13 Soap Opera Exits, Firings, and Deaths From 2023
More so than in recent years, the drama seemed to stay on screen in the soap opera world in 2023. After all, big-name actors weren’t fired for COVID-policy violations, unlike in 2021 and in 2022.
But 2023 did see one big ouster, as Days of Our Lives followers likely remember, and daytime-TV fans still said goodbye to beloved characters and mourned the deaths of beloved actors.
Read on for details about this year’s exits and deaths from the world of daytime drama — and that headline-making firing.
EXIT: Lindsay Arnold, Days of Our Lives
Arnold decided to leave Days and the role of Allie Horton this past winter when her three-year contract expired. “I came to the realization that I knew it was time,” she told Soap Opera Digest in February. “I had been thinking on it for pretty much a year. It wasn’t a last-minute decision. It was something that I really thought about. I felt like it was time to take a break for a while, explore some other things, and reevaluate what I wanted to do in general.”
EXIT: Zach Tinker and Chandler Massey, Days of Our Lives
Along with the news of Arnold’s Days departure came the reveal that Tinker and Massey would be leaving the soap as well, bidding farewell to Sonny Kiriakis and Will Horton, respectively. “I’ll miss the people most of all,” Tinker, who recently landed a part on primetime’s Fire Country, told Soap Opera Digest in February. “Days is a good bunch of people. That was the crappiest part of leaving, leaving my friends.”
EXIT: Martha Madison, Days of Our Lives
Madison told TV Insider in August that she was leaving Days this year after being written out of the storyline and later asked to “occasionally do legal stuff” on the show. “Belle [Black] was never meant to be a peripheral character. She is the only child of Marlena and John, and, after 19 years of coming and going from the show, it just finally clicked for me that they were never going to showcase the character the way I felt she should be,” the actor explained. “So, I declined the opportunity to recur and shot that last episode in April. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful to have played Belle for two decades, but I’m ready for more. It was just time to leave.”
EXIT: Darin Brooks, The Bold and the Beautiful
“So, many of you have seen that I am no longer in the credits on [The Bold and the Beautiful], and after 10 amazing years, it’s time for me to say ‘Until we meet again…’ to Wyatt Spencer,” Brooks announced via Instagram in October. “Doesn’t mean its [sic] the end, just… bye for now…”
EXIT: Roger Howarth, General Hospital
Howarth’s Austin Gatlin-Holt was shot to death on General Hospital in November. The actor explained to Soap Opera Digest at the time that executive producer Frank Valentini had called him to tell him about that plot twist weeks prior. “And it took me a minute to kind of adjust, to kind of hear the news; it took a second for me to let that settle in,” he added. “And then, immediately, I realized how lucky I was to have been able to do something I really love doing for more than a decade with people who I really enjoyed working with. I’m a lucky guy.”
FIRING: Albert Alarr, Days of Our Lives
In August, after a weeks-long investigation into misconduct allegations against him — including accusations of bullying and inappropriate touching — Alarr was ousted from his co-executive producer role on the show. (In a statement to People, Alarr claimed “many of the claims … are simply false” and said that the “the studios have reversed course and caved to a cynical pressure campaign to force [him] out of [his] job.”)
DEATH: Jacklyn Zeman, General Hospital
Zeman, a five-time Daytime Emmy nominee, died at age 70 in May following a cancer battle. She’ll be best remembered for playing Bobbie Spencer on General Hospital from 1977 until this year, though she also filled the roles of Lana McClain on One Life to Life and Sofia Madison on The Bay.
DEATH: Jeffrey Carlson, All My Children
Carlson died at age 48 this July, years after making his debut on All My Children as Zoe Luper as the soap became the first daytime drama to show the coming-out of a transgender character. The actor, whose cause of death has not been publicized, was also known for appearing in the Broadway shows The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Tartuffe, and Taboo.
DEATH: Andrea Evans, One Life to Live
Evans, who starred as Tina Lord on One Life to Live, died of cancer at age 66 in July. The soap veteran’s other roles included Patty Williams Abbott on The Young and the Restless, Tawny Moore on The Bold and the Beautiful, Rebecca Hotchkiss on Passions, and Patty Walker on The Bay.
DEATH: Billy Miller, The Young and the Restless
In September came the news that Miller, whose work as Billy Abbott on Y&R earned him three Daytime Emmy wins, had died at age 43. In a statement to Soap Opera Digest, Miller’s mother said he “surrendered his life” after “[fighting] a long hard valiant battle with bipolar depression for years.” The actor also played Richie Novak on AMC and Jason Morgan on GH.
[Ed. note: The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information.]
DEATH: Tyler Christopher, General Hospital
Christopher, who played the roles of Nikolas Cassadine and Connor Bishop on General Hospital between 1996 and 2016, died of a cardiac event in October at age 50. The actor, once married to Eva Longoria, moved on from GH with a role as Stefan DiMera on Days and picked up a sixth Daytime Emmy nomination.
DEATH: Peter White, All My Children
White, who played All My Children’s Lincoln Tyler off and on between the 1970s and the 2000s, passed away from melanoma in November. The 86-year-old’s soap résumé also included the roles of Jerry Ames on The Secret Storm and Dr. Sanford Hiller on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.
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