Friday, October 4, 2013

Today in Soap Opera History (October 4)

1985: GH's Frisco broke Felicia's heart to pass Mr. Wu's test.
1990: The first episode of BEVERLY HILLS. 90210.  2001: TITANS
premiered.  2010: Camila Banus made her DAYS debut.
"We should always be aware that what now lies in the past once lay in the future."
― F.W. Maitland

"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...

1967: On DARK SHADOWS, Barnabas (Jonathan Frid) took Burke and Dr. Woodard down into the basement but there was no coffin to be found.

1976: On MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN, Mary (Louise Lasser) recuperated at Fernwood Psychiatric Hospital after her nervous breakdown during her guest appearance on "The David Susskind Show." Mary received flowers from Susskind, and praise for pioneering new developments in nationally televised dementia. Meanwhile, Charlie recuperated from his operation after a recent shooting, and Loretta made an eerie discovery about one of his wounds. Later, Mary tried to pass herself off as a sane person by watching television, but she made an awesome, empowering discovery about the psychiatric ward's television set instead.

1979: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, despite Tom's (Tom Tammi) objections, Lisa (Eileen Fulton) left Oakdale with Bennett Hadley (Doug Higgins).



1985: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Frisco (Jack Wagner) passed Mr. Wu's test when he told Felicia he couldn't go back to his old life.



1985: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Melissa (Lisa Trusel) had conflicted feelings about Linda. Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso) returned home.



1990: BEVERLY HILLS, 90210 premiered on FOX. The show ran until May 17, 2000.



1990: On GUIDING LIGHT, Phillip (Grant Aleksander) arrived and surprised Rick (Michael O'Leary) and Beth (Beth Chamberlin).



1995: On ANOTHER WORLD, friends and family mourned the loss of Ryan Harrison.



2001: Primetime soap opera TITANS premiered on NBC.



2007: The first season finale of GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT aired on SOAPnet.



2010: Camila Banus debuted as Gabi Hernandez in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.



2011: Actress Doris Belack died at age 85.  On ONE LIFE TO LIVE, she played Anna Wolek Craig (1968-1977), her most famous daytime character. She was also seen as Madge Murray (1966-1968) and Nora Simpson (1978) on ANOTHER WORLD, Claudia Howard on THE DOCTORS (1980), and Beth Bryson on THE EDGE OF NIGHT (1981). She had appeared on EDGE more than once before 1981 the Mrs. Bryson character, opposite Chris Goutman's Sharkey, was her most memorable on that show.

2011: Sarah Brown debuted as Madison James in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Susan Sarandon (ex-Patrice, A WORLD APART; ex-Sarah, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW) - 67
Meg Bennett (Soap writer for several soaps including GENERAL HOSPITAL; ex-Julia, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Megan, SANTA BARBARA; ex-Liza, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW; ex-Allegra, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 65
Brynn Thayer (ex-Jenny, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Kylie, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 64
Armand Assante (ex-Johnny, HOW TO SURVIVE A MARRIAGE; ex-Mike, THE DOCTORS) - 64
Mary Lynn Blanks (ex-Annie, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Jenny, LOVING; ex-Tara, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Thelma, ANOTHER WORLD) - 61
Wendy Makkena (ex-Katie, SANTA BARBARA) - 55
Mary Ellen Stuart (ex-Frannie, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Jenny, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Madison, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 52
Marjolein Keuning (Maxime, GOEDE TIJDEN SLECHTE TIJDEN) - 51
Liev Schreiber (Ray, RAY DONOVAN) - 46
Jennifer Gatti (ex-Dinah, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Angela, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW; ex-Keesha, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) - 45
Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny, GENERAL HOSPITAL)  - 34
Rachael Leigh Cook (ex-Devone,  DAWSON'S CREEK) - 34
Brad Bell (Cheeks, HUSBANDS) - 28
Michael Charles Roman (ex-Al, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 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].

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