Jon Lindstrom Marks 30 Years As GENERAL HOSPITAL's Kevin (2024)

On December 3, 1993, GENERAL HOSPITAL introduced a new alter ego for Jon Lindstrom, who at the time had been playing serial killer Ryan Chamberlain for more than a year: Dr. Kevin Collins, Ryan’s buttoned-up identical twin, a psychiatrist. The second character was created to keep Lindstrom in Port Charles after he’d been offered another gig (playing Damian on AS THE WORLD TURNS; ultimately, that role went to Paolo Seganti). Lindstrom recalled to Digest in 2022, “When I got offered the other job, all of a sudden GH basically had to, as we say, s**t or get off the pot as far as Jon Lindstrom was concerned. And Claire [Labine, then-head writer] said, ‘Well, let’s come up with another character. I have this idea for this guy, Kevin. Why don’t we do that?’ ”

Labine dreamed up Kevin, and Lindstrom injected his own creativity into his development — as he put it to Digest in 2021, “I did have meetings with Wendy [Riche, then-executive producer] and Claire and we agreed that there were certain traits Kevin had to have to be different from Ryan, but they left a lot of his ‘demeanor’ up to me. I had to make him my own, after all”) — but Michele Val Jean, then part of the GH writing, played a critical role, as well. In 2021, Lindstrom declared to Digest that Val Jean’s influence on Kevin can be felt “in every way possible,” noting that “Claire Labine threw Michele the reins and then she and I talked a lot about what ways Kevin could be differentiated from Ryan. Michele is an incredibly articulate, well-read person. I think Kevin’s syntax, the way he speaks, never would have developed clearly without her.”

Seeing Double: Ryan and Kevin came face to face in a memorable 1995 sequence in a hall of mirrors.

Nor would Kevin’s first major romantic pairing, the opposites-attract yarn of Kevin and Lucy. “It was her idea to put them together,” Lindstrom shared. “I think her take on it was something like, ‘What if Lucy goes to therapy, not because she thinks she needs it, but because she thinks Kevin is cute?’ She pitched it to Claire and she told Michele to run with it. And man, did she ever! The story of how Lucy chased Kevin, who didn’t trust his own heart then, was her doing. She wrote all those scenes, so she was, in a word, indispensable. She not only wrote the Kevin/ Lucy stuff, but she was primary writer on all the Kevin/Ryan scenes going forward.” Lindstrom has fond memories of collaborating with Val Jean in those days. “We talked all the time! I’d come up to her office — she was working in the building back when writers did that — and we’d throw ideas around. Things like motivation, backstory, Kevin’s thoughts and feelings about Ryan and their separate history, Kevin’s guilt, nature vs. nurture, all kinds of angles. We got to be great friends through that process.”

Opposite Day: Kevin and Lucy (Lynn Herring) were an unlikely duo.

Ryan was killed off in 1995 (at least, it seemed that way at the time), but Lindstrom continued on as Kevin, and in 1997, the characters of Kevin, Lucy and Scott were spun off from GH into a new, half-hour series, PORT CHARLES, a move that Lindstrom described to Digest in 2021 as “a way for Kevin to blossom on his own.” His years on that show saw the introduction of Kelly Monaco (Sam, GH) in her daytime debut as Kevin’s surprise daughter, Livvie. Lindstrom recalled to Digest that “I tested with Kelly, among several other Livvie candidates. I even told her later that I wasn’t sure if she was the one when she tested, because I couldn’t see what the people in the booth saw coming through the cameras, and that’s where it really counts. Chemistry is great and all, but if the camera doesn’t like you, forget it. The camera loves Kelly, and her instincts were apparent that night. But I also knew she had oodles of talent and potential just from standing across from her.” PC went off the air in 2003, and the following year, Lindstrom popped in to GH for Kevin to attend Lila Quartermaine’s memorial service.

Pop Culture: Lindstrom as Kevin on PORT CHARLES with love interest Eve (Julie Pinson) and daughter Livvie (Kelly Monaco).

Then, nearly a decade later (and following Lindstrom’s stint as Craig Montgomery on AS THE WORLD TURNS), GH approached him about reprising Kevin as the show approached its 50th anniversary. Explained Lindstrom to Digest earlier this year, “It was presented [as] as a short-lived thing: ‘Hey, would you like to come back for the 50th? It’s no big deal, everybody’s doing it just to mark the occasion.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, why not, I’ll do it!’ [Then] one day, Frank [Valentini, executive producer] stopped me in the hallway and said, ‘Are you enjoying being here? Because we’d like to write some things for you.’ I said, ‘I’ve always enjoyed being here. I like this gig. So, if you want to use me, go right ahead!’ ”

Just Like Old Times: Kevin returned to Port Charles in 2013 and reunited with pals Mac (John J. York) and Felicia (Kristina Wagner).

Over the past decade, Kevin has found lasting love with wife Laura — and, in a juicy storyline turn for his portrayer, reckoned with the return from the dead of Ryan, Ryan’s subsequent reign of terror and eventual death, earning multiple Daytime Emmy nominations for Lindstrom along the way. Remarking on the longevity of his association with GH, Lindstrom marveled to Digest on the occasion of the show’s 60th, “The vast majority of Hollywood careers last 10 years. Well, I’ve tripled that. All I can say is, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.”

Simply The Best: “There’s a reason that Genie [Francis, Laura] is Genie,” Lindstrom observed to Digest earlier this year. She’s a brilliantly talented woman and also incredibly nice — a remarkable talent, a remarkable person.”

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