Stuart Damon's Toughest Role

As General Hospital's Dr. Alan Quartermaine, Stuart Damon has survived impotency, murderous ex-wives and amnesia. But nothing's been as hard on the actor as the drug addiction story line that last year earned him a Daytime Emmy Award.

"The drug addiction story line was probably the greatest challenge of my entire career," the veteran soap star tells the TV Guide Channel. "I mean emotionally I was just spent at the end of every day. I was one of the few people who would come into make-up and come out looking worse."

How is Damon going to top his portrayal of GH's drug-addled chief of staff? "I think I'm still young enough to handle a triangle love story line, but I don't want it to be me and another guy," he explains carefully, "I want it to be two women and me?them fighting over me. I think that would be a lot of fun. I think I could still do that."

For now, the 63-year-old actor is busy recovering from real-life surgery. "I've had both of my elbows opened up and they redid them both. I guess it would be the equivalent of really chronic tendinitus. I couldn't lift a coffee cup. And I'm doing very well and, hopefully in about three months I'll be back on the golf course."

Minor surgery hasn't stopped Damon from hamming it up on GH's Nurses Ball. "Brad Mall and I do 'Hey Good Looking' and we're both fighting over Lucy and we've got eight dancers behind us?we had a ball... coming back every year to do the Nurses Ball is me going back to the first half of my career [which] I spent in the musical theatre." Damon may have gotten his start on Broadway, but General Hospital is the best place for a drug-addicted amnesiac doctor to win an Emmy.