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.

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.

The angst, drama, tears, and revenge continued this week on NBC’s Days of our Lives with the stirring portrayal of grief-stricken young woman; who is hell-bent on making everyone around her suffer for the loss of her husband in a fatal gunshot that left him brain-dead.  Of course, we are talking about Camila Banus (Gabi), who turned in bravura performances this week, and there are four moments that really stood out to us that showed the range and depth of Banus’ work.

In the hospital chapel, Gabi talks to God and prayed to him that he will make Stefan (Brandon Barash) whole again.  There has been one through-line for Gabi throughout her life – she seems to have everything and everyone she loves taken away from her, even if some of the decisions she makes along the way have a cause/effect that leaves her feeling completely alone, and ready to lash out at the world for what has transpired.  In the chapel, she asks God through her tears, “Why do you hate me so much?” Gabi tells God she went to Sunday school as a little girl and still she has lost God and her husband.  Gabi cannot even get herself to look at Stefan’s things when Sonny (Freddie Smith) and Will (Chandler Massey) try to share them with her as she slaps the envelope out of their hands.

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In another heartbreaking scene, Gabi is in the bed she shared with Stefan. She flashes to kissing the love of her life.  Next, Gabi breaks down in tears, and throws things around in the bedroom before slumping to the floor.  She sobs and says, “Why did you give me your heart, Stefan, if you weren’t going to be around to love me with it?”

Photo: JPI

Later, Gabi talks to Stefan in her sleep as she hugs his pillow. When she wakes up she cries as Kate (Lauren Koslow) arrives to check on her.  Gabi lets Kate have it, and at first blames Kate for the whole mess with Stefan.  Gabi lashes out that if it wasn’t for Stefan getting in between Kate’s feud with Vivian (Robin Strasser), he’d still be alive.  Kate knows Gabi is in despair and hugs her.  Then, Gabi channels her angst towards Lani (Sal Stowers) promising to make her suffer.

And on Friday’s episode, Gabi is ramping us some sort of revenge plan promising Stefan his legacy will live on. Earlier, Gabi was present with Lani and Eli (Lamon Archey) when Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) informed them that Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) will need a special pacemaker, even after receiving Stefan’s heart. Somehow, Gabi found a file on Visionary Bionics, the company that makes this unique medical device, and recalls Kayla saying she’ll do the procedure on Julie tomorrow. Gabi makes a mysterious call.  What is she about to do?

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Through all of the emotional drama, Banus sustained a level of performance that is no easy feat. That is why Michael Fairman TV names Camila’s work The Power Performance of the Week.

Let us know if you agree with our pick, and what you thought of Camila’s performances, and what you think Gabi might do next, via the comment section below.