Bobbie Spencer

Barbara Jean "Bobbie" Spencer, RN is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera General Hospital, portrayed by Jacklyn Zeman. She debuted in January 1978, after playing Lana McClain on the sister-soap One Life to Live. Zeman went on to appear on General Hospital until 13 July 2010. The character is the sister of Luke Spencer and mother of Carly Corinthos. In February 2013, it was announced that Zeman would be returning to the role; she first appeared on March 22 and once again vacated the role on April 15. However, on October 22, it was confirmed that Zeman would be returning to the show, with her first airdate slated to be on November 27. Zeman continued in the role until her last appearance on April 27, 2023, shortly before her death on May 9 of that year.

Barbara Jean “Bobbie” Spencer, was born in Port Charles on July 8, 1957 and raised in a poor family living near the docks, along with her big brother, Luke. The streetwise Luke was very protective of his baby sister growing up. Their father, Tim, was an abusive alcoholic. One day, when Bobbie was a little girl, their mother, Lena, suffered an appendicitis attack. Tim watched as Lena lay dying. Finally he allowed Luke to call an ambulance, but it was too late. Lena died, and Tim walked out on his kids. But the truth was revealed by Luke and Bobbie's older sister Patricia Spencer many years later. The truth was that on April 1, 1963, Luke accidentally killed his mother and then his father in a fit of rage. Luke had been blocking out the memory for over 50 years, with Pat and Bill Eckert helping keep it a secret. Luke befriended Lila Quartermaine, who was planning to adopt both Bobbie and Luke, but they left town to move in with their aunt Ruby Anderson, in Jacksonville, Florida. Ruby was a prostitute and to make ends meet, Bobbie had to become a "working girl" too. At age 16, she was forced to give her baby (Carly Corinthos) up for adoption.

Bobbie re-entered Port Charles as a prostitute-turned-nurse. The bubbly nurse made an immediate impression on the staff with her disposition. Nurse Jessie Brewer, who had been through much tragedy, became Bobbie's confidante, and offered Bobbie her spare bedroom. Bobbie came to adore Jessie, who treated her like the daughter she had previously lost, and Bobbie helped her through hard times as well, also trying to push Jessie to accept the marriage proposal of the gold-hearted hospital administrator Dan Rooney. To Steve and Audrey Hardy, Jessie and Dan, Bobbie seemed like a compassionate person, but Bobbie had another side to her that she kept hidden from them. She wanted desperately to marry Scotty Baldwin but although he visited her bed from time to time, he was in love with Laura Webber. So Bobbie got her brother to come to town as part of a plan to break up Scotty and Laura whom Bobbie was intensely jealous of. Bobbie had tormented Laura every chance she got, and when Laura had enough of it and pushed Bobbie out of anger towards her, Bobbie accused her of attacking her without provocation. Their fight had been interrupted by Monica Quartermaine who suspected that Bobbie had been harassing Laura and supported Laura over Bobbie. When the plan didn't work to get Laura sent to reform school for missing her curfew, Bobbie pretended to be pregnant with Scotty's child, but Scotty ended up marrying Laura after Bobbie's lies were exposed. Bobbie's only happiness came from the arrival of Ruby Anderson, her aging aunt who had given up "the life" and became part of the cleaning staff at General Hospital.

Bobbie next fell in love with Roy DiLucca, a mobster and Luke's partner at the Campus Disco, who treated Bobbie like a queen and planned to marry her. He died in her arms after being shot while fleeing from his attempted assassination of Senator Mitch Williams. Once again, Bobbie blamed Laura for her misery since Laura had thrown Luke's keys away while he was on his way to assassinate Mitch, thus sending Roy to his death. Bobbie's feud with Laura not only stemmed from the fact that Laura had won Scotty, but also the love of her brother, Luke, whom Bobbie knew was Laura's rapist. Bobbie remained antagonistic towards Laura, even making a drunken play for Scotty during a time he was having issues in his marriage to Laura, but for the most part, was a loyal nurse and friend to those around her. When Luke and Laura went on the run from Frank Smith's mob, Bobbie's attitudes towards Laura began to change for the better. Bobbie was horrified when Joe Kelly's father, Paddy, was killed after an attack by one of Smith's men, and prevented Joe from going after Frank, thus saving his life. When Luke and Laura came back from their summer on the run, Bobbie made an attempt to understand why she had treated Laura with such resentment, and on Thanksgiving Day, urged Luke to call Laura so they, along with Aunt Ruby, could go on with their dinner. Months later, she fell in love with Dr. Noah Drake and even went as far as to pretend to be blind in order to keep him. Noah made it clear he did not want to make a commitment, also dating sexy blonde nurse Stacey Rawlins.

When Luke and Laura were finally married in November 1981, Bobbie was one of her former rival Laura's bridesmaids. She decided to move to New York after her relationship with Noah fizzled, but returned the following year and tried once again to win him back before he left town for another position. After an affair with D. L. Brock, Bobbie became pregnant with his child but she miscarried in November 1983 and neglected to tell him. They were married in January 1984 by Lee Baldwin. Once they were married he became extremely abusive. Bobbie learned that D.L. was responsible for the arrival of little Mikey Webber's real mother, Ginny Blake, and argued with Lesley Webber in the hospital, after which Lesley was killed in a car accident. Bobbie was horrified to identify the body, and after realizing that D.L. had made Lesley upset, became determined to get out of this marriage. He was ultimately murdered in January 1985. She was initially charged with his murder but her attorney Jake Meyer proved that Ginny Blake Webber killed him.

In 1986, Bobbie married Jake Meyer, who had a one-night stand with Lucy Coe. When Lucy became pregnant, Jake and Bobbie worked out a deal with her to raise Lucy's child as their own, but Lucy miscarried the baby. Around this time, a DVX agent who had taken the hospital cafeteria hostage scratched Bobbie with a deadly syringe. An antidote was found, but Bobbie was paralyzed. Bobbie's recovery was helped along by an optimistic and boisterous paraplegic, Martha McKee. Martha, who was suffering from pneumonia, had to move to Colorado after taking a turn for the worse, and Bobbie agreed to raise her kids, 10-year-old Skeeter and teenage Melissa. Melissa rebelled and began hanging out with a bad crowd, injuring Ruby when she and her friend Val robbed Kelly's, and she and Val fled to Miami. They fell prey to a pimp who forced them into prostitution. When Greg, Melissa's spurned boyfriend, told Bobbie, she flew down to Miami without telling Jake. Posing as a call girl, she planned to alert the cops to the pimp's illegal activities before she had to sleep with him. The police did arrive, arresting him-and Bobbie too! The recently returned Scotty Baldwin bailed her out, but her arrest made headlines in Port Charles; Melissa and Skeeter were taken away from her, and she and Jake weren't allowed to adopt.

Jake left town to help flood victims in Paraguay, partially due to being sick of her need for children. He tried to explain himself through the mail, but Scotty destroyed the letter and put doubts in Bobbie's mind because he wanted Bobbie for himself. After seeing a photo of Jake with his arm around a woman, she divorced Jake; and four months passed before she realized Scott's bad ways and dumped him. Bobbie then met a sophisticated, rich, handsome man, Gregory Howard, in a bar. Unfortunately, he was (unhappily) married and the father of Melissa's ex, Greg. After weeks of talk and flirting, she finally agreed to go on a weekend with him, but a political party drafted him to run for the state assembly. Bobbie was left brokenhearted yet again as she realized his new political career and an affair wouldn't mix.

In 1989 she married her good friend and father of her namesake B.J., Dr. Tony Jones. In 1991, Bobbie treated a patient who bore an amazing resemblance to Luke Spencer. He was her cousin, Bill Eckert; the Eckerts and the Spencers had been strangers for years due to bad blood. Bobbie desperately wanted a baby and in fact purchased one from the black market. Unbeknownst to her the baby was Cheryl Stansbury's baby. Bobbie tried to keep the truth a secret, but the truth came out (putting a strain on her marriage), and she had to give the baby back to Cheryl. When Cheryl died, Bobbie became embroiled in a custody suit for the baby (Lucas) with Tiffany Donely, Cheryl's sister. The court awarded Bobbie custody of Lucas in 1992. Also in 1992, Bobbie began writing letters to ex-convict and cop killer Joseph Atkins after being impressed by his book, Violence Tamed. He wrote back, asking her to help him get parole. Tony went berserk when Atkins began calling Bobbie at home. Bobbie realized she couldn't support Atkins. When she cut off contact, he told her she'd be sorry. Months later, he broke into the Brownstone, holding her and Tony hostage and trying to rape her before finally being caught by the police.