Five Things That Happened On November 29 In Soap History

In 1993, future supercouple Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil) met for the first time on General Hospital. The momentous meeting took place on the docks, when Sonny spied Brenda struggling with her suitcase and other belongings and offered to help her or walk her back to Kelly's, where he knew she had been living. She declined. "Do I sense a little hostility here?" queried Sonny. "What is this, coming from a friend of a friend?" Brenda shot back, "To tell you the truth, my friends don't find you very friendly." Sonny scoffed that he didn't take her for someone who would let other people make up her mind for her, then introduced himself properly: "I'm Sonny Corinthos." "And I'm leaving," she responded. Sparks flew as their hands touched when they both reached for her suitcase.

In 1994, Cynthia Watros (pictured with Kim Zimmer as Reva Shayne Lewis) began her Guiding Light run as Annie Dutton. Watros exited the show in 1998, the same year she took home the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress. The actress, who had been a GL fan growing up, marveled to Soap Opera Digest in 2019 that when she landed the role, "I thought I hit the lottery! They told me that I was going to be with Josh, Robert Newman, and I was like, ‘What?!’ And then Kim came back and I was in between this couple that I loved! In the rehearsal room, I would look to my right and to my left and there they were — and I was smack-dab in between them! It was bizarre and lovely and weird and wonderful all at the same time.”

In 1995, Stone Cates (Michael Sutton) died of AIDS on General Hospital. In his final moments, Stone, whose progressing disease had robbed him of his eyesight, was miraculously able to see Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), his beloved girlfriend, one last time. Stone's death marked the end of Michael Sutton's time on the show, which began in 1993. Reflecting on the impact and legacy of the acclaimed AIDS storyline to Soap Opera Digest in 2017, the actor said, "The AIDS storyline was eight or nine months long, and it was so intense and it emotionally connected to the fans in their soul. I was in their home every day and the work that we were doing was so far from phoning it in, they feel that they know me and know the character. I’ll always have that connection with the fans. And I just want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. That they care still, that’s amazing and humbling, and I’m proud and grateful to be worthy of that from them."

In 2006, the late Darlene Conley aired for the final time on Bold and Beautiful as Sally Spectra, a role she had begun playing in 1989. The actress had been diagnosed that year with stomach cancer, and she passed away in 2007. For her work as the larger-than-life fashion house maven on B&B, Conley earned two Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress, along with six Soap Opera Digest Award nods. “Darlene just embodied show business,” her co-star John McCook (Eric) told Digest in 2021. “All of her experience would follow her down the hall whenever she came in. If you were in a scene with her, you never knew what to expect, and that was just great.”

In 2018, General Hospital's Ava Jerome (Maura West) learned that her firstborn, daughter Kiki, had been found murdered. Ava was devastated, of course — but her heartbreak would only grow when she learned that the man she had just taken as a lover, Ryan Chamberlain (who was posing as his twin, Kevin Collins, at the time of the seduction) was the killer. Griffin (Matt Cohen) and "Kevin" (Jon Lindstrom) escorted her to The Haunted Star, where Kiki's body had been discovered in Curtis and Jordan Ashford's (Briana Nicole Henry) honeymoon suite. Ava broke down in hysterics over her daughter's corpse. In 2019, Maura West recalled to Soap Opera Digest of the high-emotion scenes, "Those were difficult because of the situation; she’s walking into this room full of people and there are all these witnesses around... My instinct, Maura’s instinct, was to touch this body but of course, me, the actor, knows that the body itself is a crime scene and there are cops there. We were doing the blocking or the rehearsal, and I’m crying, and I remember asking, 'Can I touch her?' It’s not written that she’s touching her, so I didn’t know. And they just said yes. It is a dramatic television show. In reality, would the police officers in that room let her unzip that bag and get her DNA all over that body? Probably not!"