Robert Kelker-Kelly, ‘Days of Our Lives’ and ‘General Hospital’ Star, Dies at 62

The daytime television world has lost another familiar face.

Robert Kelker-Kelly, remembered by soap fans for his roles as Bo Brady on Days of Our Lives and Stavros Cassadine on General Hospital, has died. He was 62. Kelker-Kelly died on Saturday, October 3, in Missouri. His death was confirmed by a medical examiner, while a cause of death has not been publicly announced.

For longtime Days of Our Lives viewers, Kelker-Kelly became part of one of Salem's most recognizable families when he stepped into the role of Bo Brady in 1992. Peter Reckell had originated the character and departed the soap earlier that year, leaving Days with the difficult task of recasting a character already closely associated with another performer.

Kelker-Kelly ultimately remained in the role for three years, playing Bo through 1995. His version of the character shared significant screen time with Kristian Alfonso's Hope Williams Brady and Lisa Rinna's Billie Reed before Reckell returned to the role.

But Bo was far from Kelker-Kelly's only contribution to daytime television. He later entered the considerably darker world of the Cassadine family on General Hospital as Stavros Cassadine. Kelker-Kelly portrayed the villain from 2001 to 2003 before returning to Port Charles years later, reprising the role in 2013 and 2014.

Stavros was certainly a change of pace from Bo Brady. As part of one of General Hospital's most infamous families, the character was tied to some of the soap's biggest legacy characters and gave Kelker-Kelly the chance to leave a very different impression on another generation of daytime viewers.

His soap career actually began before either of those roles. Kelker-Kelly joined NBC's Another World in 1987 as Sam Fowler, remaining with the series until 1990. He eventually returned to the long-running soap in 1996 in a new role, Dr. Shane Roberts, and stayed until 1998.

Between Another World, Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, Kelker-Kelly built a career that touched three major daytime dramas and several eras of soap television.

He eventually stepped away from acting and also pursued a career in aviation as a professional pilot. For soap fans, however, his television work remains part of daytime history. Whether viewers remember him as Bo Brady fighting for the people he loved in Salem, the dangerous Stavros Cassadine creating chaos in Port Charles or from his years on Another World, Robert Kelker-Kelly left his mark on a genre whose audiences rarely forget the performers who helped shape their favorite stories.

He was 62.