Five Things That Happened On April 17 In Soap History

In 1986, Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie) and Victoria Lord (Erika Slezak) remarried on One Life to Live. The happy occasion was capped off by special news the bride shared with the groom on the morning of the wedding: She was pregnant! Clint and Viki's daughter, Jessica, was born later in the year (as was Jessica's twin, Natalie, per a later rewrite).

In 1989, the Quartermaines got word that Edward’s (David Lewis, with Anna Lee as Lila Quartermaine) plane had gone missing in the Bahamas on GH. The character was presumed dead, but resurfaced in the Bahamas in 1991 and returned home to his overjoyed family.

In 2003, Scott Clifton made his daytime debut as Dillon Quartermaine on General Hospital. The actor recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2023 that landing the job "started with [Casting Director] Mark Teschner, with a single audition for the role of Lucas, and I did not get it. Then they recast Lucas, and again, I didn’t get that, either. There was a third audition for a character that was then unknown, and at the end of that audition I could see the look in Mark’s eyes that I wasn’t right for the role. But it was the third time he brought me in, and after, he came around his desk and he shook my hand and pulled me into, like, a bro hug, and he said in my ear, ‘I’m going to get you on this show if it kills me.’ The next audition was for Dillon, and I was a little exasperated. I wasn’t super-optimistic — and that was the job I ended up getting. I was thrilled and stunned at the same time.”

In 2008, Brad Snyder (Austin Peck) and Katie Peretti (Terri Conn) wed on As the World Turns. Their portrayers, Peck and Conn, followed suit, marrying in real life in 2011.

In 2014, Matthew Atkinson made his Young and Restless debut as Austin Travers. He told Soap Opera Digest, "A year before, I had tried out for another role on Y&R that didn't work out, but they called me later about playing Austin. They decided to have faith that Hunter [King, Summer] and I would be good together. I don't know why they didn't do a chemistry read with us, but I'm really glad it worked out." Of his new role, Atkinson noted, "From the very beginning, it was very hush-hush on what kind of person Austin would turn out to be. I was able to sit down with Jill [Farren Phelps, executive producer] before I even started working and was told that some traumatic event had taken place and because of that, he had a lot of demons, but she indicated that the character could be around for a while."