Take 3

For Kimberly McCullough The Third Time's the Charm
with General Hospital

By Janet Di Lauro

For Kimberly McCullough the third time's the charm with General Hospital
Take 3

"Kimberly McCullough (Robin, General Hospital) is chatting via cell phone on route to San Diego with her personal chauffeur, Jason Thompson (Patrick)." "We're doing an ABC Fun in the Sun event this weekend," explains McCullough, enjoying an ice cream while waiting for Thompson to return with his own treat. "They actually offered us a driver, but I'd rather have a car. Then you have the freedom to do whatever you want to do. It's a control thing."

McCullough has come a long way from the 7-year-old little girl who debuted on GH back in 1985. She's all grown up now – 28, to be exact – and enjoying her latest stint on the ABC soap though it bears little resemblance to her first one. "It's totally different; the way the show's done, the whole production team," cites McCullough, who debuted under the late, great Gloria Monty. "Plus, people let me in on their jokes now. I was just thinking about that the other day. I was doing a bunch of scenes with Tony (Geary, Luke) and Tristan (Rogers, Robert). I looked at Tony and said, 'That's so funny. I bet I wouldn't have gotten that joke 15 years ago,'" she says. "Back then, people used to give me a quarter every time they cussed."

It was all part of Operation: Protect Kimberly, which Monty spearheaded. "Gloria wanted to make sure that I was as real as possible," recounts McCullough. "She told me that she hired me because I wasn't a snot-nosed Hollywood brat. It was important to everybody there that I remained a kid."

Co-stars Rogers, Finola Hughes (Anna) and Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke) totally embraced her and looked out for her. "Tristan was extremely protective of me," she remembers. "When there were guns on the set or people were hitting each other, he would make sure that I wasn't around or that I knew exactly what was going on so I wasn't freaked out. Finola and I always had a strong connection, because we were both dancers. At the time, she didn't have any children, so she treated me like her child. And Ian taught me how to play the bagpipes. I remember being all into my kilt. I used to wear it everywhere. I thought it was so cool."

Between the fond memories from her childhood years and the close friendships she forged during her adult tenure on GH, getting McCullough to return didn't take much coaxing. "Honestly, it was Steve Burton (Jason) who called and asked me to come back," she reveals, noting that Burton had suggested the idea of Robin's return as a way of "expanding" the Jason and Sam story. "Then, I went to the set and had lunch with Steve and Maurice (Benard, Sonny). Maurice was like, 'Make it worth your while. Don't be dumb. Come back for at least a year.' Steve and Maurice were both saying, 'Come back and play with us.' It's iron because of the way things have turned out. I don't even work with them."

Nonetheless, her third go-round in Port Charles has been gratifying for a myriad of reasons. Among them, it's alleviated "the stress of never knowing when I was going to work again," confesses McCullough, who spent the past five years guest-starring in prime time. "I was trying to start a new career, focus on directing. It was difficult to do that auditioning all the time. I needed to have one thing be steady in my life." Plus, prime time didn't offer the challenge the daytime vet was used to. "I was doing Joan of Arcadia right before I came back, " says McCullough, referring to the canceled CBS series that starred her pal and former GH co-star Amber Tamblyn (ex-Emily). "I worked on every episode, but it was just a couple of days here and there. It wasn't like being on a soap. I wanted to work hard again."

McCullough's wishes have been granted since her first day back at GH, where she has remained on the front burner tackling life as an HIV-positive adult, confront her attraction to Patrick, and, most recently, dealing with the return of her parents. "It was wonderfully surreal," remarks McCullough of the reunion with Hughes and Rogers. "After all these years, the connection was still there. I genuinely care about them both, and you can see that on-screen. It was interesting to realize how much I have learned from them, kind of like a real mother and father."

Delving into why Anna and Robert led Robin to believe they were dead was something McCullough was eager to tackle. "Robin went through her entire adolescence and the most defining moment in her life, thus far, by herself," points out McCullough. "Her parents were not there for her when she lost Stone and contracted HIV. Although she is glad they are safe and alive, there is a part of Robin that will never fully accept that she was alone through that traumatic time in her life.

McCullough hasn't always had it easy, either. "I had a lot of heavy **** happen in my life, too," she confesses, choosing not to elaborate. "No, that's for me," she demurs. But she does admit that it can complicate her portrayal of Robin's trials and tribulations. "I've talked to Amber about this," recounts McCullough. "She's one of the best criers in the world. She can cry at the drop of a hat, because it's not a deep thing for her. It's just part of acting. Amber's like, 'Well, you know, I've never had anything bad happen to me. So it's not hard for me to bring that up. I haven't developed any calluses to keep that stuff down.'" In contrast, it's hard for McCullough to must Robin's tears. "If you've worked on keeping something down or keeping it away, it's harder to get it up," she explains.

Fortunately, McCullough's latest stint on GH hasn't been nonstop upheaval. Instead, she's gotten to portray the all-work-and-no-play Dr. Robin Scorpio as "uptight and kind of nosy and in everyone's business," says McCullough. "My character is completely annoying. I wouldn't be her friend, but it does give me somewhere to go with her. Hopefully, they will write some sort of evolution where she loosens up a bit, because that was never how Robin was."

McCullough fondly remembers the days when Robin was a fun-loving daredevil, "riding on motorcycles and going out with street kids," she points out. "Now all of a sudden, she's like, 'Do the right thing!'" Still, the actress is embracing life as a devoted daytime doc. "I would never be cast as that on any other show. That's for sure," she acknowledges, admitting that "people are always telling me that I don't look old enough to be a doctor or that I'm not tall enough."

The actress insists that her petite status isn't an issue, not even in her love scenes with the very tall Thompson. "Not at all," maintains McCullough. "Most of my boyfriends have been like 6'2" in real life. So that's not difficult. It's normal for me." After a quick consult with Thompson, McCullough adds his two cents on the subject. "Jason mentioned that they usually have him sitting down when we kiss on the show. That way I can reach him," recounts McCullough. "But I have no trouble cutting him down to size."

McCullough clearly enjoys working with her latest leading man, not that she understands Robin's attraction to Patrick. "Patrick is such an ass to Robin. He's not nice to her at all. But Patrick brings out that side of Robin that she remembers, the person who used to be feistier and adventurous. Robin also thinks she can change Patrick, that maybe he won't be a jerk with her. I've made that mistake, too. But I was, like, 19 at the time."

These days, she is older and wiser, much like her character. "Hey, Jason. How am I different from Robin?" she poses.

"You get more action on the show," cracks Thompson.

"No! I get more action in real life! Just say I'm single and available."

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