a really committed, engaged actor. Honestly, I’ve been lucky with my entire family on this show, but he was no exception. We met and immediately we were just able to form a connection and a bond and slip right into something that felt like it could be a true father/daughter relationship. It happened so seamlessly and so quickly. and I think only a real, open, honest actor allows that to happen.”
The two also bonded over their off-screen cultural backgrounds. “He’s Italian and I’m Greek, and we clearly get each other’s culture and each other’s way of being,” Vaganos says. “We just had a really lovely, immediate bond.”
