R.I.P. Drake Hogestyn, Days Of Our Lives’ John Black

Best known for playing the slippery John Black and his myriad personalities for nearly 40 years on Days Of Our Lives, Drake Hogestyn has died. In a statement shared on Instagram, the show confirmed Hogestyn died of pancreatic cancer. He was 70.

“It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Drake Hogestyn. He was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he faced the challenge with incredible strength and determination. After putting up an unbelievable fight, he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones,” the statement says. “He was the most amazing husband, father, papa, and actor. He loved performing for the Days audience and sharing the stage with the greatest cast, crew, and production team in the business.”

“We love him and we will miss him all the Days Of Our Lives.”

Born Donald Drake Hogestyn, acting wasn’t initially on the mind of the Fort Wayne, Indiana native. After high school, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to attend Broward Junior College and be closer to the eyes of scouts for the New York Yankees. Following a brief stint on the Cardinals, Hogestyn returned to college, exploring a future in dentistry. It didn’t take, and he was drafted by the Yankees finally, playing for their farm team in Oneonta until 1977, when a series of injuries led to his dismal.

“Those who can keep injury-free and their head together and their weight down, those are the ones who are going to move up,” Hogestyn said in 2020. “But when you’re a last-round pick, and you mix in an injury… there’s no investment there. And I knew that. I knew that the very day when I was lying on the field looking at the sky in Oneonta.”

While trying out for an independent team in Virginia, Hogestyn saw an ad for the Columbia Pictures National Talent Search in the newspaper. He sent in an 8×10 headshot and a 150-word essay on why he wanted to be a movie star and left it to fate. Though it led him to Tinseltown, the contest was a bust, sending him out to workshops with Dustin Hoffman, Sydney Pollack, and Walter Matheau, which were helpful but didn’t end in a contract.

Shortly after, Hogestyn began getting commercial work and landed a part in a TV adaptation of the musical Seven Brides For Seven Brothers opposite Richard Dean Anderson. While Anderson went on to MacGuyer, Hogestyn landed a stint for sweeps week on the long-running soap Days Of Our Lives as the mysterious John Black. In classic soap opera form, Black was introduced as an amnesiac who had extensive reconstructive facial surgery and was believed to be the missing husband of Dr. Marlena Evans (played by Diedre Hall).

As one of the soap world’s longest-running and most beloved super couples, Hogestyn and Hall would keep this romance going for the next three decades. The relationship even survived Evans’ death, resurrection, and her husband’s recovery from an extensive coma. For his part, John Black’s identity was never set, and he would continue to shift in and out of his name across 40 years and 4,000 episodes of Days Of Our Lives, taking only one three-year hiatus between 2009 and 2011.

“In 1986, when I first read for the part, the character was described, and out of my briefcase, I pulled Robert Ludlam’s book The Bourne Identity, featuring Jason Bourne,” Hogestyn said in 2011. “That was the idea for the character. They took the initials J.B. and called him John Black. Over the course of 25 years, at one point or another, I have referred to myself as 13 different identities in search of my true identity.”

Hogestyn is survived by his wife and childhood sweetheart, Victoria; his four children, three daughters and one son, Ben, an actor who has appeared on The Bold And The Beautiful and General Hospital; and seven grandchildren.