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| 2010: CBS aired the final episode of As the World Turns. |
― Robert Penn Warren
"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...
1959: On The Right to Happiness, Carolyn's (Claudia Morgan) husband Lee needed (Les Damon) to make a sudden business trip to New York, which fed into her insecurity that Lee's priority was his beautiful widowed client, Sharon (Claire Niesen).
1962: Rex Ingram became the first African American featured on a daytime soap opera in a contract role when he appeared as an ordained minister named Victor Graham in The Brighter Day. Sadly, the soap aired its final episode 11 days later on September 28.
1974: Actress Claudia Morgan died at age 63. She played Mildred Bryer on The Edge of Night in 1958-1959.
1981: On Another World, Clarice (Gail Brown) continued to receive strange phone calls. Meanwhile, Jamie (Richard Bekins) told Rachel (Victoria Wyndham) and Ada (Constance Ford) he was going to to Cory cabin alone.
1981: On General Hospital, Mikkos brought Luke and Laura to the control room where Luke ordered the guards to put their guns down by threatening them with explosives.
1984: Actor Berkeley Harris died. His soap roles included Phil Roberts on Texas, Peter Willis in How to Survive a Marriage and Joe Werner on The Guiding Light. He was married to daytime superstar Beverlee McKinsey. The two met when they both starred in Love is a Many Splendored Thing, where he played Jim Whitman. His daughter was Susan Harris, who is known for creating many primetime series including Soap and The Golden Girls.
1984: On Another World, Sally (Mary Page Keller) shot Catlin (Thomas Ian Griffith) in the arm. Later, Sally realized that Dr. Harris forced her to shoot Catlin.1986: Camilla More debuted as Gillian Forrester in Days of our Lives.
2001: At the end of the first aired episode after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the cast of Days of our Lives sang "America The Beautiful."
2006: Actor Edwin Owens died at age 64. His soap roles included Frank Schuster on Santa Barbara and Ralph Fletcher in General Hospital.
2007: Passions made its DirecTV debut on The 101 Network after an eight-year run on NBC.
2009: On The Young and the Restless, Colleen Carton (Tammin Sursok) was drowning in the water when her late father, Brad Carlton (Don Diamont), appeared and took her in his arms.
2010: CBS aired the final episode of As the World Turns after a 54 year run. The ending with Bob saying, "Goodnight," was a nod to the opening line of the series in 1956 when Nancy said, "Good morning, dear.
Earlier in the day, CBS' The Early Show aired a feature on the end of As the World Turns.
Read Irna Phillips original story bible for As the Earth Turns here.
Celebrating a birthday today are:
Aaron Lustig (ex-Tim, The Young and the Restless; ex-Tim, The Bold and the Beautiful) - 58
Kyle Chandler (ex-Eric, Friday Night Lights; ex-Dylan, Grey's Anatomy) - 49
Suzy Cote (ex-Samantha, Guiding Light) - 46
Matthew Settle (ex-Rufus, Gossip Girl; ex-Jonathan, Brothers & Sisters) - 45
Nate Berkus (Guest Star, Days of our Lives) - 43
Felix Solis (ex-Benicio, One Life to Live) - 43
Erika Page (ex-Amber, Days of our Lives; ex-Roseanne, One Life to Live) - 39
Constantine Maroulis (ex-Constantine, The Bold and the Beautiful) - 39
Billy Miller (Jason, General Hospital; ex-Billy, The Young and the Restless; ex-Charlie, Ringer; ex-Richie, All My Children) - 35
Sandra Vidal (ex-Sofia, The Bold and the Beautiful)
Augustus Prew (ex-Prince Alfonso, The Borgias) - 27
Denyse Tontz (Miranda, All My Children) - 20
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you have a tip on a bit of soap history on this date or future dates, let us know. Send an email to [email protected]
the ice princess info is interesting - I remember that they timed the left-handed boy mystery so it finished right before labor day and it was the beginning of summer storylines specifically targeted at younger audiences but the ice princess storyline got bogged down by changes in writers and a strike by WGA in spring of 1981, so it concluded not during sweeps in August but in the middle of September - no wonder the writers resisted marrying Luke and Laura six weeks later
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