Friday, May 22, 2026

RIP Emmy Winning Soap Actor Jerry ver Dorn, Long Star of “Guiding Light” and “One Life to Live”

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I’m very sorry to report the death of actor Jerry ver Dorn,at age 72. He was the most consistent star of the CBS soap “Guiding Light” from 1979 to 2005. He won two Daytime Emmy awards playing lawyer Ross Marler in 1995 and 1996 both times in the category of Best Supporting Actor.

ver Dorn outlasted hundreds of actors who came and went on “Guiding Light” over the years. But when sponsor Procter & Gamble showed their usual disloyalty to fan favorites, ver Dorn bolted to ABC’s “One Life to Live.” He stayed there until that show ended in 2012.

Ross Marler started out as a kind of playboy and corporate hustler. But he turned into a good guy, the town’s moral center who was constantly defending amnesiacs, murderers, and kidnappers with aplomb. Condolences to his family and fans.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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