A Father’s Day Salute to ABC Daytime’s Best Dads

By PJ Gach Updated: June 14, 2019

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In honor of Father’s Day, we’re taking a look at some of the great soap dads who have touched our hearts throughout the years. There have been great fathers on ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE who’ve protected their children from crazed exes, kidnapping attempts, business rivals, and black marketeers. GENERAL HOSPITAL‘s fathers are also super dads; they’ve huge hearts and super smarts whose keen sense of parenting have protected their little (and not so little) ones from international incidents, foreign assassins, spies, and yes, crazed exes!

(Photo Credit: George De Sota/jpistudios.com; Rick Rowell/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images)

Check out our Father’s Day roundup on the amazing and loving dads in Port Charles, Llanview and Pine Valley in the special gallery below!

For more on your favorite daytime dramas — past and present — keep reading the ABC edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.

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Gh Corinthos Christmas

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Sonny Corinthos, GH

Sonny is the mobster with a heart of gold. To him, family is everything. No matter what happens to Sonny at work, he wants to be there, totally and fully for his loved ones. Sonny's a fierce father who has battled battled for custody of his children and swooped down to protect them whether they needed it or not. He deeply loves Michael, Kristina, Dante, and Avery, and will never forget his late son, Morgan. He's the kind of dad you want in your corner when the chips are down!
Oltl Todd Starr

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Todd Manning, OLTL

Todd Manning's character had a dark side that grew lighter over time, and that was due in no small part to the family he developed with wife, Blair. He originally thought of his children as chess pieces, but as he matured, he fought to have relationships with Jack, Danielle and Starr, even when he was in jail. Heck, even (presumed) death couldn't keep him from his kids!
Amc Jr Adam

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Adam Chandler, AMC

Adam Chandler, was a man who was admired and loathed in equal measure. Via various wives and lovers, he fathered Skye Chandler Quartermaine, Hayley Vaughan Santos, JR Chandler, Miguel Reyes, and Colby Chandler. However, JR was the apple of Adam's eye; when he faced drug charges, Adam slept with the presiding judge to get the case dropped. When he was diagnosed with cancer, Adam was by his side during the struggle. When JR was kidnapped, Adam sold his company to make the ransom money. Even when JR would do terrible things (sometimes to his father), he and Adam had a bond that could not be completely broken.
Gh Edward Skye

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Edward Quartermaine, GH

Edward Quartermaine lived life with a twinkle in his eye. The millionaire was known for his sense of humor, fair play and an unyielding sense of what was right and what was wrong... for the Quartermaines. He brought up his two children, Alan and Tracy, in the lap of luxury in their palatial home in Port Charles. However, whenever they let the family down, they felt his wrath. His relationships with his two illegitimate sons, Jimmy Lee Holt and Bradley Ward, were strained but tempered with love.
Amc Damon Tad

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Tad Martin, AMC

One of Pine Valley's biggest womanizers, Tad Martin was fiercely protective of the children in his life. He treated Adam Chandler's son, JR, as his own for many years. He was thrilled to discover that Kathy, the daughter he'd thought he'd lost with Dixie, was still alive. He named the little girl he had with Krystal Jenny, after his late sister. He even acted as a father to troubled teen Damon before learning that he was actually the boy's biological dad!
Gh Ethan Luke Lucky

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Luke Spencer, GH

Luke and Laura Spencer were the power couple of GH.They had two children together, Lucky and Lulu, who they took with them on their worldwide adventures. And while he sometimes let them get involved, he wasn't afraid to step in and be "bad dad" to protect them from harm. Luke had no idea that he had another son who lived across the world from him, but once he met Ethan, he opened his arms and heart to him as well.
Matthew Bo Wedding

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Bo Buchanan, OLTL

Bo believed in love and loyalty, not necessarily in that order. He was proud of son Drew's career as a police officer, and devastated by his death. He fought for custody for his son, Matthew, and when the young man was hurt in a car accident, he wouldn't leave his side and was proud beyond belief to see his son walking again.
Gh Nathan Maxie Felicia Mac

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Mac Scorpio, GH

Mac was a happy, single guy who fell in love with Felicia Jones. When they married, he treated her daughters, Georgie and Maxie, as his own. When Felicia left Port Charles, she left her children behind, but Mac wouldn't abandon the little ones and became a single parent and a deeply loving father. Although Georgie is no longer with them, Mac does his best to keep her memory alive, and while Maxie is an adult, he'll still step in and be there whenever she needs him.
Amc Hubbard Family

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Jesse Hubbard, AMC

Jesse married Angie Baxter, his high school sweetheart and always went the extra mile for his children, including kidnapping his first born, Frank, from his adopted family. When he was hiding out in Toronto, Jesse developed a relationship with Dr. Rebecca Fowler, and daughter Natalia was born. Years later, when Rebecca and Natalia ended up in Pine Valley, the Hubbard family took in mother and daughter. After Rebecca died, Jesse took Natalia under his wing and she followed in his footsteps becoming a police officer, too. As a foster dad, Jesse used his position as Chief of Police to fake a gangster's death to get his foster daughter, Cassandra, released from a human trafficking group.