Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Elizabeth Webber

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Portrayed by
  
Introduced by
  
Wendy Riche

Grandmother
  
Audrey March Hardy

TV show
  
Duration
  
1997–

Played by
  
Residence
  
Port Charles

Elizabeth Webber Elizabeth Webber General Hospital Soapscom

First appearance
  
August 1, 1997 (August 1, 1997)

Created by
  
Janet IacobuzioChristopher Whitesell

Creators
  
Karen Harris, Janet Iacobuzio, Christopher Whitesell, Richard Culliton

Significant others
  
Similar
  
Jason Morgan, Carly Corinthos, Nikolas Cassadine, Jason Morgan and Eliza, Maxie Jones

Elizabeth Webber is a fictional character on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital. Elizabeth is the granddaughter of Dr. Steve Hardy (John Beradino), the long-running original lead character of the series. Rebecca Herbst has played the contract role since August 1, 1997.

Contents

Elizabeth Webber Elizabeth Webber Wikipedia

Casting

Rebecca Herbst originally auditioned for the role of Sarah Webber. Although she did not get the part, General Hospital created the role of Sarah's sister Elizabeth for Herbst to play, and she debuted on August 1, 1997. Rumors circulated about Herbst's departure, starting when her on-screen love interest Jonathan Jackson (Lucky Spencer) left the series in April 1999, continuing through Herbst's contract expiration in the summer of 2000. Herbst re-signed in July for three years. In November, Herbst guest starred along with Jacob Young (then-Lucky Spencer) and Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie Spencer) on the FOX network sketch comedy series MADtv, making a small cameo as Elizabeth. On January 18, 2011, ABC Daytime announced that Herbst had been let go from General Hospital and her exit would be storyline dictated. After much fan protest, a month after the original announcement, ABC released another statement saying that Herbst would retain her role on the show. Richard M. Simms, executive editor of Soaps In Depth discussed the fans' impact on reversal, stating:

In May 2011, it was confirmed that Herbst would take medical leave, due to viral meningitis. The role was temporarily portrayed by actress Martha Madison, known for her role as Belle Black on Days of Our Lives, from June 8–20, 2011. In March 2012, it was confirmed by Soap Opera Digest that Herbst had renewed her contract to continue performing in her role as Elizabeth.

In February 2016, Daytime Confidential reported that contract negotiations between Herbst and the show had reached a stalemate, also that Days of Our Lives has expressed interest in hiring Herbst possibly as the potential replacement for Kate Mansi, who had vacated the role of Abigail Deveraux. One month later in March 2016, it was revealed that Herbst will remain with the show. However, the character took a brief hiatus from the show, facilitating the absence in which Herbst had her contract talks, she briefly departed on April 5, 2016 and made her onscreen return on May 4, 2016.

Storylines

Elizabeth arrives in August 1997 to stay with her grandmother, Audrey Hardy (Rachel Ames), and her sister, Sarah Webber (then Jennifer Sky). She quickly develops a crush on Lucky Spencer (then Jonathan Jackson), but Lucky is interested in her sister, Sarah. On Valentine's Day 1998, Elizabeth is raped and Lucky helps her recover. They become close and eventually fall in love, exchanging vows by themselves on Valentine's Day in 1999. In April, Lucky is presumed dead, and later that year Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) helps her deal with her loss. In 2000, Lucky (then Jacob Young) is found alive, but pushes away his parents and Elizabeth. It is soon evident he has been brainwashed. In 2001, Lucky proposes to Elizabeth in an effort to fight the mind control, but Helena removes Lucky's memories of love for Elizabeth. Elizabeth fakes her death to help Nikolas Cassadine (then Coltin Scott) prove his loyalty to Helena, and Lucky's visions of Elizabeth help him stop Helena's control. In December, Elizabeth stops their wedding when she realizes Lucky has been unable to regain his love for her. They try to start over but struggle, and Elizabeth breaks up with him after she finds him kissing her sister Sarah (Sarah Laine). Elizabeth is kidnapped and locked in a crypt, and Zander Smith (Chad Brannon) gets trapped with her. They set off a gas leak, and become intimate when they think they are going to die. Elizabeth tries dating Jason, but ends things when Jason lies to her. Elizabeth falls in love with Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) and they marry after she gets pregnant. Elizabeth miscarries, which Ric blames on his brother, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). He kidnaps Carly Corinthos (then Tamara Braun) in a panic room in an attempt to steal their unborn child. Elizabeth divorces Ric and sleeps with Zander, becoming pregnant. She and Ric reconcile; he agrees to raise the child and they remarry. Elizabeth divorces Ric again when she realizes he will not give up his obsession with Sonny. Zander dies in a police shootout. Elizabeth gives birth to a son named Cameron and becomes a nurse.

In 2004, Elizabeth and Lucky (then Greg Vaughan) help Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) and Emily Quartermaine (Natalia Livingston) evade Helena, and get back together in 2005. Their financial struggles prompt Elizabeth to become a surrogate mother for Courtney Matthews (Alicia Leigh Willis) and Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher), which upsets Lucky, but Elizabeth miscarries. They marry in October 2005 and Lucky becomes a father figure to Cameron. They get in a train accident on their way to their honeymoon, and Lucky almost dies. In April 2006, Lucky has a serious back injury while trying to save Elizabeth from Manny Ruiz (Robert LaSardo). He becomes addicted to painkillers and has an affair with Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms). Elizabeth walks in on them, and sleeps with Jason, becoming pregnant. She lets Lucky believe he is the father to avoid him relapsing. They divorce, but remarry after Lucky completes rehab. In May 2007, Elizabeth gives birth to Jacob Spencer. Her relationship with Jason makes Lucky jealous, and their marriage falls apart. In November, Lucky discovers the truth about Jake but agrees to keep the secret to protect him. After Emily's death, Jason and Elizabeth begin a secret relationship and briefly become engaged, but Jason decides his life is too dangerous and ends things. In early 2009, Elizabeth is poisoned by a biotoxin and Lucky stays by her bedside. When Lucky dates Rebecca Shaw (Natalia Livingston), Nikolas kisses Elizabeth to make them jealous. This prompts Lucky to reconcile with Elizabeth, but Elizabeth is attracted to Nikolas and sleeps with him the night she accepts Lucky's proposal. They continue to have an affair, and eventually Lucky (reprised by Jackson) confronts and berates them in January 2010. On Valentine's Day, Lucky finds Elizabeth passed out from hypothermia, and they learn she is pregnant. Elizabeth has to be talked down off the roof by Lucky, and is sent to Shadybrook sanatorium. Helena switches the DNA test results to say Nikolas is the father, and he unsuccessfully tries to pressure Elizabeth into moving in with him. In July, she gives birth to Aiden, who is kidnapped by Franco (James Franco) before Lucky finds him.

In 2011, Elizabeth learns Lucky is Aiden's father, but keeps the secret after Jake is in a hit-and-run accident and dies. Elizabeth has to be convinced by Lucky and Jason to allow his kidney to be donated to Josslyn Jacks. She tries to tell Lucky about Aiden but stops when she sees he is happy at his green card wedding to Siobhan McKenna (Erin Chambers). When Lucky burns down the Spencer house and accidentally injuries Siobhan, Elizabeth tells him the truth to stop him from drinking. Nikolas does not believe her and briefly plans to take Aiden out of the country before returning him and leaving town. During Siobhan's surgery, Elizabeth mistakenly administers the wrong medication, causing tension when Siobhan believes it was intentional. Lucky takes on an undercover drug case and is injected with drugs by order of Anthony Zacchara (Bruce Weitz). Elizabeth finds him, but on her way to get medication she gets in a car accident that puts Siobhan in the hospital. Siobhan is killed by Anthony, causing Lucky to struggle with his addiction. Elizabeth attempts to reconcile with Lucky, but he refuses and leaves town. Elizabeth accompanies Matt Hunter (Jason Cook) to a boat party where Lisa Niles (Brianna Brown) throws her overboard and a mysterious man saves her. Lucky returns home as Aiden is diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. Once he recovers, Elizabeth fakes a breakdown to get Lucky's attention, and when he realizes the truth he leaves town again. Elizabeth eventually starts dating Dr. Ewen Keenan (Nathin Butler). In September 2012, Ewen is revealed to be working with Jerry Jacks (Sebastian Roche), who is poisoning the water supply. Ewen kidnaps Elizabeth but Jason saves her and kills Ewen. Elizabeth attempts to reconcile with Jason, who is separated from his wife, Sam (Kelly Monaco), but he says they do not have a future together. Elizabeth interferes with Jason's efforts to find Sam's baby in an attempt to get him back, but later backs off and helps Jason and Sam reunite with their son, Danny. Meanwhile, Elizabeth helps student nurse Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo) plan the resurrection of the Nurses' Ball. When A.J. Quartermaine (Sean Kanan) turns up in town, Elizabeth is initially hesitant of his return from the dead for Emily's sake, but the two eventually form a relationship and start dating until A.J. reverts back to his old ways, drinking again. Elizabeth broke up with him.

In 2014, Elizabeth's ex-husband Ric Lansing comes back to town and they begin a relationship that is short lived when Ric is presumed dead. While working at the hospital, Elizabeth helps take care of a patient who is brought in after a car accident. Neither Elizabeth nor any of the rest of the residents of Port Charles know that it's Jason Morgan who the town thinks is dead. The accident leaves Jason unrecognizable and he requires a lot of plastic surgery. When he starts to wake up, he has flashes of memories of Elizabeth and when asked if he remembers anything he says her name. Assuming he remembers her as his nurse when he was brought it, Elizabeth asks if he remembers his name and Jason says it's Jake, remember the name of the son he had with Elizabeth. With no memories and no family looking for "Jake", he has nowhere to go when he is released from the hospital. Since he has bonded with Elizabeth while at the hospital, Elizabeth invites him to stay with her and her boys at her house. They begin to grow closer and come close to kissing on Christmas Eve under the mistletoe when Ric Lansing returns to town. Though Ric tries to keep them apart, Elizabeth and Jake eventually have a date and decide to move their relationship forward when Hayden Barnes comes to town and claims "Jake" is her husband Jacob Barnes. Elizabeth walks away from "Jake" and resumes a relationship with Ric. Hayden was actually hired by Ric to pretend to be "Jake's" wife to keep Elizabeth away from him. At the Nurses Ball, Carly outs Ric's lies and when Elizabeth finally realizes that she should be with "Jake", Nicholas Cassadine tells her the truth, that "Jake" is Jason. At first she wants to tell the truth but when she sees Jason's wife happy with Patrick Drake and his daughter Emma, she decides to keep the secret and not tell "Jake" his real identity. They begin a relationship. In July 2015, Elizabeth and Jason's presumed dead son Jake is found to be alive and reunited with her by Lucky. Elizabeth feels torn as she is keeping the truth from Jason but they continue their relationship and become engaged. On their wedding day, Jake learns the truth of his real identity and tells Elizabeth at the church. They don't get married but decide to stay together and figure things out. Jason's wife Sam suspects that Elizabeth has known the truth about Jason's identity all along and confronts her and then later shares her theories with Jason. When Jason confronts Elizabeth, she can no longer keep telling the lie and admits all to him. Unable to handle her deceit, Jason leaves Elizabeth but they decide to parent Jake together. They become worried when Jake start exhibiting disturbing signs.

When Elizabeth's house starts getting vandalized, Jason helps out, trying to keep Jake safe. When Jason investigates with Sam's help who points out to Jason that the vandalism could've been done by someone inside the house. Jason becomes suspicious of Elizabeth, but she insists she's not responsible. However, Jason later realizes that Jake was responsible, hoping his parents would get back together. When they try to get Jake help, he gets hit by a car again and is hospitalized. The doctors, though, are able to save him, and he recovers from his injuries. While dealing with losing Jason and Jake's behavior, Elizabeth is surprisingly helped by a reformed Franco (Roger Howarth). He listens when Elizabeth is upset, and helps with Jake by providing art therapy. Initially tolerating him for Jake's benefit, Elizabeth grows closer to Franco over time, and the two start dating.

Elizabeth is displeased when Nikolas starts dating Hayden, and eventually ends up marrying her. Eventually, she discovers that Hayden is lying about her identity, and reveals this to Nikolas. He is furious, and wants Hayden out of his life. Hayden blackmails Nikolas into staying married to her. She and Elizabeth butt heads quite a bit during this time, with Elizabeth trying to defend Nikolas. Eventually, Nikolas finds leverage on Hayden to use against her, which Elizabeth discovers. Soon after, though, Nikolas goes missing, and Elizabeth accuses Hayden for getting rid of him.

Nikolas is revealed to have faked his death, only to be killed and presumed dead on Cassadine Island. Elizabeth still blames Hayden for driving Nikolas to desperate measures. She eventually gets a hold of the illegal diamonds that Nikolas was using as leverage against Hayden, and decides to turn them over to the police. Hayden finds out, and tries to stop her. Elizabeth leaves before Hayden can, but is pushed down the stairs during a hospital blackout soon after. Hayden is accused, but is later cleared when it's determined that Elizabeth was actually attacked by Paul Hornsby (Richard Burgi). Franco finds out that Hayden and Elizabeth are actually half-sisters, and reveals this to both girls. Though shocked, it does not thaw the animosity they both have for each other.

Elizabeth slowly builds her relationship with Franco, but it's deterred when Tom Baker (Don Harvey), the man who raped her 18 years before, is released from prison. Franco is desperate to keep Tom away from Elizabeth, going so far as to attack him when he comes to the hospital. Despite her fear of Tom, Elizabeth asks Franco to stay away from Tom for her sake. However, Tom is found dead, and Franco is accused of murdering him. Though Franco insists he's not responsible, Elizabeth is horrified when Franco admits to locking Tom up so he would miss his parole hearing and be sent back to prison. She understands him trying to protect her, but Franco decides to stop seeing Elizabeth until he can exonerate himself.

Character development

Elizabeth is introduced as the granddaughter of Steve Hardy, one of the original General Hospital core characters. She is the daughter of Jeff Webber and Carolyn (maiden name unknown), and the sister of Sarah Webber and half-sister of Steven Webber. At age fifteen, she arrives in Port Charles in August 1997 to stay with her grandmother, Audrey Hardy (Ames), the stepmother of Jeff. She follows her sister Sarah (then Sky), who had come to live with Audrey a few months prior. Elizabeth and Sarah had grown up in Boulder, Colorado and their parents left the country to work as doctors. Elizabeth is initially characterized as a rebellious teenager, who complains about having to be compared to her perfect sister. Herbst reflected in 1999 on her character's introduction: "In the past year she (was) a smart-ass child with no respect for anybody, who was out to get everyone. But that is because she was hurt since her parents pretty much abandoned her. So her frustration, anger and snottiness came from being misguided."

Elizabeth's character drastically changes after she is raped in February 1998. Following the assault, she becomes timid and scared, not wanting to leave the house. The teenager's innocence is lost. Lucky (then Jackson) is one of the only people she opens up to, and he helps her to slowly recover. Elizabeth goes through the stages of denial, anger, and eventual acceptance. Although she heals, her character is never the same. Herbst explained in 1999: "Ever since her trauma, Liz has matured more and my character has evolved as a result. She's not evil anymore and her growth since I've been on the show makes playing her today give me many challenges as an actor. (...) I think the writers have done a great job in making Liz not a victim but a fighter and showing that, while this was a terrible experience nobody should go through, she will get through this in time and go on with her life." Elizabeth grows in a positive way, and is a stronger person as a result. Soap Opera Weekly stated in November 1998: "After the initial shock of the attack wore off, and with support – mostly from Lucky – the best parts of the 'old' Liz resurfaced: her spirit, her determination, her innate smarts. But for the first time, Liz also showed herself as a person of untapped virtue and considerable substance."

Rape

The storyline of Elizabeth's rape was initially controversial, but the story of her recovery had a positive reception and received critical acclaim. Victims of abuse stated that the story helped them to heal, and wrote letters of praise to the show. Viewers related to Elizabeth; Herbst stated to Soap Opera Weekly in 1998:

Herbst commented to Soap Opera News that she was glad to be helping others, and that the story helped her to be more aware herself as well as better understand the process of recovery. She was seen as a role model to female viewers. The storyline won General Hospital a SHINE Award (Sexual Health IN Entertainment) in 1998. Both Herbst and Jackson received praise for their portrayals throughout Elizabeth's recovery. Herbst received praise for scenes where Elizabeth confronted her suspected rapist and later on when she confronted her actual rapist. Soap Opera Magazine named Herbst Star of the Week in October 1998 when Elizabeth confronted her teacher, mistakenly believing him to be her rapist. Of the latter, Soap Opera News described: "We felt each transition in Liz's thoughts and feelings. We felt her fear. Then we felt her anger. Then we felt her take control over the situation. We experienced each experience with her. A television set no longer existed. The audience was in that photo studio, standing beside her, repulsed by this man."

Romance

Within Herbst's first year on the series, her character entered into a relationship with Lucky Spencer that was soon called a supercouple, compared to Lucky's legendary parents Luke and Laura. Lucky and Elizabeth's romantic relationship took place gradually during Elizabeth's recovery from being raped. Viewers responded positively to the slow pacing, and the couple was perceived as honest and innocent, something unique among soap opera couples at the time. The couple's first kiss happened months into the relationship, and was anticipated and celebrated by fans. The series used the popular teen characters in an attempt to reach young viewers with a social message through Lucky and Elizabeth's decision to abstain from sex. Executive producer at the time Wendy Riche explained her desire to show the decisions and pressures teenagers face, stating to Soap Opera Weekly: "We have the opportunity with these beloved characters who have struggled together and who have loved together and who are exploring sexuality together to reach an audience that doesn't really want to be preached to, but wants to feel it." In 2008, Lucky and Elizabeth were named No. 9 by Soaps In Depth of the Top 100 Greatest Couples of ABC Daytime.

Elizabeth's relationship with Jason Morgan intertwined with her relationship with Lucky, and although Elizabeth and Jason were never paired on-screen for a long period of time, the couple's fan base was very vocal. They were named by Zap2it to their Top 10 list of couples in 2007, 2008 and 2012. In 2008, they were named No. 12 by Soaps In Depth of the Top 100 Greatest Couples of ABC Daytime. The couple rivaled the supercouple pairing of Jason Morgan and Sam McCall, and in 2007 Zap2it stated, "without question Liz vs. Sam is the biggest rivalry in daytime." In 2010, Herbst commented on the fans' impact on the couple:

Awards

In 1999, Herbst won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress, as well as an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress. In 2000, Soap Opera Update named Herbst No. 6 on their list of Woman of 2000. Herbst was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007 and 2012.

Elizabeth was named one of the "Hottest Nurses on TV" by Wet Paint, saying "Over the years, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) suffered the usual ups and downs that come with living in the General Hospital universe. Through it all she managed to hold onto her job (most of the time), and she never lost the sultry beauty that defines all the greatest soap stars."

References

Elizabeth Webber Wikipedia