Today in Soap Opera History (August 12)

On this date in...

Gloria Monty

1921: Legendary director/producer Gloria Monty was born. Monty was an early female director in television and is best known to daytime soap opera fans for helping to rejuvenate GENERAL HOSPITAL when she took over as executive producer in the late 1970s. You can read two of our Flashback articles about Monty here (1966) and here (1991).  She died on March 30, 2006, at age 84.

1927: DARK SHADOWS creator Dan Curtis was born.  He passed away on March 27, 2006, at age 78.

1966: On DARK SHADOWS, Carolyn (Nancy Barrett) became angry with Victoria for meeting with Burke.

1974: On ANOTHER WORLD, Janice (Victoria Thompson) accepted Tim's (Christopher Allport) marriage proposal.

1977: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Marlena (Deidre Hall) argued with her twin sister, Samantha (Andrea Hall).  The clip below is from 2004 when Marlena met Hattie. It includes a flashback to this episode 27 years earlier.



1980: On ANOTHER WORLD, Cecile (Shana Keith) told Kit that she was falling in love all over again with Jamie (Richard Bekins).



1980: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, April (Terry Davis) asked Emily if the man she was living with was the real Kirk Michaels.



1981: On ANOTHER WORLD, Lenny (Ed O'Neill) told Hannah (Madelon Thomas) he planned to take Jamie, Sandy (Chris Rich), and Cecile (now played by Nancy Frangione) with them during their escape. Rachel (Victoria Wyndham) tried to stop the police from entering the cabin.



1982: Martha Smith debuted as Sandy Horton in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

1984: Christine Hargreaves, an original cast member of CORONATION STREET, died as a result of a brain tumor at age 45. She played Christine Hardman in CORRIE from 1960 to 1963.

1986: On SANTA BARBARA, Eden (Marcy Walker) told Cruz (A Martinez) she was leaving town.



1999: Actor Ross Elliott, who played the original Lee Baldwin on GENERAL HOSPITAL, died at age 82.

2002: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Barbara (Colleen Zenk) showed up at Hal (Benjamin Hendrickson) and Emily's (Kelley Menighan Hensley) wedding with a court order allowing her to take Will (Brett Groneman).



2003: On THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, Amber (Adrienne Frantz) interrupted Macy (Bobbie Eakes) and Deacon's (Sean Kanan) wedding. When her words didn't do enough damage, Amber decided to tackle Macy.



2008: Former DAYS OF OUR LIVES head writer Nina Laemmle died at age 97. She wasn't even at DAYS a year but the show saw as much cast upheaval as any time in its history. NBC was pushing a youth movement at the time in 1980. Laemmle was also a producer and writer at PEYTON PLACE.

2008: On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Tina (Andrea Evans) and Cord (John Loprieno) reunited for the first time in several years.



2008: On GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT, a French woman attacked Patrick (Jason Thompson) and Robin (Kimberly McCullough) gave Robert (Tristan Rogers) troubling news.



2011: On EASTENDERS, Tanya (Jo Joyner) received a diagnosis of cervical cancer prompting her to end her secret affair with ex-husband Max (Jake Wood). In turn, an irritated Max went home to end things with fiancée, Vanessa (Zöe Lucker). Things didn't go too well on that front, and soon everybody knew everything about everyone as "Hurricane Vanessa" descended upon Tanya and her new husband, Greg (Stefan Booth).



Thanks to FoxCrane for sending in this item.  He adds: "Enjoy the meltdown! It's generally considered one of the best slaps (slugs???) in EASTENDERS history."

Celebrating a birthday today are:

Jim Storm

Michael Hawkins (ex-Frank, RYAN'S HOPE; ex-Paul, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Mark, LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING) - 78
Jennifer Warren (ex-Dinah, PAPER DOLLS) - 72
Jim Storm (ex-Bill, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Charles, SUNSET BEACH; ex-Neil, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Jack, TEXAS; ex-Sean, THE SECRET STORM; ex-Gerard, DARK SHADOWS; ex-Larry, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 70
Lezlie Dalton (ex-Elizabeth, GUIDING LIGHT) - 69
Ronald Guttman (ex-Alexander, ALL MY CHILDREN) - 61
Bruce Greenwood (ex-Pierce, KNOTS LANDING) - 57
Peter Krause (Adam, PARENTHOOD; ex-Nick, DIRTY SEXY MONEY; ex-Nate, SIX FEET UNDER) - 48
Rebecca Gayheart (ex-Hannah, LOVING; ex-Judy, VANISHED; ex-Natasha, NIP/TUCK; ex-Toni, BEVERLY HILLS, 90210)- 42
Taylor Stanley (Zoey, THE BAY; ex-Remy, ANOTHER WORLD) - 38
Maggie Lawson (ex-Alexa, PARTY OF FIVE) - 33
Nick Zurzolo (ex-Gabe, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 23

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].