Today in Soap Opera History (December 17)

On this date in...

1957: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Virginia interrupted Peter's call with the governor and insisted Sybil be terminated.

1968: On DARK SHADOWS, David (David Henesy) began having pangs of guilt for causing Roger's "accident."

1987: DAYS OF OUR LIVES paid tribute to the late Betty Corday at the end of that day's episode. Mrs. Corday, who became executive producer of DAYS after her husband's (Ted Corday) death, passed away on November 17. Watch it below:



1987: On KNOTS LANDING, Jill confronted Val, (Joan Van Ark) accusing her of putting on a manipulative "helpless" act and using the children as "bait" to get Gary back, which she angrily denied.

1991: ONE LIFE TO LIVE aired its 6,000th episode.

1996: On EASTENDERS, Grant and Tiffany's evening ended in disaster.



2010: Neil Patrick Harris announced via Twitter that Eric Braeden would not be reprising his role on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. In his tweet, Harris called Braeden a "D-Bag" for deciding at the last minute not to film a scheduled cameo for the show.

2010: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, The Balkan was revealed.



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Bill Pullman (ex-Oswald, TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY) - 59
Barry Livingston (ex-Headmaster, REVENGE) - 59
Clive Robertson (ex-Ben/Derek, SUNSET BEACH) - 47
Sean Patrick Thomas (ex-Solomon, RINGER) - 42
Sonia Satra (ex-Barbara, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Lucy, GUIDING LIGHT) - 41
Napiera Groves (ex-Bonnie, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 37
Mark Lawson (Brody, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 34
Veronica Lauren (ex-Cynthia, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Sarah, DARK SHADOWS) - 32
Emma Bell (Emma, DALLAS; ex-Amy, THE WALKING DEAD) - 26

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.