What happened to Drake Hogestyn? Everything to know as Days of Our Lives stars honor soap legend with heartfelt tribute

The late actor Drake Hogestyn of Days of Our Lives found remembrance on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the PanCAN PurpleStride. It was a yearly charity occasion organized by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The event saw celebrities, survivors, supporters, and guests coming forward in 60 cities across the US to raise awareness and funds for the fatal disease.

This year, some of the Days of Our Lives actors came forward to join the awareness walk, calling their team "Hogey's Home Runners" as a tribute to late Hogestyn. In September 2024, Hogestyn died from pancreatic cancer, while still on the soap. As such, his character was missing in action, presumably on an international mission as per the soap's storyline.

As fans know, Hogestyn played the role of John Black on the daily soap. His pairing with Deidre Hall, playing Marlena Evans, was considered a supercouple. As per actor Martha Madison, who plays John's daughter, Belle Black on the show, "Hogey's Home Runners" raised the huge amount of $58,000 for the cancer organization.

Some of the other actors who participated in the awareness fundraiser are Stephen Nichols, Brandon Beemer, Dan Feuerriegel, Raven Bowens, Tina Huang, Cherie Jimenez, John-Paul Lavoisier, and Ashley Puzemis.

Meanwhile, Days of Our Lives continues to present complex, passionate, and touching storylines on Peacock every weekday.

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A brief glance at Days of Our Lives star, Drake Hogestyn

Born in Indiana in September 1953, Donald Drake Hogestyn graduated from the University of South Florida, earning a double major in Applied Sciences and Microbiology. He was also a professional baseball player belonging to the New York Yankees. He stopped playing baseball after being injured in 1977 and moved to acting.

He landed his first significant role in the television series, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, between 1982 and 1983. After many brief roles, Hogestyn was cast as "The Pawn" on Days of Our Lives in 1986. While his early role was that of Roman Brady, when Wayne Northrop returned to his role as Roman, Hogestyn's character and backstory were retconned in 1991.

Since then, he played John Black on DOOL. John's pairing with Marlena earned much fan love. As such, though he, Deidre, and some actors were fired in 2008 due to budget cuts, he and Deidre were called back in 2011. Hogestyn continued to work on the soap through his pancreatic cancer for as long as he could.

He was also part of the DOOL extension series, Beyond Salem, and the DOOL film, A Very Salem Christmas. Some of the other titles in which Hogestyn made an appearance include Criminal Minds, Otherworld, One Stormy Night, Christmas Tree Lane, and Night Sins.

While he last appeared on the soap on September 9, 2024, he passed away on the 28th of the same month. He is survived by his wife, Victoria, and his four children.

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Days of Our Lives: Where is John Black as per the story arc?

As per the soap's storyline, John Black is currently missing while on a mission. Steve Johnson and Marlena Evans followed clues to Estonia and battled John's enemy, Orpheus, but to no avail.

John's death is likely to be revealed soon on the soap. He may be considered to have died while in action. As expected, John's story arc will be closed with a remembrance sequence and a funeral.

As per an interview given to Soap Opera Digest, Executive Producer Ken Corday revealed that John Black's death and funeral scenes were already filmed while the actor was alive, with his permission. His costars, Deidre Hall and Stephen Nichols, who plays Steve Johnson, faced difficulty in filming the scenes as Hogestyn fought the deadly disease.

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Stay tuned to Days of Our Lives to learn more about John's death and his funeral.