Madeline Reeves | |||||||||||||||||||||
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General Hospital character | |||||||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Donna Mills | ||||||||||||||||||||
Duration |
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First appearance | March 14, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last appearance | August 20, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Classification | Past; guest | ||||||||||||||||||||
Created by | Ron Carlivati | ||||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Frank Valentini | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Madeline Reeves is a fictional character on the long-running ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital, portrayed by Donna Mills, who made her appearance on March 14, 2014. The casting was announced in January 2014. Madeline was introduced as the estranged mother-in-law of Dr. Silas Clay (Michael Easton) and mother of Silas' comatose wife Nina Reeves (Michelle Stafford) and, biological aunt of Nathan West (Ryan Paevey) — whom she raised as her own. Madeline is also revealed to be the estranged sister of established character Dr. Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati) having remade herself. Mills wrapped her initial stint in May 2014. Though the character was supposed to be short-term, Mills reprised the role of Madeline from October 2014 to January 2015. The character once again resurfaced in May 2015. Her returns have centered on Madeline's attempts to get back in her son's good graces and get her hands on the family fortune.
The character was created by head writer Ron Carlivati and patterned after Mills' iconic Knots Landing character, Abby Cunningham. The casting was very well received despite her character's name and backstory remaining a secret until her debut. On-Air On-Soaps referred to the news as "bombshell", while Jamey Giddens of Daytime Confidential raved about the casting choice and said Mills' character would definitely make for "must see" TV. Mills won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series in 2015.