September 7th, 2024, marked 40 years since Kristina Wagner (Kristina Malandro as was) first joined the cast of General Hospital as Aztec princess Felicia Cummings.
Kristina Wagner On 40th Anniversary
Nabbing the role meant uprooting her life in Indiana and heading for the City of Angels (where GH is taped) which proved quite the adventure. “It was a completely different culture and environment, and different types of people that I had never dealt with,” mused the actress to Soap Opera Digest.
“I was very sheltered growing up, and I was in a marriage, too, at the time; I was married when I was, like, 18 years old. So, yeah, it was walking into another planet. But I think I had the type of personality that just kind of allowed myself to just keep going forward…’Okay, this opportunity has presented itself. Sure, I’ll go that way.’ I wasn’t ever that type of person that would stop to question.”
Fame proved anything but elusive, especially after Wager’s alter-ego became one-half of the uber-popular Felicia/Frisco coupling and the reel-life romance blossomed into something all too real — but that’s not to say all was smooth sailing.
Per Wagner, “It was so hard because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, I didn’t know what the [soap] world was like. I didn’t know how to navigate being on a stage with five cameras. I didn’t know anything! I didn’t even pronounce words properly because I was an Indiana girl. There were lots of mess-ups and embarrassing moments where I was humiliated and got laughed at, at that time, because it was a much different time when everybody was less protected emotionally.
“And so I failed miserably in so many different ways with my own ego, in my thinking of myself. But I just kept going and tried to pay attention and when I messed up, I learned from it. And it was nice to have Gloria [Monty, executive producer of GH from 1978-1987 and 1991-1992] believe in us, you know? She really wanted [Frisco and Felicia] to work. She really, I think, liked the chemistry with us. It was the ’80s, so it was the supercouple times, you know?”
A particular struggle facing Wager was balancing motherhood [son Peter was born in 1990 and her late son Harrison was born four years later] and her commitments to the soap. “I have memories of sitting in my dressing room, talking to my mom on the phone and crying because my boys were home with a babysitter and I had to wait and do my scenes later; I was just sitting in my dressing room waiting.
ICYMI: Here’s Kristina Wagner’s Permanent Tribute To Harrison
“Back then, it was a lot of just sitting around and waiting and that was very frustrating. And, you know, I can go into that head space and say, ‘If only I had been there for them more, things today would be different.’ But that’s toxic thinking. It’s always important to be forgiving of oneself, you know? You can’t live in that headspace.”
All these decades later, Wagner can but issue a hearty “thank you” to her fans, and assure them that, “Our hope is to keep the show going for as long as we can and continue to entertain and tell good stories, express love and connection with other people. It’s really been a great ride to be connected with all of them all these years. They’ve been nothing but kind to me. I just want to send my love and hugs to them all.”
Be sure to click on the above link to read Kristina Wagner’s interview in full, then head to our comments section and let us know your most cherished memory from her tenure as Felicia.
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