Today in Soap Opera History (October 19)

On this date in...

1921: Actor Ed Kemmer, who would play Dick Martin for many years on AS THE WORLD TURNS, was born. He also had roles on SOMERSET, THE CLEAR HORIZON, THE EDGE OF NIGHT, and RYAN'S HOPE. He died in 2004 at the age of 83.

1970: On ANOTHER WORLD, Rachel (Robin Strasser) gave Russ (Sam Groom) a signed legal document relinquishing any claim to the trust fund for Jamie.

1979: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Mike (Forrest Compton) convinced David (Arnold Moss) to talk with Draper again.



1984: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Roman (Wayne Northrop) and Marlena's (Deidre Hall) twins, Eric Roman and Samantha Gene (Sami), were born.



1989: FALCON CREST star David Selby was a guest on THE PAT SAJAK SHOW.



1992:  Abigail Deveraux was born on DAYS OF OUR LIVES.



2001: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Viki (Erika Slezak) reacted to the confirmation Natalie (Melissa Archer) was her daughter.



2006: On GUIDING LIGHT, Olivia (Crystal Chappell) revealed to Buzz (Justin Deas) she had been raped.



2007: Tanya Boyd aired for the final time as Celeste Perrault in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

2009: Cristian and Layla shared their first kiss on ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Tava Smiley (ex-Chloe, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 41
Joy Bryant (Jasmine, PARENTHOOD) - 36
Desmond Harrington (Jack, GOSSIP GIRL; Joey, DEXTER) - 36
Habib Azar (Director, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 33
Christopher Gerse (ex-Will, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 21

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to editor@welovesoaps.com.