Roger Newman (Ken Norris) Died

Roger Newman, who played Ken Norris –  Holly Norris Bauer Thorpe Lindsey Reade (and hopefully Bauer again)’s mentally unbalanced big brother, died from cancer March 4, 2010 at his home in New York with his family. During Newman’s initial run from 1970-1975 the Norris family was a force to be reckoned with in Springfield. Although most later viewers will only remember Holly and her daughter Blake (first called Chrissy), in first half of the 1970s Holly had a rather extensive family. Her father Stanley married Rick Bauer’s mother Leslie and she was accused of his murder (she didn’t do it), her mother Barbara married Roger Thorpe’s father Adam (conveniently centering a lot of disapproval for Roger in one couple much to his chagrin), and she had a younger brother Andy, a con man who had married and robbed Trish Lewis and seduced both Vanessa Chamberlain and Katie Parker. Holly’s older brother Ken became obsessed with the idea that his wife Janet, who had married him mostly because she was pregnant with his daughter, was having an affair with her ex-boyfriend and Holly’s then husband Ed Bauer. For once in his life, Ed HAD actually managed NOT to sleep with somebody, but it did him no good, convinced Ed had slept with Janet, Ken shot him anyway and was carted off to an insane asylum for the next 2 decades.

Ken returned to Springfield after finally being released from the asylum. Although he’d been in town a little while before we first see him, his first appearance on screen was Sept. 1, 1998. He had small touches in several major stories at the time. He was the first prime suspect (he was innocent, but had figured out Holly did it) in the Nursery Rhyme Stalker case and was off screen again while he was being held. As part of that, he was reason the drug Annie/Terri used to control Josh was introduced. He also touched on the popular Blen pairing. Ken agreed with Holly that Ben was incredibly like Roger (which he was) and was a danger to Blake. He tried to protect Blake by beating up Mick Santos and stealing back the blackmail tape of Ben and Blake in bed together (while she was trying to get proof that would clear Abby of Roy Meecham’s murder). (Mick can take some solace that in younger days, Ken also beat up Roger Thorpe, a much more serious threat than Mick any day of the week. For speculation on how Ken was able to beat up Mick and Mick’s condition at the time see my Manny fanfic The Legend of the Water Glass https://glmanny.wordpress.com/2010/01/12/legend-of-the-water-glass) Still trying to protect Holly, Ken also consulted with Michelle about her condition right before Danny gives Michelle his first present for her outside Reva Bend on First Present Day, earning himself a place in the Manny Highlight clips.See Ken in the clip below at 5:30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlM6R99smU8

Ken faded away again last appearing on screen Feb. 22, 1999. Although he was reconnecting with Holly, Blake, and the miniature Marlers, no mention was made of Ken’s own daughter Emily Norris who had long since disappeared from Springfield.

Before and after his return trip to Springfield as Ken, Newman was a writer for the Guiding Light and several other soaps. He was part of the writing team that won GL an Emmy for writing  in 1993. He also appeared as an actor sporadically in guest starring roles on various prime time TV shows through the 1970s and early 1980s. Newman met his wife Fran on GL where she played nurse Peggy Scott Fletcher for 15 years from 1965 -1980, but I don’t remember Peggy. Somehow she was connected with the Bauer story line. The following clip shows Peggy and her parents Ben and Maggie Scott and the character’s future husband Johnny Fletcher in 1966. (In this clip it seems that Peggy has just learned her mother Maggie is having some kind of relationship with Bill Bauer who was both a drunk and a womanizer which is why Ed goes by his middle name of Ed, to disassociate himself from his father Bill.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMW5pJEpxqA (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezga3sogi2U&feature=related (Part 2)

Born in England, Newman was a child star there on both stage and radio before his family immigrated to Canada after World War II. Newman later moved to the United States and became a citizen.

I’m sure all Guiding Light fans join me as we extend our condolences to Newman‘s wife of 35 years, Frances L. Myers, and their son John S. Newman, both of whom currently write for Days of Our Lives.

To learn more about Newman, see:

http://www.einsiders.com/hollywood-obituaries/actor-and-scriptwriter-roger-newman-dies-march-4-2010.html

http://www.tv.com/roger-newman/person/34325/summary.html

http://sites.google.com/site/jason47days/crew-biographies

To learn more about Ken Norris, see:

http://www.soapcentral.com/gl/whoswho/kenneth.php

UPDATE: After I published this I discovered that Caroline McWilliams who played Janet Mason Norris, Newman’s on screen wife died earlier this year. Read about it here: http://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/02/caroline-mcwilliams-has-passed-away-at.html

UPDATE: Michael Zaslow thanks Roger Newman among others in his Emmy thank you speech.Start at 4:37.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIRu1fV7Yj8

UPDATE 2014: I had updated adding in a couple of extra things of interest twice before. This time I’m adding my signature block and updated two previously broken links.

Robansuefarm is the handle of one of Manny and Guiding Light‘s biggest fans following in her family’s footsteps of Guiding Light fandom since 1939. This blog is an effort to make it easy to find Guiding Light and especially Manny online. Check back here for her blog, find fanfic previews and fake WSPR newscasts on her YouTube, find podcasts that look back to old shows and audios of her fanfics on Blog Talk Radio, and finally follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Tags: Abby Bloom Bauer, Adam Thorpe, Andy Norris, Annie Dutton, Barbara Norris, Ben Scott, Ben Warren, Bill Bauer, Blake Marler, Blen, Danny Santos, Days of Our Lives, Ed Bauer, Emily Norris, Frances L. Myers, GL, Guiding Light, Holly Thorpe, Janet Martin, Johanny Fletcher, John S. Newman, Katie Parker, Ken Norris, Leslie Jackson, Maggie Scott, Michael Zaslow, Michelle Bauer, Mick Santos, Nursery Rhyme Stalker, Peggy Scott Fletcher, Reva Bend, Rick Bauer, Roger Newman, Roger Thorpe, Roy Meecham, Stanley Noris, Trish Lewis, Vanessa Chamberlain