Franco Baldwin

**Franco Baldwin** was a fictional character and former antagonist on ABC daytime soap opera *General Hospital*. He was the son of attorney Scott Baldwin and supervillain later psychotic serial killer Heather Webber aka "The Hook" a year after his death concealing her face and identity for most of 2022 until New Year's Eve 2023. He was the illegal adoptive brother of former Navy SEAL Chief Drew Cain. He was also the maternal half-brother of imprisoned Steve Webber and town troublemaker Esme Prince as well as the uncle of Ace Prince-Cassadine via Heather and Violet Finn via marriage.

Franco was formerly an eccentric and reclusive photographer, a world-renowned artist, sociopath and serial killer, whose terror of choice was the use of manipulations and mind games while he was also Jerry Jacks' accomplice. However, all this miraculously changed, when he returned to Port Charles in 2013, and he slowly started to remake himself and in 2014, he became the founder of General Hospital's art therapy program before being involved in Robin's kidnapping until Jerry's arrest and Franco having his memory of helping Jerry removed from that.

The character was originated by actor James Franco starting February 5, 2007 and was listed as a special guest star before the opening credits. James Franco was last seen as "Franco" on January 13, 2012 before being replaced by Sebastian Roché as Jerry Jacks wanting revenge for Franco months later.

Roger Howarth portrayed the character from May 13, 2013 to March 11, 2021. (His character's identity was revealed on May 29, 2013.)

## Casting

* Franco
* Howarth

In 2007, movie star James Franco joined the cast of *General Hospital* with his new co-star Sebastian Roché. He was credited as a "special guest star" throughout his arc and he appeared as "Franco" from February 5, 2007 to 2008.

On October 1, 2009; multiple reports broke the news that movie star James Franco would return to *General Hospital* for a lengthy story arc in the fall. Upon the news, it was revealed that Franco sought out a role on a soap opera and would use this role for research on an upcoming film. Sharing the same agent as Steve Burton, who played Jason Morgan on *General Hospital*, he went to that series for his request. Franco signed on for a series of 20 episodes that he filmed in three days. He was credited as a "special guest star" throughout his arc and he appeared as "Franco" from November 19, 2009 to February 2, 2010.

On April 12, 2013; *TVLine* confirmed that *One Life to Live* alum Roger Howarth who previously portrayed his *OLTL* character Todd Manning on *GH* would return to the series as a new character in May alongside his fellow *OLTL* co-stars Michael Easton (John McBain) and Kristen Alderson (Starr Manning). While Easton returned as new character, Dr. Silas Clay and Alderson returned as new character Kiki Jerome, Howarth returned as a recast of Franco on May 13, 2013; although his character's identity wasn't confirmed until May 29, 2013.

Previous scenes were re-shot, to show Howarth's likeness instead of James Franco's.

This also marks the first time the character of Franco is a full-time contract cast member rather than a special guest character or recurring.

On March 9, 2021; Franco was killed off but Howarth admitted he is on hiatus but is still on the show.

He made his last appearance as Franco on March 11, 2021 and later replaced by Cyrus Hobbi as Yuri Tamashevich a month later. He returned on May 27, 2021 as a new character named Dr. Austin Gatlin-Holt.
## Storylines

* 2007-08
* 2009-10
* 2011-12
* 2013-14
* 2015-16
* 2017-18
* 2019-21

On February 5, 2007; Franco is revealed to be one of Jerry Jacks' men and women in the Metro Court Hotel hostage crisis with Lorenzo Alcazar making Sonny's children Michael, Morgan, and Kristina scared along with Diane Miller and Molly Lansing-Davis because Ric Lansing is the district attorney who is also the hostage negotiator teamed up with police commissioner Mac Scorpio and the S.W.A.T. team and also mayor Garrett Floyd.

On November 20, 2009; Franco still dressed as a vagrant witnesses Jason, Sonny, Max, Milo and Dante engage in a shoot-out with Joey Limbo and his men. Joey and his men get shot; and Jason, Sonny, Max, Milo, and Dante leave. Seeing that Joey is still alive, Franco approaches his body and steps on his neck until Limbo dies. He then re-positions his body in an odd position. Following the incident, Franco attends the opening for his art exhibit, filled with numerous crime scene re-enactments, which has been organized by Maxie Jones and Kate Howard for *Crimson*. Maxie is placed in charge of insuring that all Franco's needs are met, which takes a turn for the worse when Franco takes her back to his loft. Later on when the two are alone, Franco blindfolds her, takes photographs of her in a chalk outline, and then sleeps with her.

In August 2017 after returning from New York, Franco moved in with Elizabeth and her boys after Hayden Barnes left Port Charles.

In November 2017, Franco was questioned by the PCPD if he had anything to do with holding everybody at Metro Court Hotel restaurant hostage. He denied any involvement holding everybody hostage and he was at General Hospital when that happened, and he was therefore unharmed and eliminated as a suspect after Nathan was left unharmed. It was revealed that two men Frank Anderson and Greg Barnes did it in revenge for their boss Cesar Faison and it also left Mayor Janice Lomax outraged before her appearance at Charlie's Pub for the Charles Street redevelopment project nearly a month later on December 20 and resigning as mayor afterwards.

On August 7, Franco found out that Cameron is missing and soon found out that he had been abducted by Hank Archer aka Shiloh who bores a striking resemblance to Nathan West. Franco goes to find Cameron and found him at DeWitt Street with Shiloh and his new accomplice Arthur Cabot who had been released from prison one week earlier.

On August 12, when Franco woke up, he told Elizabeth he needed to see his superior officer, meaning he is no longer Franco Baldwin; he is Chief Andrew Cain without his sister-in-law Hayden Barnes knowing.

In January 2020, Franco gains a new enemy Cyrus Renault who is currently serving at Pentonville Penitentiary when the shooting occurred leaving Franco unharmed when he heard the news about them after Hayden Barnes left Port Charles again and was nowhere to be found.

On February 11, Franco comes back and attempts to get reinstated as Art Therapist at General Hospital nearly two weeks after the three shootouts and nearly a week after Sonny visited Cyrus Renault in prison as Franco attempts to fill his sister-in-law Hayden's shoes.

On February 28, Franco became worried when Cameron was abducted along with Trina and told his wife Elizabeth to call the police. He figured out that Cameron and Trina's driver was Franco Walker working with Cyrus Renault in revenge for Faison, Shiloh, and Cassandra Pierce. After Cameron and Trina were rescued and became scared and traumatized, Franco and Elizabeth became scared and traumatized along with them in the aftermath as they spoke to the police after Cameron and Trina were interviewed and debriefed with a statement.

One month later after his death, Yuri Tamashevich comes into Port Charles as a bodyguard replacing Franco because Violet never got the chance to meet her uncle Franco and Yuri being from Belarus had no skills of being an art therapist and doesn't do what Franco did as Yuri became the new Head of Security at ELQ.
## Crimes Committed

* 1979-2011
* 2015-16
* 2017-21

* Armed robbery; imprisoned and released [revealed on Jul 6, 2010]
* Serial killer [2000s]
* Shot and killed a man in Trebeca [prior to 2007]
* Accomplice of Jerry Jacks during the Metro Court hostage crisis [Feb 2007; arrested and lawyered up in the aftermath]
* Had Jerry Jacks kill Stan Johnson [Jan 2008]
* Tied up his paternal half brother Logan Hayes under Jerry Jacks' orders [Jan 2008]
* Took blame for a crime Ronnie Dimestico committed [pre-2009]
* Killed Joey Limbo by crushing Joey’s throat with his foot [Nov 20, 2009]
* Stalked Jason Morgan [Nov 4-Dec 10, 2009; revealed on Nov 20, 2009]
* Hit Ronnie with a dark car [Dec 2009]

* Conspiracy; helped Jerry Jacks, Paul Hornsby, Faison's son Sonny, Ava Jerome, and Johnny Zacchara hold Robin Scorpio-Drake against her will at Crichton-Clark (aka General Hospital's rival) to keep her away from Port Charles, Sonny, her friends and family [revealed Nov 2015-December 22, 2015]

* Illegal entry; busted into Seth Baker's house without an invitation and beat him up [Jan 31, 2017]
* Covered up his role in The Jason Morgan Conspiracy after Faison's henchmen Frank Anderson and Greg Barnes were arrested and sent to prison by Judge Natalie Rawles [Nov 2017]
* Burned a paper that said who the real Jason was after Faison's henchmen Frank Anderson and Greg Barnes were arrested and sent to prison by Judge Natalie Rawles [Nov 13, 2017]
* Attacked Jim Harvey in Elizabeth and Jake's defense and fought him for a gun [Apr 6, 2018]
* Assaulted Dr. David Bensch [Jun 13, 2018]
* Broke Carly Corinthos out of Ferncliff along with Jason Morgan right where his biological mother Heather Webber was at because of Mary Pat Ingles, Rupert Watson, and Kurt Lazarus [Jul 30, 2018; the staff who were treating Carly were fired afterwards]
* Pulled the fire alarm at the courthouse in order to interrupt Dr. Bensch's trial [Aug 10, 2018]
* Attacked Ryan Chamberlain in-self-defense and briefly trapped him in a Ferncliff cell [Feb 28, 2019]
* Escaped from Ferncliff [Feb 28-Mar 1, 2019]
* Kidnapped Peter and held him captive at his art gallery, subjecting him to the following forms of abuse in the process [Mar 5-9, 2021; revealed on Mar 8, 2021]
	+ Tied him to a chair
	+ Pointed his own gun at him pretending he was going to shoot him with it
	+ Slapped/punched him across the face
	+ Threatened him at scalpel-point that he was going to cut his tongue out if he didn't confess to taking down Drew's airplane leading Drew to be replaced by Cyrus Renault
* Fought Peter for a gun twice, once when Peter attacked him in self-defense and the other time in his own defense [Mar 8-9, 2021]

## Health and Vitals

* Cursed under the spirit of Helena Cassadine [Feb 19, 2016; shown from Feb 23-24, 2016]
* Fell temporarily unconscious and had a large, heavy object fallen on him after the earthquake one month after the deaths of Cesar Faison and Nathan West [Mar 5, 2018]
* Held captive in a holding cell by Jim Harvey and his men (along with Drew) in revenge for Cesar Faison [Mar 14-21, 2018]
* Had Drew's memories transferred onto him by Arthur Cabot under Shiloh's orders [Aug 8-9, 2019; revealed to have worked on Aug 12, 2019]
* Conditioned into believing that he is Drew [Aug 12, 2019-Dec 17, 2019]
* Had his memory reversal process tampered with by Peter [Dec 10, 2019]
* Knocked unconscious in an explosion at The Floating Rib (along with wife Elizabeth and stepson Cameron leaving his sister-in-law Hayden Barnes unharmed while nowhere to be found along with his niece Violet Finn who he has never met) [Nov 20-23, 2020; caused by Julian Jerome under Cyrus Renault's orders to kill Jason in revenge for Cesar Faison, Shiloh, Cassandra Pierce, Nelle Benson, and Dolores Maloney]
* Died after being shot in the chest by Peter in another struggle for the gun and later replaced by Yuri Tamashevich a month later [Mar 9, 2021]

## Relationships

* Family
* Friends
* Enemies

* Christina Baldwin - Franco's adoptive paternal half-sister
* Scott Baldwin - Franco's father
* Serena Baldwin - Franco's paternal half-sister
* Hayden Barnes - Franco's sister-in-law
* Naomi Dreyfus - Franco's mother-in-law (deceased)
* Violet Finn - Franco's niece by marriage to Elizabeth
* Audrey Hardy - Franco's step-grandmother-in-law
* Logan Hayes - Franco's paternal half-brother (deceased)
* Esme Prince - Franco's maternal half-sister
* Ace Prince-Cassadine - Franco's nephew
* Aiden Spencer - Franco's stepson
* Jake Spencer - Franco's stepson
* Cameron Webber - Franco's stepson
* Elizabeth Webber - Franco's wife
* Heather Webber - Franco's mother
* Jeff Webber - Franco's father-in-law
* Steve Webber - Franco's maternal half-brother
* Karen Wexler - Franco's paternal half-sister (deceased)

* Elisha Adams - Officer of the Port Charles Police Department
* Leah Adams - Franco's friend and former enemy
* Diego Alcazar - (deceased)
* Lorenzo Alcazar - (deceased)
* Curtis Ashford
* Jordan Ashford - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department and current Deputy Mayor of Port Charles
* Raymond Berlin - Hayden's legal father, his mother Heather's former accomplice and male counterpart
* Joey Bruzetta - (deceased)
* Drew Cain - Former Navy SEAL
* Joseph Campbell - Former District Attorney now living in Atlanta
* Naomi Carson
* Harrison Chase
* Lucy Coe
* Kevin Collins - Franco's former psychiatrist
* Baxter Corbin
* Jessica Cruz - aka Green Lantern
* Nicolas Dean
* Emma Drake
* Amy Driscoll
* Felix DuBois
* Carol Ferris - aka Star Sapphire
* Barbara Gordon - aka Batgirl
* Darryl Hayes - (deceased)
* Stella Henry - Franco's co-worker and Curtis' aunt
* James Horowitz
* Poison Ivy
* Epiphany Johnson - Franco's friend, former enemy, Stan's mother, former General Hospital Head Nurse, and former co-worker at General Hospital (deceased)
* Hal Jordan - aka Green Lantern
* Molly Lansing-Davis - Assistant District Attorney
* Richard Lowe
* Andre Maddox - Franco's former psychiatrist
* Adam McCullough - Officer of the Port Charles Police Department
* Diane Miller - Franco's former lawyer now living in Los Angeles
* Kim Nero
* Liesl Obrecht - Franco's friend and former General Hospital Chief of Staff
* Henry Pierce
* Diana Prince - aka Wonder Woman
* Zoe Raleigh
* Terry Randolph
* Coleman Ratcliffe
* Natalie Rawles
* Nina Reeves
* Horace Sanchez
* Robin Scorpio-Drake - Now in Berkeley
* Ellen Scully - Officer of the Port Charles Police Department
* Deanna Sirtis
* Willow Tait
* Clyde Thompson
* David Walters
* Mary Wells - Franco's friend, former enemy, current General Hospital Head Nurse, and co-worker at General Hospital
* James White - Officer of the Port Charles Police Department
* Anthony Zacchara - (deceased)
* Zatanna Zatara

* Frank Anderson - Faison's former henchman (imprisoned)
* Hank Archer - aka Shiloh (deceased)
* Peter August - Nelle's male counterpart (deceased)
* Seth Baker
* Greg Barnes - Faison's former henchman (imprisoned)
* Nelle Benson - Peter's female counterpart (deceased)
* Arthur Cabot - Shiloh's accomplice
* Helena Cassadine - Valentin's mother (deceased)
* Stavros Cassadine - Helena's son with Mikkos and Valentin's maternal half-brother (deceased)
* Valentin Cassadine - Helena's son with Victor
* Ryan Chamberlain - His maternal half-sister Esme's biological father (deceased)
* Linda Chu - Current Chief of Staff at General Hospital
* Sonny Corinthos
* Steven Culp - Former editor of *The Invader* under Peter August and Olivia Jerome's son with an unknown man
* Alexis Davis - Former District Attorney
* Delvin - Faison's former henchman
* Anna Devane - Former Commissioner of the Port Charles Police Department
* Cesar Faison - (deceased)
* Pres Floyd - Former Mayor of Port Charles
* Russell Ford - Former General Hospital Chief of Staff (deceased)
* Chris Gentry - Olivia Jerome's accomplice and armed robber (imprisoned)
* Paul Gentry - Olivia Jerome's accomplice and armed robber (imprisoned)
* Ray Giles - (deceased)
* Jim Harvey - (deceased)
* Mary Pat Ingles - His mother Heather's accomplice (deceased)
* Jerry Jacks - Franco's former boss
* Olivia Jerome - Faison's female counterpart and Nelle's former sister-in-law (imprisoned)
* Stan Johnson - Epiphany's only son (deceased)
* Daisy Kwan
* Ric Lansing - Sonny's half-brother and former District Attorney
* Kurt Lazarus - His mother Heather's accomplice
* Janice Lomax - Former Mayor of Port Charles
* Jeffrey Maloney - Cyrus' henchman (deceased)
* Siobhan McKenna - (deceased)
* Harmony Miller - Diane's possible daughter or sister (deceased)
* Delores Padilla
* Jared Preston, Jr. - His female counterpart/sister-in-law Hayden's ex-husband
* Ned Quartermaine
* Cyrus Renault
* Winston Rudge - (imprisoned)
* James Scorpio - Detective of the Port Charles Police Department
* Mac Scorpio - Current Commissioner and former Chief of Detectives of the Port Charles Police Department
* Luke Spencer - Lulu's father (deceased)
* Franco Walker - Franco of a different stripe and Cyrus' henchman and associate (deceased)
* Rupert Watson - His mother Heather's accomplice and Epiphany's male counterpart
* Lainey Winters