Article Written by Christine Nolan
Max Gail, a two-time consecutive Primetime Emmy Award winner for his role as Detective Stan “Wojo” Wojciehowicz on Barney Miller took on the role of Mike Corbin on February 5, 2008. He originally came to Port Charles for a brief visit with his son, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). He however stayed and captured all our hearts with his effective, realistic, convincing, passionate and emotive performance.
In typical General Hospital style, they confronted the very real heartbreak of Alzheimer’s head-on, with grace and dignity. So many of us have slowly lost a person we love to this terrifying disease. It is a difficult subject to cover. It has frequently been portrayed in a comedic way, turning the person into a caricature, rather than showing the real, raw emotion. Max Gail changed that. He has brought us all on this beautiful, horrifying roller coaster and we are all better off for traveling this road with him.
Max is a veteran actor and it shows daily. When Mike first came to town, we knew something was up, but weren’t sure where this would go. Instead of starting off over the top, he slowly revealed the truth in subtle movements and expressions.
Max has brought us full circle while we watch Mike try desperately to rebuild and hold onto his relationship with Sonny (portrayed by the equally brilliant Maurice Benard) while he slowly loses himself. The emotion in his eyes speaks more than his words. To see these two men struggle to hold onto each other is truly inspiring and heartbreaking.
The scenes where he struggles to remember his family, asking about Morgan and referring to little Avery as Courtney are so real. He is not aware of the pain he is inflicting on others as he happily talks about them. Someone will remind him, or he remembers on his own that they are gone. And when the clarity comes, and the realization, they are gone hits, he blows us away and makes us weep with him.
When Mike went into Charlie’s and attempted to blow it up to cover up what he had done to protect Sonny, we all saw how lost he was.
The moment he saw Kristina (Lexi Ainsworth) there, he knew something was wrong, but couldn’t piece it together. The panic and terror as he watched the explosion, not knowing if she was safe, was one of the best moments of this story.
To me, the best moment came when he outsmarted Margaux Dawson (Elizabeth Henrickson) by convincing her he was there to see Courtney, thereby forcing her to reveal Courtney’s death. His reaction to her heartlessness was perfect. Realizing he was lucid enough to pull that off was a moment of victory, however short-lived it will be.
This story is so powerful. I can’t imagine anyone other than Max Gail being able to portray this so flawlessly. And I must give a huge shout out to Maurice Benard and Laura Wright. Sonny is the guy that always fixes everything. He “solves” problems. If he doesn’t like it, he makes it go away. And he can’t fix this. And it’s killing him. And seeing the softer, sweet side of Carly is nice. The three of them together have made this can’t miss.
Max needs an Emmy for this. He deserves it. He is brilliant. And we are so lucky to see him in action daily. What are your favorite Mike moments?
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