Drake Hogestyn (John) has died

I was blindsided and saddened to see that Drake had passed away. I haven't been paying a lot of attention to Days recently, but I did notice that he appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight.

I started watching Days in the summer of 1985 when I was in middle school. My mother had the TV on and I saw some dude wearing a patch. I started watching the show mainly to see Stephen Nichols (Steve) and what was going to happen with his character. As a male who played baseball and hockey, I wasn't sure how many other males watched soaps, but I wanted to see how the story evolved.

Drake will always be Roman Brady to me. I had never seen Wayne Northop (original Roman) in the role before so when they said John Black is Roman Brady with a new face in 1986 I had no reference to the original character. I always thought at some point the writers would say John Black had been the real Roman Brady the entire time, but that never happened.

I only watch the show on occasion now, mainly to see the characters of Steve and Kayla, or John and Marlena. It's sad to see the actors who were once a big part of the reason why I continued to watch the show John Aniston (Victor), Joe Mascolo (Stefano), and now Drake Hogestyn (John) are no longer with us. When Stephen Nichols (Patch) and Mary Beth Evans (Kayla) are no longer on the show that will probably be the end for me. I'm not that invested in the current generation of characters or the ones coming after.

I once saw Drake at a Days fan event in 2002 along with Alison Sweeney (Sami), Jason Cook (Shawn-Douglas Brady), Peter Reckell (Bo) and the actor who played the character Brandon Walker. Being 80 miles outside downtown Boston, MA, I'm a Boston sports guy, mostly hockey (Boston Bruins), not so much the other teams. Anyway, Drake made a comment that he use to be in the NY Yankees organization and they would tell their players "Boston sucks" to which he received a bunch of playful boos. I don't think he realized that was going to start the streak of championships for the different Boston sports teams.

RIP Drake. Prayers to your family.
 
So so sad to hear about Drake Hogestyn. I thought the last time I saw him talking with Tate in his living room he didn't look good. Wow, he worked through all that. I will really miss him. He was one of my favorites. Rest in peace, Drake. You will be missed.
 
Hi all - I just saw the news of Drake's passing on Facebook and had to stop by. Although I havent watched Days since they left NBC network, I am grieving his passing. He was such an integral part of Days. I remember when he came on the show. Am so shocked and saddened. May he rest in peace.
 
My deepest condolences to all of Drake's family, friends and colleagues on Days.

As someone else wrote, I am shocked and not that shocked, since Drake had been looking frail with a significant weight loss, and the storyline had him absent from the screen for a while.

I am grateful that he did have a wonderful story line with Dick Van Dyke, that we had the privilege of seeing these two veterans acting together.

Days has lost too many cast members, veterans and non-veterans, and thank goodness we can rewatch their performances on YouTube and never forget their contributions to Days, as well as other shows they have been in.

I don't know what Days plans to do/how they will handle this, but whatever it is, I do hope it is done with dignity and love, Drake/John deserves to be honored respectfully.

Thank you, Drake, for enriching all the days of our lives. Rest In Peace.

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