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.

This week and in October, General Hospital looks to be ramping up some storylines that will have major consequences for the citizens of Port Charles.

In the latest promo for the ABC daytime drama series, Hayden (Rebecca Budig) seems to reveal that the little girl in the hospital bed is Finn’s (Michael Easton) bio-child.  The little girl seen in the promo is young actress, Jophielle Love.

Elsewhere, Ryan (Jon Lindstrom) wants Ava (Maura West), what will his next move be even if he is supposedly behind bars? Ava is frightened and says she is being stalked.  She also has been sipping one too many martinis lately to calm her nerves.  Will Halloween horrors come Ava’s way?

Courtesy/ABC

Meanwhile, the judge is ready to rule in the competency of Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth) who has been mind-mapped with Drew’s memories.  How will the decision impact the lives of Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst), Cameron (William Lipton), Kim (Tamara Braun) and more?

Watch the promo below  Then, let us know how you think these three storylines will play out via the comment section below by sharing your theories.

Daytime drama fans make sure to check out today’s October 21st episode of the talk show, The Real when the ladies of the panel welcome four of your favorite gents, one representing each current soap on the air.

Look for: Days of our Lives Galen Gering (Rafe), The Young and the Restless Michael Mealor (Kyle), General Hospital’s Donnell Turner (Curtis) and The Bold and the Beautiful’s Lawrence Saint-Victor (Carter) to mix it up and chat with hosts in a segment called “The Real Hunks of Daytime.”

The Real is syndicated; so make sure to check the local times in the ‘When It’s On” navigation section on the show website for your area- a handy way to find out when you can check out the episode and when it might repeat in case you missed it.

Photo: The Real

The hosts of The Real are: Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai, and Tamera Mowry-Housley with Amanda Seales joining the group as a guest co-host for this week of episodes.

So, will you be checking out the hunks on The Real? Comment below.