For her work as Nurse Mary Pat, Bethune earned a 2019 Daytime Emmy pre-nomination for “Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series.” “That is very exciting and surprising,” she said. “I feel very lucky and I am very happy.”
She praised Emmy winner Laura Wright, who Carly Corinthos on the show, for being “great and very welcoming.” “Laura Wright is such a strong actress,” she said. “It was really a pleasure to go toe to toe with her. I am really thankful to be on General Hospital. It was a great time.”
For Bethune, being on a daytime soap opera, she acknowledged that the dialogue is a lot. “The first day, I had 54 pages. In primetime, we don’t go through pages like that,” she said. “Learning dialogue is a lot of prep for me since I was still creating that character. It was a lot of hours of memorization and breaking down the scenes, so you are ready when you walk on the set.”
Bethune loves acting, and she enjoys spending many hours doing research on her character, as well as trying to figure an arc and the character’s intentions. “That’s the joy of it. I love it,” she admitted.
Her advice for young and aspiring actors is “if you get a great gig, try to hold on to that job.” “It just gives you more confidence when you are going in for other things. That’s the biggest advice,” she said. “Also, take risks early on before people know who you are. Be courageous before the stakes are too high.”
Digital transformation of the entertainment industry
On the impact of technology on the entertainment business, especially with streaming services being so popular, Bethune said, “Truthfully, I only watch television on streaming services. I don’t have regular cable and I love them. I am a binge-watcher and I like going from the beginning of a story to the end. The soap operas are very popular and I can’t believe the number of people that know me because of General Hospital. It’s incredible.”
“I love the streaming services because there is more work available and there are more opportunities for actors,” she said. “I have a lot of patience for storytelling.”
Bethune shared that she uses lights to film her auditions. “Lights are helpful since they help separate you from the background,” she said. “It is great that you can film your auditions using technology.”
Aside from General Hospital, she is known for her acting work on True Blood, Grey’s Anatomy, Longmire, Mad Men, and How to Get Away with Murder, among many others.
For her fans, Bethune said, “I appreciate all of the love and hate-love that I got. They were very welcoming on the show, which has been around for 56 years, and they were very kind.”
She defined the word success as “doing what she loves on a daily basis in whatever form that takes.”
To learn more about acclaimed actress Patricia Bethune, check out her official website.
