‘All My Children’ star’s death hits soap opera fans with another shocking, unexpected loss

Like four other former soap opera stars, who also died this year under tragic and sometimes mysterious circumstances, actor Esta TerBlanche was not a household name and she existed happily or not on the outer rings of the Hollywood ecosystem.

People might remember TerBlanche if they tuned into watch the once popular, long-running “All My Children,” between 1997 and 2001. The 1991 Miss Teen South Africa played trouble-making Hungarian princess Gillian Andrassy, who is reformed by love. But after TerBlanche’s Gillian was killed off — because the actor wanted to return to her native South Africa — she mostly retreated from acting and the the pages of Soap Opera Digest or Soap Opera Weekly.

TerBlanche was back in the news this week, and not because she talked to Soap Opera Digest again for a July 13 retrospective about her “wonderful,” “magical” times on “All My Children.”

Sadly, TerBlanche was found dead last Friday in the bathroom of her Los Angeles home, TMZ reported. She was only 51 and possibly had been dead for more than a day. While the cause of her death is unknown, authorities believe she succumbed to natural causes. What added to the sorrow over TerBlanche’s death is that she was found alone with her beloved pets, including several cats, dogs and even unusual pets like prairie dogs, whom she regularly doted on in her cheerful but quirky Instagram posts. The discovery of the animals also required a response by the L.A. County animal control unit.

TerBlanche’s death has since been covered by a wide range of news and entertainment outlets. For some, her loss was a reminder of a bygone era in American culture in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, when daytime serials were sometimes more popular than hit nighttime network shows, and storylines about super couples and hot-button social topics were eagerly followed by stay-at-home moms, college students and office workers, who recorded episodes on VHS. Certain stars, like TerBlanche’s “All My Children” co-star Susan Lucci, even attained cult status.

But ABC cancelled “All My Children” in 2011 and only four serials, including “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless,” are currently in production, down from 12 that were broadcast in 1990 and and a high of 19 in 1970. TerBlanche also left acting a long time ago, but tried to stay busy hosting TV shows.

Another reason TerBlanche’s death seemed to hit soap fans especially hard is because she’s the latest star from a favorite show to die at a relatively young age, or under particularly harsh or violent circumstances. In the past six months, the lives of other former actors have been cut short by homicide, suicide and a drug overdose.

For example, even people outside soap fandom are still reeling from the shooting death of former “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor in downtown Los Angeles in May.

The 37-year-old Wactor, a working actor apparently getting by with a job as a bartender, had left his shift at the Level 8 Restaurant and Lounge with a co-worker when they saw thieves trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car, a co-worker told NBC News Los Angeles. When Wactor approached the thieves, he was shot, the co-worker said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to the chest. according to the Los Angeles police and medical examiner’s office.

Wactor appeared on nearly 200 episodes of “General Hospital” from 2020-22, playing Brando Corbin, a sexy mechanic, ex-marine and ex-“gun for hire” who was apparently named for Marlon Brando. Wactor’s other credits included “Westworld,” “The OA,” “NCIS,” “Station 19,” “Criminal Minds” and “Hollywood Girl.”

“The entire ‘General Hospital’ family is heartbroken to hear of Johnny Wactor’s untimely passing,” the ABC drama posted on X. “He was truly one of a kind and a pleasure to work with each and every day. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones during this difficult time.”

Wactor’s death sparked a protest and march in North Hollywood Park in late June by his family, friends and other Angelenos, who wanted to draw attention to the ongoing search for suspects and who want L.A. authorities to address growing concerns about crime in the city, ABC News reported. 

“I was a fan of his,” protester Zeke Hindle told ABC News. “It’s just so very sad. He wasn’t trying to be a hero, but he was a hero trying to save a life of his friend … just very sad story … hits people in their core.”

Another death that was particularly upsetting occurred in March, when another former “General Hospital star, Robyn Bernard, was found dead in an open field in San Jacinto, a town in Riverside County, the Daily Beast reported. Bernard was 64. The Daily Beast cited a local media outlet to report that Bernard had fallen on hard times in recent years and, at the time of her death, may have been homeless.

At the height of her career in the 1980s — when she appeared in 145 episodes of “General Hospital” as sultry singer Terry Brock — Bernard lived in posh Malibu and was the subject of glowing magazine profiles, the Daily Beast said.

But after her run in show business ended in the late 1980s, Bernard eventually came to live in a mobile home park almost 100 miles outside Los Angeles, The Daily Beast said. She also had stopped connecting with fans, Eric Ackerman, a member of the General Hospital Fan Club, told the Daily Beast. When Ackerman tried to track Bernard down for an event in 2018, she “wasn’t in the best position to attend,” he told the Daily Beast. “When we attempted to invite her to an event, we learned she had been involved in a fire at a trailer park,” he said.

The other two deaths that left fans and some big-name colleagues heartbroken occurred in January. Alex Musser, who played Del Henry on “All My Children” from 2005 to 2007, died by suicide on Jan. 12  in Del Mar, San Diego County, Deadline reported. He was 50. Adam Sandler, who cast Musser in his 2010 movie, “Grown Ups,” mourned Musser’s passing, writing on Instagram: “I loved this guy. Cannot believe he is gone.” Salma Hayek, who co-starred in “Grown Ups,” also wrote on Instagram: “His early departure breaks my heart.”

Several days later, on Jan. 16, David Gail, the 58-year-old former star of the “General Hospital” spin-off “Port Charles,” suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and was placed on life support for several days before he died, a spokesperson for the actor’s family told Deadline. Gail had played Dr. Joe Scanlan on “Port Charles” and the late Shannen Doherty’s fiancé in “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

After Gail’s passing, his cause of death was reported to be brain and heart complications following a drug overdose involving fentanyl, amphetamines, cocaine and alcohol, Deadline also reported.

“It breaks my heart to learn that my son died this way,”  Gail’s mother,  Mary Painter, said in a statement to Deadline. She said her son had been unable to work for almost a decade and lived on disability, due to multiple surgeries on his hands and wrists. The surgeries led to a dependance on pain medication, she said.

“He struggled to stop taking pharmaceuticals and did before turning toward a more Eastern pain management including acupuncture and natural medicines,” Painter told Deadline. “I can only assume that his former opioid dependence played a part in self-medicating from uncontrolled sources.”