Port Charles' loss has been Genoa City's gain.

In case you hadn't heard, Genie Francis (whose 'General Hospital' character Laura Baldwin Spencer was so wrongly left off my recent list of Top 15 Memorable Female Soap Opera Characters) is back on daytime as manipulative Genevieve Atkinson on 'The Young and the Restless.'

'Y&R' reached out to the Emmy-winning star after she appeared on a soap opera reunion show on 'Oprah' earlier this year, offering her the part of Cane's narcissistic mother -- the polar opposite of the long-suffering Laura. Watch for a dramatic showdown today between Genevieve and Colin, played by Francis' former 'GH' co-star Tristan Rogers (ex-Scorpio), that will prove that Cane's mama, in fact, is nobody's patsy.

AOL TV chatted with the fan favorite about a variety of topics including who else she'll be sharing screen-time with on 'Y&R,' a 'GH' storyline that blatantly ignored the show's rich history, which 'Y&R' leading man reminds her of the late, great Jimmy Stewart, and which Aaron Spelling series once wanted to sign her to a contract.

I used to be a devoted fan of General Hospital, and some of my favorite episodes involved Luke and Laura, and later, their son, Lucky. In fact, now that I think about it, I started to stray from the show about the time that Jonathan Jackson, who played the first Lucky, left the show in 1999.

The other actors who played Lucky -- Jacob Young and Greg Vaughan -- did a fine job, but I so associated the role with Jackson that it was impossible for me to accept anyone else as Lucky.

As luck would have it, I just happened to flip on One Life to Live yesterday and saw a promo for Jonathan Jackson coming back to General Hospital as Lucky. What a stroke of "luck" for me!

One of the biggest stars of daytime is coming back to the tube. Genie Francis, the Emmy-award winning actress who created the role of Laura -- as in Luke and Laura -- will return to General Hospital on August 26 for a brief guest stint. This will be a very interesting return, too, because her last tenure on the show in 2007 was not only award-worthy, it also ended with her character resuming the catatonia in which she's been trapped for the past few years.

So how can she return to General Hospital? There's a hint in Genie's quotes to the Associated Press. "This is a short visit. It's a mother-daughter story. Years ago when I started playing the character as a 14-year-old girl, it was a mother-daughter story, only I was the daughter. So it's kinda cool this is full circle."

Has it really been 45 years since General Hospital started broadcasting? Four decades + five years of medical machinations, legendary love stories, action and intrigue. Yes, yes, it's true, on April 1, ABC's General Hospital will celebrate 45 years on the air. Current executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, will cut the cake and members of the cast will blow out the candles, but we're the ones that probably should be smiling. Memories of the great years gone by are inevitable with any show that's run as long as GH. But there's something special about this ABC soap.

%Gallery-18945%

That's right, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the late singer Laura Branigan of "Gloria" fame will finally be together once again, an amazing feat considering he's a fictional character and she's dead. Wait, I'm sorry, the article was actually referring to Luke and Laura of General Hospital fame, arguably the most popular couple in the history of the show, and possible the most popular soap opera couple ever. Genie Francis, who played Laura, will return for episodes meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her marriage to Luke on November 16, 1981. Francis has been on and off the show several times, and it sounds as if these new appearances won't be a permanent thing, either. The episodes will air starting in October.

[via Best Week Ever]