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One of the most popular and famous stars of the day, Days of our livesDrake Hogestyn (John Black) passed away on September 28, 2024, one day before his 71st birthday.

In a statement shared via DAYS, the Hogestyn family wrote:

Executive producer Ken Corday added: “This is a very difficult issue for all of us. Hogey was the ultimate team player and there are not enough words to express how much he will be missed. His impact on our show, personally and professionally, was profound and will forever remain unmatched.”

A legendary life

Born Donald Drake Hogestyn on September 27, 1953 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the future soap superstar left his home state after graduating high school to attend the University of South Florida on a baseball scholarship. There he majored in dentistry and graduated with a double major in microbiology and applied sciences with the intention of becoming an oral surgeon. But after graduating from college, he was drafted by two Major League Baseball teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees. He decided to sign with the Yankees and played third base on one of the organization's farm teams in Oneonta, NY.

After an injury in 1977 ended his promising baseball career, Hogestyn began his entry into show business, participating in a national talent search conducted by Columbia Pictures with 75,000 participants. He was one of 30 actors selected to participate in a studio-sponsored acting training program and traveled to Los Angeles. He made his television debut in the series in 1982 Seven brides for seven brotherswhich ran for one season on CBS. Hogestyn played the role of Ben McFadden, the second eldest of the seven McFadden sons; Richard Dean Anderson, fresh from his breakout role as Jeff Webber General HospitalHe played Hogestyn's older brother, Adam McFadden.

After the show ended, Hogestyn landed a few more primetime roles, such as Kort in CBS' short-lived science fiction series Otherworld in 1985. In 1984, he auditioned for the role of Kyle Sampson Guiding lightwhich went to Larkin Malloy. The following year he was invited to audition for DAYS, but when he first showed up for the tryout, Hogestyn had barely committed to the job – not least because his heart was back in Indiana, in the form of his future wife Victoria. He remembered that Soap opera Digest In 2015, “I had started courting Victoria and I flew back to Fort Wayne and DAYS was my last audition. I stopped my Jeep and thought, “This is perfect.” This is exactly where I started, at Columbia Pictures in the talent program. This is the first gate through which I have passed, and it will be the last through which I pass. Let's get this over with.' ”

Luckily, he continued, “(I) stopped myself and said, 'What kind of attitude is that? Let's get this over with?' I got back in my Jeep, drove it around the block, pulled back into the parking lot and said, “Give them hell.” And I went in and when (casting director) Doris Sabbagh started describing the character, I pulled (the book) The Bourne Identity out of my briefcase and said, “Doris, are you talking about Jason Bourne?” And she said, “Yeah, but we call him John Black!” It'll just take a few months for the cleanup to be completed and then you can do it and leave whatever you want.” ”

Hogestyn made his Salem debut on January 24, 1986 and in a 2015 interview with DigestHe admitted he felt “overwhelmed” as a newbie on the DAYS set. When I started on the first day, I sat there all day. I stayed on set all week and watched all the scenes just to see how they did it. I remember seeing Mac (Carey, who played Tom Horton) and Frances (Reid, who played Alice Horton) and Quinn Redeker (who played Alex Marshall) and John Clarke (who played Mickey Horton). (And) Deidre (Hall, who plays Marlena Evans) of course took me by the hand and said, “This is how you do it, this is how you do it.” ”

It was thanks in no small part to Hogestyn's chemistry with Hall that the series abandoned its plans to make John Black a short-term character. John was introduced as “The Farmer” (click here for a refresher on this groundbreaking storyline) and turned out to be Marlena's presumed-dead husband, Roman Brady, played by Wayne Northrop from 1981 to 1984.

As a guest Digest's podcast, Dine with digestIn 2022, his DAYS leading lady Deidre Hall (Marlena) recalled the beginnings of her long collaboration with Hogestyn. She said: “I guess Drake came for the audition/screening test. I agreed to test with everyone. I ran the same amount of time with everyone, practiced the same amount of time with everyone, and shot the scene with Drake. Later everyone said, “I don't know, what do you think?” “I don't know, what do you think?” And they said, “What do you think?” And I said, “I don't think there's a competition.” “Who do you think it is?” I said, “I think it's Drake.” I mean, he's got everything you need. I think it looks good. I think we look good together. I think he has an intensity. He has strength and masculinity, but also sex appeal. I believe he is the best choice for you out of everyone you brought with you.' And they had been in the same place but were kind of waiting for me to say it, I guess. And so he was hired. I guess none of us thought about it: “He's not really what you'd call a terribly experienced actor.” I mean, he was an athlete, a baseball player.” From the start, she smiled: “He was dreamy. He loved rehearsing, wanted to do it right, took the work very seriously…. I think it worked from the first moment.”

Julie Nathanson

Hall with leading actress Deidre Hall at the beginning of his career DAYS Career.

Hogestyn, of course, agreed to a longer stay – and while his professional life was on the upswing, that success paled in comparison to the good news in his personal life: he and Victoria married and began raising their family – daughters Whitney, Alexandra and Rachael and son Ben (which occurred for a while General Hospital as Lucas Jones) – in California. In 2018, he shared his thoughts on how to have a lasting marriage Digest, He remarked, “Stay married! You just stay married. And then you just fall in love with the same person over and over again…. I fell in love with Victoria when I was 15, she was 12, on the baseball field. She's sitting on the handlebars of her friend Lisa Miller's bike, I'm playing in midfield, imagine. At that moment she just shocked me and I screamed, “No!” “I have too much to do with my life,” and from then on that was it! I look at her, I see her, I can see her when she was 12, when she was 13, when she was 14, 15, 16… all the moments.”

When Hall left DAYS in 1987, Roman moved on to other romantic pairings, most notably with the genius Francis (Laura, General Hospital), who played Diana Colville, and Staci Greason, who played Isabella Toscano. In 2015, Francis told Digest“Drake was adorable and funny,” Greason said in 2022 Digest, “Drake really took me under his wing.” Then, in 1991, DAYS took the opportunity to bring not only Hall but also the original novelist, Wayne Northrop, back to the show, and so Hogestyn played John Black again. The actor remembered this Digest in 2015: “For the sake of fair play, I felt that I had not created this character (of Roman). Wayne did it and had great success with it…. “It was a good opportunity to re-explore John Black,” he said in 2018 Digest“These years (of playing novels) are very dear to me and I am very proud and protective of my interpretation of Roman Brady.”

Hogestyn played John until 2009, when both he and Hall were dropped from the cast due to budget cuts. They were reinstated in 2011. “I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking that DAYS would ever make the call to come back,” Hogestyn said Digest this year, adding: “Was I hoping it would happen? Absolutely…. I was welcomed with open arms again. It brought tears to my eyes.”

In May 2016, Hogestyn suffered brain injuries that kept him away from the show for several months. Open up to Digest After returning to work in 2017, the actor said:

“I don't know if I'm thoughtful or not, but you know, this whole thing with losing Joe Mascolo (ex-Stefano, who passed away in 2016) … I really loved that guy. I thought he would live forever. I really did. I mean, his mother and father lived up to their hundreds. So when we do weddings and funerals on the show, we do that in our own lives too, and it's kind of crazy.”

He continued, “I feel like life is good…” Time passes. That's exactly it. It's amazing. It's remarkable. We're leading a double life here, you know what I mean? Not only do we have our real lives, but we come here and have a different life, and that's really, really unusual. I wish everyone could experience this. It's really rich and really full and I'm very blessed. It's a great way to go through life. I was texting with one of my mentors and he said, “Hollywood is really a meat grinder,” and I said, “Yeah.” “You have to know when you're at the end of the roller coaster ride and be prepared for what's coming what’s next.” Because this rollercoaster goes up and down, and you have to have a very, very strong support group and strong self-confidence and be very realistic. He said: “It's amazing that you've had a gig in the entertainment industry on one show for half your life and are passionate about what you love to do. 'How lucky are you?' And I said, 'Yeah.' Exactly.' ”

Hogestyn is survived by his wife Victoria, their four children Rachael, Ben, Whitney, Alexandra and their partners, and seven grandchildren.

Soap Opera Digest expresses our deepest condolences to Hogestyn's family. We will miss him very much.