Duke Lavery

Duke Lavery
General Hospital
Portrayed by	Ian Buchanan (1986–1989) Greg Beecroft (1989–1990)
First appearance	1986
Last appearance	1990
Cause/reason	Shot and killed by Julian Jerome, before killing him
Profile
Aliases	Jonathon Paget
Occupation	Owner of Duke's Club
Relationships Parents Angus McKay (deceased) Mary Lavery Spouse(s) Anna Devane Children Unnamed Child (sex unknown, with Anna; miscarriage) Robin Scorpio (step-daughter)

Duke Lavery was a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera, General Hospital. The character was created in 1986 and was portrayed by Ian Buchanan from 1986 until 1989. Greg Beecroft took over role from 1989 to 1990, when the character was killed off.

Character Storyline

Duke Lavery rebounded from his paralysis and received a light prison sentence for his mob activities. In early 1987, it was revealed that the imprisoned Angus McKay was Duke's father! In early January, a young beautiful nun, Sister Camellia, arrived in Port Charles. The troubled Camillia was the daughter of Angus and the half-sister of Duke! In earlier years, she had met and fallen in love with Duke, unaware they were related. The mystery deepened when it became apparent that Sister Camellia was deeply troubled by a night in her past which she could not remember. It was a night she spent in Canada in a town called L'Orleans.

Angus McKay, elderly and imprisoned, desperately wanted to end the vendetta between the warring McKay and Jerome families. To call a halt to the mob war, Angus made the ultimate sacrifice - he drank poison and died! With his dying breath, Angus begged Duke to look after Camellia. Soon after, Duke was paroled. A free man, he returned to the club and set out to raise the necessary funds to pay his heavy fine. When his debt was repaid, Duke would be free to marry the love of his life, Anna Devane.

Accompanying Duke to L'Orleans for Angus' funeral, Anna's intuition went into overdrive. She began to realize that there may have been far more in Duke and Camellia's past than just a sibling rivalry. Though Duke vehemently denied it, the truth that he was Camellia's brother and drove her to commit a murder she couldn't remember! Now, four years later, Camellia was determined to find out what happened on that fateful night -- although Duke warned her that it could destroy both their lives!

Camellia discovered that Angus was not her real father after all -- nor was Duke her brother! Sister Camellia abandoned the sisterhood and schemed to win back Duke by contacting a sleazy investigative reporter, Mark Carlin. Digging into Duke and Camellia's past, Carlin unearthed that Duke had covered up a murder in L'Orleans.

On Duke and Anna's wedding day, Mark exposed Duke's secret. Mid-ceremony, reporters crashed the wedding. Camelia's memories came back and she realized she killed Evan Jerome. When she was acquitted in Canada, Camelia realized she could never win Duke's love, and left Port Charles. Eventually, Anna broke up with Duke and started her own PI agency. She was delighted to have her ex-husband Robert Scorpio return to Port Charles to be her partner. Robert came back with the sad news: Holly had died in a plane crash.

Robert to win back his former love, Anna, but she chose to reunite with Duke. A forlorn Robert Scorpio quietly observed Duke and Anna's rekindled bliss. He watched with a broken heart as they married in a glorious Scottish wedding.

To find Anna, Duke desperately turned to underworld crime boss Victor Jerome! Putting together the clues, both Duke and Robert independently tracked down Grant in the Adirondack Mountains. In a final snowmobile chase, Robert caught up to Grant. In a heart-stopping climax, he rescued the evil killer just as he was about to plummet from a cliff. After subduing Grant, Robert turned to Anna, who raced into his comforting arms, her ordeal finally over! Just then, Duke arrived on the scene and stood in stunned silence as he witnessed the sight of his wife in her ex-husband's arms.

Duke Lavery struggled to keep his underworld involvement under wraps. When Victor Jerome's son, Julian, took a bullet meant for Duke, he made a deathbed request of Duke to help his father legitimize the mob. Back in Port Charles, a grieving Victor intended to hold Duke to his promise! Meanwhile, Victor's brassy blonde daughter, Olivia, showed a strong attraction to Duke. Secretly, Olivia was obsessed with ruling the mob. Only a select few knew that it was Olivia who ruthlessly ordered the hit on her brother, Julian.

When Olivia Jerome realized she couldn't lure Duke from his pregnant wife Anna, she decided to kill him. But Anna became her unintended victim when she was caught in an elevator rigged to crash! Anna was rushed to General Hospital, where the fall cost her the life of her unborn baby. Later, Olivia was gunned down in her hotel suite. When the police arrived, they discovered Anna, holding a gun, standing over Olivia's fallen body! While Olivia lay comatose in General Hospital, Anna was charged with attempted murder. The real killer turned out to be Olivia's one-time henchman, Dino, who was also revealed to be Victor Jerome's illegitimate son. Olivia was shipped to a mental institution.

A triumphant Anna watched with glee as Olivia Jerome was found guilty and shipped to a mental institution. Though she would escape on several occasions, Olivia Jerome's long reign of terror against Anna was finally over! But so was Anna's marriage. After Duke testified against the mob, his life -- and that of his loved ones -- was in danger. Fearing that Anna and Robin were in danger, Duke sacrificed himself. He faked his own death in a warehouse explosion. Resigned to his fate, Duke secretly entered the Witness Relocation program. Later, learning of Victor Jerome's death, Duke believed it was now safe for him to live in the outside world. He left the Witness Protection Program. Unbeknownst to him, Victor's son Julian was hell-bent on revenge.

The Jerome crime family, weakened by Victor's death, regrouped under his son Julian, who had two objectives: to neutralize his dangerous sister Olivia and to see Duke Lavery truly dead. Julian planned to kill Duke (who had undergone plastic surgery and had a new face) and frame Olivia for the crime! Duke Lavery finally returned to Port Charles...with a new face, a new name, and no Scottish accent. As art dealer Jonathan Paget, he handled Sean Donely's purchase of some rare Chinese porcelain, the Wellington Collection. Duke wanted to go right to his beloved wife Anna, but he knew Julian Jerome was on his tail. Julian shot and killed his sister, Olivia, who clued Anna in on the fact that Duke was alive. Before they could be reunited, Duke was gunned down by his bitter enemy, Julian Jerome, and he died in Anna's arms.

See also

• Duke and Anna

Resource External links

• GH Character Bio on Duke Lavery