Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

On this date in...

1968: On ANOTHER WORLD, Missy told Alice she blamed herself for causing Liz pain and heartache with her selfishness.

1972: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, a seance to contact the spirit of a long dead woman is held in the Marceau house.

1983: Shepperd Strudwick (pictured, right), whose roles included Jim Matthews on ANOTHER WORLD, Timothy McCauley on LOVE OF LIFE and Victor Lord on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, died at age 75. He earned two Emmy nominations (1976, 1980) for his acting work on daytime soap operas.

1985: How much did Lujack love Beth on GUIDING LIGHT? Let him count the ways.



1993: NBC aired the final episode of SANTA BARBARA, produced at the end by Paul Rauch with Pam Long serving as head writer.



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Barbara Tarbuck (ex-Jane, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 70
Count Stovall (ex-Cal, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Roy, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Hank, THE DOCTORS) - 66
Mario Van Peebles (ex-Samuel, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Doc, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 55
Chad Lowe (Byron, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS; ex-Carter, MELROSE PLACE) - 44
Shane McMahon (WWE) - 42
Regina King (ex-Sandra, 24) - 41
Jessy Schram (Ashley, ONCE UPON A TIME) - 26

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].

RELATED: 
- Why 2012 Will Be "The Year Of The Soap" (Part 1) 
- Why 2012 Will Be "The Year Of The Soap" (Part 2): DARK SHADOWS, RAGGED ISLE, DALLAS, Univision Telenovelas and More
- Most Fascinating People of 2011