Daytime Stars Join Forces for Cancer Benefit
The greater daytime community will rally together for a worthy cause on Thursday, May 16, for Daytime Stands Up: A Benefit for Stand Up To Cancer… We All Have A Story. Hosted by Alan Locher and Michael Fairman, the first-of-its-kind event will begin at 8 p.m. ET, simultaneously streaming live on The Locher Room and Michael Fairman TV YouTube channels and StandUpToCancer.org.
The three-hour benefit will feature nearly 30 soap stars of the past and present, musical performances, and stories of emotional on- and off-screen experiences with cancer. Actors from As The World Turns, The Bold & The Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, One Life To Live, and The Young & The Restless will share their personal connections to cancer or the impact they have made portraying characters battling the disease. Special celebrity guests will also join the effort to encourage viewers to support urgently needed research and new cancer treatments.
“Daytime television invites viewers into the private lives of characters, often bringing important issues like cancer screenings into living rooms and around water coolers. Soaps debuted the first cancer storyline in 1962 – years before the topic was discussed in the mainstream, and it left an indelible impact: a whole generation of women who scheduled a potentially life-saving Pap smear for the first time,” said Locher.
“For so many viewers, this brought the issue front and center,” added Fairman. “Today, it’s become almost impossible to avoid; but there is hope with cancer research, thanks to organizations like Stand Up To Cancer.”
The event will feature moving tributes to beloved daytime favorites who we’ve lost, like Andrea Evans (Tina, OLTL), Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie, GH), Kamar de Los Reyes (Antonio, OLTL), Jerry verDorn (Clint, OLTL; Ross, GL), Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda, ATWT), and more. Cancer survivors like Eric Braeden (Victor, Y&R), Cameron Mathison (Drew, GH), and Colleen Zenk (Jordan, Y&R) will share their journeys. Actors who have portrayed breast cancer survivors — including Y&R’s Sharon Case (Sharon) and Eileen Davidson (Ashley), OLTL’s Erika Slezak (Viki), and GL’s Tina Sloan (Lillian) and Kim Zimmer (Reva) — will reflect on their poignant storylines.
In support of the event, SU2C will simultaneously launch a 10-day eBay silent auction, from May 16-26, for soap opera fans to bid on a wide range of items, including a meet-and-greet experience with the cast of DAYS, an autographed Y&R script, signed merch from B&B, and one-on-one video calls. Full details for the auction will be shared the evening of May 16, on Stand Up To Cancer’s website.
For more information about the event — as well as to see a running list of the participating actors — visit StandUpToCancer.org/DaytimeStandsUp.
