REMEMBERING SOAP VET JOHN REILLY

LATE BREAKING NEWS

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John Reilly, beloved to daytime fans for his runs as AS THE WORLD TURNS’s Dan Stewart (1974-76); Sean Donely on GH (1984-95, 2013) and its spin-off, GH: NIGHT SHIFT (2008); and Alistair Crane on PASSIONS (2005-08), passed away on January 9 at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife, Liz, and three daughters, Dawn, Dana and Caitlin.

His daughter Caitlin, an actress whose TikTok sketches have made her a social media celebrity, announced the news online, writing, “The brightest light in the world has gone out. Imagine the best person in the world. Now imagine that person being your dad. I’m so grateful he was mine. I’m so grateful I got to love him. I’m so grateful I made it in time to hold him and say goodbye. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know he’ll be with me. I love you forever Daddy.”

Born in Chicago, Reilly moved to New York to pursue a theatrical career on the advice of an agent and turned down roles on the first two soaps that tried to hire him (THE DOCTORS and DAYS). Finally, ATWT coaxed him into signing on. “It was my mother’s favorite show and it was live television,” he recalled to Digest in 2005. “Where else in the country could you do half an hour of live TV? The adrenaline was always pumping.”