Michael Married Nelle On General Hospital And Other Big Moments From July 16 In Soap History

In 1987, Charlotte Ross made her Days of Our Lives debut as Eve Donovan, Shane Donovan's secret daughter by Gabrielle Pascal. She remained with the show until 1991. During that time, the character made quite an impact on Salem! When Eve was introduced, she was a young prostitute harboring a secret (her paternity) and a vendetta (against Kimberly, who she blamed for her parents’ split). Seething with resentment over the stable home life Sarah Horton enjoyed, Eve stole a car and accidentally struck Sarah. She revealed the truth to Shane about their relationship and he welcomed Eve into his home, where she caused stress aplenty for a pregnant Kimberly. In 1988, Eve’s pimp, Nick Corelli, forced her back into the life, and when one of her customers got violent she called Kim, who rushed to her aid but was injured and miscarried. That same year, Eve took a shine to Frankie Brady, and spoiled his romance with Jennifer by exposing that he’d been unfaithful, and when Eve found out that a classmate who showed interest in her had made a bet with his friends about “scoring” with a hooker, she tried to take her own life by overdosing on pills. In 1989, Eve was a suspect in Nick’s death — but it turned out he was alive. In 1990, however, Nick was murdered for real, and left her a $10 million fortune — on the condition that she get married. She talked a cash-strapped Jack into a short-lived marriage of convenience in 1991, and shortly after the nups, she was booked on suspicion of Nick’s murder. She fled to Miami, but was coaxed back to town by Frankie and ultimately exonerated; the pair then moved to Africa.

In 1996, news of Chief of Staff Steve Hardy’s death spread through the hospital on GH. His demise was scripted following the real-life death of original cast member John Beradino, who passed away from pancreatic cancer on May 19, 1996. Steve's death devastated his widow, Audrey, to whom he had been married three times.

In 2001, Melissa Archer made her One Life To Live debut as Natalie Balsom, later Natalie Buchanan, who was ultimately revealed to be the stolen-at-birth twin sister of Jessica Buchanan and daughter of Viki and Clint Buchanan. Archer remained with the show through to its cancellation in 2012, and reprised the role on the short-lived Internet reboot of OLTL in 2013. Reflecting on her run to Soap Opera Digest as the show came to a close in 2012, Archer mused, "I've made some incredible friends and have met really great people. A lot of them I hope stay in my life for good. I've been ridiculously fortunate to work with so many people. It's been a very awesome experience and you can just soak it all in. Erika [Slezak, ex-Viki] is a wonderful, caring person and always had me under her wing. Having Bree [Williamson, ex-Jessica] as a sister has been awesome."

In 2004, Kirsten Storms aired for the final time as Days of Our Lives’s Belle Black. Storms, who now plays Maxie Jones on General Hospital, first joined the show in 1999. She left the show to appear on a primetime series for CBS titled The Clubhouse. At the time, a show spokeperson said in a statement, "Kirsten's pilot has been picked up and we are thrilled for her! The cast and crew of DAYS have always known that she was an exceptional talent and it would be hard for us to stand in the way of her future. We all wish her the very best."

On General Hospital in 2018, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright, far l.) tried to stop her son Michael Corinthos (then-Chad Duell, l.) from marrying a pregnant Nelle Benson (Chloe Lanier). When Ned, who was officiating, asked if there were any objections to the marriage, Carly went on a rant about the "deadly and dangerous" woman her son was poised to marry. Carly was hauled out, but Nelle doubled over in pain and was rushed to the hospital. The ceremony was completed there, and when Ned noted that he needed to sign the marriage license, Jason handed him a pen. This proved to be a key detail, as Michael was playing Nelle, and had arranged for the marriage license to be signed in disappearing ink, so the union would ultimately be proven illegitimate.