How General Hospital star Maurice Benard helped Dante say goodbye to Sam

After Sam McCall died on General Hospital, the three characters closest to her got to say their goodbyes before the hospital took her body away. Sam's mother, Alexis, and her ex-husband, Jason, offered their emotional tear-filled farewells first, but then came time for Sam's fiance, Dante, to say goodbye.

Dominic Zamprogna offers praise

When it came time for Dante to share his final scenes with Sam, Dominic Zamprogna knew he had to give it his all but was still nervous that he wouldn't be able to pull off these heartbreaking moments. Thankfully, Maurice Benard, who plays Dante's father, Sonny, was there with a few words of wisdom.

"Maurice actually knocked on my door, and he was like, 'Hey man, just, just go up there and, and do it.'" Zamprogna told Soap Opera Digest. "He was like, 'Whatever is there is there,' you know? And I was like, 'Cool, man. And I really appreciated it because he knows that pressure."

Zamprogna recalled a scene years ago in which Benard was worried, proving that even the vets can be nervous before impactful scenes.

"I remember a scene he did when I first started on the show where all of us are at the Metro Court restaurant and he freaks out on Claudia. He’d already been [at GH] a long time when I got there, and afterward, he was like, ‘I was so unbelievably worried about this scene because of everyone that’s in it.’ And that surprised me! So, that day, I was like, ‘He knows what it feels like,’ and I really appreciated him coming to my door. Then it was time to go up [to film it], and it was obviously sad."

A General Hospital farewell

When it came time to actually tape the scenes, Zamprogna asked to just shoot with no rehearsal. The director obliged, so the scenes we saw were as real as could be.

"We did my monologue first, and I asked that we not rehearse the monologue. I said, 'I’ll line up so you guys can see where you want cameras and lights and stuff, but can we just do it?'" Zamprogna explained. "And Rob [Markham], the director, said, 'Yeah, go for it.' So we just shot the rehearsal, and everyone was happy with it, and then we shot the next scene. I only had two, and they were short, but I felt really good about them, to be honest with you. I got up from my stool sitting beside Kelly [Monaco, Sam] and gave her a big hug and kiss, and I felt like I honored the material and her character and our relationship. And that was important to me, too. All you can do, like an athlete, is leave it all on the court."

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Those scenes were the last in which GH fans saw Monaco's Sam after 21 years as a con woman turned Port Charles heroine with a heart of gold.

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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