General Hospital’s Steve Burton Opens Up About Stuart Damon’s Support

No one advocated for Steve Burton during his early years on General Hospital more than Maurice Benard. Well, almost no one. There was a costar who helped spark the change that would turn Burtons’ Jason Quartermaine into Jason Morgan, changing the trajectory of both the actor and the character.

Jason Morgan May Never Have Existed

Burton started playing a SORAS’d version of the Quartermaine scion, Jason, in 1991, whose goal was to become a doctor like his mother, Monica (Leslie Charleson), and his father, Alan (Stuart Damon). Benard had joined the show as mobster Sonny in 1993, and in 1995, Jason was in an accident that left him with permanent brain damage and memory loss. Sonny took Jason in, and he changed his last name from Quartermaine to Morgan and would go on to become the most lethal enforcer that daytime TV has ever seen.

Burton finally made it onto “State of Mind,” the YouTube mental health awareness series created and hosted by Benard. On the June 2 episode, the two joked around and discussed Burton’s career path, where he jokingly explained that, at the time, he was tired of serving tea to Jason’s grandmother, Lila (Anna Lee). Benard explained that when he saw a clip of what the younger actor was doing, he found his work compelling. The two hadn’t talked all that much up to that point, and so he approached Burton, telling him he was “deep,” so he asked what his technique was.

“I don’t have a technique, man…I just do what I do, like, I don’t know,” was Burton’s response. Benard didn’t know that at that point, Burton was ready to call it quits and offered to mentor him. Regarding the change from Quartermaine to Morgan, Benard asked, “But who went up to [the producers] and said change the story?” pausing for a moment to guess, “You.”

“No, no, I didn’t ever do that,” said Burton, who added, “‘cause I was afraid to get fired. I avoided the executive producer like the plague when I was there. So, Stuart Damon was a huge advocate for me. He would always go up and go, ‘Hey, give this guy something. He’s good. He’s got something.’ And he was an advocate before you were.” Burton detailed how Benard took him under his wing and taught him to dig deep into his character to increase his range of depth. But he never forgot the life-changing storyline that Damon had encouraged the producers and writers to find for him.

Burton Had Nothing But Praise for Damon

In June 2021, Damon passed away at age 84, and Burton took to Instagram to share a picture of his former TV father, lovingly writing, “Stuart Damon. What a loss. The Angels are singing! One of the greatest guys ever. I was so blessed to have this guy play my tv dad. He was so kind, generous, giving, funny, selfless, and just an awesome guy.” He further remarked, “He taught me so much. I know everyone loved Stuart as Alan Quartermaine, who wouldn’t…he was amazing. But I just want people to know what a great husband and father this guy was. I’m sad beyond words. My prayers go out to his family. Love you Stuey D! 🙏🏻❤️”

In November 2021, The Soap Hub Awards were presented on The Talk, and Burton — still reeling from Damon’s death — gave a heartfelt statement: “Stuart was just our rock, like for everybody in the studio. And you can always judge a man by his actions, and he was kind to everybody all the time. He made sacrifices for us and his family, and I want people to know that not only was he an amazing actor, he was just an amazing man and an amazing father that I look up to.” (Learn how costars paid tribute to Damon.)

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