Paul Rauch Dead at 78

Former daytime executive turned legendary soap opera producer Paul Rauch died on December 10 in New York due to complications from blood clots.  He was 78.

Rauch served as vice president of CBS daytime programming in the early 1970s before leaving to take over as executive producer of ANOTHER WORLD (1971-1983). His partnership with head writer Harding Lemay (1972-1979) produced what is considered by many to be some of the best daytime soap opera in history. In our 2009 inteview with Lemay, he described Rauch as "one of the best producers, probably the best producer I have ever worked with."

He went on to produce ONE LIFE TO LIVE (1983 to 1991), SANTA BARBARA (1991-1993) and GUIDING LIGHT (1996-2002). His most recent work was as executive producer for THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS from 2008 to 2011.

Ellen Holly, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, Racism & The Soap Opera, Part 4: “He Was So Close, His Spit Flew In My Face”

WE LOVE SOAPS TV recently spent an afternoon with legendary actress Ellen Holly, who played Carla on ONE LIFE TO LIVE from 1968 to 1985. We asked Ms. Holly to share her story with us; her early career, how she came to ONE LIFE, her experiences over the years, and what happened when she left. In part four of our series on the life and times of Ellen Holly, we explore the mystery and mistreatment surrounding her termination.

She returned to ONE LIFE TO LIVE more popular than ever, with fresh hope of a long, rewarding career and dreams of building a family. Before long, she found herself being spit on by then executive producer Paul Rauch; but the beginning of her final contract was surprisingly auspicious.

FLASHBACK: Erica Kane Goes To The Disco 1979 + AW Bonus

As a tribute to ALL MY CHILDREN's final weeks on ABC, we continue our series of daily Flashbacks today with a look at Erica and Mark at her discotheque.

The April 1979 issue of the monthly newsletter "The Soap Box" featured a fun photo of Erica Kane and Mark Dalton dancing away with the headline, "Soap Opera Fever! How to Catch It."

As a bonus, we're including a wonderful photo and story from ANOTHER WORLD that includes Harding Lemay, Paul Rauch, Victoria Wyndham and Douglass Watson.

FLASHBACK: Nicolas Coster 1992

"Quality acting is quality acting, anywhere," Nicolas Coster says.

By Connie Passalacqua
Lawrence Journal-World
June 17, 1992

To me, there are no soap actors, no movie actors, no stage actors. There are just well-trained actors and Nick is certainly that. So says SANTA BARBARA executive producer Paul Rauch, revealing the key to the endurance of actor Nicolas Coster, who currently plays Lionel Lockridge on the NBC daytime soap.

Paul Rauch Named Executive Producer Of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

Michael Logan is reporting in the new TV Guide (Sept. 15-21) that Paul Rauch has officially replaced Josh Griffith as the Executive Producer of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

Rauch has previous served as Executive Producer at ANOTHER WORLD, GUIDING LIGHT, SANTA BARBARA and ONE LIFE TO LIVE, and was the Co-Creator of TEXAS, LOVERS AND FRIENDS and FOR RICHER/FOR POORER.

He has been credited as a consultant for the improved Y&R this year.

Rauch has had some amazing successes in daytime (his early years on AW were some of the best in soap history) and some huge flops (who can forget the sad last year of SANTA BARBARA and the final shot of Rauch stomping out his cigarette to end the show).