Five Things That Happened On January 4 In Soap History

In 1982, Demi Moore made her General Hospital debut as Jackie Templeton, a reporter who caught the eye of both Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) and Robert Scorpio. In 2021, Tristan Rogers (Robert) recalled to Soap Opera Digest, "She came along right after the [Luke/Laura] wedding, in 1982, and everybody added up one and one to four — they got it all wrong! They all assumed that she was Laura’s replacement. She was never Laura’s replacement. Gloria [Monty, then-executive producer] was always hoping that Genie [Francis, who had recently exited] would change her mind and come back so they kept that storyline going in the background. Demi came in and there was another girl, Janine Turner [ex-Laura Templeton], who was the look-alike, and that actually spun off into another storyline altogether. Looking for Laura,” who was missing, “was part of it, but then they discovered, ‘Well, what are we going to do with Jackie, with Demi?’ And the word got out that she was going to be Luke Spencer’s new love interest, so they nipped that in the bud and said, ‘Okay, we’re going to give her to Rogers.’ This became a tradition! And so the relationship developed between Robert and Jackie."

In 1983, Steve Bond made his General Hospital debut as Jimmy Lee Holt, who revealed to Edward Quartermaine (David Lewis) that he was Edward's illegitimate son. (His mother was Beatrice LeSeur, Edward's former mistress.) Bond exited the series in 1986, and Jimmy Lee was later revealed to be the father of Austin Gatlin-Holt, the doctor played by Roger Howarth from 2021-23. Bond recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2017 that landing the gig at GH "completely changed my life," and recalled of Jimmy Lee, "He was a bad boy, and the first scene I had was with Edward Quartermaine, the patriarch of the family. I show up at the door on a Harley-Davidson and I say, ‘Hey, Daddy, I’m here!’ Edward wanted nothing to do with me, so all of a sudden, that whole family had a foil. [Then-Executive Producer] Gloria Monty was brilliant. She created characters that people really responded to, believed in and got excited about."

In 2016, Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) ministered to her nephew Eric (Greg Vaughan) after a drunk-driving Eric caused a horrific car crash on Days of Our Lives. He wound up badly injured, as did Jennifer, Brady and Daniel. While Eric, Jennifer and Brady ultimately pulled through, Daniel died as a result of the crash.

In 2017, Y&R’s Hilary (Mishael Morgan) sat vigil for Devon (Bryton James) after he was badly injured in a car accident. Hilary blamed herself for the accident, as he had raced out of the New Year's Eve bash they were attending in a rage after discovering that she had intentionally sabotaged Mariah and hopped in the sports car he wound up crashing. It was touch and go for a bit, but Devon pulled through.

In 2019, Bold and Beautiful’s Hope (Annika Noelle) was devastated when Liam (Scott Clifton), who had been deceived by Dr. Reese Buckingham, informed her that their newborn daughter had passed away. In truth, Reese had taken the baby and sold her on the black market; Steffy unwittingly adopted the biological half sister of the daughter she and Liam shared! Steffy named the little girl Phoebe. It took many months for the truth to come out, but eventually, Hope was reunited with her baby, Beth.