‘Days of Our Lives’ star Robert Kelker-Kelly dies at 62

“Days of Our Lives” actor Robert Kelker-Kelly, best known for playing Bo Brady on the long-running US daytime soap opera, has died aged 62.

Kelker-Kelly died on Saturday, October 3, 2026.

According to TMZ, the medical examiner confirmed his death, although his cause of death has not been officially confirmed.

Police respond to medical emergency

The St. Peters Police Department told TMZ that officers responded to the actor’s home in Missouri at around 8.16pm local time after he complained of chest pain and became unresponsive.

CPR was reportedly already in progress as EMS and police made their way to the home.

Officers and paramedics attempted life-saving measures, but were unsuccessful.

According to TMZ, law enforcement found nothing suspicious at the scene and the circumstances appeared consistent with a medical event.

His ‘Days of Our Lives’ role

Kelker-Kelly took over the role of Bo Brady from Peter Reckell on “Days of Our Lives”, playing the character from 1992 to 1995.

His storyline included an on-screen romance with Lisa Rinna’s character, Billie Reed.

Reflecting on his time on the soap, Kelker-Kelly previously told We Love Soaps that the demanding schedule took a toll.

“I was working, on average, 90 hours a week. They were shooting one to two shows a day so we would be doing 120 pages of dialogue and that went on for a long time,” he said.

“I went through one three-year contract and negotiated a second contract, and then that one fell apart. But it was exhausting. They worked us to death.”

He also recalled the intense physical demands of the role.

“At the time, because my shirt was off all the f****** time, I would get up at three o’clock in the morning, go to the gym from four to six, and then be at the studio from six to eight (or nine) at night… and then go to sleep and do it all over again.”

Claims of tension behind the scenes

Kelker-Kelly’s relationship with his “Days of Our Lives” co-star Lisa Rinna was reportedly far less cordial off screen.

In her memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It”, published in February this year, Rinna claimed that the pair “hated each other” behind the scenes.

“He made my life a living hell on the set of Days. He was horrible to me. I’d go so far as to say verbally abusive,” she wrote.

“He was passive aggressive, manipulative, and played weird mind games.”

From homelessness to television

Kelker-Kelly’s acting career began with his 1987 television debut on “Another World”, where he played Sam Fowler.

He previously revealed to We Love Soaps that landing the role came at a difficult point in his life.

“At the time I got cast on Another World I was homeless, sleeping in my Jeep, or on anyone’s floor that I could, and working as a secretary for a headhunter’s office in LA,” he said.

He later appeared on “General Hospital”, playing Stavros Cassadine from 2001 to 2003, before returning to the role in 2013 and 2014.

A new career away from acting

By then, Kelker-Kelly had largely stepped away from acting on screen and pursued a career in aviation.

“I’m a charter pilot. I fly Lear jets, Lear 60s, for a company out of Spirit of St. Louis airport in St. Louis, Missouri. I also instruct on the side because I like to teach,” he told We Love Soaps.

He said he continued to teach acting occasionally through private coaching and monologue work.

“I’m living in the Midwest. And I’m a dad.”

seanne.rall@iol.co.za

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