Today in Soap Opera History (March 30)

Legendary producer and director Gloria Monty died seven years ago today.

On this date in...

1970: A WORLD APART, created by Irna Phillips' daughter, Katherine Phillips, premiered on ABC.



1970: Daytime soap opera THE BEST OF EVERYTHING premiered on ABC.



1970: On ANOTHER WORLD, Russ was upset when the expensive crib Rachel (Robin Strasser) ordered arrived. She tried to gain sympathy with tears but it didn't work.



1970: SOMERSET, a spin-off of ANOTHER WORLD, premiered on NBC. The show initially revolved around ANOTHER WORLD characters Missy Palmer Matthews (Carol Roux), Lahoma Vane Lucas (Ann Wedgeworth) and Sam Lucas (Jordan Charney). Sam and wife Lahoma moved to the small town of Somerset where Sam became the junior law partner of Ben Grant.

1971: On DARK SHADOWS, Daphne's funeral was held.

1981: President Ronald Reagan was shot as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel after speaking at the AFL-CIO Building Trades Conference. East Coast soap fans remember this happened during AS THE WORLD TURNS, ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ANOTHER WORLD.

1987: ANOTHER WORLD debuted the "Another World (You Take Me Away To)" song in the opening and end credits. Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris sang the song on the previous Friday's episode (after she survived the Sin Stalker).



1997: British soap FAMILY AFFAIRS premiered.

2001: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Carly and Julia had it out at the mental hospital.

2006: Legendary GENERAL HOSPITAL producer Gloria Monty died at age 84.  Before taking over GH, Monty was a director for BRIGHT PROMISE, THE SECRET STORM and THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS. Read more about Monty here, here and here.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Justin Deas (Scott, STEAMBOAT; ex-Buzz, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Keith, SANTA BARBARA; ex-Tom, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Bucky, RYAN'S HOPE; ex-Marco, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 65
Albert Alarr (Producer, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 57
Michael Lehmann (Director, TRUE BLOOD) - 56
Ian Ziering (ex-Erich, THE DOCTORS; ex-Cam, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Steve, BEVERLY HILLS, 90210) - 49
Juliet Landau (ex-Drusilla, BUFFY/ANGEL) - 48
Gerald McCullouch (Geoffrey, HUSTLING; ex-Dan, BEVERLY HILLS 90210) - 46
Céline Dion (Herself, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 45
Mark Consuelos (ex-Mateo, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 42
Jason Dohring (Mr. Carpenter, RINGER) - 31
Helena Mattsson (Cassandra, NIKITA, ex-Irina, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) - 29
Quincy Morris (Creator, IN BETWEEN MEN)
Cassie Scerbo (Lauren, MAKE IT OR BREAK IT) - 23

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].