What role did Mark Hamill play on General Hospital? A closer look at the Star Wars fame star’s soap opera appearance

Mark Hamill, famous for playing the iconic Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, began his career in daytime soap operas. Before he played Luke Skywalker, Hamill had a major recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital. He was on the show in the early 1970s. This was an important way for him to learn how to act before he went on the adventure that changed his life to a galaxy far, far away.

Mark Hamill's character on General Hospital was Kent Murray. Kent was Nurse Jessie Brewer's (a main character on the ABC daytime drama) made-up nephew. Hamill's time on the show wasn't very long, but it gave a young actor useful experience in how to deal with the hard schedule of making TV shows.

Mark Hamill: From Port Charles to Star Wars Fame

Mark Hamill spent around nine months in the made-up town of Port Charles while working on the set of General Hospital. His appearances as Kent Murray were from 1972 to 1973. Hamill was in his early twenties then, and it was one of his first big jobs on TV.

Kent Murray and his sister Carol moved to Port Charles after their father, who was divorced, passed away. He was Nurse Jessie Brewer's brother. Jessie got legal custody of the two kids, which brought Kent and Carol into the orbit of the long-running drama.

Kent was played as a teenager, and even though he wasn't very important to the many different stories in General Hospital, the role was a good experience for Hamill as a professional actor.

Hamill has talked a lot about his time working on the soap opera, saying that he learned a lot from the show's daily grind. In a 2023 WIRED interview on YouTube, he mentioned,

"I wasn't a real fan of soap operas, but everybody there was so nice and it was a great education to learn how to find your light, how to hit your marks. I was on for nine months, which was perfect. And I still have great memories of working there."

In 1973, the actor finished his time on General Hospital and left the world of daytime TV behind. His work life would soon be permanently changed. Just a few years later, he was given the role that would make his career and put his name in pop culture history: Luke Skywalker. The move from playing a teenage ward in General Hospital to the main hero in George Lucas's famous 1977 space opera, Star Wars, was a big deal.

Before playing Luke Skywalker, a farm boy who learns he's meant to be a Jedi Knight, Mark Hamill was an actor with only a few TV credits (like his recurring role on General Hospital). After playing the role, he became famous all over the world. No one expected Star Wars to be so successful. But it made Hamill a famous face in the movie business. Hamill's work on General Hospital is an interesting part of his history, even as he accepted his fate in Star Wars. He shared in a 2023 interview with CBS,

"We landed in Chicago. I looked out, and I saw there were crowds outside. I said, ‘Hey, you guys, there must be somebody famous on this plane."
 

General Hospital episodes are available to stream on CBS.