Phil Carey, who was well-known to daytime television fans for playing One Life to Live's Asa Buchanan, died on February 6, following a battle with lung cancer. He was 83.
Carey took a medical leave from OLTL to undergo treatment after he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006. He returned to the role later that year. Though the character of Asa died in his sleep in August 2007, Carey made three subsequent appearances, most recently on ...
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Long before Passions came along, One Life to Live was daytime's wildest soap — especially back in the Reagan era, when Viki (Erika Slezak) had an out-of-body experience during brain surgery and wound up on a space ship to heaven. To celebrate the ABC soap's 40th anniversary next month, OLTL head writer Ron Carlivati will revisit that celestial 1987 plot by having Viki die — just momentarily, of course! — in a car crash. "This time, heaven will be a very modern high-rise — Viki will go up the elevator floor by floor, encountering all sorts of dead characters along the way," said Carlivati. Among the former stars making angelic returns are Phil Carey (Asa), Mark Derwin (Ben), Stephen Markle (Mel) and Jessica Tuck (Megan). OLTL's legendary creator, Agnes Nixon, will also appear in heaven.That's not all. Carlivati will redo the famous '80s plot where Tina (Andrea Evans) survived a plunge over the Iguazú Falls in Argentina, only this time, creepy Carlo (Thom Chri...
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Unlike some ex-soap stars, Nathan Fillion is not ashamed of his daytime past. The in-demand actor is returning to ABC's One Life to Live to help celebrate its 10,000th episode. He hardly needs the gig: Fillion played Kate's husband on Lost last season, starred in the hit indie film Waitress and will join Desperate Housewives this fall as Susan's new gynecologist. "I guess a lot of actors don't like to admit they once did soaps, but it was important for me to go back to where I got my start," says Fillion, who played star-crossed lover Joey Buchanan from 1994 to 1997 on the ABC drama. "I will never forget what OLTL did for me personally and professionally." Still, the two-day stint (airing Aug. 16 and 17) was "bittersweet," he notes, because he went back to bury his TV grandpa, Asa. The character was played by Phil Carey, the lovable crank who quit the show last spring in a contract tiff. "Phil didn't like everybody but when he liked you, he liked you, and he was very kind to me," Fi...
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