Soap opera star Drake Hogestyn has passed away at 70 after his battle with pancreatic cancer. He would have celebrated his 71st birthday Sunday.
The family of the “Days of Our Lives” actor shared the news and their grief in a post on the show’s social media account, USA Today reported Sunday.
His loved ones said he faced his cancer diagnosis with “incredible strength and determination” and later “passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones. He was the most amazing husband, father, papa and actor”:
Hogestyn delighted fans of the show as the character John Black for almost 40 years. In 2011, Hogestyn said he loved playing the character and tried for the part in 1986.
“Over the course of 25 years, at one point or another I have referred to myself as 13 different identities in search of my true identity,” he said while detailing his career:
The Fort Wayne, Indiana, native was a minor league baseball player until injuries kept him from playing. During his time on the soap opera, Hogestyn played Black, a policeman, a private investigator, and a secret agent, the Today report said.
“The actor, a two-time hottest male actor winner in the Soap Opera Digest awards, appeared on the NBC and Peacock soap until his death, taking a short break from the show in the 2000s,” per the article.
“He was a regular on the ‘80s TV series ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers’ and made guest appearances on the shows ‘Otherworld’ and ‘Criminal Minds.’ Most recently, he starred in the 2020 Hallmark movie ‘Christmas Tree Lane,’” it noted.
According to TMZ, Hogestyn appeared in more than 4,000 episodes of the popular soap opera.
“There are just a few standouts in soaps when it comes to romance, like Luke and Laura. Well, his character and Deidre Hall’s Marlena Evans is right up there,” the outlet added.