Daytime Emmy-winner and Gold Circle Honoree reflects on her epic run as Tracy Q

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At the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmys on Friday soap opera icon and 1981 Daytime Emmy-winner Jane Elliot was gifted a Gold Circle medal honoring her almost 50 years of stirring up trouble as General Hospital’s scheming Tracy Quartermaine and her six decades of soap operas drama.

Just moments after receiving the honor, Elliot talks to Woman’s World about what it feels like to have somehow grown into the role of General Hospital matriarch—not to mention, in the wake of the passing of Leslie Charleson and her character Monica, how it feels to be the last one standing.

Plus, Elliott admits to one major failure (her retirement!) and we have the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmys soap opera winners’ list.

Jane Elliot says it’s ‘a privilege and honor’ to still be on ‘GH’ and TV a 78

“Lovely Jane Elliot” was first introduced on the big screen in Elvis Presley’s last film, 1969’s Change of Habit with Mary Tyler Moore and Barbara McNair. But the beauty who also appeared on The Mod Squad, Kojak, and Law and Order, not to mention soapy Knots Landing and Broadway’s The Impossible Years, had already made her first mark on the soap scene by then.

Since her breakout soap role on A Flame in the Wind in 1965, Elliot has caused drama on Guiding Light, All My Children, Days of Our Lives and Loving—and this weekend, she was honored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) for her incredible work on General Hospital’s Tracy Quartermaine, which started back in 1978 and included a stint on The City.

“I started in daytime 60 years ago, and as a woman of 78 years old and a female actor, I’m blessed,” says Elliot. “First of all, there are very very few us who are gainfully employed full-time as an actor, and I’m one of them.

“It is such a privilege and honor to get to do what I do and keep doing it, that what I do is still wanted and still appreciated, and that they still keep giving me good work to do,” she continues. “I consider myself a really, really lucky woman.”

Jane Elliot on her most recent ‘GH’ run – ‘I’m a failed retiree!’

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As longtime General Hospital viewers know, Elliot officially announced her retirement back in 2017.

“I’m a failed retiree,” she cracks with a grin. “I thought I needed a break. I was a single parent. I raised two children on my own, and I raised them exclusively on acting money. I no longer had children to raise, and I was 70. I had my pension and my Social Security. I thought, ‘Oh, yay. I don’t need this job anymore. I can retire.’”

Two years later, she quietly slipped back into Tracy’s bossy, wise-cracking shoes.

“It wasn’t what I thought it would be,” she admits. “I was like, ‘But wait, I really like that job! And whether I need the money or not, I want to keep doing it,’” she recounts. “I luckily had a wonderful boss who kept a place at the table for me and didn’t replace me. Didn’t hire someone else to play the part.”

As if anyone else could play her role!

“There are a lot of wonderful actors out there that would bring something new to it,” Ellliot insists. “They couldn’t do me, but they could do that.”

Jane Elliot on becoming Quartermaine matriarch – ‘Who are you talking about?’

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With one of Elliot’s first storylines leading to the unforgettable scene where she withholds her father Edward’s heart medicine, the seven-times-hitched Tracy Q has made some truly detestable moves over the decades.

Since her return, she’s remained formidable. Just ask Cameron Mathison’s Drew and Michael E. Knight’s Martin Grey.

Disney/Christine Bartolucci

Yet even as Tracy’s remained tough, since running off with Anthony Geary’s Luke and then losing him, she’s also softened enough to become a wizened, loving head of family—and not just to Wally Kurth’s Ned and Amanda Setton’s Brook Lynn. By the time Leslie Charleson’s Monica Q passed last month, Tracy had even become her almost lifelong nemesis’ fiercest protector!

“People say to me on the show, ‘You’re the matriarch of the Quartermaine family.’ And I go, ‘Who are you talking about?’” Elliot admits with a laugh. “I still haven’t taken it on board.”

Elliot on being the oldest ‘GH’ player – ‘It makes me sad sometimes… and proud’

Disney/Bahareh Ritter

While it’s hard to believe she’s all grown up, after 60 years in daytime and almost five decades on General Hospital, this soap opera diva who once worked alongside Elvis—not to mention onscreen family John Ingle, Anna Lee, and Stuart Damon, Leslie Charleson, and Jacklyn Zeman—can’t ignore her place.

“I look around and I realize that at this stage of the game, I’m the oldest actor on the show,” Elliot tells Woman’s World. “There are all these photographs on the set of the characters on the show, and they’ve all passed away, and I’m still standing.

“It’s daunting, it’s overwhelming,” the NATAS Gold Circle honoree admits. “It makes me sad sometimes, and it makes me enormously grateful and proud.”

The 2025 Daytime Emmy winner’s rundown!

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In case you missed the rundown, General Hospital took home many of the awards at the Daytime Emmy celebration, including Best Drama Series, Directing Team for a Drama, Writing Team for a Drama, and Costume Design/Styling.

Here’s a list of the actors who walked away with Daytime Emmys in 2025 – many of whom talked to Woman’s World, so stay tuned or follow the link for more!

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama: Actress: Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis Davis, General Hospital

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Daytime Drama: Actor: Paul Telfer as Xander Kiriakis, Days of Our Lives 

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama: Actress: Susan Walters as Diane Jenkins, The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Daytime Drama: Actor: Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer, General Hospital

Outstanding Emerging Talent in a Daytime Drama: Lisa Yamada as Luna Nozawa, The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama: Alley Mills as Heather Webber, General Hospital