MEMORIAL MONDAY TVXOHOF TRIBUTE - BLACK. JOHN BLACK

From ABC:
"Days of Our Lives" actor Drake Hogestyn, who played John Black on the long-running soap opera, has died at 70, his family announced in a statement posted to the show's official Instagram account on Saturday.

"It's with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Drake Hogestyn," the family's statement began.

"He was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he faced the challenge with incredible strength and determination," the statement continued. "After putting up an unbelievable fight, he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones."

Hogestyn's family also mentioned his appreciation for his role on "Days of Our Lives."

"He loved performing for the Days audience and sharing the stage with the greatest cast, crew, and production team in the business," the statement read.

"We love him and we will miss him all the Days of our Lives," his family concluded.

Hogestyn portrayed John Black in the hugely popular sitcom* starting in 1986. Prior to his time as an actor, Hogestyn spent time playing professional baseball in the Minor Leagues.

* That is from the ABC News web page, not my opinion.

JOHN BLACK

From Wikipedia:
John Black is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera streaming on Peacock. The role has been played by Drake Hogestyn since January 1986. He exited the role in January 2009, and returned in September 2011.

John was created by scriptwriters Sheri Anderson, Thom Racina and Leah Laiman as the Pawn in 1985, and introduced by executive producers Betty Corday and Al Rabin. He became one of the series' most popular characters when he was revealed to be the presumed-dead Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop), after plastic surgery and amnesia.

Northrop's 1991 return led to Hogestyn's portrayal of Roman being retconned into the separate character of John Black, which establishes the super couple pairing of John and Marlena due to John's affair with Roman's wife Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall).

John Black was modeled after Robert Ludlum's spy, Jason Bourne, with elements of Ian Fleming's James Bond and martial-arts exponent Bruce Lee (John Black is a practitioner of the art of Jeet Kune Do).

He has spent a good portion of his tenure on the series as an undercover agent for the International Security Alliance (ISA), the show's fictional secret-intelligence service (similar to that of Bruce Lee’s character from his final completed film "Enter The Dragon").

'Days' introduced audiences to the character in November 1985 as a heavily-bandaged amnesiac who was recovering from extensive reconstructive facial surgery.

He was initially known only as "the Pawn", a name given to him by Stefano DiMera because of his love of chess. Stefano originally possessed and controlled him via brainwashing before Stefano's former bodyguard, Petrov, assumed control of him. Victor Kiriakis took control of John after Victor had Petrov executed.

After escaping Victor's control, he called himself "John Black" after a name he saw on a war memorial. John meets Dr. Marlena Evans after he saves her from a criminal who attempted to rob Shenanigan's.

He and Marlena develop a rapport almost immediately and he obtains a job as a security guard at Salem's University Hospital, where Marlena is a psychiatrist. Marlena begins to wonder about John's true identity. They come to believe that John was really Marlena's husband Roman Brady, who had been presumed dead two years earlier, and resume their lives as a happily-married couple and parents. John Black, now "Roman", rejoins the Salem police department and is promoted to commander. Their happiness is fleeting as Marlena is kidnapped by Roman's old enemy, Orpheus, and supposedly dies.

For a more complete look at his “life during prime-time”, click here.

With all of the off-shoot projects from ‘Days of Our Lives’ which are treated as separate entries, Drake Hogestyn’s character of John Black easily qualifies for membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

Here are those DOOL projects, plus the mothership, which get John Black into the TVXOHOF:

DAYS OF OUR LIVES
4289 Episodes
1986-2024

ONE STORMY NIGHT (TV Movie)
1992

NIGHT SINS (TV Movie)
1993

DAYS OF OUR LIVES 35TH ANNIVERSARY
2000

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: A VERY SALEM CHRISTMAS (TV Movie)
2021

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: BEYOND SALEM
6 Episodes
2021-2022

My cousin Denise is an ardent fan of this series, and she was quite upset by the death of Hogestyn:

“I am so saddened by the loss of Drake Hogystyn (Days of our Lives) He was truly one of a kind. I had the privilege of meeting him 4 times and he always treated me as if we were best friends as I am sure he did with all of his fans. He would take the time to talk and talk for long periods of time with me. He will be deeply missed by his fans and cast members. My deepest condolences to his wife Victoria and his 4 children. He was 70 years old and turning 71 tomorrow. May he rest in peace.”

Denise would always share news about DOOL with me, and because of that, I’m especially grateful that I got to see Dick Van Dyke’s participation in the show as John’s long-lost father (for which he won an Emmy.)  

Whenever I shared news with her about the soap as it broke, she, of course, already knew about it.  Like any true fan of any fandom, she has her inside track, I’m sure.

John Black may be getting inducted into the Hall, but I’m sending this out to her.  I hope it brings a little comfort.

"One of the things I'm concerned about now is

that it's going to be sad to put John Black to bed.

I've had a lot of fun
and it's been a stretch for me as an actor...

I had a chance to be very creative and take chances."

Drake Hogestyn

Welcome to the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, John Black.

And as Red Skelton used to say, “Good night and may God bless” Drake Hogestyn.