Today in Soap Opera History (January 15)

Shepperd Strudwick

On this date in...

1968: On ANOTHER WORLD, Missy told Alice (Jacqueline Courtney) she blamed herself for causing Liz pain and heartache with her selfishness.

1972: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, a seance was held in the Marceau house.

1983: Shepperd Strudwick, whose soap roles included Jim Matthews on ANOTHER WORLD, Timothy McCauley on LOVE OF LIFE and Victor Lord on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, died at age 75. He earned two Emmy nominations for his acting work in daytime in 1976 and 1980.

1985: On GUIDING LIGHT, Reva (Kim Zimmer) was worried about Vanessa.



1992: On THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, Neil (Kristoff St. John) apologized to Drucilla (Victoria Rowell) for being on her case about modeling.



1993: NBC aired the final episode of SANTA BARBARA, with executive producer Paul Rauch and head writer Pam Long.



2000: Actress Fran Ryan died ate age 83. She played Rosie Carlson in DAYS OF OUR LIVES from 1976 to 1979. Her other soap roles included Sister Agatha in GENERAL HOSPITAL and Dr. Helen Randall in RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE.

Ruth Warrick

2005: Actress Ruth Warrick died at age 89. She played Phoebe Tyler Wallingford in ALL MY CHILDREN for 35 years. Her other soap roles included Hannah Cord in PEYTON PLACE, Janet Johnson in THE GUIDING LIGHT, and Edith Hughes in AS THE WORLD TURNS.  Watch her Archive For American Television interview here.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Barbara Tarbuck (Claudia, AMERICAN HORROR STORY; ex-Jane, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 71
Count Stovall (ex-Cal, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Roy, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Hank, THE DOCTORS) - 67
Jason Culp (ex-Jerry, DAYS OF OUR LIVES; ex-Julian, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 62
Mario Van Peebles (ex-Samuel, ALL MY CHILDREN; ex-Doc, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 56
Chad Lowe (Byron, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS; ex-Carter, MELROSE PLACE; ex-Reed, 24) - 45
Shane McMahon (WWE) - 43
Regina King (ex-Sandra, 24) - 42
Jessy Schram (Ashley, ONCE UPON A TIME) - 26

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.