Sunday, January 29, 2012

Today in Soap Opera History (January 29)

On this date in...

1918: Future DYNASTY star John Forsythe was born. He died April 2010 at age 92.

1945: Procter & Gamble bought Spic and Span for $1.9 million. It would later become one of the sponsors for P&G soaps for decades (most notably SEARCH FOR TOMORROW).

1965: Actor John Larkin died at age 52. He starred as the original Mike Karr on THE EDGE OF NIGHT and was the original Frank Dana on THE ROAD OF LIFE. He was the voice of Perry Mason on the radio version of the show. He's pictured celebrating EDGE's 1,000th episode.

1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Draper discovered Margo's bludgeoned body.

1982: Robert Alda aired for the final time as Stuart Whyland on DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

1984: Future soap star Mary Beth Evans guest starred on KNIGHT RIDER.

1985: On SANTA BARBARA, Peter strangles Veronica. He leaves a white carnation behind, of course.



1988: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Betty White followed up her Tuesday appearance on the show (opposite Charles Shaughnessy's Shane) with another visit as part of the "Where's Betty?" contest. In the clip below, the scene from this day is the one with Billy Warlock's Frankie.



1992: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, at the hospital Nikki asked Ashley to take care of her children if she didn't survive.



1996: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Marty and Dylan wanted to move up their wedding date.



2004: Longtime soap opera producer turned reality television creator Mary-Ellis Bunim died at age 57.

2008: Billy Magnussen debuted as Casey Hughes ON AS THE WORLD TURNS.

2010: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Reid met Katie and Henry.



2011: Indian soap opera BALDINI aired its final episode watched by more than 19 million viewers.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Katharine Ross (ex-Frankie, THE COLBYS) - 72
Tom Selleck (ex-Jed, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 67
Kathryn Leigh Scott (ex-Maggie, DARK SHADOWS; ex-Jennifer, DYNASTY; ex-Bunny, DALLAS) - 67
Marc Singer (ex-Chet, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Matt, DALLAS; ex-Wesley, PAPER DOLLS) - 64
Oprah Winfrey (Herself, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 58
Diane Delano (Shara, FUMBLING THRU THE PIECES; ex-Hilda, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Marcia, FALCON CREST) - 55
Matthew Ashford (Steve, THE BAY; Jack, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Tom, GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Cagney, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW; ex-Stephen, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 52
Sam Trammell (Sam, TRUE BLOOD) - 43
Heather Graham (ex-Annie, TWIN PEAKS) - 42
Charles Divins (ex-Chad, PASSIONS) - 36
Justin Hartley (ex-Oliver, SMALLVILLE; ex-Fox, PASSIONS) - 35
Heidi Mueller (ex-Kay, PASSIONS) - 30
Adam Hunter (ex-Cam, NEIGHBOURS) - 30
Isabel Lucas (ex-Tasha, HOME AND AWAY) - 27
Drew Tyler Bell (ex-Thomas, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 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

3 comments:

  1. Big birthday wishes to past & present soap stars today!

    Brian :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was kind of surprised Tom Selleck is 67. I didn't thik he is that old.

    ReplyDelete