One of ongoing gags in the soap biz is the mythical return of Vanessa Marcil to General Hospital. I say it's mythical because for six years now, a certain magazine regular writes about Vanessa's return and it never actually happens. But now, there may be some truth to the rumor. ABC has contacted Vanessa Marcil about returning to General Hospital to reprise the character of Brenda Barrett. Maybe as soon as this spring.

For a change of pace, the news is coming directly from the show. GH headwriter Bob Guza has said that talks are underway with Vanessa. He has also always maintained that Brenda's one of his favorite characters and he'd love to have her back on the show.

What's it like to be a soap opera star? Maggie took a role on 'General Hospital' to find out.

Luke and Laura. Sonny and Brenda. Anthony Zacchara and Nurse No. 3. OK, so Port Charles' mob boss and yours truly might not be the next great duo on 'General Hospital,' but we will share a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene together on Monday, Feb. 2.

I got to spend the day on the 'GH' set, chatting with the show's stars, touring the ever-evolving set at Prospect Studios in Hollywood and, yes, filming a cameo appearance as Nurse No. 3 (dubbed Allison Ivy, RN, by wardrobe for my hospital-issue photo ID badge) in the show's big spring sweeps storyline.

What's it like to be a soap opera star? Keep clicking to hear all about my stint as a daytime player. And don't forget to check back on Feb. 2 to hear from the show's biggest stars and get more scoop on the big, series-changing storyline that'll rock the hospital.

Sometimes a celebrity dies who wasn't just a TV star, they actually had a hand in almost every aspect of television over a very long period of time. We lost two such stars over the weekend.

For example, fans of NCIS will know Nina Foch (right) from her role as Ducky's mother on the show. But did you know she also starred in several vintage horror movies back as early as the early 40s, such as Return of the Vampire and Cry of the Werewolf? She also had the honor of being the very first murder victim on Columbo, in 1968's Prescription: Murder (done in by hubby Gene Barry). She also appeared in several other TV shows, such as Bull, Just Shoot Me, Dharma & Greg, Murder She Wrote, L.A. Law, Hunter, Lou Grant, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-0, That Girl, and a ton of others. She appeared in Spartacus, The Ten Commandments, An American in Paris and others. She was even the associate director on The Diary of Anne Frank.

Foch passed away in Los Angeles on Friday at age 84.

It was big news in the world of daytime when Joseph Mascolo exited Days of Our Lives a few months ago. After all, Mascolo's Stefano Dimera was hailed as the number one villain of all time in daytime by Soap Opera Digest.

His return to Days was supposed to be long-term, but it didn't work out that way. In a surprising, some would say typical, soap way, the phoenix will rise again. Stefano Dimera, in the form of Joseph Mascolo, is coming back to Days of Our Lives. His reign of terror will commence once more -- in early August. Meanwhile, the other big time evil-doer on the show, Victor Kiriakis, will become more moderate and good by comparison.

Evil on the soaps is, well, a necessary evil. You can't have characters who are happy and blissful all the time. You need the selfish, the greedy, the vengeful, all those evil types to keep the stories interesting.

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Today, April 1st, is General Hospital's anniversary -- 45 years on the air. The ABC soap has been very successful through most of that time, although it hasn't really followed the path that many daytime dramas take. In the late 1980's, GH changed from a romance-based, hospital drama to more of a crime/spy/action-oriented soap. It's continued that style, and I can tell you six things that keep me tuning in daily to General Hospital (or checking it out on SoapNet).

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Albert was the son of actor Eddie Albert (Green Acres), and a veteran actor in his own right. Besides starring in movies like Butterflies Are Free, Guarding Tess, Death Cruise, and The Greek Tycoon, Albert was a regular on the TV shows Dr. Quinn, Port Charles, and Power Rangers Time Force, as well as guest starring on everything from Kung Fu and Ellery Queen to Nash Bridges and Profiler.

For the past several years he took care of his dad, who died in 2005.

Albert died last week in Malibu, CA of lung cancer.

As part of May sweeps, actress Finola Hughes will be reprising her role as Anna Devane (or, if you will, Anna Devane Scorpio Lavery Scorpio Hayward) on General Hospital. Hughes was originally on the soap opera in the 1980s, and left the show in 1992 before taking the role to All My Children in the late 90s. She currently hosts How Do I Look? on the Style Network. I don't watch soap operas, but I do remember the character of Anna since my mom watched General Hospital pretty religiously. Hughes won Emmys for her role as Anna on both General Hospital and All My Children, although she also won a Razzie for her role in the movie Staying Alive. I'm not sure if the awards cancel each other out or not.  Hughes has also been in numerous guest roles on shows such as Charmed and Tracey Takes On.... She's set to make her return to Port Charles on May 12.