Gloria Monty

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Gloria Monty (August 1921 - March 30, 2006) was an American TV producer working primarily in the field of daytime drama.

[edit] Soaps

After directing successful shows such as The Secret Storm, she is best known for taking over the ailing General Hospital in 1978. Monty was given 13 weeks to turn the show around, with cancellation threatened if she did not succeed. It subsequently became the top-rated US soap for a decade.

To accomplish this turnaround, she focused main storylines on younger characters to reach out to younger viewers, particularly the pairing of ingenue Laura Vinning Webber (Genie Francis) and troubled criminal Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary, whom she knew from his stint on her previous series, Bright Promise). She gave the sets a more contemporary look and feel, and employed production techniques once used only in primetime. One major result of the "Monty Revolution" was the faster pace of the show, effectively doubling the number of scenes in each episode.

Under Monty's watch the show rose to #1 in the Daytime TV ratings, with Luke and Laura's wedding being the highest rated soap opera episode in daytime history (about 30 million viewers). The Monty Revolution consisted of supercouples such as Luka/Laura, Frisco/Felicia, and Robert/Holly. She and various headwriters also created the Quartermaine family, Bobbie and Luke Spencer, Robert, Anna and Robin Scorpio, and many others who would dominate the show in the 80's and early 90's.

Monty left the show in 1987 but returned in 1991. Although she had always been known for her tough, dictatorial attitude, her ideas no longer seemed in touch with the world of Port Charles and viewer expectations. She lured Anthony Geary back to daytime but went along with his demand to play a brand new character, Bill Eckert. An entire new family, the Eckerts, was ushered in, taking up four to five days a week of airtime while the Quartermaines were phased out (Monty wanted to get rid of the Quartermaines). Monty also fired a popular actress Jennifer Guthrie, who played heroine Dawn Winthrop on the show. The ratings began to erode; this combined with the refusal of stars such as Tristan Rogers, who played Robert Scorpio, to continue working with Monty, left ABC with no choice but to fire her in 1992 and replace her with Wendy Riche.

Monty produced several primetime thrillers after leaving the world of soaps.

Monty died on March 30, 2006, after a bout with cancer at age 84.

[edit] Positions Held

The First Hundred Years

Director (1950-1952)

General Hospital

Executive Producer (1978-1987, 1990-1992)

The Secret Storm

Director (1954-1969)

Preceded by Tom Donovan	Executive Producer of General Hospital 1978 - 1987	Succeeded by H. Wesley Kenney
Preceded by Joseph Hardy	Executive Producer of General Hospital 1991-1992	Succeeded by Wendy Riche