Donald Francis Michael Hastings (born April 1, 1934) is an American television actor, singer, and writer. He is best known for his 50-year role as Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (1960 to 2010). For his work on As the World Turns, Hastings received an Editor's Award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1998 and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. In the 1940s, he appeared on Broadway in I Remember Mama, On Whitman Avenue, A Young Man's Fancy, and Summer and Smoke. He also starred as the Video Ranger on DuMont's Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949 to 1955) and as Jack Lane on the CBS soap opera The Edge of Night (1956 to 1960).
Early life
Hastings was born on April 1, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York.
Career
In 1941, Hastings joined a national tour of Life with Father. Hastings played Young John in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. The play opened at the Music Box Theatre on October 6, 1948.
From 1949 to 1955, Hastings played Captain Video's teenaged companion, the Video Ranger, on the DuMont television series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He portrayed one of television's first superheroes designed to appeal to children. The role of Bob had previously been played by a child actor, Bobby Alford, and one adult actor, Ronnie Welsh. In his early years on the show, he was paired romantically with Lisa Miller (Eileen Fulton), but he eventually found true love with Kim Sullivan (Kathryn Hays).
Hastings began writing sample scripts for the NBC soap opera Another World and submitting them to the show's head writer, Harding Lemay. He then started writing for As the World Turns, working with Irna Phillips. As a writer, Hastings used the pen name J.J. Matthews, a combination of his children's names. In June 1978, they appeared together in Algonquin Sampler, a literary review performed at New York's Joseph Jefferson Theater. In 1993, he received a Silver Circle Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his many years in the television industry. He received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
The cancellation of As the World Turns was announced in December 2009. In the final episode, airing September 17, 2010, Dr. Bob Hughes retired from the hospital. Hastings spoke the final line of the series, "Good Night." The show had opened in 1956 with Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner) saying, "Good morning, dear."
Hastings previously held the record as the longest continuous actor in the history of television serials until November 2010, shortly after As the World Turns ended. Guinness World Records stated that the non-continuous record was held by Hastings' co-star Helen Wagner, who played Nancy Hughes from April 2, 1956, until her death in May 2010.
Personal life
Hastings married his first wife, Nan, in 1957. They had two daughters and a son. They later divorced.
He met actress Leslie Denniston when she briefly played Karen Peters on As the World Turns. They were married in 1980. They have a daughter, who was born in 1982.
His son Matthew has been active in show business since 1999 as a writer, director, and producer.
His older brother, actor Bob Hastings, died in 2014, at the age of 89.
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Title
!Result
!Ref.
|-
|1992
|Soap Opera Digest Award
|Outstanding Lead Actor: Daytime
|As the World Turns
|
|