329. Sad moment

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Just the other day on my blog, I mentioned a story line on the soap opera I watched. A young woman is dying, and I spoke how it hit a bit close to home. Well, in a way it hit even closer. As time goes on, when watches a television show they become attached to the people behind the characters. Everyone has their favorites they follow. On soap operas, you'll sometimes see the same actors week after week for years. I've been watching As The World Turns and Guiding Light since I was a young child, and many of the actors have stayed the same through the year. On As The World Turns, there are a few actors that have been there since day one, and that series is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

Today, when I was checking through my feeds for things of interest to write about on my entertainment blog, I came across a story about a soap opera actor committing suicide over the weekend. I was getting ready to skip it because there are so many soaps on air, I didn't even think it could be someone from the ones I watch. Well, I was skipping As The World Turns caught my eye, so I stopped. As it turned out, it was someone I did know and I had watched since he started on the show twenty-one years ago.

He is part of the story line that I mentioned, playing the girls father, Hal Munson. He has been a favorite character of mine, and I was immediately saddened to hear of his death. He has scenes filmed through next week, and now it might be just a little bit odd or a little bit more sad to watch as this story line plays out because I know now that he is gone. It isn't only following the death of a character, but the death of someone I've grown to know over the last twenty years. Reality and fiction are colliding.

Good-bye Benjamin Henrickson. You'll be missed not only by your television family, but by the many fans you have collected over the years in your role as Hal, me being one of them.