The entertainment world has lost one of its great character actors with the passing of former soap star Joseph Campanella, who died May 16, 2018, at the age of 93 from complications of Parkinson's disease.
The New York native has a list of credits that span into the triple digits, but soap opera fans had the pleasure of watching him portray Days of our Lives rich and powerful senator Harper Deveraux from 1987 to 1990 and the recurring character of The Bold and the Beautiful's Jonathan Young from 1996 to 2005. The actor was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his role as DAYS' Harper, which had him acting opposite beloved stars like John Aniston (Victor Kiriakis) and Jane Elliot (Anjelica Deveraux).
Campanella's venerable career includes roles in many of television's most classic series such as Suspense, Route 66, The Big Valley, The Wild Wild West, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, Night Gallery, Gunsmoke, and One Day at a Time. He also costarred in 1972's rat-infested cult classic film Ben and narrated the star-studded 1978 miniseries Pearl.
Outside of DAYS and B&B, his other soap-related credits include Dallas and the Dynasty spinoff The Colbys.
According to the New York Times, Campanella appeared on television so often, a viewer once asked an executive producer in 1972, "Why must we see him or hear him everywhere else, wherever we turn on our TV set?"
In response, Campanella said, "An actor, like everyone else, must make bread for his family -- and my wife and four sons eat a lot of bread."
Campanella is survived by that wife, Jill, whom he was married to for over 53 years, as well as their eight children and seven grandchildren.
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