Jack Wagner Explains Why He Still Leaves Women ‘Overwhelmed’

Hallmark star Jack Wagner has been a heartthrob for decades, and it doesn’t seem that is going to change anytime soon. The “When Calls the Heart” star, and “Dancing with the Stars” alum, recently admitted that he still gets hearts fluttering when a certain generation of women run into him.

Jack Wagner’s ‘General Hospital’ Days Still Follow Him

On March 5, Us Weekly shared tidbits from Wagner about spending so many years in the public eye. As the media outlet noted, Wagner first popped up on the soap opera “General Hospital” in 1984. He played the character of Frisco Jones until 1995 and briefly appeared again in 2013.

Wagner shared, “‘General Hospital’ was such a massive show in the ’80s for a generation of women. That generation is now in their 60s. They see me and they’re like, ‘Wait, wait, you don’t understand!'”

He added that he tells them he does understand their reaction. “They’re so overwhelmed because that was such a huge show,” Wagner explained.

At this point, however, Wagner doesn’t embrace being called a “soap actor.” He told Us weekly, “To even use the label of a ‘soap actor,’ I don’t really care for that. I never have. Because I’m a real thespian.”

Wagner explained, “I’ve been trained in the theater. That’s how I look at it. Actors are actors, it just depends on what medium you’re working in.”

The Hallmark Star Credits the Hard Work Soap Actors Put Into Their Roles

“General Hospital” wasn’t Wagner’s only notable acting gig in the early days of his career. He spent five years on “Melrose Place” and nearly a decade on “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Wagner did season 14 of “Dancing with the Stars” and had some musical hits along the way, too.

“When Calls the Heart” added Wagner to the cast in 2014, near the end of its first season. His character of Bill Avery remains a steady influence in Hope Valley now in season 12. Wagner has done several other Hallmark projects along the way.

As much as Wagner may dislike being called a soap actor, he insists people underestimate the work involved in working in the genre.

He shared, “I gotta tell you honestly, people that are from A-list films have no idea what it’s like to have 60 pages of dialogue on one day of a soap opera and work 14 hours to get it all right.”

Wagner continued, “You’re trying to give the best performance you can, but you’ve got 60 pages that day. Whereas if you’re doing a Movie of the Week — and I’ve done 30 or 40 of those — we shoot it in 15 or 16 days, but you don’t have more than eight pages a day. That’s where I hope the credibility [to soap operas] is given.”