In Memoriam: Remembering Those We Lost in 2015

We said goodbye to a number of entertainment icons and legends in 2015 along with many other familiar faces in front of and behind the camera, including from the world of daytime and primetime soap operas. We Love Soaps remembers their contributions fondly.

H. Wesley Kenney

H. Wesley Kenney passed away on January 13. He was 85. In 1968, Kenney left a directing job at The Doctors when he landed on the series that he may well be most known for, Days of our Lives, for which he directed and produced for seven years. After leaving to pursue other directorial projects, Kenney returned to Days of our Lives as an Executive Producer to help transition the show from half-hour episodes to hour-long episodes. Kenney went on to work on many of the most prominent daytime serials, directing and serving as executive producer on The Young and Restless from 1982-87 and for General Hospital from 1987-89.

Anne Kirkbride

Longtime Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride passed away on January 19. She was 60. Kirkbride first showed up on Coronation Street, the world's longest-running active television soap opera, in 1972 as Deirdre Barlow, a teenager with a handful of lines. Within a few years, she had entered into a short-lived marriage with one character and then a romance and marriage with another, Ken Barlow.

Telenovela Star Lorena Rojas Dead at 44

Lorena Rojas

Lorena Rojas, the Mexican actress and singer who appeared in telenovelas for close to 25 years, died Monday in Miami after a battle with cancer. She was 44.

Rojas' television career began in the early 1990s appearing in a string of juvenile telenovelas for Mexican channel Televisa such as the music-industry fantasy Alcanzar una estrella. A number of supporting roles followed including in the Christian Bach and Saúl Lisazo telenovela Bajo un mismo rostro, currently re-airing on Univision Tlnovelas.

Rojas found bigger roles after she left Televisa in the late 1990s for rival network Azteca, eventually getting the starring role in the popular Como en el cine in 2001 opposite Mauricio Ochmann.

Rojas next starred in a trio of telenovelas for American network Telemundo for which she is probably best known in this country and internationally: the cop telenovela Ladrón de Corazones in 2003, the mystical soul-swapping El Cuerpo del Deseo in 2005 opposite Mario Cimarro, and the lurid and fun Miami-novela Pecados Ajenos in 2007.

It was a few months after the conclusion of Pecados Ajenos in 2008 that Rojas was first diagnosed with breast cancer.

She would make a comeback to the screen, returning to Azteca in the leading role in Entre el amor y el deseo in 2010.

Her final roles are in a pair of Miami telenovelas co-produced by Venevision (now Cisneros Media) and Univision: Rosario in 2013 and the yet-to-be-released thriller Demente Criminal.