Robert and Holly Scorpio

The stuff of which dreams are made…

Friendship. Trust. Love. Passion. Robert and Holly Scorpio embodied all of this and more. They were passionately in love and steadfastly devoted to one another. The unlikely pairing of the Australian ex-WSB agent turned Police Commissioner and the English con artist is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love, marriage, and the resiliency of the human heart. They are a rarity among the soap opera elite-- a happily married couple who only had eyes for each other and captivated audiences at the same time.

So began one of the greatest love affairs in all of soaps when Robert and Holly were paired. From the moment Robert Xavier Scorpio, played by Tristan Rogers, graced the scene in Port Charles in 1980, viewers were captivated by daytime’s version of 007. He was cool, calm, collected - always in control. Holly Sutton, played by Emma Samms, entered the fray two years later under less than desirable circumstances as a con artist who had duped the citizens of Port Charles with her family as part of an oil scam. She and Luke Spencer fell in love and together Robert and his best friend, Luke, returned the money that rightfully belonged to their friends. Through Luke, Robert and Holly became friends. This friendship deepened and would become the basis for their marriage and their entire life together. Unusual circumstances led to the marriage of convenience that eventually led to a true marriage in every sense of the word. Paired with Holly, Robert Scorpio was an incredibly romantic and vulnerable man in love. As Robert himself once said, Holly brought out a better side of him. Different is more like it. He could be calculating, decisive, almost cold-hearted when circumstances necessitated it. Then he could be compassionate, tender and vulnerable whilst head over heels in love with his wife.

Their love for one another and devotion to each other was evident to all. When they walked into a room all eyes followed. The charisma of the pairing is remarkable. The handholding, the looks of love, the kisses, the humor, the banter, the shared intimacies, the playfulness. Their devotion to one another and to their friends. All the beautiful, wonderful seemingly little moments that made the potential monotony of marriage anything but. They made the mundane a delight and gave marriage a lovely name. They oozed love, devotion, respect, and class. They were happy and made us happy watching them.

It is the relative small things that came naturally to them and drew us to them-- Holly wiping the lipstick from his face after a kiss, Robert playing with the straps of her nightgown. These were subtle gestures, forgotten in soaps of late, which captivated audiences then and have the power to hold interest decades later. The stuff of which dreams are made...

The way each of their faces alighted when the other entered the room, the way they greeted one other when he came home from work, the lunches, the telephone calls, the popping in, the small gestures that do not require much effort or forethought but that mean so much and convey the depth and intensity of the love they felt for one another. The friendship that rooted them and kept them grounded was the core of their relationship. They remained devoted friends and confidantes throughout their marriage.

They were rich, flawed, complex characters. They had their share of disagreements, but trust in and respect for one another was always the order of the day. Their love flourished because of it. Robert and Holly fell more in love with each passing year.

Not immune to hardship during their marriage, they suffered through their share of tragedy - events that would have parted any other couple - but these two remained steadfast in their love and their devotion to one another and to their friends. Even when faced with the worst, their love shone through and they overcame the very obstacles that threatened their marriage.

Robert and Holly Scorpio had that rare ability to make a passionate love affair synonymous with marriage. They were madly in love with each other and relished showing it. They were genuine and shared a need to protect the other from harm and displayed unwavering support for each other. The saga of Robert and Holly Scorpio is a delicately told and brilliantly crafted story of friendship, love, and passion that does not come along every day.

A fortune-teller once told Holly that she and Robert “would grow old together happily in love always”. For Robert and Holly fans this is how they remain in our hearts and our collective memories.