Questions about Unexpected Soap Actor's Deaths and How The Soaps Handeled Them

[EastMA2]

As usual Vee, you show yourself to be a nasty, vile person. What a creep you are.

[applcin]

I don't know. With AMC, Louis Edmonds (Langley) was written out in 1997 because of health problems so they kept saying Langley was on expeditions and whatnot. Louis died in 2001 and for a long time after that Langley was still mentioned as being on archeological digs. Apart from it being odd storywise that Phoebe's husband was never home for years, I just felt like Louis got deprived of getting a memorial from them.

Same thing with Michael Zaslow and OLTL. I mean, I was a fan of OLTL and I give them huge props for taking him back in the condition he was in and I think somebody said once on here that his wife requested they not kill off David Renaldi. But then you end up having either a prolonged awkwardly explained absence or no explanation at all and the character simply never gets mentioned again.

[SFK]

I did think of Langley earlier, that was indeed a bit awkward that his farewell amounted to a throw away line from Brooke when Phoebe died. At that point, they handled it as best as they could. They wouldn't very well say that Langley was off on a dig and sends his regrets. I think a funeral for Langley could have been a really nice episode full of hilarious flashbacks and of course an appearance by Carol Burnett (sans Lucky Vanous!) with some tender acting moments from her and RW.

[DRW50]

Langley was last seen in early 1995, I believe.

I think one of the problems was many in charge of the show didn't even care about mentioning Langley, let alone showing him. I think McTavish was the only one who ever mentioned Langley, in her 97-99 and then 03-06 runs.

[SFK]

Yes, '95, I'm pretty sure the last time Langley was onscreen was the 25th anniversary (with Carol and Lucky). I do remember watching with my mom or grandparents and seeing him at a wedding or something and we all exclaimed, "Langley!" My memory is foggy, but this may have been as many as two or three years or more before the 25th anniversary. His face was looking full at the time, like he'd gained weight or perhaps was on medication. I also saw him being interviewed by STM on E!'s Pure Soap but I can't remember if that was before or after the anniversary. He talked about the single he recorded, "Nobody Cares About Langley".

[sheilaforever]

The Saul memorial episode was great. I think it all played out in Sally's office.

I also think they had a "in memoriam" billing some weeks earlier when Michael Fox passed in real life.

[YRfan23]

 

 

Yeah I remember the "in Memorian" they had at the end of the episode! I think they showed that when they first said he died and they did those Sally and Saul flashbacks, I remember seeing seeing his picture at the end. of course i wasn't sure what it all meant other then Sally crying me me really sad, LOL.

I do remember the little memoriam in the office and Sally giving a speech about him, This had to been around summer 1996 right?

[DRW50]

Yes.

[jo.frank88]

Thanks so much for the responses guys! And yes Brenda Benet I believe was the actress I was thinking about! Thanks dc! My intention in asking this of course is never to wish death on any actor, but I just think it's really interesting to see how writers respond to unexpected things like this (like I said, morbid I know)... A good recent example is Glee, with the death of Cory Monteith. I think they had a great memorial tribute. Thanks again for the feedback guys!

[sheilaforever]

Those were the days before the internt and I had no soap mags so I was SHOCKED when Saul died. You cannot achieve that kind of on-screen moment anymore.

Recap from August 1996: http://www.boldbeautifulfan.com/bbarchiv/1996/bnbupdau.htm

[ellabelle]

It's a prime-time show, but I remember when John Spencer died of a heart attack while on contract on "The West Wing." His character, Leo McGarry, was the Vice-Presidential nominee, and the election was a few weeks away. Leo was found dead in his hotel room on the campaign trail. The original plan was that the Democratic nominee, Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits), was going to lose the election to the Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda), but when John Spencer died, Aaron Sorkin et al decided to kill off Leo too and felt it would be too sad if everyone lost Leo and then Santos lost the election as well. The remaining few episodes of the series were rewritten with the Democrats winning the White House again.

[ChitHappens]

OMG! John Spencer is dead

[Vee]

Aaron Sorkin had been dismissed/quit TWW years before that. He was out after Season 4. Spencer died during Season 7.

[FrenchFan]

When Michelle Thomas died in December 1998, she had just begun a run as Callie Rogers on Y&R. She was recast with Siena Goines who remained in the role until 2000.

[SFK]

That was so incredibly sad and unexpected. I just see her wide-eyed bright smiling face chasing after Steve Urkel ("Myra!"). She had been in a relationship with Malcolm-Jamal Warner and they spent a lot of time together towards the end. He said some really lovely things about her.