From ABC Soaps In Depth 1/27/98

Jennifer Hammon (Karen) came through the fire without getting burned

Jennifer Hammon doesn’t ask for much where the love life of her character, medical intern Karen Cates, is concerned. "Her ideal man would be there for her, be supportive, loving, giving, sexy, and very funny," she says.

Well, the actress doesn’t ask for much that her alter ego can’t have, at least. Dream date sounds a lot like a certain colleague of Karen’s, her fellow future doctor, Joe Scanlon. "Absolutely!" exclaims Hammon. "So why aren’t they together yet, damn it?"

Perhaps it is because whereas Hammon already has walked the long and winding road to understanding, Karen has only just begun heading down that torturous path. While attending Florida State University - the notorious party school - Hammon was the resident pooper. "I never went to a party or any football games," she admits. "I was such a nerd! I lived in my own world, hung out with just a few friends, and read a lot of Ayn Rand."

Thus, she is uniquely qualified to deconstruct Karen, who has made an art form of internalizing her problems. "I relate to her very strongly and admire her ethical code and sense of justice," says Hammon. "I don’t know if I’m as strong in that area as she is, but I admire her for it, and I always try to bring out that quality in her. She’s very spunky, and she’s not afraid to fight in order to help her friends. She’s very loyal in that way. But now she’s learning how to stand up for herself, too."

Real-Life Lessons
The lessons that Hammon had to learn were no less difficult, and perhaps even more important. "I’m most proud of having learned to love and accept myself," she says. "It’s a huge step that we all have to take.

"I think a lot of people don’t ever get there," she adds. "But I’ve concluded that I can try to control my life by shutting people out and being a loner, or I can choose to be with people, become giving, and take the risk, which is harder to do, but definitely more rewarding."

Opening up to her peers certainly makes her days on the set of PC more pleasant. She describes her co-stars as "a bunch of class clowns," noting, "We’ve all become really close and we enjoy doing things together outside of work. But what I like most is just hanging out with the chicks - Julie Pinson (Eve), Lisa Ann Hadley (Julie) and Renee Allman (Danielle). I hope to see those friendships develop because they have a lot of potential."

Working It Out
But what may be the greatest dividend that Hammon’s epiphany has paid is her solid relationship with the love of her life, John Livingston. "He’s the one person who knows me best, and he’s my idea of the perfect man," she gushes. "He’s giving, sensitive to my needs, communicative, very affectionate and sexy.

"But more importantly," she adds, "he’s totally supportive of everything that I am and everything that I want to do and be."

Better luck next time, Karen.

F.Y.I.
When Karen Wexler was on GENERAL HOSPITAL…
…she dumped an heir to a fortune. Wealthy, privileged Jason Quartermaine had it bad for Karen in high school, but she threw him over for bad boy Jagger Cates.
…she had an affair with a mobster. While working for Sonny Corinthos, the teen not only stripped on the stage of his nightclub, she slept in his bed as well.
…she fought bitterly with her mother. And she had every reason to. Mom usually was too drunk to notice her boyfriend pawing Karen.

Playing Doctor
It doesn’t send Jennifer Hammon to the ER
For Hammon, playing an M.D. means more than increasing the heart rate of co-star Michael Dietz’s smitten medical intern, Joe.
"I wanted to be a brain surgeon when I was in the second grade," admits Dr. Cates’ portrayer, "so the scenes with the head trauma are really cool for me." And while learning medical jargon has been known to turn some actors into head cases, Hammon insists, "It’s fun because it’s like Shakespeare. You learn to say the words, then let them roll off your tongue. The technique is to say it really fast, then it seems like you know what you’re saying." And if the cast doesn’t know what they’re saying, hopefully, they’ve said it fast enough that no one will notice.

Quotables
"I find Karen’s relationship with the off-screen entity of Jagger very difficult to play. But it’s a great challenge."

"I wanted to be an actress since I was 7 years old."

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