at the world turns

This is shocking.

I'm not an As The World Turns fan (I'm a longtime Guiding Light watcher), but even I knew Benjamin Hendrickson, who played Detective Hal Munson on the show for the past 21 years. He was found dead at his home last Saturday. He died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

Officials and castmates say that he was depressed over the death of his mom three years ago, and was also going through a hard storyline on ATWT, where his character had to deal with his daughter dying.

Hendrickson won an Emmy for the role in 2003. He will still be seen on the show until later this month.