Today in Soap Opera History (March 26)

On this date in...

1967: On ANOTHER WORLD, Ada mentioned having been married to “Lou”, which was probably the original name for the character of Gerald Davis, Rachel's father.

1968: The first episode of DARK SHADOWS that Dan Curtis directed aired. Nathan told Naomi that Barnabas is the Strangler.

1973: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS premiered as a 30-minute soap joining the CBS Daytime lineup. Watch the very first scene below:



1982: SEARCH FOR TOMORROW aired its final CBS episode. The show ran "Follow the Search" ads so fans could find it in its new NBC home on Monday, March 29.

1982: SFT's daytime replacement, CAPITOL, made its premiere in a primetime special.



1987: On SANTA BARBARA, Gina suspected Brick was a rapist.



2005: The new DOCTOR WHO premiered on BBC One.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Leonard Nimoy (ex-Bernie, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 81
Judith Baldwin (ex-Beth, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL) - 66
Leeza Gibbons (Herself, SUNSET BEACH) - 57
Billy Warlock (ex-Ross, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Anthony, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Ben, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Frankie, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-A.J., GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 51
T.R. Knight (ex-George, GREY'S ANATOMY) - 39
Natalia Livingston (ex-Taylor, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Rebecca/Emily, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 36
Neal Bledsoe (John, SMASH; ex-Tyler, UGLY BETTY; ex-Gary, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Quinn, GUIDING LIGHT) - 31
Joe Anderson (Lincoln, THE RIVER) - 30
Sterling Sulieman (ex-Dre, ALL MY CHILDREN, ex-Harper, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES) - 28
Jonathan Groff (Jesse, GLEE; ex-Henry, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 27
Anthony Anderson (Sean, ANACOSTIA)
Gabriela Rodriguez (ex-Gabi, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) - 19

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you would like to submit a piece of soap opera history for this daily column, please email it to editor@welovesoaps.com.

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