Today in Soap Opera History (May 31)

On this date in...

1943: Radio soap opera LORA LAWTON debuted on NBC Radio. Joan Tompkins starred as Lora, housekeeper to important, dynamic shipbuilder Peter Carver. Lora would later marry Peter. Frank and Anne Hummert produced the series.

1968: On DARK SHADOWS, Adam jumped from Widow's Hill.

1984: Steve Andropoulos and Betsy Stewart married on AS THE WORLD TURNS with a reported 20 million viewers watching, the second highest rated hour of daytime soap operas in history.  You can buy this week on the 20-Classic Episodes DVD at SoapClassics.com.



1984: On GUIDING LIGHT, Bert told Rick she knew he was upset because she had lost her leg, but she was going to be alright.



1986: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Viki and Dorian had it out (again).



1987: Soap opera writer Roy Winsor died at the age of 87. Winsor was the creator of SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, LOVE OF LIFE and THE SECRET STORM. The year SECRET STORM was canceled (1974) he took over SOMERSET. He later would create the CBN soap ANOTHER LIFE.

1996: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, just as Brenda and Jax toasted their wedding, Sonny watched as Lily blew up in a car explosion (Clink-Boom!).



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Sharon Gless (ex-Colleen, NIP/TUCK; ex-Debbie, QUEER AS FOLK) - 69
Maeve Kinkead (Dinah, GOTHAM; ex-Vanessa, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Angie, ANOTHER WORLD) - 66
Tom Berenger (ex-Tim, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 63
Gregory Harrison (ex-Tim, RINGER; ex-Paul, ONE TREE HILL; ex-Michael, FALCON CREST) - 62
Jack Gilpin (ex-Joel, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 61
Roma Maffia (ex-Liz, NIP/TUCK) - 54
Lea Thompson (Kathryn, SWITCHED AT BIRTH) - 51
Hugh Dillon (ex-Albert, DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION) - 49
Brooke Shields (ex-Wendy, LIPSTICK JUNGLE) - 47
Nick Scotti (ex-Tony, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 46
Ara Celi (ex-Raquel, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 38
Eric Christian Olsen (ex-Kyle, BROTHERS & SISTERS) - 35
Matt Cavenaugh (ex-Adam, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Mark ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 34
Brad Schmidt (ex-Todd, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Anthony, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 33
Jonathan Tucker (Bob, PARENTHOOD) - 30
Jason Smith (ex-Robbie, HOME AND AWAY) - 28
Justine Cotsonas (ex-Sofie, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 27
Melissa McIntyre (ex-Ashley, DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION) - 26
Meredith Hagner (ex-Liberty, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 25