Suzanne Rogers, who has spent more than five decades as a cast member on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” has enviable endurance. This past summer, she learned she was even stronger than she’d thought.
For six weeks between June and July, Rogers, 82, underwent treatment for Stage II colorectal cancer, she told TV Insider in an interview published Thursday. The actor said she was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year after consulting a doctor about a nagging feeling that something “wasn’t quite right” with her body.
Colorectal cancer is a term for cancer originating in the colon or rectum. Chances of occurrence increase with age, and experts recommend regular screenings for those age 45 and above, continuing until at least age 75.
Rogers suspected her health issues might be serious when her doctor told her he would like to do a slew of tests, including a colonoscopy, MRI and PET scan. Still, when he confirmed the bad news, the Daytime Emmy winner — who already did routine colonoscopies — couldn’t believe it.
“I think I was in shock for several days because I take pretty good care of myself,” she told TV Insider. Fortunately, her doctor said, “It’s a good thing you caught it in time.”
After wrapping on “Days” in June, Rogers began daily radiation and chemotherapy treatments. She said the intense regimen made her treasure her weekends “because I didn’t have to go to and see a doctor. I was so tired of seeing doctors.”
Luckily, the Peacock soap happened to be on hiatus at the time, so Rogers had no trouble making her appointments. On top of that, her onscreen daughter Linsey Godfrey, who herself battled Hodgkin‘s lymphoma as a teenager, was able to accompany her on treatment visits, which made the ordeal less daunting.
“We really feel like a family,” Rogers said, adding that other cast and crew members regularly called to check in on her, and the “Days” producers never rushed her recovery.
“They all said, ‘Don’t worry about a thing, take care of yourself, get yourself well. That’s the most important thing. We are here,’ ” Rogers said. As the actor heads back to the “Days” set next week, she said she is “feeling really good,” albeit nervous that lingering fatigue might hold her back.
“That’s the only anxiousness I feel. It’s not because of my illness, let’s put it that way,” she said. When she does return to the screen, Rogers will still be sporting her famous ginger mane, as she didn’t lose her hair during chemo.
“Days of Our Lives” premiered on NBC in 1965 and is currently airing Season 61 on Peacock. In July, the classic daytime drama announced it had been renewed for a 62nd and 63rd season on the streaming service.
Manchester City have opened negotiations with Spain defensive midfielder Rodri, 29, over a new contract and are confident of striking a deal by the end of the year. (TBR Football, external)
Tottenham are unlikely to sign Marc-Andre ter Stegen from Barcelona in January, but a loan move to Chelsea could be possible for the Germany goalkeeper, 33. (Teamtalk), external
Chelsea and Tottenham showed serious interest in Morgan Rogers, 23, during the summer but Aston Villa are currently holding talks with the England attacking midfielder over a new contract. (Fabrizio Romano, external)
Fabio Carvalho will leave Brentford in January, with a permanent move being considered for the 23-year-old Portuguese winger. (Florian Plettenberg), external
Sunderland are plotting another loan move for Marc Guiu in January after Chelsea recalled the 19-year-old Spanish striker just two games into a loan move they agreed last summer. (Football Transfers), external
Chelsea are looking to strengthen at right-back with the addition of Strasbourg’s Guela Doue, though Aston Villa and Brighton are also in the race for the 23-year-old Ivory Coast defender. (Football Transfers), external
Liverpool are among the clubs considering a move for Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez, with Newcastle and Aston Villa also in the race to sign the 21-year-old Ecuador centre-back. (Ekrem Konur), external
Manchester United are in negotiations over a transfer for AIK’s 16-year-old Swedish forward Kevin Filling. (Florian Plettenberg), external
Robbie Keane, Kieran McKenna and Ange Postecoglou are all on the shortlist to succeed Brendan Rodgers as the next permanent Celtic manager. (Telegraph – subscription required), external
Thomas Tuchel may have expressed public displeasure with England’s fans after the emphatic Wembley win against Wales, but the performance of his players will have left him feeling only the warm glow of vindication.
Tuchel delivered a highly-critical and unusually blunt verdict from any coach in the direction of his own “silent” supporters after a 3-0 stroll was effectively wrapped up inside the first 20 minutes.
It was, however, another message delivered by the German manager that will carry wider significance as England gather momentum towards next summer’s World Cup.
Tuchel’s words stretched way beyond the shockwaves that greeted Jude Bellingham’s exclusion when he named his latest England squad.
He made it crystal clear that England’s star system was over, that players in possession could cement their places by sheer weight of performances, the biggest names no longer guaranteed an automatic recall.
England victory in the Wembley friendly must be placed in the context of Welsh opponents with eyes seemingly fixed on their vital World Cup qualifier against Belgium on Monday, but this was still a night with a large measure of satisfaction for Tuchel’s strategy.
Tuchel made it clear he is picking an England team, not individuals. He even stated: “We are not collecting the most talented players. We are trying to build a team. Teams win trophies, no-one else.”
Bellingham’s superstar status meant Tuchel’s selection was laced with risk, even though it was shaped by common sense as he had only started one game for Real Madrid following shoulder surgery.
He may have wanted to be included, but on this occasion Tuchel was happy to do without Bellingham, keeping faith with the players who produced the best result and performance of his reign by winning 5-0 against Serbia in the World Cup qualifier in Belgrade.
And, to add further credibility to Tuchel’s decision-making process, England’s outstanding player against Wales was Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, excelling in Bellingham’s number 10 role, as he did in Belgrade.
Rogers, on the evidence of England’s past two games, is fast becoming the poster boy for the new identity Tuchel wants to create.
And if Tuchel’s measure is applied, the England shirt is now Rogers’ to lose, with a further opportunity to cement his place against Latvia in Riga on Tuesday.
Mohamed Salah has anointed Arsenal the “FAVOURITES” to win the Premier League this season.
Speaking to PFA awards presenter Cecil Thomas, who is a Gunners fan, he said: “I think you are the favourite now because you players who have been together for five years.
“I can’t say I’ll wish you luck – hopefully we do it again.”
Arteta reflects on Gyokeres debut
Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Viktor Gyokeres following his Premier League debut against Manchester United.
He said of the Swede: “He did a lot of things very good. You can tell, especially in our high pressing, the rhythm that we demand, especially in the first half, we’re giving a bit too much time.
“It’s something that we have to work on, especially there.
“And then in the finalising situation, he didn’t have that many chances to do that because, as I said, on the previous action before we had to play that last ball that the line was standing still with 40 metres behind, we managed to put the ball through to exploit his quality.
“But overall, coming away to Manchester United, winning your first game with Arsenal, it’s a good start.
Tristan Rogers, the Australian actor behind the magnetic Robert Scorpio on “General Hospital,” died Friday after a battle with lung cancer, according to his manager. He was 79.
In an email to The Times, Rogers’ manager Meryl Soodak said his client was “a family man” who is survived by his wife, two children and a grandson.
“[He was] loyal, kind and loved his role of Scorpio,” Soodak said.
Rogers’ signature commanding voice and poised bravado made Scorpio a fan favorite on the long-running soap opera, and became his most recognizable role. As the enemy-turned-close-friend of star character Luke Spencer (played by Anthony Geary), Rogers appeared in some of the most memorable moments of the show’s run.
In true soap opera fashion, Scorpio would allegedly die a dramatic and fiery death in an explosion in South America in 1992, only to return alive for a short stint in 2006.
Through every iteration of his “General Hospital” career, Rogers embraced Scorpio’s status as an ‘80s TV icon.
“I think this character will follow me to my grave,” Rogers told the New York Times in 2006.
Rogers was born June 3, 1946, in Melbourne, Australia. Out of high school, he played in a rock band with friends and began taking up modeling roles, he recalled in an interview. For “extra money,” he acted in small TV and soap opera roles in Australia in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, including stints in the shows “Bellbird,” “Number 96” and “The Box.”
Early in his career, his Australian accent deterred casting directors from booking him for American shows, Rogers recalled in a 2022 interview. However, in 1980, he found himself auditioning for what was supposed to be a small, single-episode role on “General Hospital.”
This caught the eye of Gloria Monty, the show’s visionary producer, who asked Rogers to stay on as a recurring character.
Rogers was key to shaping the character of Scorpio, from his name to his risk-taking bravery, on what would eventually become the longest-running daytime soap opera in American television history, according to Guinness World Records.
“I started in earnest, I had a feeling that I had done something right. I had evolved into the character. [Scorpio] took everyone by surprise, he looked different, he sounded different, he conducted himself in a different way and the public latched onto this right away. And so all of a sudden, away we went,” Rogers said in a radio interview earlier this year.
While the show was set in a New York hospital, the late 80s saw it shift focus into an action adventure storyline that heavily featured Scorpio as an agent of the fictional World Security Bureau, or WSB.
Broadcaster ABC notes that the change kept the attention of viewers and contributed to the continuation of the show’s success, as spies and agents created complex and popular mystery storylines within the “General Hospital” universe.
According to the New York Times, the second week after Rogers’ character was revived in 2006, “General Hospital” was the No. 1 daytime drama among young women, drawing larger-than-average audiences back to the show.
Rogers also acted in the series “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bay,” and “Studio City,” as well as voice-acting in the Disney animated film “The Rescuers Down Under.”
Genie Francis, who played Laura Spencer in “General Hospital,” said of Rogers on X, “My heart is heavy. Goodbye my spectacular friend. My deepest condolences to his wife Teresa and their children. Tristan Rogers was a very bright light, as an actor and a person. I was so lucky to have known him.”
Kin Shriner, also an actor on the show, added in a video posted on X, “I met Tristan 44 years ago at the Luke and Laura wedding. We were stashed in a trailer and I was taken by his Australian charm. Over the years we’ve worked together … we always had fun. I will miss Tristan very much.”
In one of his last interviews, Rogers reflected on the joy of his acting career.
Chelsea striker Liam Delap and Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly are among six nominees for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
Bournemouth full-back Milos Kerkez, former Cherries defender Dean Huijsen, Arsenal winger Ethan Nwaneri and Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers make up the shortlist.
Delap, who joined Chelsea from Ipswich in a £30m deal earlier this month, scored 12 goals in the Premier League last season as the Tractor Boys were relegated to the Championship.
Lewis-Skelly enjoyed a breakthrough campaign for Arsenal and scored on his England debut earlier this year against Albania.
Team-mate Nwaneri, 17, scored nine times in 37 appearances for the Gunners last term.
Spain international defender Huijsen earned a move to Real Madrid for his stellar performances for Bournemouth last season, while Hungarian full-back Kerkez is attracting attention from Premier League champions Liverpool after his fine performances for the Cherries.
Rogers contributed 14 goals and 15 assists as Aston Villa narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.
The winner of the award will be announced on 19 August at a ceremony in Manchester.
Former Matinee idol Buddy Rogers bounded by the winding staircase to the third floor of his Beverly Hills mansion and called to his wife of 37 years: “Mary, darling. You have a visitor, pet.”
There were murmurs upstairs. Then Rogers walked slowly down the white steps to his visitor beneath the portrait of Mary Pickford in the spacious living room.
He shrugged and shook his head. “Mrs. Rogers would like to see you, darling, but she’s in the shower, dear.”
The scene is usually the same whenever anyone calls on the admired queen of the silent films. She is either sleeping or in the shower, always “unavailable.”
Classic stories from the Los Angeles Times’ 143-year archive
Hundreds have been party guests of Buddy Rogers at fabled Pickfair in the last decade, but none has ever seen Miss Pickford. Even her stepson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., doesn’t see her when he spends an occasional week in the guest cottage.
One of her last interviews was in 1965—to an English silent film historian who has tried many times to see or phone her. But she is unavailable.
Mary Pickford, who will be 80 in April, is upstairs in her bedroom in a self-imposed seclusion that has lasted nearly two decades.
She was the first real movie star, a pioneer of the movie colony, coming to Hollywood when it was no more than a country village. She was America’s Sweetheart of the early 20th century—famous for her golden Mary-Jane curls, dimpled chin and simple charm. They called her Goldilocks.
Rogers—tanned, athletic and manicured at 68—shook his head affectionately. “She just doesn’t go out. But she’s doing great, darling. I took her out for a drive last week, but she said it made her nervous and she wanted to go home.”
Pickfair, 1974, is a museum—once called the “White House of Hollywood”—where U.S. Presidents, foreign heads of state, financiers and famous authors paid court to Miss Pickford.
Contemporary accounts of those gleaming parties come so vividly to mind while in the mansion that one can almost hear music and laughter, faint and incessant, from the garden and the cars going up and down the heart-shaped drive.
In the old days, guests at Pickfair could ride horses through the mountains to the Pacific Ocean and pass only one house along the way.
But time and progress have taken their toll on Pickfair. Only five of the original 15 acres remain. Five $150,000 homes were built on what used to be her vegetable garden.
A china set that Napoleon gave Josephine in 1807 is locked inside a glass cabinet. The mansion property and artistic contents are valued at $2 million.
The big rooms and high hallways are full of Frederic Remington paintings, early 18th-century antiques from Europe, Chippendale chairs and mirrors and Victorian tables. A sterling silver urn, given to Miss Pickford by the queen of Siam, is also in a glass case.
Film awards—including the first Oscar for the best performance by an actress in sound—are scattered around.
In almost every room as portraits of Miss Pickford staring down from the walls—at stages of her life from 18 to 59.
Rogers points out every detail eagerly. “Look here, darling.”
He leads the visitor into the small “Rodin Room,” named after Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), father of modern sculpture. There are his rare sketches of nude dancing women, which Miss Pickford bought almost half a century ago.
Ultimately, Rogers confided, the visitor would get her audience with Miss Pickford after all —after a fashion.
He dialed his wife on a house phone on a small table.
Mary Pickford in lace gown, ca. 1930
(Bettmann / Bettmann Archive)
“Yes, darling, she’s here,” he said. “She’s a young one, dear.”
He handed over the phone. “Mrs. Rogers wants to talk to you, sweet. She’s so happy you’re hear, darling.”
Gusty Santa Ana winds slapped hard against Pickfair, howling loudly, rattling closed windows.
“Boy! If I were outside right now I’d feel like hen caught in a tornado,” Miss Pickford laughed. It was fresh and spontaneous laughter.
It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each syllable were an arrangement of notes that would never be played again. Her voice was sad and lovely and grandmotherly, but with bright things in it.
“I just hopped out of the tub,” Miss Pickford said. “I’d come down and chat with you but my hair isn’t fixed. I’m afraid I’d have to get all dressed up for you.”
She said she enjoys the privacy and rest long denied her after all the busy years in the public eye as one of the world’s wealthiest and most beautiful women.
“Yes, I miss my career, certainly,” Miss Pickford said. “But I feel I’ve earned this rest. I used to work from 6 in the morning until midnight—the actress by day, the producer by night! Ut was a struggle. I never had time to myself.
“This is the first time in my life without constantly being interrupted.”
She did not specify what has intruded on her solitude for the last decade or more, but said she now goes nowhere—not to movies, nor to shows, nor out to dinner, nor even shopping. “I’ve chosen this way of life for myself,” she said. “I like my privacy.”
She said she reads mysteries and newspapers, dictates, looks out of her bedroom windows at Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, listens to records and watches television.
“I’m reading all about the devil,” Miss Pickford confessed. “I think all this exorcism business is a hoax. Buddy says the movie is scary and I don’t like to be scared.”
Rogers sat slumped in a nearby armchair watching, amused.
Miss Pickford is aware she is different from other silent stars who have kept busy and still earn honors on stage and screen despite their ages.
(Lilliam Gish, a close friend of 75, often appears in comedies as a little old lady. Gloria Swanson, the same age, is on Broadway and TV. Marlene Dietrich still does her famous songs at nightclubs and theaters at 74.
(Mae West, 83, likes to stay public and recently judged a UCLA kissing contest. And Helen Hayes is starring in a new, prime-time TV series called Snoop Sisters. She’s 73).
It’s been so long since I met the public,” she said. “People are so nervous these days. I don’t think people would have the patience to listen to me…
“I played little girls, you know. Actresses can’t go on and on forever doing that type of role. I can’t imagine Jack Benny being 80, can you? And yet he’s kicking around all the time on TV. Women can’t get away with that like men can.
Pickford disappeared from public view for more than a decade not long after this photo was taken of her at her Pickfair Estate in 1963.
(Los Angeles Times)
“Although I often dream I am before the cameras again. The other night, I imagined myself in a long shot and wondered if I should not redo my hair for it…”
She paused, then said musingly, “I have several pretty house dresses. I could throw one on and come down and talk to you… but I’m too lazy.”
Damn…
Some who have not seen Miss Pickford for years guess that time has not been kind to her. But her business manager, Matty Kemp, 64, describes her as having the “beautiful skin of a baby.” She’s 5-foot-1 and very slim.
“She keeps her hair blonde and has that same winsome smile that everyone remembers,” Kemp said. “You can’t detect a wrinkle on her face.”
Two favorite friends of Miss Pickford are Miss Gish and Mildred Loew (producer Adolph Zukor’s daughter). They visit Miss Pickford once a year when they are in town.
Miss Pickford has not viewed her films for 25 years. They have been shown only twice in the United States since they were locked up in vaults at Bekins and Producers Film Center in Hollywood in 1933.
There they have sat, deteriorating with time. Miss Pickford wanted it that way. She is one of the few stars who owns and controls her films.
Just recently she was persuaded not to order her films burned at her death. She had not wanted to be compared with today’s actresses.
“I always thought of myself as an entertainer for my own generation,” she explained. “That was all that counted. It was Lillian Gish who convinced me that the films belong to the public and that I had no right to destroy them.”
So the Mary Pickford Foundation, run by Kemp, has spent about $260,000 to preserve and restore the films. (Some foreign countries have copies of her movies and show them at special screenings).
Some will be shown this month at film festivals honoring Miss Pickford throughout Europe. Her managers want to test the reaction of other countries before they consider showing them in the United States.
She wants to attend the Paris tribute.
“I’m longing to see Paris again. I got my warmest reception there long ago. I wonder if their reactions to me would be the same. Did you know that I can speak straight French for a half an hour?”
If she goes, it will be her first public appearance since 1965, when she visited Europe.
In the early 1970s, England and France had film tributes for Miss Pickford. There were parades in London and Paris and thousands of people lined the streets to get a glimpse of her. They shouted for her autograph and locks of her hair.
But Miss Pickford was not there. At the last minute, she stayed at Pickfair. Rogers went alone and waved to the crowds for her.
She still misses producer D.W. Griffith.
“No one came close to him,” she said. “He mastered the close-up, the fade-out. No one ever called him David because everyone had the greatest respect for him. He was always Mr. Griffith.”
Miss Pickford also spoke fo Douglas Fairbanks Sr., her second husband. They were considered the world’s most romantic couple.
In films, Fairbanks was the dashing hero who could dispose of 20 adversaries in a running fight. According to Miss Pickford, he was exuberant and often did handstands or leapt over sofas to amuse friends.
“Because he had never outgrown a small boy’s penchant for showing off, he was rarely referred to as Douglas or Mr. Fairbanks,” she said. “It was always Doug.”
She sighed and her voice became sad.
“I got word that my beloved cameraman Charles Rosher died in Portugal. He was a master, too.”
Another pause.
“He once said, ‘I’m not going to shoot this film because there’s a shadow on Miss Pickford’s face.’ I said, ‘Charlie, what does it matter?’ But he insisted. He was so loyal. I don’t know where to send word to his wife.”Miss Pickford said she was appalled by Watergate.
“I can’t see any individuals destroying this country,” she said, vehemently. “The United States is supposed to be the leader of the world and some punks are letting it go to the ashcan. We obviously need some housecleaning.”
(She was a big contributor to President Nixon’s reelection campaign, according to Kemp. During World War I, she also sold $48 million worth of Liberty Bonds for the United States.
(The government wanted her to make war propaganda films then, but she would make only humorous ones. One showed her riding a horse down San Fancisco’s Market St., her golden curls flying in the breeze, leading the 143rd Field Artillery shipward to France.)
Of today’s stars, Miss Pickford said she is most impressed with Katherine Hepburn and Liza Minelli.
But her favorite remains Shirley Temple. “Oh, she was the cutest baby,” she said. “She had more talent than anyone. Too bad she had to retire, but she left us with a lot of beautiful memories.”
She added that there were no actors she was particularly fond of. “Nope. None since Gable,” she said.
There was another deep sigh. Rogers seized on the silence to draw the conversation to a close. “She’s doing great, darling, but I don’t want to tire her out,” he said.
Miss Pickford’s voice started to trail away.
“It was nice talking to you,” she said. “Maybe I’ll see you someday…”
