Today in Soap Opera History (January 14)

"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see."
- Winston Churchill

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1958: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Mike (John Larkin) wanted to investigate McGinnis.

1970: On DARK SHADOWS, Quentin (David Selby) and Desmond (John Karlen) escaped from prison, but Desmond was shot.

1972: On ANOTHER WORLD, Steve (George Reinholt) was unhappy when Walter and John made plans to fly Mark Venable in from New York for a meeting. Mark's firm was "Short, Potter, and Trach," an inside joke in reference to Bob Short (a Procter & Gamble executive in charge of AW), Allen Potter (AW's original producer) and Ed Trach (P&G supervisor who had recently been transferred to another soap).

1974: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Hope Williams was born. Check out her birth in the first 20 seconds of the 25th anniversary baby montage below.



1979: DALLAS aired for the last time in its Sunday at 10 p.m. ET time slot. Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) moved in with her mother (Martha Scott) and sister Kristin (Colleen Camp) after seeing J.R. with another woman.

1980: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Sheila (Martha Lambert) drank too much and crashed her car after Tom (Tom Tammi) broke things off with her.



1982: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Laura (Genie Francis) arrived on the boat and found her shredded nightgown.



1985: On GUIDING LIGHT, with her sight back, Beth (Judi Evans) claimed she knew "Lenny" was really Lujack (Vincent Irizarry) all along.



1986: Actress Donna Reed died at age 64. She played Miss Ellie on DALLAS for one season.

1988: On KNOTS LANDING, Mack (Kevin Dobson) invited Johnny (Peter Reckell) to stay with them, much to Paige's chagrin.

1994: On BROOKSIDE, Beth Jordache (Anna Friel) took Margaret Clemence (Nicola Stephenson) in her arms and sealed their romance with the first pre-watershed lesbian kiss on British television.



1997: Thyme Lewis aired for the final time as Jonah Carver in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

2007: Actress Darlene Conley died at age 72. She was best known to soap fans for her roles as Sally Spectra on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL and Rose DeVille on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

2008: On PASSIONS, Theresa (Lindsay Hartley) received a call telling her where to find Juanita.



2009: Actor Ricardo Montalban died at age 88. He played Zach Powers on THE COLBYS and DYNASTY.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Barry Jenner (ex-Evan, ANOTHER WORLD; ex-Tony, SOMERSET) - 73
Holland Taylor (ex-Jill, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Denise, THE EDGE OF NIGHT; ex-Rught, SOMERSET; ex-Trish, LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING) - 71
T-Bone Burnett (Former Executive Music Producer, NASHVILLE) - 66
Brandon Johnson (ex-Chuck, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 46
Andrew Lawton (ex-Jake, NEIGHBOURS; ex-Logan, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 36
James Scott (EJ, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Ethan, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-EASTENDERS) - 35
Zach Gilford (ex-Matt, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) - 32
Grant Gustin (Barry, ARROW; ex-Sebastian, GLEE) - 24

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].