Today in Soap Opera History (March 6)

On this date in...

1927: William J. Bell, the legendary daytime soap producer and writer was born. He died on April 29, 2005 at age 78. To read some early articles on Bell and his wife Lee Phillip, click here and here.

1966: On ANOTHER WORLD, Lee informed Pat that she was taken with [GUIDING LIGHT's] Hope and enjoyed being with Mike Bauer more than anyone she's ever known.

1979: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Karen Wolek admitted her past as a prostitute on the witness stand.



1979: On ANOTHER WORLD, John Randolph died in a fire at Alice's cottage.



1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Draper was taken to state prison.



1986: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Bob and Kim agreed to not keep anymore secrets from each other (Douglas Marland was head writer).



1984: On GUIDING LIGHT, Beth and Lillian met with a girl who was being abused by a family member while Mindy fretted about being pregnant.



1986: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Bo snuck in to see Kim.

1993: Another legendary writer, Douglas Marland, died at age 58. He was head writer of AS THE WORLD TURNS at the time of his death. Just over two months later, he was honored at the Daytime Emmy Awards in a tribute presented by Don Hastings (starts at 14:40). Amazing Marland won his three writing Emmys for ANOTHER WORLD (1) and GUIDING LIGHT (2) and none for AS THE WORLD TURNS.



2009: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL's Jack Wagner appeared on THE PRICE IS RIGHT.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
David Spielberg (ex-Ambrose, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Ned, FALCON CREST) - 73
Joanna Miles (ex-Gerry, THE EDGE OF NIGHT; ex-Linda, A FLAME IN THE WIND; ex-Mary Lou, THE SECRET STORM; ex-Anne, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 72
Jacklyn Zeman (Sophia, THE BAY; Bobbie, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Bobbi, THE EDGE OF NIGHT; ex-Lana, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 59
Connie Britton (Vivien, AMERICAN HORROR STORY; ex-Tami, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) - 45
Moira Kelly (ex-Mandy, THE WEST WING; ex-Karen, ONE TREE HILL) - 44
Erica Shaffer (ex-Tamar, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 42
Todd Fisher (Host, THE UPDATE; Executive Producer, CALIFORNIA HEAVEN; GORGEOUS)

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to [email protected].

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