Local Man Gets Chances To Appear On TV Soap His Grandfather Created

DETROIT (WWJ) - It's a story that sounds like it's out of a soap opera. A local actor recently got a chance to appear on the TV show his long-estranged grandfather created.

Duncan Hursley grew up one of nine children in Birmingham, never knowing that his father's father, Frank Hursley, Sr., had — along with his second wife, Doris — created the hugely successful show "General Hospital" back in 1963.

Duncan Hursley said that growing up he and his siblings never knew much about the man who left his family in Detroit to move to pursue a screen writing career.

"My father never spoke about his father, ever, and my father was Frank Junior," he told WWJ Newsradio 950's Marie Osborne.

"My entire childhood we would get a box of fruit from Harry and David, for years;  always typed on the label was 'Love Frank and Doris. So, at some point I must have asked, 'Who's Frank and Doris?'"

Years later, Frank Hursley, Sr., was reunited with his son and a few of the grandchildren.

"Even thought our grandfather, he wasn't a part of our live...we kinda take pride in, wow, this was a show my grandfather created, and it's been on the air all this time," Duncan Hursley said.

It all led to a chance, last month, for Duncan Hursley to appear as a guest star on General Hospital — appropriately playing an auto mechanic from Detroit.

"They were all so excited to have someone connected to the creators there," Duncan Hursley said, adding that he received positive feedback on his performance...and another appearance could be in his future.