Stephen Nichols…

… “patching” in a 1992 stopover in Santa Barbara between stints as Steve Johnson on Days of Our Lives. Great photo, but despite appearances, it was not a purple reign.
… “patching” in a 1992 stopover in Santa Barbara between stints as Steve Johnson on Days of Our Lives. Great photo, but despite appearances, it was not a purple reign.
… serving more cloak than dagger — as far as we could see, anyway! — as Bobbie Spencer on General Hospital. Apparently, there was a time when nurses’ uniforms were super chic.
… holding up a wall in most elegant fashion early in her legendary run as Young & Restless’ Sharon Newman. Or was she lying down, and we’re looking at this picture all wrong?
… in the Guiding Light days that preceded his gig as Carter Walton on The Bold and the Beautiful. Or, as we think of him, the world’s hottest wedding officiant.
… turning heads — her own here — during her early-1990s return to General Hospital as Holly Sutton.
… reporting for duty as one of soapdom’s great missed opportunities Sarge on The Young and the Restless in 2010 before reprising his iconic role of Jesse Hubbard on All My Children.
… defining the term “teenage dream” as Blackie Parrish on General Hospital decades before Katy Perry would climb the Top 40 charts with her song of the same name.
… striking the kind of sweet pose that could almost make you forget what a troublemaker Rachel Davis was in the late 1960s on Another World.
… against an altogether apropos background color as Days of Our Lives’ John Black in the early 1990s.
… reminding us in the mid-1990s that every rose has a thorn — and on Guiding Light, Dinah Marler was kinda both.
… as General Hospital supercouple Luke Spencer and Laura Baldwin in the early 1980s. Ice Princess not included.
… as The Young and the Restless’ Mariah Copeland. Or is it a future vision of her late sister, Cassie? Either way…
… daring us to a history’s hottest stare-off as Dusty Donovan on As the World Turns in 2005. You win, Grayson! You win! We must look away, at least if we want to check out the next image of…
… looking suitable for framing as Kate Roberts and Sami Brady on Days of Our Lives in 2014. Not that that guilty-as-sin scheme team has ever needed to be framed.
… giving us blue steel as Jason “Stone Cold” Morgan on General Hospital. We’re sure he smiled later. Much later.
… judging us in 1975 as only Ryan’s Hope’s righteous Jillian Coleridge could. Dakota Smith, ma’am. That’s all we’re gonna say. Dakota. Smith.
… changing her stripes as Lily Winters on The Young and the Restless in 2009. Of note: This was not the character’s outfit during her unfortunate stay in prison.
… as Bold & Beautiful ne’er-do-well Deacon Sharpe. That is, he’s a ne’er-do-well at everything but taking stunning pictures; he kinda nails that.
… reminding us that after Robin Strasser left the role of Rachel on Another World, she kinda became the soap’s heroine — butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth smile and all.
… going turtlenecking in the early days of Erica Kane on All My Children. As if we didn’t all know that the vixen’s favorite kind of necking didn’t involve turtles at all.
… doing undercover work as Days of Our Lives’ Brady Black in 2011. Aw, sheets, that was funny… wasn’t it? A little? No? Moving on…
… striking gold as Carly Tenney on As the World Turns in the mid-1990s, years away from her General Hospital stint as Ava Jerome.
… challenging us to make a move as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless in 2021. Erm, we’ll pass on that, sir; we are hereby conquered, now and forever.
… putting the “beautiful” in The Bold as the Beautiful as Steffy Forrester in 2009. And hey, it’s always bikini season somewhere.
… making us miss Santa Barbara supercouple Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo anew by reminding us that they photographed as well as they loved back in 1989.
… with a devilish gleam in her eye as Days of Our Lives’ Marlena Evans in 2008.
… hiding his washboard abs as Curtis Ashford on General Hospital. We know they’re there, though. We know. OK?
… giving us the kind of side-eye as Young & Restless’ Phyllis Summers that we never get in real life: the sexy, sexy kind.
… sitting pretty handsome as Ridge Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful. Side note: It’s OK to “stair.”
… giving us a clue why General Hospital ratings must have (cough) dipped after he was killed off as Duke Lavery, thereby separating the irresistible Romeo from dance partner Anna Devane.
… warming up to play Guiding Light’s Reva Shayne by scheming her way through The Doctors as Nola Aldrich.
… going from good to downright Great Gatsby as Lily and Holden Snyder on As the World Turns in the late 1990s.
… sharing a laugh as Days of Our Lives’ Chad DiMera in 2017. About what? We only wish we knew; it was just the laugh that he shared, not the reason.
… doing something her saintly General Hospital character Robin Scorpio never would: lie.
… making “Shirts or skins?” a rhetorical question as Young & Restless heat miser Michael Baldwin.
… in 1994, the year that yeah, pretty much everybody on the show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. It was and they were that good.
… serving Vargas Girl realness as Katie Logan on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2009. (Eat your heart out, Bill!)
… as Caleb Morley on Port Charles and John McBain on One Life to Live. Different flavors, same intensity.
… getting into the swing of things as Maggie Horton on Days of Our Lives. If only this were the only way we wound up “seeing red,” so to speak.
… deciding how much don and how much Don Juan to put into his portrayal of Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital.
… managing to make herself, not the big hair or colorful outfit, the most compelling thing about this 1983 portrait of her as Felicia Gallant on Another World.
… classing up the joint as Young & Restless’ Jack Abbott, born with a silver spoon just waiting to be knocked out of his mouth.
… reminding us what young love looked like in the early 1990s — at least if you were mega attractive and into one another — as Tomas Rivera and Maggie Cory on Another World.
… practicing the arched-eyebrow seduction technique at The Young and the Restless that he’d later perfect as Days of Our Lives’ Eli Grant. Ya know, on second thought, he appeared to have had it down pat at Young & Restless, too.
… proving that as far back as her early-1990s days as Jessica Griffin on As the World Turns that there wasn’t a dazzling pair of earrings or complicated dress that could distract from her stunningness.
… making sure Young & Restless’ Nick and Sharon Newman would always have Paris in 2015. Not pictured: the best parts of Paris (unless you were really into this balcony).
… contemplating a “brooch” of etiquette as Stephanie Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2007.
… playing doctor as Tom Horton on Days of Our Lives in 1965. Not that kind of doctor, obviously. His character really was a doctor. But you knew that.
… passing through Days of Our Lives as Belle Black in 2003 before joining General Hospital as Maxie Jones.
… in a 2003 portrait that makes us miss him and Young & Restless’ Neil Winters all over again. As if we’ve ever stopped.
… putting her own spin on “stairing” during her stint as Bridget Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2008.
… turning the charisma up to 11 during a 1990s photo shoot for Days of Our Lives, where he played and still plays Abe Carver.
… leaning into her role of General Hospital firebrand Brenda Barrett.
… embodying the term “pretty in pink” as Young & Restless’ Hilary Curtis (before twin sis Amanda Sinclair hit the scene).
… giving in to temptation as Bold & Beautiful lovers Owen Knight and Jackie Marone in 2009. Missing from this image: the snake. But you just knew he was around there somewhere.
… wearing his best “The doctor will see you now” expression as Steve Hardy on General Hospital in 1963.
… making a last-minute decision to go strapless as Nicole Walker on Days of Our Lives in 2009.
… delivering three wholly different moods as Jonathan Randall on Guiding Light: hot, hotter and hottest. You can decide which is which. (There are no wrong answers.)
… deep in thought — smoldering, smoldering thought — as Young & Restless’ Adam Newman in 2019.
… delivering the quintessence of young love as Jenny Gardner and Greg Nelson on All My Children in 1983.
… giving us shivers with the best of all possible cold shoulders as a playful Dru Winters on The Young and the Restless.
… making Monte Carlo even hotter in 2008 — no honey required — as Bold & Beautiful babe Donna Logan.
… giving General Hospital viewers palpitations in 1982 by scrubbing in as Noah Drake.
… flashing a “Crazy? Who… me?!?” look as Young & Restless’ bonkers Jana Hawkes years prior to her run as Days of Our Lives’ Gwen Nope-We-Still-Can’t-Spell-It.
… rocking a baby face back in 2014 as Young & Restless’ Austin Travers before being recruited to play Thomas Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful. Who — mannequin or woman — could resist?
… putting the “red” in “red-hot” as Young & Restless’ Lauren Fenmore in 2012. Technically, she’s also putting the “hot” in it, too, but that goes without saying.
… enjoying the view as Days of Our Lives’ Eric Brady. Or was he the view? Discuss amongst yourselves; we’ll wait.
… all but inventing a “Here comes trouble!” meme as General Hospital rabble-rousers Heather Webber and Scotty Baldwin in the early 1980s.
… getting a leg up on the competition as Young & Restless’ Ashley Abbott in 2001. One extremely long, toned leg, we might add. Two, we might even mention.
… painting Salem red as Days of Our Lives’ Lexie Carver in 2001.
… taking a fashion tip from Susan Lucci — another turtleneck! — as All My Children’s Ryan Lavery decades before he would take on the role of Drew Cain on General Hospital.
… sparking scarlet envy as she redefined “the lady in red” as Bold & Beautiful pot-stirrer Brooke Logan in 2021.
… heading toward his role of law-and-order-keeper Rey Rosales on The Young and the Restless by slaying as brooding mobster Tony Santos on Guiding Light.
… caught between a rock and… well, hard to say, really, as Young & Restless’ Emily Peterson (or was that Patty Williams?) before adding to Kristen DiMera’s Days of Our Lives.
… worshipping the sun — or was it the other way around? — as Young & Restless’ Malcolm Winters in 1998.