Broadway, soap opera star Larry Haines dies at 89

Haines, who also had a successful career on Broadway, died July 17 at a Delray Beach hospital where he had been admitted a week earlier, his attorney and friend, Tom Dachelet, said Wednesday.

The actor played Stu Bergman on "Search for Tomorrow" for almost the show's entire run from 1951 to 1986, missing only the first two months.

Stu was the neighbor and best friend of Joanne Gardner Barron, later Joanne Tourneur, the character at the center of most of the show's plot lines over the years. She was played by Mary Stuart for the entire 35 years.

The soap opera, which was first on CBS, later on NBC, was the longest-running daytime drama in television when its last episode aired in December 1986.

Haines credited the longtime appeal of the show to "basically believable characters that people kind of took to."

In an Associated Press interview at the time, he said he felt that quality was lost in its final years as more outlandish plot developments were written.

"Soap opera is a story," he said. "It should be a continuing story, rather than disoriented, meaningless adventures."

Haines won Daytime Emmys for his role in 1976 and 1981, and in 1985 was presented with a special recognition award for his longevity on the series.

He also appeared for shorter periods on "Another World" and "Loving."