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In Ryan Murphy's Hollywood, Jim Parsons brings the character of prominent agent Henry Willson to life, but how much of Hollywood's depiction is actually true? A good amount of it, actually, if we take a look back at the real Willson's life as an agent to the stars - namely Rock Hudson.

The fictionalized Willson is a brash, closeted gay man who seemingly preys on inexperienced actors. He discovers Hudson - when he's still Roy Fitzgerald - and changes his name, his teeth, and his appearance to groom him to be a mainstay in Hollywood. He also sleeps with him, knowing Hudson is also in the closet. In the show, though, Willson loses control of Hudson when the actor decides to go public with his screenwriter boyfriend. After treating his client like trash and pushing him away, he comes groveling back a year later saying he's a changed man...

1985: Nancy Lee Grahn debuted as Julia on Santa Barbara.

1985: Gh's Rick began to suspect Derrick was Mike's biological father.

1987: Dynasty's Alexis drove her car off a bridge. 1999: AMC's

Erica made her first public appearance since being disfigured."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1965: On Peyton Place, Claire (Mariette Hartley) stunned her mother, Grace (Edith Atwater), with the news that Dr. Vincent Markham (Leslie Nielsen) was actually Claire's husband. After learning Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson) knew Constance (Dorothy Malone) as an orderly...

1985: Nancy Lee Grahn debuted as Julia on Santa Barbara.

1985: Gh's Rick began to suspect Derrick was Mike's biological father.

1987: Dynasty's Alexis drove her car off a bridge. 1999: AMC's

Erica made her first public appearance since being disfigured."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1965: On Peyton Place, Claire (Mariette Hartley) stunned her mother, Grace (Edith Atwater), with the news that Dr. Vincent Markham...

Actor and longtime SAG activist Yale Summers died Sunday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 78. Summers served more than 27 years on the SAG National Board of Directors, 18 years on the National Executive Committee, was national recording secretary and past national treasurer for the guild, and was an emeritus director and a past member of the SAG Foundation board and a trustee of the SAG Pension & Health Funds. He also served 24 years on both the Los Angeles Local Board and National Board of Directors of AFTRA. He also helped found and produce the SAG Awards. Summers made his acting debut with a small part in the 1961 film Mad Dog Coll but did most of his acting on television, playing Dr. Bob Ayres on General Hospital, Jack Dayne on Daktari and Rodney Harrington on Return To Peyton Place.

Debuting on Tuesday nights in January 1966, Daktari ran for four seasons and 89 episodes on CBS. The show follows the work of veterinarian Doctor Marsh Tracy (Marshall Thompson) at the Wameru Study Centre for Animal Behaviour in East Africa. "Daktari" is a native word for doctor.

Doctor Tracy is joined by his daughter Paula (Cheryl Miller), American Jack Dane (Yale Summers), and a native named Mike Makula (Hari Rhodes), as they protect animals from poachers and local officials. They have two memorable pets; a cross-eyed lion named Clarence and a chimpanzee named Judy.

The complete first season of Daktari has now been released on DVD. You can purchase the set or you can try to win a copy here. To enter, you need to merely post a comment below. You can enter once per day.

If you'd like an additional...

The key creative team, headed by exec producer and director Jeff Margolis, will return for the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, to be held Jan. 25 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

Margolis will be joined by producer Kathy Connell, writer Stephen Pouliot, production designers John Shaffner and Joe Stewart, composer and conductor Lenny Stack, lighting designer Jeffrey Engel and exec in charge of talent Maggie Barrett Caulfield.

SAG Awards Committee founding members Yale Summers (committee chair), Daryl Anderson (committee vice-chair) and Paul Napier, as well as returning committee members Shelley Fabares and JoBeth Williams, will produce for SAG.

Gloria Fujita O'Brien and Mick McCullough of Jeff Margolis Prods. return as supervising producers for the 11th consecutive year.

Also returning is the SAG Awards' executive in charge of production since 1999, Benn Fleishman. He was a 2008 Emmy nominee for the HBO special "Bill Maher: The Decider." In the interim, between...

The controversial MembershipFirst faction of SAG announced Friday a slate of 33 potential candidates who will vie for openings on the national and local boards and go head-to-head with the newly formed opposition group, Unite for Strength.

Among the actors looking to fill Hollywood's 11 national board seats and 22 local seats are 11 new MembershipFirst candidates, including Scott Bakula, Keith Carradine, Charles Shaughnessy and Joely Fisher. Also on the slate are 22 incumbents to the board, including JoBeth Williams, Joe Bologna, and Lainie Kazan.

The announcement of the candidates comes a day before a crucial SAG national board meeting Saturday and two days after Unite for Strength announced its intention to contest seats held by those in MembershipFirst. Unite's 31 candidates include Amy Brenneman, Kate Walsh and Doug Savant.

MembershipFirst came to power in 2005 and currently dominates the Hollywood board, holding the majority of seats as well as backing current president Alan Rosenberg. The group is the controlling voice in the SAG contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which is currently at a stand still.

Unite for Strength blames MembershipFirst for its hardline approach to the negotiations as well as its anti-aftra sentiment, which led to the unsuccessful campaign to get members to vote down the sister union's primetime/TV deal with the AMPTP.

In its announcement, MembershipFirst said its goals for the coming year include uniting "all actors under the Screen Actors Guild banner, protect actors wages and working conditions in all areas, fight for residuals in all media platforms, protect the right of every dues paying member to vote on SAG issues and to secure complete jurisdiction in new media."

Unite for Strength's main goal is to merge SAG with AFTRA, something the MembershipFirst faction has bitterly opposed in the last two attempts in 1999 and 2003.

The potential MembershipFirst national board candidates are:

Scott Bakula

Joe Bologna (incumbent)

Clancy Brown

Keith Carradine,

Joely Fisher

Lainie Kazan (incumbent)

William Russ (incumbent)

Alan Ruck

Charles Shaughnessy

JoBeth Williams (incumbent).

Joe d'Angerio (incumbent)

Jane Austin (incumbent)

Jeff Austin (incumbent)

Renee Aubrey (incumbent)

Steve Barr (incumbent)

Michael Bell (incumbent)

Warren Berlinger (incumbent)

Eugene Bogs (incumbent)

Tom Bower

Anthony Desantis (incumbent)

Ron Harper (incumbent)

David Jolliffe (incumbent)

Russell McConnell (incumbent)

Peggy Miley (incumbent)

Paul Napier (incumbent)

Peter Van Norton

France Nuyen (incumbent)

F.J. O'Neil (incumbent)

Vic Polizos

Yale Summers (incumbent)

Charles Malik Whitfield

Christopher R. Wielh

Scott Wilson (incumbent)

Current MembershipFirst sitting members of the SAG National Board of

the Hollywood Division are:

1st Vice President Kent McCord

Angel Tompkins

Bonnie Bartlett

Justine Bateman

Joanna Cassidy

Seymour Cassel

George Coe

Anne DeSalvo

Frances Fisher

Leigh French

Elliott Gould

Valerie Harper

Sumi Haru

Robert Hays

Anne-MarieJohnson

Diane Ladd

Piper Laurie

William Mapother

Esai Morales

Barbara Niven

Harrison Page

Susan Savage

Nancy Sinatra

Renee Taylor

Angela Watson

Jenny Worman...

Submissions for the 11th annual SAG Awards nominations open Monday and will continue through Nov. 11. Nominees for the guild's actor award will be announced Jan. 11 in Los Angeles. The five film categories and eight television categories for performances in 2004 will be chosen by two randomly selected panels involving 4,200 SAG members from across the United States, said SAG Awards committee chair Yale Summers. The awards show will take place Feb. 5 at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles and be telecast on TNT. Submissions for consideration will be taken -- with an actor's permission -- from producers, studios/networks, agents, managers or press representatives. Actors also can submit their own performances. Submissions will be accepted online at www.sagawards.org, or forms can be obtained through the SAG Awards office in Los Angeles. Categories covered in theatrical motion pictures include outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role, female actor in a leading role, male actor in a supporting role, female actor in a supporting role and cast of a motion picture. Television categories cover both broadcast and cable. They recognize outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries, female actor in a television movie or miniseries, male actor in a drama series, female actor in a drama series, male actor in a comedy series, female actor in a comedy series, ensemble in a drama series and ensemble in a comedy series.