GH seems to have a fair amount of these situations. I'm also reminded of the death of Rosalind Cash and how, at Mary Mae Ward's funeral on the show, Cash's real life-friends Esther Rolle and Lou Rawls, among others, were there.
Although John Perkins (Father McShane, RH) wasn't a priest, I read that he was very active in his Catholic church at the time. Probably helped to make him so believable in the role. I think, also, Jumbo Marino's portrayer, Fat Thomas, wasn't too far removed from his role. I tend to think of him as the Luca Brasi/Lenny Montana of RH...not much of an actor but comes with a certain familiarity.