Once More, With Feeling

Inside GH’s Emotional Farewell To Tracy — And Her Beloved Portrayer, Jane Elliot.

- Mara Levinsky

When Jane Elliot, who has played the role of Tracy Quartermaine on and off since 1978, informed GH’s higher-ups that she was retiring from the show, Co-Head Writers Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante faced a major challenge: scripting a fitting exit for one of Port Charles’s most beloved residents.

“She is so integral to this show and such a fabulous actress,” says Passanante. “We all love the character and we love writing for Jane Elliot playing Tracy so much that it was kind of a kick in the stomach to hear that we would be losing her. It’s tough — it’s really tough!” The writers did have ample time to plan, Altman notes. “This was a case where we did know for some time, since the circumstances of Jane leaving were that this is what she wants to do at this stage in her life.”

Central to their thinking about Tracy’s send-off was the significance of the Quartermaine family name to the character. “Despite all the crazy things she’s done over the years, Tracy is a fairly clear character,” Altman muses. “Her motivations have been clear, her desires and what drives her, and how important the name Quartermaine is to her.” Picks up Passanante, “Our thinking was to try to come up with something that tested Tracy’s moral center and gave her an ethical dilemma, and at the same time,played into her history — most specifically, her relationship with her father, which in so many ways was the fundamental relationship in Tracy’s life.”