 |
| 1968: Dark Shadows' Mrs. Johnson had a terrible dream. 1981: ATWT's John Dixon took a tumble. 2002: AMC's Bianca called her sister, Kendall, "evil". 2010: It was prom night for OLTL's Starr X'd Lovers. |
- Thomas Carlyle
"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...
1968: On Dark Shadows, Cassandra (Lara Parker) encouraged Mrs. Johnson (Clarice Blackburn) to get some sleep but Mrs. Johnson told her she was afraid of having a terrible dream. Once Mrs. Johnson fell asleep she had the dream, which involved David (David Henesy) and some scary bats.
1979: On Another World, Brian (Paul Stevens) shocked Mac (Douglass Watson) and Janice (Christine Jones) when he told them the extortion idea came from Iris. Note: This was first episode with Tom King credited as head writer. He replaced Harding Lemay, who departed after eight years.
1980: On The Edge of Night, Logan (Joe Lambie) and Deborah (Francis Fisher) confronted Raven (Sharon Gabet), who insisted she wanted to raise Jamey.
1981: On As the World Turns, John (Larry Bryggman) fell down the stairs after an argument with Margo (Margaret Colin).
1992: On The Young and the Restless, Lauren (Tracey Bregman) and Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) had a fiery confrontation about Dylan.
2002: On All My Children, Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Erica (Susan Lucci) clashed with Kendall (Alicia Minshew) at the courthouse.
2003: Kyle Brandt debuted as Philip Kiriakis in Days of our Lives.2004: Legendary British actress Anna Lee, who played Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital for 25 years, died at age 91. She was posthumously awarded a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award a week after her death, on May 21, in New York along with nine other daytime television legends.
2006: NBC aired the final episode of primetime serial The West Wing.
2010: One Life to Live kicked off its three-episode "Starr X'd Lovers" musical prom special. In the clip below, Brody Lovett (Mark Lawson) sings REO Speedwagon's smash hit "Keep on Loving You" from 1981.
Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson) sings Pat Benatar's "We Belong" from 1984.
2013: Actor Jerry Ayres died at age 76. His soap roles included David Hamiliton on General Hospital and Conway Weston in The Bold and the Beautiful. He also appeared in several episodes of Dynasty's first season as Tom.
Celebrating a birthday today are:
Victor Miller (Former writer, All My Children; Guiding Light; Another World; One Life to Live; General Hospital) - 74
Jennifer Billingsley (ex-Polly, General Hospital) - 72
Edmund Gaynes (ex-Paul, As the World Turns) - 67
Nancy Sorel (ex-Monique, Generations) - 50
Natasha Ryan (ex-Hope, Days of our Lives) - 44
Sabryn Genet (ex-Tricia, The Young and the Restless) - 43
Gabriel Mann (Nolan, Revenge; ex-Arthur, Mad Men) - 42
Martine McCutcheon (ex-Susan, Echo Beach; ex-Tiffany, EastEnders) - 38
Justin Klosky (ex-Joey, Guiding Light) - 34
Amber Tamblyn (ex-Emily, General Hospital) - 31
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].
This infamous date in Another World's history began the series on a dangerous five year journey into bargain basement Nielsen ratings.
ReplyDeleteThink of just how much more touching it would've been had the Lifetime Achievement Award been awarded to Ms. Lee when she was still around to accept the accolade! The actress was was 91, did they think she'd be around forever?? Why did the Daytime Emmys wait so late?
ReplyDeleteWe currently have a bevy of octogenarian actors from various soaps (now mostly cancelled) that deserve Lifetime Achievement Awards and I think the Daytime Emmys needs to recognize them regardles off whether or not the soap is still on air.
Thankfully, many of these octogenarian and above actors are still hearty & hale but one never knows what the future holds. I say, don't dither nor dally, people...get on it!