Guiding Light Extinguished After Amazing 72-Year Run

Guiding Light, the Guinness Book of World Record-holder for the longest-running drama, will air its final episode Friday, the last for the soap opera which first premiered in 1937 and broadcast on more than 15,700 weekdays.

"We are the history of so many people," actress Tina Sloan said. "They watched it for so long.”

Guiding Light was cancelled in April due to low ratings; the show, over the years, served as a stepping stone for a number of actors and actresses who would go on the achieve greater heights of fame elsewhere, including Hayden Panettiere, Calista Flockhart, Brittany Snow, Taye Diggs, Morgan Fairchild, Nia Long, Ian Ziering and the hub of all things Hollywood, Kevin Bacon.