Carrying Serena for Scotty and Dominique, her penchant for troublemaking and her fondness for ducks are just three reasons we love Lucy Coe, played by Lynn Herring on General Hospital. However, it’s her staunch support of the Nurses Ball, GH’s long-running talent show/fundraiser for AIDS/HIV awareness that has truly endeared her to us. Lucy’s exasperating but her devotion to helping others give Herring a reason to play all the emotions that matter.
Lynn Herring – Performer of the Week
Currently, in hiding so that Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy) won’t learn she’s alive, Lucy is frustrated beyond words that she can’t go home to Port Charles as the annual Nurses Ball is being planned. Lucy pled her case to Anna and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart). “I have been the mistress of ceremonies for the Nurses Ball since the 90s,” Lucy passionately pointed out. “I need to be there chairing all the committees and planning everything with my friends and with Marty! Instead, I am stuck here with the two of you! This is totally unfathomable.”
Anna appreciated Lucy’s position as the Nurses Ball both brings everyone together and means a great deal to her daughter Robin (Kimberly McCullough). However, she told Valentin not to confuse this issue; sure, Lucy can be a pain, the super spy noted. But not even Lucy’s harshest critics can deny her devotion to the annual charity event. The Nurses Ball isn’t just a talent show to Lucy — it’s her purpose.
After storming off, Lucy returned to the living room to discuss things more calmly but no less passionately to Anna and Valentin. “I just really want — I need — the Nurses Ball to be special,” Lucy said. Anna said she understood that it was difficult to stand by while life was going on in the outside world but it’s what they need to do. It didn’t take long for Lucy to get her ire up, prompting Anna (the always terrific Finola Hughes) to firmly remind Lucy that they wouldn’t be in this mess had she listened to her in the first place.
Later in the week, Lucy was thrilled to be visited by Laura (Genie Francis), hoping that the mayor would bring her some good news. Laura, who did give Lucy a letter from Martin (Michael E. Knight), asked her to wait. “You know me, I don’t do patient,” Lucy responded. Laura attempted to calm the reluctant recluse by telling her that the Nurses Ball would be televised this year. “I don’t want to watch the Nurses Ball,” Lucy maintained. “I am the Nurses Ball.”
One reason Herring is so entertaining is that she infuses Lucy with joy. She wasn’t merely going to glance at Martin’s letter but rather celebrate it. She went off to run a hot tub so she could pour over the letter in private and in luxury. But that’s not all. This is Lucy Coe, after all.
Veteran GH fans recall when Lucy was first introduced to the show as a mousy librarian, who later shed that persona to reveal a version of Lucy who was anything but demure. GH is great at Friday tags so it did not come as a total surprise to see Lucy, looking more like that reserved librarian, walk off an elevator at the Metro Court — with Victor hanging out at the bar! Kudos to Lynn Herring for making Lucy so entertaining!