Late cleaning soap opera star Drake Hogestyn had such an iconic on-screen presence that he was parodied on Friends.
Within the hit NBC comedy present, which follows a gaggle of six mates as they navigate their lives in New York Metropolis, Matt LeBlanc portrayed aspiring actor Joey Tribbiani, who rose to fame for his position within the fictional show-within-a-show tackle the cleaning soap opera Days of Our Lives.
Hogestyn — who died at age 70 on Saturday, Sept. 28, following a pancreatic most cancers analysis — famously portrayed the character John Black within the real-life daytime sequence for practically 4 a long time from 1986 to 2024.
In Buddies, LeBlanc’s character within the fictional parody was Drake Ramoray, and he was all the time thought to have been named after the cleaning soap opera star. Very similar to within the real-life present, Ramoray had an exaggerated character arc stuffed with drama, all of which was seen solely briefly snippets all through the sitcom’s run.
The character Ramoray, a physician, was first launched within the season 2 episode “The One with the Russ” when Joey auditioned for the present and landed the position after a rocky expertise with a casting director.
Because the present continued, Joey and his cleaning soap opera character acquired into a number of hijinks, together with one the place the actor offended the present’s writing group by telling an interviewer that he wrote his personal traces, which resulted within the writers making a storyline the place Ramoray falls to his demise in an elevator shaft. The character later returned after being given a brand new mind, earlier than ultimately being stabbed to demise by a nurse.
Whereas Hogestyn by no means commented publicly on the Buddies character who shared his title, his castmate Alison Sweeney — identified for taking part in Sami Brady in Days of Our Lives — informed CinemaBlend in February that she and her costars would “would watch each week that Joey was on Days of Our Lives.”
“It was such a enjoyable ongoing story to observe on Buddies, and it made us chortle. It simply had such a humorousness about what we do, and we simply cherished it,” mentioned Sweeney, 48.
Sweeney ended up being solid in a brief position in Buddies, fittingly enjoying an actress within the fictional model of the cleaning soap reverse Joey.
Days of Our Lives introduced Hogestyn’s demise on Saturday, sharing a press release from the actor’s household on social media that learn: “It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Drake Hogestyn. He was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was recognized with pancreatic most cancers, however he confronted the problem with unbelievable energy and dedication. After placing up an unbelievable struggle, he handed peacefully surrounded by family members.”
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“This can be a very troublesome one for all of us,” Days of Our Lives government producer Ken Corday mentioned in a press release to PEOPLE. “Hogey was the last word group participant, and there are usually not enough phrases to precise how deeply he can be missed. His affect on our present, personally and professionally, was profound and can without end stay unmatched.”
Sweeney posted a candy tribute to Hogestyn on Instagram, calling him “an unbelievable man.”
“He was humorous, beneficiant and considerate. He cared about each single scene, each individual,” she wrote.
She added, “He cherished Days, the followers, and shared that keenness with everybody on set. My coronary heart breaks for his household, they meant every part to him. He was such an enormous a part of my life at Days. I’ll miss him terribly and treasure each story, each joke and each hug.”