'As the World Turns' Alum John Colenback Dead at 79

Actor John Colenback has died. He was 79.

Colenback, who starred as Dr. Dan Stewart on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns from 1966-73 and again from 1976-79, died May 12 in West Hollywood of complications from the pulmonary disease COPD.

On As the World Turns, Dan was involved in two of the show's most memorable love quandrangles, the Paul/Liz/Dan/Susan story of the late 1960s/early 1970s and the John/Kim/Dan/Susan story of the mid-1970s. Dan sired two daughters, Betsy and Emily, both of whom named their children after him. Dan died of a terminal illness in September 1979.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, who attended Dartmouth College, Colenback was acting in summer stock at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa., when he was discovered by an agent.

He was brought to New York and made his Broadway debut in 1961 as the attendant to Spanish ambassador Signor Chapuys in the original Broadway production of "A Man for All Seasons."

CLASSIC ATWT Photo of the Day: John Colenback

Although born only in the late 1950s, Dan Stewart was fully grown and a doctor by the late 1960s on AS THE WORLD TURNS. Actor John Colenback played the role the longest, and was approximately the same age as Patricia Bruder, who played his mother, Ellen Lowell Stewart.

Dan was involved in two of ATWT's most memorable love quandrangles, the Paul/Liz/Dan/Susan story of the late 1960s/early 1970s and the John/Kim/Dan/Susan story of the mid-1970s. Dan sired two daughters, Betsy and Emily, both of whom named their children after him.

Although Dan's death in 1979 paved the way for Kim and Bob's marriage, wouldn't it be nice to have Dan around today, as a legacy character with connections to many of Oakdale's residents? And does anyone know what happened to John Colenback? IMDB gives him only a handful of post-ATWT acting credits in the 1980s (BERRENGER'S, CAPITOL, FALCON CREST).