John Stamos gained fame for his portrayal of Blackie Parrish from 1982-1984 in the ABC soap opera General Hospital. In fact, his brilliant performance in the role earned him the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
In a recent interview, the actor reflected on his time on the set of the TV series. While doing so, Stamos detailed that the weight of the role’s significance in shaping his career placed him under tremendous pressure, which led him to overreact on a particular occasion.
John Stamos says that he had an outburst with Elizabeth Taylor on the set of ‘General Hospital’
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, the 60-year-old recalled that he was struggling with his lines when Elizabeth Taylor visited the set of the ABC soap, and he couldn’t help but take his frustration out on her.
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“She’d been on the show, and she was friends with Tony Geary. I had one of those scenes where it was the first time when my mother was dying in the scene in the show, and I never really experienced that and was trying to say, ‘My mother’s dead,'” Stamos reminisced. “‘My mother’s dead,’ in my head, and my head was like, ‘No, she’s not. She’s teaching CCD down in Orange County.’
“I heard this rustling and I couldn’t get through the scene,” he added. “I was f—ing it up. I couldn’t get to that emotional place, and I heard rustling, and I heard a [popping sound], and then I was, like, ‘Get that old lady out of my eye line,’ and the old lady was Elizabeth Taylor.”
John Stamos reveals that he was unaware of the identity of Elizabeth Taylor at the time of his outburst
In his new memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, Stamos shared that he was unaware of the identity of the iconic actress. He explained that it took an unveiling by his co-star, Chris Robinso, after the incident for him to realize who he had just yelled at.
However, the actor noted that upon his realization, he was totally embarrassed and quickly found a way to resolve the issue. “I can’t believe I lost my s— in front of Elizabeth Taylor,” Stamos wrote in the book. “My dad is going to kill me. I mute my tantrum, apologize profusely, make some excuse about calling her old, then slither back to the set and continue the scene. This time, I cry my eyes out.”