The Doctor Is In After 16 years on General Hospital, Stuart Damon finds Mad Dr. Alan Quartermaine more popular than ever. "This is me in drag," explains Stuart Damon matter-of-factly as we stroll down memory lane via the many photos hanging on his dressing room wall. Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie, MacBeth, Cinderella, it's all here. Now, explain about the dress. "Gloria [Monty, former GH executive producer] thought it would be hysterical if they disguised me in a dress. And of course, it made complete sense to see a man like me in heels: 6 foot 6, 225 pounds, in full makeup. No one would notice me right? I had Harvey Korman's shoes from when he used to dress up [on the Carol Burnett Show], even though my feet were bigger. The hilarious Damon is nothing like our Dr. Quartermaine. He peppers his conversation with phrases like, "I'm not playing with a full deck." He refers to himself (with a big smile) as a "dinosaur." He comes to work in a sweatsuit, and is clearly one of the most beloved actors on General Hospital. "Kin Shriner (Scotty) says the only reason I have a career as long as I do is because of my thick hair," Damon explains with typical self-deprecating humor. "Kin studies my head in makeup and says, 'Looks like you've got about another 15 years.'" If not more. The Quartermaines have been the central family on GH for the better part of Damon's 16 years on the show, and he is a big reason for that. "I love my job", he gushes. "After all these years, I still care desperately about what happens on this show. It means as much to me today as it did when I first set foot here. You see, this job came at the right time in my life. I've been around the circuit God knows how many times, and I was old enough that I didn't have to prove anything anymore." What he has proved is that a good actor can take a character around the bend and back without compromising the integrity of the role. (Alan used try and kill people; now he's chief of staff at the hospital.) "I think Alan has tremendous value," Damon believes. "You need to give Alan a good reason to be on the dark side of the tracks, but the Quartermaines have always had an inherent, dangerous quality to them to them. You really don't want to cross them. I think it would be perfectly legitimate for Alan to be driven to another woman now. Not in the Lucy Coe way, where it was lust, but an exciting, mature kind of romance." Don't get him wrong: Damon reveres on-screen wife Leslie Charleson (Monica). "We are very good friends," he shares. "We laugh all the time and I am convinced that is why we still have such a fabulous relationship, both on screen and off." So why the urge for a new love interest? "Alan and Monica have done everything to each other, for each other, about each other. There's not much more that we haven't done." The same can probably be said of his real wife - Damon has been married for over 30 years. "Deirdre is definitely the glue in this marriage," he confided. "We both come from families where divorce never existed. We never ran out on each other. I tried a few times, but she wouldn't let me," he quips. "She caught me at the door." Damon met former actress Deirdre when both were appearing in different shows on Broadway (she now rides horses competitively) and they have two grown children. "Everyone knows that my son, Christopher, was diagnosed at age 7 as diabetic," Damon says, his smile disappearing for the first time during the interview. "He take at least three injections a day and at least five blood tests a day. I saw Lorenzo's Oil and it almost killed me. To have a child with an affliction and go see that movie - it was relentless. I almost walked out two or three times." He is also close to daughter Jennifer who recently got divorced and moved back home. "She had our blessing, but it didn't work out and that's life," Damon says of her marriage. "We're very honest in our house about relationships. We do not hide our feelings. Her life is her life. We can't live it for her or choose the men for her or anything else. My family is very important to me. I'm grateful." In fact, Stuart Damon is grateful for a lot of things. "I work two days a week," he muses, a big smile back in place. "I just got finished playing golf. I work for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. I go to the movies. I spend weekends with my family. People ask me, 'Isn't acting hard?' and I say 'hard? What are you talking about?' I have five or six beautiful women who make me up on a daily basis. They ask me to show up on stage looking svelte in a double breasted suit and say some words," he chuckles. "This is not my idea of a hard life." SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE - TENDER IS THE FIGHT Alan and Monica Quartermaine have been breaking up to make up since their first date. "When I was a villain on the show, I went right for the jugular," brags Stuart Damon. "I tried to drop a roof on Monica's head." Alan's also used the Quartermaine money to keep Monica married to him, cheated oh her, divorced her, lied to her and tried to kill her (twice!), among other nasty things. "When I was really after her, I used to terrorize (Charleson) for real. She never had to act, you ask her. One day I caught her in the hallway and I had some really venomous dialogue. I literally had her by the throat up against the wall. She never had to act fear, she was so terrified of me." Damon and Charleson's volatile on screen relationship continues seamlessly off screen. "A long time ago," laughs Charleson, "someone was talking about getting obscene phone messages and I said, "I never got one." I felt left out. So, when I got back to my dressing room there was a phone message with heavy breathing, which turned into a hacking cough. That was my obscene phone call from Stuart so my feeling wouldn't be hurt." "Absolutely," Damon confirms. "I leave her heavy breathing telephone messages - like a pornographic caller with asthma." Charleson even had a tip for us when she learned of this interview: "When Stuart smiles looks like he has gas," she advised cheerfully. "Try to get a picture of him where he doesn't look like a serial killer." By Carolyn Hinsey Soap Opera Digest - 09/28/93