Soap Opera
How One Appearance on a Legendary Show Led This Soap Icon to 45 Years on ‘The Young and the Restless’
Michael Damian marks 45 years as Danny Romalotti on ‘The Young and the Restless,’ after an unexpected acting debut and parallel rise to real-life rock stardom.
In the 1980s, The Young and the Restless sailed to new musical heights when Genoa City gave birth to its very own rock star. That character is still part of the story today, 45 years after Michael Damian made his debut as rocker Danny Romalotti.
Michael Damian Celebrates a Soap Opera Milestone
Damian made his first appearance as Danny 45 years ago this week, but he never expected to become an actor when The Young and the Restless reached out. He had just performed his very first single, a cover of Eric Carmen‘s “She Did It”, on American Bandstand, the Dick Clark weekend dance show that had been thrilling American audiences since 1952, which caught the eye of Bill Bell, the show’s late creator and executive producer, per Soap Opera Digest.
As Damian told it on an episode of Dishin’ With Digest, he had to fake it to make it because he had never acted before.
“They wanted to do a [story about] a struggling singer who was working as a waiter and trying to make it and dreamed about success, having hit records, and concert tours,” Damian said. “Then they called me and they, of course, asked if I knew how to act, and I said, ‘Of course I do.’ And then when I hung up the phone, I looked at my brother Larry. I said, ‘Larry, I gotta quickly learn how to act.'”
The young singer and actor got the part and Y&R fans were hooked from the start. Danny’s friendship with young model Christine Blair (Lauralee Bell) eventually turned to romance and marriage…and divorce. Danny and Christine proved that it’s better the second time around when they wed again last year after being apart for decades.
Damian’s own career also took off, as life imitated art more than once. As Danny became a famous rock star, so did Damian. Both actor and character had a hit single in “Rock On” and even appeared on Broadway as the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
To mark his 45 years on the CBS soap, Damian took to Instagram to post a short video of Danny’s Y&R openings through the years, writing, “Thank you all for an Amazing Technicolor 45 years @youngandrestlesscbs !! I love you big time.”
