Today in Soap Opera History (October 13)

1965: Peyton Place's Steven questioned Elliot.  1986: Search 
for Tomorrow's Suzi crashed her car. 1986: Pat proposal
was rejected on Ryan's Hope.  2005: Guiding Light's
Olivia confessed to Bill.

"History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future."
― Robert Penn Warren

"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...

1947: On radio soap opera Lora Lawton, Joe visited Lora (Jan Miner) at her London flat. She told him she was going to communicate with Peter through a series of pictures she drew for him.

1965: On Peyton Place, Gus Chernak (Bruce Gordon) accosted Martin (George Macready) outside the mill, while Steven (James Douglas) questioned Elliot (Tim O'Connor) about the night he rescued Rita from Joe. The episode was written by Rita Lakin and Sonya Roberts. Lakin was the head writer (and only writer) for the episodes of The Doctors currently airing on Retro TV.



1970: On Another World, Rachel (Robin Strasser) told Ada (Constance Ford) her clever little tricks helping the Matthews family would not stop her from getting what she wanted.

1986: On Search for Tomorrow, Suzi (Terri Eoff) and Cagney's (Matthew Ashford) car was involved in a fatal accident. Suzi died and Cagney wound up paralyzed from the waist down.



1986: On Ryan's Hope, Pat (Malcolm Groome) proposed to Melinda (Nancy Valen) but she turned him down. They eventually married on January 23, 1987.



1988: On General Hospital, Duke (Ian Buchanan) vowed to stay by Anna's (Finola Hughes) side until Olivia Jerome (Tonja Walker) was locked up.



1989: Jane A. Rogers aired for the final time as Heather Donnelly in Santa Barbara.

1995: On All My Children, Jonathan (Michael Sabatino) threatened to cut Erica (Susan Lucci) off if she kept upping the dosage on her painkillers.



2002: Actor Dennis Patrick died at age 84. His soap roles included Paul Stoddard in Dark Shadows, Patrick Chapin in Rituals and Vaughn Leland in Dallas.

2005: On Guiding Light, Bill (Daniel Cosgrove) confronted Olivia (Crystal Chappell) about causing Billy to fall of the wagon. Olivia tried to deny it but finally admitted she tricked Billy into drinking to help Bill succeed at Lewis Construction.



Celebrating a birthday today are:
Christine Jones (ex-Pamela, One Life to Live; ex-Janice/Amy, Another World; ex-Christina, Rituals; ex-Catsy, RYAN'S HOPE; ex-Amy, Lovers and Friends; ex-Amy, For Richer, For Poorer) - 68
Beverly Johnson (ex-Kit's Mother, Crossroads) - 62
Kelly Preston (ex-Gillian, Capitol) - 52
Kate Walsh (ex-Addison, Private Practice; ex-Addison, Grey's Anatomy) - 47
Cady McClain (Kelly, The Young and the Restless; ex-Dixie, All My Children; ex-Rosanna, As the World Turns) - 45
Summer Sanders (Guest Star, All My Children) - 42
Katie Walder (ex-Shannon, All My Children; ex-Janet, Gilmore Girls) - 38
Jennifer Sky (ex-Sarah, General Hospital) - 38
Katia Winter (Katrina, Sleepy Hollow) - 31
Bailey Noble (ex-Adilyn, True Blood) - 24

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a soap history entry for this date or a future date, email [email protected].