Sad news to report for the Days of our Lives family and their enduring fans.  John Clarke, who played Mickey Horton from 1965 until he retired in 2004 died on October 16th in Laguna Beach, California following complications from pneumonia.   He put his stamp on the pivotal role of Mickey for 39 years on the long-running NBC daytime drama series.

Deadline reports that Clarke previously suffered a stroke in 2007 and had been in declining health in the last few years.

Photo: JPI

Among his acknowledgements for his performance on DAYS, John received a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding and received a Lifetime Achievement Award shortly after retiring from the profession he loved in 2004.  He received the honor with other daytime notables including: Jeanne Cooper (Kay, Y&R), Rachel Ames (Audrey, GH) and Ray MacDonnell (Joe, AMC).

In addition to DAYS, John Clarke appeared on numerous primetime shows from The New Breed to Gun Smoke; Have Gun Will Travel; The FBI; Sugarfoot; Death Valley Days; Twilight Zone and many others. 

Clarke is survived by wife Patty, and children Joshua and Melinda, and grandchildren Catherine Grace, Natasha and Jacob. Clarke’s daughter, Heidi passed away in 1994 of a heart tumor.

On screen on DAYS, Clarke was paired with Suzanne Rogers (Maggie Horton) and became one of the shows all-time favorite duos.

DAYS scribe, Ryan Quan took to Twitter upon the news of the passing of Clarke and shared: “RIP original Days cast member John Clarke. His Mickey Horton was such an important part of the show’s history… an almost 40 year run. He’ll be missed.”

Wesley Eure who portrayed Mike Horton on DAYS shared: “Rest in peace #JohnClark! John was a great television dad when I played #MikeHorton on #DaysOfOurLives. In one scene I kept flinching when he was supposed to hit me so for the final take he hauled off and hit me really hard. I was reeling. He could not stop apologizing! Ooxx”

Share your remembrances and condolences on the passing of John Clarke in the comment section below.

One of the beautiful and beloved actresses in the world, Diahann Carroll, has passed away in heartbreaking news on Friday.  Carroll died at her home in Los Angeles after a long bout with cancer, according to her daughter,  producer-journalist Suzanne Kay.

Carroll, who was first-known for her amazing singing voice, and then as an actress, received a Tony Award and an Oscar nomination in her legendary career. She also make television history for her turns on Julia and Dynasty.

In her role as Julia, Carroll, became the first African American female to star in a non-stereotypical role in her own primetime network series . Julia, premiered in September 1968, finished No. 7 in the ratings in the first of its three seasons, and Carroll received an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for her work.

Photo ABC

And later in her career, after loving ABC’s primetime soap, Dynasty, Carroll got the attention of producer Aaron Spelling to create a role on the show for her. And thus she became the one and only Dominique Deveraux … the half-sister of Blake Carrington (John Forstyhe).

That part broke ground as well, for Diahann in 1984, became the first featured African American character on a prime time soap.  Carroll later appeared on the Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys,  In films, Carroll earned her Oscar nomination for her work in Claudine (1974),

Diahann was married four times.  In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her grandchildren, August and Sydney.

For more on the passing of Diahann Carroll check out the Hollywood Reporter.

Share your remembrances and condolences on the passing of Diahann Carroll via the comment section below.

Over the last several hours, reports have broke that one of daytime’s most notable scribes has died.  Hogan Sheffer, who was head writer at As the World Turns, Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless has passed away at the age of 61.

Soap Hub, first reported the news via multiple sources, however, many writers who worked with Hogan during his tenure on the soaps have taken to social media to share their condolences and their grief and remembrances.

Sheffer’s appearance on the soap scene was unexpected, especially in a genre where it is often rare for new blood to take the reins at the head writer position.  Proctor & Gamble had decided to bring in Hogan after his work as the Director of Screenplay Development for DreamWorks, not because of his writing credits for a previous network soap.  He was given trial deal as a breakdown writer for the CBS soap and 10-weeks in became the beloved town of Oakdale’s new head writer.

Hogan and his then writing team were able to turn the classic, As the World Turns around.  The show went up in the ratings and during his time with the series ‘World Turn’s’ won two Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, and he and the writing team picked up four Emmy victories all through 2000-2004.

Photo: JPI

Next, Sheffer landed in Salem as head writer of Days of our Lives along with Meg Kelly from 2006 through to the beginning of 2008.   He would later join The Young and the Restless and team up with then head writers: Maria Arena Bell and Scott Hamner, and eventually stay with the show till 2012.  During Sheffer’s time in Genoa City, Y&R also won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in 2011.

On Sunday, former WWE and daytime writer Tom Casiello, who was extremely close with Sheffer…  and who shared how Hogan gave him his start at writing in daytime, took to his Facebook page to pay tribute to a man who had such an impact on his life and many others.  It is worth the read here. 

Y&R writer, Sara Bibel tweeted: “Hogan Sheffer was a gamechanger for ATWT and daytime. Everyone I know who worked with him adored him. RIP”

And, iconic ATWT star, Martha Byrne (Ex-Lily) tweeted on Sheffer’s passing: “To say he was one of a kind would be a tremendous understatement. Our years at ATWT with Hogan at the helm were a rebirth for our beautiful show. Loved his writers, actors,crew. Blessed to have him on the first floor in Brooklyn ready to listen. Talented. Funny. Generous. RIP”

Colleen Zenk (Ex-Barbara, ATWT) also took to Twitter upon learning of the passing of Sheffer sharing: “I loved him, loved him, loved him… he was so good to me. Thank you for everything, Hogan. You were so loved. Especially, by me… Rest in peace…”

Michael Fairman TV will continue to bring you updates as the soap world mourns the loss of a creative force in our genre.  Share your condolences and thoughts on the death of Hogan Sheffer via the comment section below.