Five Things That Happened On March 2 In Soap History

In 1988, Mark Dalton (Mark LaMura) and Ellen Shepherd (Kathleen Noone) wed for the second time on All My Children. Their first marriage took place in 1980, and ended in divorce after Mark fell into an affair with a student, Pamela Kingsley, and developed a cocaine addiction. After Mark got sober, the pair reconnected and pledged the troth once again.

In 1992, Louise Sorel made her Days of Our Lives debut as Vivian Alamain. She recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2015, “The first day I came on the set, I think it was darling Michael Sabatino [Lawrence] and Crystal Chappell [Carly] and somebody else who had come to kill Lawrence, so I just remember the first thing I had was to walk in and shoot somebody and then say, ‘I shoot first and ask questions later.’ I think that was my very first thing, which was kind of fun to establish that crazy character. The character was just appealing to me because I like playing those crazy, comic villains.”

In 2001, Finola Hughes (pictured with Vincent Irizarry as David Hayward) made her All My Children debut as her General Hospital alter ego, Anna Devane. She had been a cast member at AMC since 1999 in the role of Alexandra Devane, Anna’s heretofore unknown twin. Anna had been presumed dead since 1992 in the world of GH. In time, Alex was retired and Hughes played only Anna on the show. Anna was written out in 2003, paving the way for Anna’s eventual return to GH (where she also played Alex).

In 2011, Kate Mansi (l., pictured with Melissa Reeves as Jennifer) made her Days of Our Lives debut as Abigail Deveraux, daughter of Jack and Jennifer Deveraux. The actress, who would ultimately go on to win a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work on the show, told Soap Opera Digest that on her first day of work, “I remember that I was nervous to ask Missy [Reeves] to run lines but when she did I was so happy, and she’s been that same nurturing, mothering co-star ever since, so we’ve established a great relationship. I remember we had a scene with her and Shawn Christian [Daniel]. I had to give him a hug and thank him for saving my mom’s life, and after I did it in rehearsal, I got my first note. The note was, ‘You need to have less chemistry with the guy who’s dating your mom.’ Shawn and I both turned red, but he was so kind about it.”

In 2012, Kassie DePaiva (r.) made her first General Hospital appearance as Blair Cramer. DePaiva played Blair on One Life to Live from 1993-2012, the year the show aired its finale. Blair came to Port Charles after the tragic car accident that claimed the lives of her granddaughter, Hope Manning, and Hope’s father, Cole Manning, and she tried to console her heartbroken daughter, Starr Manning (Kristen Alderson). DePaiva made multiple appearances on GH that year, then returned to the show for a visit in 2023, at which point it was revealed that Blair was one of Martin Grey’s ex-wives.