Five Things That Happened On January 24 In Soap History

In 1983, General Hospital's Holly (Emma Samms) learned that she was pregnant with Luke Spencer’s (Anthony Geary) baby. This came as a great shock to Holly, particularly because Luke was presumed dead at the time. Holly's pregnancy was a critical building block in her relationship with Robert Scorpio, Luke's best friend, who offered to marry her not long thereafter. The couple wed and fell genuinely in love, although Holly sadly lost the baby. When Luke resurfaced, he was gobmsacked to discover that Robert had married Holly.

In 1986, Drake Hogestyn (John) made his Days of Our Lives debut. The beloved actor, who passed away in 2024, recalled his early days in Salem to Soap Opera Digest in 2015, saying he was "overwhelmed. When I started on the first day, I sat there all day long. I stayed on the set in everybody's scenes all week long, just to see how they did it. I remember watching Mac [Carey, who played Tom Horton] and Frances [Reid, who played Alice Horton] and Quinn Redeker [who played Alex Marshall] and John Clarke [who played Mickey Horton]. [And] Deidre [Hall, who plays Marlena Evans], of course, took me by the hand and said, 'This is how you do this, this is how you do that.' "

In 1992, Susan Haskell debuted as One Life To Live's Marty Saybrooke. The actress would go on to win two Daytme Emmys for the role, one in 1994 as Outstanding Supporting Actress and one for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2009. (Haskell's first stint on the show ended in 1997, but she returned briefly in 2004 and 2005 and then for a longer stint from 2008-11.) In her original run on the show, Marty was at the heart of the daring fraternity gang rape story in which her character was brutally assaulted, and later found love with Patrick Thornhart. Off camera, Haskell married Patrick's portrayer, Thorsten Kaye.

In 2005, General Hospital's Emily (Natalia Livingston) shot and killed her rapist, Connor Bishop (Tyler Christopher), in self-defense. After he assaulted her, Emily plunged scissors into his chest and ran upstairs to look for a phone to call for help, but could not find one. She ran back downstairs and tried to flee the premises, but Connor thwarted her, gun in hand. Emily wrestled the weapon away from him and fired it, ending Connor's reign of terror.

In 2007, Guiding Light's Tammy Winslow (Stephanie Gatschet) died after being struck by a car, which she had run in front of in order to save her beloved Jonathan Randall. Gatschet had played the role, which she assumed from Katie Sagona, beginning in 2002.