Saturday, July 9, 2016

Today in Soap Opera History (July 9)

1986: Another World's Cass was determined to see Kathleen.
1991: Days of our Lives' Jack and Jennifer saw a familiar star.
2002: Passions' Theresa begged for help during her execution.
2003: All My Children's Bianca burned her clothes after the rape.
"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree."
― Michael Crichton

"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...

1946: Mary-Ellis Bunim was born. She produced daytime soap operas Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Santa Barbara and LOVING before moving into reality television with The Real World. She died in 2004 at age 57.

1954: On Search for Tomorrow, Joanne Barron (Mary Stuart) was threatened by Hazel Tate (Mary Patton).

1968: On Another World, Rachel Matthews (Robin Strasser) apologized for not being nice to her mother, Ada, or husband, Russ.

1969: On The Doctors, after Carolee Simpson (Carolee Campbell ) asked Steve Aldrich (David O'Brien) why he was still wearing his wedding ring, he took it off.

1971: On The Doctors, Toni Ferra (Anna Stuart) felt lost after realizing she didn't know her parents well at all.



1980: John McCafferty debuted as Billy Joe Wright on Another World, a character created for the show's spin-off series, Texas.

1981: Former Days of our Lives head writer Ruth Brooks died at age 59.

1984: On Guiding Light, IQ warned Lujack Luvonaczek (Vincent Irizarry) that Darcy (Robin Johnson) was going to come after Beth and Alexandra.



1986: On Another World, Vince McKinnon (Duke Stroud) tried to stop Cass Winthrop (Stephen Schnetzer) from seeing Vince's daughter, Kathleen (Julie Osburn).



1991: On Days of our Lives, Jack (Matthew Ashford) and Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) Deveraux saw Macdonald Carey's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame while on their honeymoon. Carey played Jennifer's grandfather, Dr. Tom Horton, on Days from the show's premiere in 1965 until his death in 1994.

2001: On As the World Turns, Katie Peretti Fraser (Terri Conn) was thrilled when her "green card husband" Simon Fraser (Paul Leyden) admitted he loved her.



2002: On Passions, Theresa (Lindsay Hartley) begged for her life on the execution table.



2003: On All My Children, Bianca (Eden Riegel) burned her clothes following the rape.



2007: Primetime college serial, Greek, premiered on ABC Family.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Suzanne Rogers
Brian Dennehy (ex-Jake, Dynasty) - 78
Richard Roundtree (ex-Lou, Diary of a Single Mom; ex-Oliver, As the World Turns) - 74
Suzanne Rogers (Maggie, Days of our Lives) - 73
John Tesh (Guest Star, Santa Barbara) - 64
Jimmy Smits (ex-Matthew, The West Wing) - 61
Lisa Banes (ex-Eve, One Life to Live) - 61
Jerry Penacoli (ex-Fergus, One Life to Live; ex-Jerry, Santa Barbara; ex-Christian, The Bold and the Beautiful) - 60
Brian Fitzpatrick (ex-Roscoe, General Hospital; ex-Kenneth, The Young and the Restless; ex-Mitch, All My Children) - 59
Kelly McGillis (ex-Glenda, One Life to Live) - 59
Tim Kring (Former Writer, Heroes) - 59
Raymond Cruz (ex-Memo, Los Americans) - 55
Marco Dapper (ex-Carmine, The Young and the Restless) - 33

Note: Nathaniel Marston (ex-Michael/Al, One Life to Live; ex-Eddie, As the World Turns) would have turned 41 today. He passed away on November 11, 2015.

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

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