Five Things That Happened On May 16 In Soap History

In 1960, Eileen Fulton (pictured with Don Hastings as Bob Hughes) debuted as Lisa Miller Hughes on As The World Turns. Fulton played Lisa through to ATWT's cancellation in 2010 (with a few short breaks, including one to anchor the prime-time spin-off Our Private World in 1966). She was honored with the Editor's Award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1991 and with a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

In 1994, BJ Jones's (Brighton Hertford) family — including Ruby Anderson (Norma Connolly, l.) and adoptive mother Bobbie Spencer Jones (Jacklyn Zeman) — said good-bye to her on General Hospital after she was injured and left brain-dead in a catastrophic school bus crash. Reflecting on the impact of the landmark storyline, Brighton Hertford told Soap Opera Digest last year, "I think it's really cool that something that was such a big part of my life and so special and really kind of changed a lot for me in my life was a big thing for other people, as well. I was stopped in the grocery store and in post offices and people would cry because the story had impacted them so much, and that's really neat. And one of the biggest things that stuck out to me, especially as an adult looking back on it, was that they talked about the importance of being an organ donor and at the end of the episode, they put up [information about how to become an organ donor]. I mean, what a giant heart hug that was, to know that may have inspired people to become organ donors. I thought that was so incredible of General Hospital to do, to make that a focus alongside the storyline. It's really beautiful."

In 2005, Young and Restless's Michael Baldwin (Christian J. LeBlanc) proposed to Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman). “My favorite scene is when Michael proposed to Lauren in a casino setting," Bregman enthused to Soap Opera Digest in 2023. "She was so mad at him but she still said yes.” The duo tied the knot later that year.

In 2008 on Days of Our Lives, Steve Johnson (Steve) and Kayla Brady (Mary Beth Evans) welcomed their son, Joey. He was born prematurely, and spent the first few weeks of his life at the NICU at Salem Hospital, but the resilient little boy was soon thriving.

In 2024, Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) said, "I do" on General Hospital. The duo chose Chase's father, Gregory Chase, to officiate their service. During his vows, Chase beamed, "You’re a force of nature, Brook Lynn. You are a tsunami, a tornado, and earthquake all in one — unstoppable, invincible, impossibly beautiful.... I promise I will bring the strength and love that you inspire in me every single day to our marriage."

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