Five Things That Happened On June 15 In Soap History

In 1989, Sharon Case made her daytime debut as Dawn Winthrop on General Hospital. Dawn was a love interest for Ned Ashton, played at the time by Kurt Robin McKinney. The actress remained in the role until 1990, then did a stint on As the World Turns as Debbie Simon before assuming the role that would define her soap career, Sharon Collins Newman on Young and Restless. In 1995, she recalled that when she was released from her contract by GH higher-ups, "I called my mom and said, ‘Can you believe it? I’m fired!’ My mom was really good. She said, ‘Don’t take it personally. It means you are going to take a bigger step in a better direction.’ ”

In 1994, Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer) and Ned (Wally Kurth) — who she still knew as Eddie Maine — went to Coney Island on their honeymoon on General Hospital. Little did the new "Mrs. Maine" know that "Eddie" was already married, as he had been blackmailed into tying the knot with the scheming Katherine Bell. Of the fun location shoot in Brooklyn, Kurth enthused to Soap Opera Digest in 2017, "We had to do the famous carousel, and they had to open up the entire amusement park just for us, which was incredible."

In 2004, Jeff Branson made his daytime debut as Jonathan Lavery, Ryan Lavery's younger brother, on All My Children. He remained in the role until 2007, then went on to appear on Guiding Light, where he won a Daytime Emmy for his work as Shayne Lewis, then did a stint on Y&R as Ronan Malloy. 

In 2004, Thorne Forrester (Winsor Harmon) and Darla Einstein (Schae Harrison) wed on Bold and Beautiful. Sadly, their happily ever after was cut short by Darla's death in 2006, when she was involved in a catastrophic car accident.

In 2023, Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) ended Cameron Kirsten's (Linden Ashby) reign of terror on Young and Restless. She fatally stabbed the man who had been tormenting her in various ways over the years, and more recently, had kidnapped her daughter Faith. Of course, this was not the last she would see of Cameron, as he popped up in 2024, still covered in blood, in her hallucinations.