Five Things That Happened On December 15 In Soap History

In 1993, Rena Sofer (pictured with Vanessa Marcil as Lois's bestie, Brenda Barrett) debuted on General Hospital as Lois Cerullo. In 2013, the actress recalled of her first day on the set to Soap Opera Digest, "I shot scenes with Wally [Kurth, Ned]. Lois was running a show at some upstate New York idea of a club and I was wearing boots and tights and shorts. Ned was amused by me." Of playing the role, which she exited in 1996 and reprised in 1997 before returning in 2023 and for which she won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, she remarked, "There was nothing I didn't like about Lois. I felt like I had been playing her my entire life. It is very rare for an actor to so seamlessly immerse themselves into a role. Playing Lois was so easy for me. She gave me energy."

In 2004, Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) was named vice president of Jackie M Designs on Bold and Beautiful. Deacon's paramour, Jackie (Lesley-Anne Down), had just gotten the news that her husband, Massimo Marone, was filing for divorce and relinquishing his interest in the company to her. Jackie told Deacon, "I'm still in need of a really, really good vice president. Are you interested?" He quickly accepted.

In 2006, Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie, DAYS, far l.) reprised her previous Young and Restless role, JoAnna, who paid a surprise visit to daughter Lauren Baldwin (Tracey E. Bregman). Also pictured: Christian J. LeBlanc as Michael and Judith Chapman as Gloria. Seaforth Hayes originally played JoAnna beginning in 1984. She recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2018, "For three happy years, I was lucky to play Tracey’s mother, JoAnna Manning. This character was a viperous CEO type who often exchanged acid put-downs with her daughter. On camera bitches, we were off camera pals. It was the era of big hair, big shoulder pads and big earrings. To add to my JoAnna mystique, I splashed on lots of Giorgio perfume, a ritzy, heady scent quite popular then."

In 2016, Erika Girardi – then Eileen Davidson's (Ashley) co-star on Bravo's The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — guest-starred on Young and Restless as Farrah Dubose. Girardi told Soap Opera Digest, "This was a birthday gift that Eileen gave me for my 45th birthday. And then it turned out to be something even much bigger than I ever thought it would be. She came up with this idea, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you the greatest birthday present ever,’ and it turned out to be this part on the show. So this is truly Eileen’s gift to me and it couldn’t have been better.” Of her time on set, she admitted, “To be honest, I was really nervous. I mean, this is totally out of my lane."

In 2017, Drew Cain (Billy Miller) and Samantha McCall (Kelly Monaco) learned that they were not legally married on General Hospital. This was due to the fact that Sam had been married to Jason Morgan at the time of his presumed death, and while Drew had been living as his brother for several years, the real Jason was now back in town and he was still Sam's legal spouse. Alexis broke the news to Drew, who she was helping sort out the legal implications of Jason's return and the discovery that he was actually Drew, saying, "So let's address the biggest problem first." "What's that?" asked Drew warily. "At the moment, you and Sam aren't legally married," she explained." Sighed a despondent Drew, "It's all invalid, isn't it? My entire life, my friends, my family, my marriage, my entire existence."