John Stamos recalls how Dean Martin helped him quit ‘General Hospital'

John Stamos has revealed that it was a single word from Dean Martin that gave him the confidence to walk away from General Hospital, and it is one of the great one-liners in Hollywood career advice history.

Stamos, 62, shared the story during his appearance on The Friars Club Podcast, recounting the moment a chance encounter at a famous Hollywood restaurant settled the question of whether he should leave the soap opera that had made him famous.

The Full House star had been playing Blackie Parrish on General Hospital since 1982, but by 1984 he was ready for something new. 

He wanted to make people laugh, ideally on a sitcom along the lines of something Garry Marshall might produce. 

The show's producer, Gloria Monty, was not thrilled about losing him and had arranged a dinner at Le Dome to make her case.

"She was like, 'Well, why do you want to leave my show, dear?' And I said, 'Well, Gloria, I want to be funny,'" Stamos recalled. 

It was at that moment that Monty spotted Dean Martin dining alone at the restaurant and saw an opportunity. 

"She said, 'Oh, there's Dean Martin there. Let me go introduce you.'"

What happened next did not go to plan, at least not Monty's plan. 

She introduced Stamos to the legendary entertainer and put the question to him directly. 

"She said, 'Mr. Martin, this is the star of my show, General Hospital. And he wants to leave the show. He wants to be funny. Now, will you tell him about loyalty and about sticking where you're at?'"

Martin looked at Stamos. Then he said one word: "Run."

That was enough. 

Later that year, Stamos left General Hospital and moved on to the CBS sitcom Dreams. 

From there, he appeared in a made-for-TV musical version of Alice in Wonderland, before joining NBC sitcom You Again? in 1986. 

A year later, he landed the role that would define his career, Jesse Katsopolis in Full House, which he played from 1987 to 1995, later reprising it in Fuller House from 2016 to 2020.

Dean Martin, it turned out, gave considerably better career advice than Gloria Monty was counting on.