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1979: Edge of Night's Bobbie was hired to be the Whitneys' maid.

1986: Another World's Nicole Love returned to Bay City.

1992: Guiding Light's Ross had an Election Day dream.

2005: Laura Wright ended her run as Guiding Light's Cassie."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"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...

1967: On Dark Shadows, after a run-in with Carolyn Stoddard, Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) was convinced that Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) was planning to kill her.

1970: On Another World, Walter (Val Dufour) was thrilled when Lenore (Judith Barcroft) told him she was pregnant.

1977: On Guiding Light, a hateful Georgene...

On the biggest night of her professional life, Sandra Bullock was typically self-deprecating, saying the Academy Award was never on her radar and urging up-and-comers to just be themselves rather than look up to her. "I didn't aspire to this," the actress, 45, told reporters after winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side on Sunday. "I was in awe of it. I admired it. I got to watch it like everyone else did, or present, but it wasn't something that I said, 'One day when I get the Oscar.' " Now that that day has arrived, she still doesn't...

A week after his notorious Playgirl shoot - the results of which are due to be exposed online this weekend - Levi Johnston's thoughts are on his 10-month-old son, Tripp. At Wednesday's GQ Men of the Year Party in Los Angeles, a fully-clothed Johnston told People that he sees a little bit of himself in his son. "He is very funky," Johnston says. "He's got a lot of energy. He's always looking to mess things up, break things. He's crazy." Johnston, 19, says that the best thing about being a dad is "just the excitement of watching him grow up. There's...

Almost a year after describing her DUI arrest as "a low point," Mischa Barton - who called police with a health problem Wednesday - may be hitting another rough patch. "She has been dealing with a lot of personal issues," a pal tells People about the actress who has been spotted club hopping in L.A. and London the past few months. "I don't know if she really ever gave up some of the bad habits that had gotten out of control a couple years back." The 23-year-old actress was scheduled to attend the premiere of her movie Homecoming Thursday...

Now that Nicole Richie and boyfriend Joel Madden have announced they are expecting a second child, their friends are brimming with well wishes for the couple. "I'm so excited for Nicole," Paris Hilton told People at the 1st Annual Leeza Gibbons Night to Make a Difference in Beverly Hills. And Hilton's mom, Kathy, has a hunch that Richie, 27, may be seeing blue this time around. "I think it's going to be a boy," said Kathy. "I'm never wrong." As for the expectant mom, "she's a cool chick," Chuck actor Zachary Levi, who worked with Richie when she guest-starred on the show,...

After calling off their engagement last year, House costars Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison have moved on – with other celebrities. On Sunday, Spencer hit an Emmys after-party with British singer-actress Louise Griffiths. "We met through mutual friends out in L.A. at the Green Door [lounge]," Griffiths said at the Entertainment Tonight Party sponsored by People. Australian Spencer tells People that they've been dating for "a couple of months." Spencer, 29, and Griffiths, 30, also stepped out at an L.A. cocktail party two weeks ago. "He was proudly introducing her around and making sure she was taken care of," says a guest.

The Office's Jenna Fischer has revealed the identity of her new boyfriend after they stepped out together at Sunday's Emmy Awards. He's writer Lee Kirk – or, as Fischer playfully told People, "my super cute boyfriend." The actress and animal-rescue advocate has been dating Kirk since January (she and screenwriter/director James Gunn announced their split last September). "We met through mutual friends," Fischer, 34, tells People of Kirk. "We've actually known each other for a long time. He went to college with an old friend of mine."After attending the Creative Arts Emmys together on Sept. 13, the couple stepped out...

While Tommy Lee preps for a summer concert tour, he's also got another major project in the works: rekindling the romance with his ex-wife, Pamela Anderson. The Motley Crue rocker, 45, tells Rolling Stone that the two of them are making another go of it 10 years after their 1998 divorce. "We've only given it a try 800 times – 801, here we go," Lee says. "Pamela and the kids have moved in with me. It's awesome. It's definitely working."Friends of Lee's tell People this time may be the charm. "They are two people who have been through a lot and know each other really well,...