Soap opera actor Robert Kelker-Kelly, who played Bo Brady on “Days of Our Lives,” was 62 when he suffered cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive in bed at his home in St. Peters, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, according to 911 dispatch audio.
A dispatcher told first responders that the actor was not breathing. A second transmission relayed that the caller could not lift him off the bed while CPR was under way.
A department statement said St. Peters police officers were sent to the house at about 8:16 p.m. on a report of an unconscious man who was not breathing, with paramedics and other emergency medical crews en route. Police said he had complained of chest pain shortly before he became unresponsive, and that the circumstances appeared consistent with a medical event. Officers and paramedics administered life-saving measures. The efforts failed.
St. Peters police have since confirmed that they found no signs of foul play or suspicious activity in the death. Dispatch audio records the Oct. 3 call coming in as a “cardiac arrest” at his St. Peters home.
He died of natural causes, a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office told The Sun, and no toxicology testing was ordered because there was no suspicion of drugs or alcohol. Reporting as of Oct. 8 said “the exact cause of death has yet to be formally revealed,” while medical examiners in Missouri have confirmed his Oct. 3 death.
From Wichita to Daytime Stardom
Kelker-Kelly was born April 18, 1964, in Wichita, Kan. He broke into acting in 1987 on the NBC soap “Another World,” playing Sam Fowler until 1990, then rejoined the cast in 1996 as race car driver Bobby Reno, a character later revealed to be Dr. Shane Roberts. That run lasted until 1998. Altogether he turned up in more than 400 episodes of the series.
Bo Brady was the role that made him a daytime fixture, and it arrived in 1992, when he inherited the “Days of Our Lives” character from Peter Reckell, who had originated it in 1983. He played Bo opposite Kristian Alfonso, who played Hope Brady, and Lisa Rinna, who played Billie Reed, logging nearly 600 episodes before Reckell reclaimed the part in 1995. The work earned him outstanding lead actor at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1994.
A Villain on “General Hospital”
His second act in daytime was darker. From 1997 to 2003 he played the aristocratic villain Stavros Cassadine on “Port Charles” and “General Hospital,” then revived the character on “General Hospital” from 2013 to 2014 — his final onscreen role, per IMDb.
Beyond the soaps, he picked up credits on “Jack’s Place,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Maybe This Time” and “Rescue 77.” He eventually left acting behind entirely for the cockpit, working as a professional pilot from 2003 to 2015.
Kelker-Kelly married Linda Rattner in 1988, and the couple divorced in 1992. He married Miriam Parrish in 1997; that marriage ended in divorce in 2013.
A Co-Star’s Allegations
Kelker-Kelly and Rinna shared the Soap Opera Digest Award for hottest soap couple in 1995 — the same year both of them exited “Days of Our Lives.” What viewers saw and what Rinna says she experienced were not the same thing.
Rinna, in her 2026 memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It,” accused Kelker-Kelly of being verbally abusive, passive-aggressive and manipulative toward her during their years on the soap, and said he played mind games on set. “Behind the scenes, we hated each other,” she wrote. She also called him “a ticking time bomb.”
The book pushed him back into the headlines decades after he had walked away from Hollywood. He never publicly responded to Rinna’s allegations.
