Five Things That Happened On April 14 In Soap History

In 1983, Kristian Alfonso made her Days of Our Lives debut as Hope Williams. The soap superstar recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2015 that at her audition, "I was a nervous wreck. Everyone who was testing were experienced actresses and really good. We tested in the Horton house and it was with Wayne Northrop [ex-Roman], I believe. I had to come down the stairs, and right before you reach the bottom step, there is a handrail and it has this little knob at the top and, of course, I went to grab it and went flying. So I fell and I’m thinking in my head, ‘Oh, my God, I am just so not gonna get hired for this. I’m a liability.’ And then, shockingly, I come to find out I got the job! It was so many years ago and it feels like it was just yesterday.”

In 1989, Another World introduced Alice Barrett as Mary Frances "Frankie" Frame, who would go on to be part of a popular romance with Stephen Schnetzer's Cass Winthrop. The character, a private eye, arrived in Bay City to investigate the death of her uncle, Jason Frame. When Frankie was brutally killed off in 1996, slaughtered by serial killer Fax Newman, the fan outcry was deafening.

In 2011, soap fans suffered a double blow when ABC announced the cancellations of All My Children, which made its debut on the network in 1970, and One Life to Live, which began broadcasting on ABC in 1968. Susan Lucci, who had played Erica Kane since the show's debut, posted online, "It saddens me that All My Children is canceled. I've loved playing Erica Kane and working with [Creator] Agnes Nixon and the incredible people at AMC. To my loyal fans, thank you for the outpouring of spirit and support. Your kind words mean so very much to me."

In 2015, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) and Phyllis Summers (Gina Tognoni) prepared to remarry on Young and Restless. Jack saw the bride before the ceremony, which she noted was bad luck. He scoffed, "We have had our share of bad luck. We have beaten the odds. I can't imagine whoever is looking out for us would allow us to find happiness again only to lose it." In St. Barts, they planned to exchange vows on the beach, but bad weather forced them to pivot, and a minister conducted the ceremony in their hotel room.

In 2020 on Days of Our Lives, Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey, l.) dumped Xander Cook (Paul Telfer) during their wedding ceremony. As officiant Justin Kiriakis (Wally Kurth) prompted her to say, "I do," Sarah instead snapped, "How could I? How could I marry you after what you did?" Xander stammered that he didn't know what Sarah was talking about, but Sarah made it clear that she knew her baby had died, and that Xander had let her fall in love with a little girl that wasn't hers — the "daughter" she had been raising had been switched at birth, and was actually Brady and Kristen's. Xander tried to explain that he'd done it for her; Sarah wasn't having it and called off the nuptials.