‘General Hospital’ pair to check in for parade

Today, “General Hospital” actors Kimberly McCullough and Jason Thompson will swap their normal work environment of smoldering heat and steaminess in an air-conditioned Los Angeles soundstage for the real deal.

The current “GH” It couple are this year's honored guests/victims riding atop a float in WSB-TV's Salute 2 America Parade, beginning at 1 p.m. today.

When he began on the show last year, Thompson's main acting responsibility as Dr. Patrick Drake was to be belligerent to his new TV dad, Dr. Noah Drake, played by a returning Rick Springfield .

McCullough was lured back to the show around the same time to reprise the role of Robin Scorpio, a part she originated at age 7. She was soon joined by a reunion of her TV parents, soap superspies Robert Scorpio (played by Tristan Rogers ) and Anna Devane ( Finola Hughes ).

So what's it like to act again, this time as an adult on equal footing with Rogers and Hughes?

“I wouldn't call it equal footing, ” McCullough cracks. “It's given me a lot of perspective. I didn't realize how many little tricks I had learned from them as an actor and had adapted into my work. And back then, I was pretty protected on the set as a kid. Not anymore!”

Thompson and McCullough are quietly making soap history depicting a couple who routinely hit the sheets when one of the characters is HIV-positive. “GH” writers had Robin contract the virus as a teen from a boyfriend who later died from AIDS.

“It's a powerful thing to tackle as an actor, to show this couple dealing with this but not allowing it to be the only focus,” Thompson says.

“It's an opportunity to show someone living with this,” McCullough says. “I get to break a stereotype.”

After “stalking” her, McCullough is being reunited all this summer with her TV mom after a five-day guest stint by Hughes in May was a hit with fans. The actresses have remained close off-camera.

In a departing airport scene with McCullough this past spring, fans caught a glimpse of the actresses' real-life connection. Without warning during taping, Hughes traced “I love you” in McCullough's hand, a gesture of affection she started when McCullough was a little girl.

Laughs McCullough: “I fell completely apart on camera. As soon as they said, ‘Cut,' I yelled to Finola, ‘I hate you!' ”

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