‘General Hospital’: Roger Howarth Reacts After Shock Exit From Show
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Roger Howarth, who plays Austin Gatlin-Holt in General Hospital, has opened up about his shocking exit from the long-running soap, admitting that it “took him a minute” to adjust to the news.
The actor has been with the show since 2012, first crossing over from One Life to Live as Todd Manning and then going on to play two more characters (first Franco Baldwin, then Austin). His departure comes after Roger’s fatal shooting in the November 17 episode.
Speaking to SoapOperaDigest about his exit, Howarth said he received a phone call from executive producer Frank Valentini several weeks ago informing him that his contract would not be renewed.
“[He told me] that when my contract was up at ABC, I would not be offered a new contract and that the character of Austin would be killed, and that this was something that both wanted and needed to do to move [the] story,” Howarth shared.
“And it took me a minute to kind of adjust, to kind of hear the news; it took a second for me to let that settle in. And then, immediately, I realized how lucky I was to have been able to do something I really love doing for more than a decade with people who I really enjoyed working with,” he continued.
Howarth went on to say his departure “felt very much like the scene in Moneyball and Jonah Hill had just told me I’ve been traded.”
Despite his initial surprise at being let go, Howarth stated, “I’m a lucky guy. I had a great run and this was a decision made by people who make these kinds of decisions for a living. For a long time I’ve enjoyed coming to work, learning lines, and saying them with really cool people.”
Before joining General Hospital, Howarth portrayed Todd Manning on the daytime drama One Life to Live, a role which earned him a Daytime Emmy Award in 1994 and who is generally considered an iconic soap opera actor.
Howarth, who wrapped up shooting on General Hospital in October, said of his last day on set, “I was overwhelmed with just how much I love what I do. I love telling stories and I got to do it for a long time.”
He added, “I started my relationship with ABC when I had just had a child and now I have a grandchild, and that’s a lot of opportunities and a lot of people that I got to work very closely with to tell a good story. It’s not just that I felt that on my last day; I still feel that way, but I felt it pretty strongly on the set.”
“And everybody was very sweet to me. The producers gave me flowers and I got to say thank-you and good-bye to an awful lot of people who I really admire,” he concluded.
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