MICHAEL ZASLOW

'Michael Joel Zaslow' (November 1, 1942 — December 6, 1998) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as villain Roger Thorpe on CBS's ''Guiding Light'', a role he played from 1971 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1997.
He had earlier played Dick Hart on the CBS soap opera ''Search for Tomorrow'' and Dr. Peter Chernak on ''Love is a Many Splendored Thing''. He also played David Renaldi on ABC's ''One Life to Live'' from 1983 to 1986. Zaslow was also a writer for the NBC soap opera ''Another World''.
Zaslow guest starred on a number of other television shows and soap operas, including ''Barnaby Jones'' and ''Law & Order''. In the episode "The Man Trap," the series' September 8, 1966 premiere of '', he played Crewman Darnell, the first starship Enterprise crewmember to be killed off. He also appeared as "Jordan" in the episode I, Mudd.
Zaslow's Broadway theatre credits included ''Fiddler on the Roof'', ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'', and ''Onward Victoria''.
In 1997, he began to experience difficulty speaking. When it became noticeable on screen, he was placed on leave at ''Guiding Light''. (There are conflicting stories as to whether Zaslow was then fired; there was for some time a legal action against ''Guiding Light'' and sponsor Procter & Gamble, which eventually was settled.) It was some time before Zaslow was finally diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Zaslow did not return to GL and his role was briefly recast before being written off. (In 2004, Zaslow's character on GL died off-screen.)
In a show of support, Zaslow was hired at ''One Life to Live'' to play David Renaldi again, and made several appearances there before he was too ill to continue working. His final appearance on "One Life" was televised December 1, 1998, days before his death.
His widow, psychologist/writer Susan Hufford, and his daughters, Marika and Helena, founded ''ZazAngels'', a foundation that wishes to raise funds in order to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease. Several of his ''Guiding Light'' and ''One Life to Live'' castmates, along with many Broadway-based theater luminaries, have participated in tributes to Zaslow that were fundraisers for ZazAngels.
In 2004, Zaslow and Hufford's daughter Helena died. Hufford released a book last year about Zaslow and his fight with ALS, titled ''Not That Man Anymore''. Zaslow had begun writing the book several years earlier.
In 2006, Zaslow's widow Susan Hufford lost her battle to cancer. [1]

Contents

External links

External links

★ ZAZAngels website.

★ People magazine story mirror, from ZAZAngels

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