Today in Soap Opera History (August 3)

On this date in...

1918: Future soap legend Larry Haines, best remembered for his 35 year run as Stu Bergman on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, was born. Haines died on July 17, 2008 at age 89.

1922: Schenectady, New York radio station WGY aired a staged dramatic play for the first time. This tryout was a hit which led to weekly studio broadcasts of full-length stage plays.

1978: On ANOTHER WORLD, Susan threw Liz (Irene Dailey) out when she harped on Olive and Dan.

CAPITOL stars Carolyn Jones (Myrna) and
Constance Towers (Clarissa)

1983: Actress Carolyn Jones died at age 53. Best known for playing Morticia in THE ADDAMS FAMILY, Jones starred as Myrna Clegg on the CBS daytime soap CAPITOL in its original 1982 cast, playing the role into 1983 despite having been diagnosed with colon cancer in 1981. She had aggressive treatment for the cancer, but it returned during her time on CAPITOL and she was told it was terminal. Jones told her sister that she wanted her epitaph to say, "She gave joy to the world."

1984: Eileen Fulton made her first appearance on AS THE WORLD TURNS as Lisa after being off the show for a year and a half Lisa arrived home and found her husband, Whit McColl, dead on the floor.



1988: Michael Bays debuted as Julio Ramirez in DAYS OF OUR LIVES.

1988: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Colette Francoise (Amy Gibson) held Colton and Felicia (Kristina Wagner) captive then revealed her terrorist organization tattoo. Olivia Jerson (Tonja Walker) planted a pair of sexy underwear in the bedroom.



1993: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Margo (Ellen Dolan) was raped.



2005: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Monica (Leslie Charleson) read AJ's confession letter from 10 years earlier.



2007: On PASSIONS, Luis (Galen Gering) was sent to the execution chamber while Sheridan (Kam Heskin) decided to electrocute Theresa (Lindsay Hartley).



2008: ANOTHER WORLD alum Morgan Freeman was injured in a car accident in Ruleville, Mississippi.

Celebrating a birthday today are:
Tony Bennett (Guest Star, AS THE WORLD TURNS) - 87
Martin Sheen (ex-Jed, THE WEST WING; ex-Jack, AS THE WORLD TURNS; ex-Roy, THE EDGE OF NIGHT) - 73
Philip Casnoff (ex-Rob, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Brian, THE EDGE OF NIGHT; ex-Nikolai, OZ) - 64
Jay North (ex-Al, GENERAL HOSPITAL) - 62
John C. McGinley (ex-Ned, ANOTHER WORLD) - 54
Isaiah Washington (ex-Preston, GREY'S ANATOMY) - 50
Melissa Ponzio (Melissa, TEEN WOLF; ex-Angie, ARMY WIVES; ex-Alice, ONE TREE HILL) - 41
Michael Ealy (ex-Marshall, FLASHFORWARD) - 40
Paulo Benedeti (ex-Tony, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Jesse, GUIDING LIGHT) - 38
Shanelle Workman (ex-Gabrielle, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL; ex-Flash, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) - 35
Evangeline Lilly (ex-Kate, LOST) - 34
Mamie Gummer (Nancy, THE GOOD WIFE; ex-Emily, EMILY OWENS M.D.) - 30
Kyle Schmid (ex-Ryan, DEGRASSI) - 29

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.