atwt

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.

Wow, this is an impressive achievement, any way you slice it. Helen Wagner has played the same character on the same show for a half century!

Wagner has played the character of Nancy Hughes on As The World Turns since this show's debut on April 2, 1956. She is now 87 years old. Just think of all the TV shows where an actor might play the role for a year or three or five or ten. Take that, David Caruso!

Wagner uttered the very first line in As The World Turns: "Good morning, dear. What would you like for breakfast?" (His answer: "Your head on a plate, you selfish bitch!" I'm kidding, I'm kidding.) She is also the actress in that famous ATWT scene that was interrupted by Walter Cronkite breaking in to the soap and telling the world that JFK had been shot (they did the show live back then).

Congrats, Helen.