The biggest celebrities are usually those who appear in Hollywood movies or on prime time TV, but the stars of long-running daytime soap operas can foster especially close connections with their fans, who tune in day after day and follow a character’s development for years.
Some popular film actors, such as Julianne Moore, Demi Moore and Meg Ryan, got their start on soap operas.
When these actors die, their absence leaves a void for their most loyal viewers, who wonder whether they will be replaced on their show and speculate what will happen to the characters they had long portrayed.
This happened in September when Drake Hogestyn, who played John Black on “Days of Our Lives,” died at age 70. He had appeared in more than 4,200 episodes for over 38 years.
And the death on Friday of Wayne Northrop, who played Roman Brady and Dr. Alex North on “Days of Our Lives” in more than 1,000 episodes from 1981 to 2006, has left longtime fans recalling his work on the show.
Here are the stories of six other long-running daytime actors and actresses who have died in the past few years.
Sonia Eddy (1967-2022)
The ABC soap opera “General Hospital” has run for more than 60 years, and for 16 of those, Sonia Eddy played the frank nurse Epiphany Johnson.
Ms. Eddy joined the cast in 2006 to portray the head nurse of a hospital in the fictional town of Port Charles, N.Y. From the start, she endeared herself to viewers as a fan favorite. She also showcased her vocal chops by performing in episodes that had memorial services and nurses’ balls.
She played the role in 543 episodes and up to two months before her death at 55. She also played Epiphany in 25 episodes of the spinoff “General Hospital: Night Shift” in 2007 and 2008.
A native of Concord, Calif., Ms. Eddy made her first television appearance in her late 20s in an episode of the sitcom “The Drew Carey Show” in 1995. She also found steady work on hit shows including “ER,” “Seinfeld” and “Glee.”
But it was her role as Epiphany that resonated most with viewers, her castmates and fellow Hollywood actors.
She played a nurse several times throughout her career, including in the films “Seven Pounds” (2008), starring Will Smith, and “Year of the Dog” (2007).
She also supported real-life nurses. In 2022, she led a campaign to raise money for scholarships for nursing students.
Read her Times obituary.
Jacklyn Zeman (1953-2023)
Jacklyn Zeman also played a tough but loving nurse on “General Hospital,” becoming among the longest-lasting cast members of any American soap opera.
Ms. Zeman first portrayed the nurse Bobbie Spencer in 1977 and was featured in nearly 900 episodes.
The character, initially a student nurse, was in the process of rebuilding her life after working as a prostitute in Florida and having to give up a baby for adoption. Bobbie was also the younger sister of Luke Spencer, played by Anthony Geary, one of the most popular characters in the show’s history.
“I wanted Bobbie to be bouncy and have a positive aura and energy,” Ms. Zeman told TV Insider in 2022. “I wanted her to have intelligence, humor and a love of people. Bobbie came from a dysfunctional background, but she wanted to have kids and be a mother.”
She added, “I wanted the character to be perky and to come in like a hurricane.”
Ms. Zeman, who was 70 when she died, was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards for the role and received a fifth nomination in 2021 for another soap opera, “The Bay.”
Read her Times obituary.
Kristoff St. John (1966-2019)
Kristoff St. John played a handsome and ambitious cosmetic executive for almost 28 years on “The Young and the Restless.”
Like many soap opera characters, the executive, named Neil Winters, struggled with infidelity, alcoholism and family issues on the CBS program, which is set in the fictional Genoa City.
Mr. St. John joined the show in 1991, appearing in nearly 1,700 episodes to become one of the longest-running African American characters on a soap opera.
He told The Toronto Star in 1994 that he saw Winters as “energetic and striving for the top spot,” someone who “doesn’t really see himself as a ladies’ man but rather quite sensual” and “very secure.”
Mr. St. John began his career as a child actor on television with credits that included playing a young Alex Haley in “Roots: The Next Generations” (1979) and a recurring role on “The Bad News Bears,” a sitcom on which his father also appeared.
But Mr. St. John was most recognized for Winters on “The Young and The Restless,” for which he won two Daytime Emmy Awards and 10 N.A.A.C.P. Image Awards.
His son, Julian, died by suicide at age 24 in 2014, and later Mr. St. John spoke openly about his own struggles with depression. He died at 52.
Read his Times obituary.
Kathryn Hays (1934-2022)
Kathryn Hays had an enduring role for nearly 40 years on “As The World Turns,” where she played a maternal figure in the fictional town of Oakdale, offering advice and guidance to many of the town’s residents.
In 1972, a daytime drama writer cast Ms. Hays as the troublemaker Kim Hughes originally for a six-month contract, but Ms. Hays ended up becoming a longtime addition to the soap opera, which was broadcast on CBS from 1956 to 2010.
In one controversial episode in the 1970s, the writers explored marital rape, which was rarely discussed on television at the time, through her character and husband.
As Ms. Hays aged, so did her character, and she evolved into the show’s go-to matriarch along with her husband, Bob Hughes, played by Don Hastings.
Kim was known for her catchphrases, often calling others “kiddo” or “toots.”
“She turned into a deeper character, and that was wonderful,” Ms. Hays said of Kim in a 2010 interview about the show’s finale. “She made the choice to be thoughtful of others. You saw her grow through those years.”
Diehard “Star Trek” fans recognized her starring as a mute alien with healing powers who rescued a grievously injured Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner, in a classic 1968 episode called “The Empath.” She was 87 when she died.
Read her Times obituary.
Tyler Christopher (1972-2023)
Tyler Christopher was one of multiple actors who played Nikolas Cassadine, a bad boy character often described as “the dark prince” on “General Hospital,” mostly from 1996 to 2016.
Cassadine’s character went through tumultuous times, including the death of a fiancée, five marriages, multiple arrests for murder, blackmail plots as well as the faking of his own death, according to the soap-opera news outlet Soap Central.
Mr. Christopher temporary left the show in 1999 and returned in 2023, according to ABC.
“Being on daytime TV has its benefits,” he told People magazine in 2005. “You can still have a life and you know you have a check coming every week. That’s what drew me back.”
In 2016, he won a Daytime Emmy Award as lead actor in a drama.
When he departed “General Hospital” for good that same year, he landed a recurring role as Stefan DiMera on the long-running soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
In more recent years, after being arrested multiple times for public intoxication, Mr. Christopher opened up about sharing his struggles with bipolar disorder and alcoholism.
He died at age 50.
Read his Times obituary.
John Aniston (1933-2022)
The veteran television actor John Aniston played a Greek businessman villain for more than three decades on the long-running soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
A native of Greece, Mr. Aniston first appeared as a doctor on the NBC program in 1970, a year after his daughter, Jennifer Aniston, was born.
But in 1985 he began appearing on the show as Victor Kiriakis, a character from Greece once described by Soap Opera Digest as a “romantic villain.”
In a 1986 profile of Mr. Aniston, the magazine said Kiriakis made “men cringe in fear and women’s hearts go pitter-patter.”
While remembering her father at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2022, Ms. Aniston described his character as a “dangerously handsome, perpetually suave businessman.” An episode of him in that role was released on the day he died that year.
Mr. Aniston appeared in more than 2,700 episodes of the program, which started in 1965 on NBC and followed various characters in the fictional Midwestern town of Salem.
In 2022, the network moved “Days of Our Lives” to Peacock, its streaming service.
Although he was popular to daytime audiences, Mr. Aniston’s fame was overshadowed by that of his daughter, who became best known as Rachel on the show “Friends.” He died at the age of 89.
Read his Times obituary.
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